I bow my head and listen attentively to the lesson from the teacher

Stan San.

Jorge

85 Wolfsburg Weekender with many things that need replacement to the point
where a spreadsheet fits the purpose of record keeping

On Fri, 21 Feb 2003, Stan Wilder wrote:

> Many of the problems encountered with VW engines is the extreme lack of
> maintenance.
> Sure; Everybody changes their oil, fuel filter, air cleaner but there are
> other components that develop their own personalities over the ten to
> twenty five years that the vehicle has been on the road.
> Some examples; Injectors develop hairline fuel tracks that can leak since
> the fuel pressure is constant.
> Distributors wear the bearings, gears, cams and advance springs rust or
> just get weak.
> Camshafts wear down and lifters quit rotating.
> I've had a go at bunches of Vanagons and Westies, I find that many owners
> are very conscientious about maintenance and spend hundreds of dollars to
> fix problems that never get fixed, ultimately I get my hands on it and it
> is something very simple like the screw holding down the point set is
> 1/2" long and blocks the distributor advance. Other things come to mind
> but don't make the point.
> Replacing your engine is 90% of good thinking but neglecting other things
> like the injectors, distributor, proper grounding, proper fuel pressure
> will get you about 90% of the potential of your new engine.
> Having collected many spare parts and get me by parts over the last eight
> years I've had the opportunity to select the best of the good parts for
> installing on my Westy.
> Out of thirty Fuel Injectors I've chosen the best 4, out of eight fuel
> pumps I chose the one pumping 62 psi, out of 40 CV joints I chose the
> ones that fit tight the story continues with best of the distributors,
> best of the AFMs.
> Most of us didn't buy our Vanagons or Westy new and don't know the
> potential of a near perfect combination of the proper parts functioning
> as they were designed to do.
> When I built my most recent engine for my Westy (July 2001) I collected
> and tested every part. Some were markedly better than what I was
> currently running. All of this went into the car at the same time and
> everything else came out.
> All of the internal parts on the engine were new, all of the external
> parts were used but the quality of the external parts were known to be in
> very good condition because I tested them.
> Gathering the parts is a challenge in itself; I'd suggest that a list of
> the various part numbers be written down and if you visit a automobile
> bone yard compare the part numbers with other Audi, Porsche, VW parts
> since many are interchangeable. The CVs are almost universal on the VW
> automotive line at the output shafts on transmissions even on front wheel
> drive cars. The ignition modules fall into an also fit for many VW
> applications. In many situations a look alike part isn't necessarily an
> interchange but that part number will qualify it for you.
> If you're going in for an expensive shop built engine I'd suggest that
> you dig a little deeper and replace the fuel injectors, distributor, fuel
> pressure regulator, ignition wires, fuel lines, clutch if you got one,
> temperature sensors and senders, oil pressure senders.
> If you have known to be good parts because you've had them serviced or
> tested you can skip those replacements.
> To many of you that have hung in this far, this might have sounded like a
> unnecessary scolding for something by an old fool with too much time on
> his hands.
> I must say at this point; I was absolutely astounded at the performance
> of the pure stock Air Cooled VW engine after giving the external
> components as much consideration as I did the internal engine parts.
> Try it .............. you'll like it.
>
> Stan Wilder
> 83 Air Cooled Westfalia
>
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