Exhaust, eh? That's what my dad thought it was, also... we looked and 
noticed that the exhaust pipe seemed to have gone missing, but I 
honestly can't remember if it was there when we bought it... (I know, I 
know, I'm a bad owner.) I assume there's not much I can do 'at home' 
about this? I guess it's probably alright to drive until we can get an 
appt. with the Vanagon guy in town, anyway.
It's a little incredible to me that this is all that it could be, cause 
the difference in volume is just insane. And yeah, there's quite a bit 
of backfiring also. And you could be right about the psychological 
aspect of having a crazy loud engine.
This sounds pretty plausible to me, are there any other possibilities 
of what it could be?

Thanks again,
Devin Chalmers

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Clive Smith <clive.harman-smith@NTLWORLD.COM>
> Date: Sat Aug 31, 2002  02:26:24 America/Anchorage
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re:      Re: � � � '85 Vanagon with a loud identity crisis
> Reply-To: Clive Smith <clive.harman-smith@NTLWORLD.COM>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kim Brennan" <KimBrennan@AOL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2002 6:48 AM
> Subject: Re:       '85 Vanagon with a loud identity crisis
>
>
> In a message dated 8/31/02 1:31:49 AM, seraphim@GCI.NET writes:
>
>
>> Apparently, my Van thinks she's a Harley Davidson. When she idles,
>> there's an odd, loud PUT-PUT-PUT that gets even worse when I
>> accelerate. She seems to be running fine, if anything the acceleration
>> seems better than normal, except that the problem she has with sort of
>> hesitating at stop lights has gotten more frequent and more 
>> pronounced.
>>
>
>> Hole in the exhaust system. Might be in the pipes to the cat, or the
> muffler
> itself (but probably before the muffler). Since mufflers tend to
> be...slightly restrictive on the flow of exhaust gases, at least on 
> most
> cars, when you have a hole in the system ahead of them, you may notice 
> more
> power and an easier running motor. Of course you also notice how LOUD 
> the
> engine is (after all, it is Exploding gas to make that power!)..
>
> I'd suggest that most holes in exhausts actually reduce power. A weak
> mixture is one result (hence coinnected to rough running and 
> backfiring on
> the overrun), splashy irregular shockwaves in the syetm etc. etc. Any
> supposed power gains are usually psychological due to the loder noise. 
> This
> is in contradistinction to a properly designed shorter or more open 
> 'tuned'
> exhaust, which don't always give the increased power they are supposed 
> to
> and if they do, only in a narrower power band, with poor running and 
> reduced
> torque elsewhere.
>
> Sorry, but this doesn't help your question, and I'm not suggesting 
> that Kim
> is wrong about a blown exhaust -
>
> Clive
> '88 Syncro Transporter
>