I looked, and you are of fact exactly correct - all support to frame
connections are steel to steel except my drivers side forward engine
support. It has rubber vibration issolation.

I have welder.  I believe I can weld some plates to fix the joint - and I
can do it inplace - no removal needed - Is this the mod you are are talking
about?

Also, any clues on why the sound disappears when I, and only when I, remove
the compressor to alternator belt?

Could my 7 year alternator really be that bad out of balence to be the
source of these "drone" producing vibrations?  I don't want to drop 150
bucks on a new alternator, only to find out that I am trying to fix
something that is not broken.

Wish we had a shop like yours in Portland OR!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Westyman" <thewestyman@mindspring.com>
To: "Andrew Nock" <mcnock@easystreet.com>; <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2003 1:38 AM
Subject: RE: troubleshooting tiico noise/vibrations

> The 'drone' your Tiico has is most likely caused by the left engine
support.
> Read on:
>
> Back when the Vanagon diesel was introduced her in 1982, the engine
support
> bars were mounted with rubber ends. These ends allowed the bars to vibrate
> at certain rpms, and VW added a strap between the two supports thinking
that
> if both vibrated in the same direction, then the vibration would be
> cancelled out. It didn't work all that well, so in 1983, VW changed the
> engine support bars by mounting the ends solidly, which is the way they
were
> then produced from that day on. This worked well to quell the vibration.
For
> SOME strange reason, the bean-counters at Remtronic (the supplier of the
> Tiico kit TO Tiico) is using left-over left support bars from 1982
> production. This setup, with one old-style bar and one new-style bar, I
have
> found to vibrate around the 3400 rpm range. (Almost all Tiico 2.0 liter
> engines are the roughest-running 2.0s I have ever seen). By replacing or
> better (cheaper) yet modifying the left support to have solid ends such as
> the right support has will decrease the amount of harmonic vibration sent
> through the body and to your backside, as now the rubbers engine mounts
> (between the supports and the engine's aluminum castings) will now do
their
> job better. I've modified a few Tiicos this way, all are much smoother
now.
>
> Sound deadening around the airbox is a good idea, and tossing the
> Tiico-supplied restrictive snorkel in favor of the later Vanagon snorkel
> tube with insulated flex-section will also help. Also, make sure the
muffler
> is mounted very tightly in it's brackets, modify the brackets if needed
for
> a tighter fit.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Karl Mullendore
> Westy Ventures
>
>
> As with many, a clear drone noise starts at 3,300 rpm and continues
upward.
> The noise only occurs under load - ie when I run at 3,300 rpm standing
> still, drone is not heard. As for tone, most of my auto aware friends
> hearing the sound think it is either exhaust or air intake related.
>
>
>
>