terrys a good guy.......i have bought from him, with no
complaints......sometimes he will make stuff just because it makes him
happy...........yep......james

Jay Roth wrote:

>I'm new to the Vanagon world so I subscribed to as many groups/lists as I
>could. This one came today from the Westfalia group on Yahoo. I don't know
>if any of you also subscribe, but I see this author did NOT include this
>very active Vanagon Mailing list.
>
>So, taking this for what it's worth, you may find it interesting or not at
>all. The author, Terry, seems to be very active on the other lists and has a
>few items of interest for sale on his website (I'm not endorsing, I'm
>exploring their quality). If you know of his products and can offer some
>feedback about them, I'd be interested in knowing.
>
>Love, Light & Laughter,
>Jay
>'87 Westy
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: CTOnLine@webtv.net [mailto:CTOnLine@webtv.net]
>Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 9:28 AM
>To: Vanagon@yahoogroups.com; Syncro@yahoogroups.com;
>Vanagon-Westfalia@Yahoogroups.com; VWVans@Yahoogroups.com;
>vwvanfulltimers@yahoogroups.com; WetWesties@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [Vanagon-Westfalia] The Possible Answer to A Bunch of Vanagon
>Problems
>
>
>Hey All,
>
>I thought I would share this experience with you--which I believe may be
>the cure to a multitude of "Vanagon Syndrome" idiosyncrasies.
>
>My 87 Westy ran pretty good--but suffered from real poor fuel economy, (
>13-14 mpg at best ) sometimes it would die upon starting it, and would
>only start again after putting the hammer down until it fired again--but
>then it would run OK.
>Sometimes it had an erratic idle--but not all the time, and at best it
>would cruise at no more than 75 mph and this was with zero headwind--
>If I was running into the wind--at best, I'm talking 65 mph--and this is
>with the pedal mashed.
>Ok--after talking to innumerable folks on any list--I started replacing
>all, and every electrical component on or around the engine--filter's ,
>timing, everything except the ECU.
>Things were getting better--but the fuel consumption was terrible and
>this really had me stumped--until last weekend.
>
>My J-Pipe to the engine pipes had a small leak--pft--pft--pft, and I
>thought possibly this cold be giving the oxy sensor a bad reading, so I
>went to work--
>The pipe flanges were tweaked, so I ground them, filed them, basically
>tried to make the match the J-Pipe mating surface perfectly so the new
>gaskets would seal good.
>
>Success--the joint wasn't leaking so homeward bound I go--the Van
>wouldn't get out of it's own way--throttle response was terrible, and it
>seemed real poochie--no gotaine, slow.
>
>I'm thinking--"there is some restriction here, and the only thing that
>could do that would be the converter".
>
>Before I got home the exhaust leak was back at the J-Pipe, and it was
>running better--I knew then this was it--
>
>So this last weekend I decided to replace my muffler (still original )
>the saddles, and the straps.
>As soon as I dropped the muffler and cat--and separated them--I took my
>drop cord and put it on one end of the converter--no light coming
>through---
>
>I took a 12" long sharp chisel and knocked out all of the rock inside
>the converter-and reinstalled all the new exhaust components--filed the
>J-Pipe and the engine exhaust flanges again--new gasket there--and fired
>her up--
>
>No exhaust leaks--tight--good--
>I head for home.
>
>I am elated at the difference in overall performance---like  the
>difference between night and day.
>
>Idles smooth--perfect.
>Cold starts are no big deal--it fires right up and doesn't die.
>Throttle response it fantastic, and here is the best--
>This Van has never seen 80 mph---I ran it down the road at 91 mph--( not
>long--just a high end blast)
>
>Now this is my thought process on this finding, and cure--
>While I am not condoning the removal of the converter's on your Vans--
>I am suggesting to a lot of you out there who have some sort of
>continuous running problems--that can't seem to be resolved, regardless
>what you do--this may be the missing piece of the puzzle.
>Figure it this way---how many of you have actually replaced the original
>converter on your over 100 k Van?
>
>Not too many I'd bet--and these things have such tiny passages in the
>stone that is suppose to clean up the exhaust--I can see where this
>would be a big problem in performance, and the engine running poorly if
>plugged up.
>
>My 85 has the converter gutted, and only because the stone self
>destructed--and was rattling, so I took the broken stone out and it has
>always ran real good--and gets good gas mileage.
>
>The 87 Westy I figured was just a heavier vehicle, and was doomed to
>poor fuel economy.
>
>I went for a ride Sunday--and the Westy is now getting 19 mpg--amazing !
>
>So--before you guys with the "Syndrome" problems start replacing all the
>electrical engine components first--I would suggest at least removing
>the converter and inspecting it--you might save yourself a bunch of
>money--and aggravation.
>
>
>Later,
>
>            ______________
>           |[  ] [  ] [ ]\
>           |    |    |    |
>     ~~~ ~||-(())----(())-|
>
>Terry--
>
>       "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom"
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>http://community.webtv.net/CTONLINE/terryshighonlifepage
>
>
>
>http://community.webtv.net/VanStuff/VanagonWestfalia
>
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