Mike -

Mine must be an exception then.  My 84 Westy came "bone-stock" with the
plastic square filter BEFORE the pump and the metal cannister AFTER the
pump.  Confirmed this with the original owner.  And I have continued to run
it this way since.  The plastic filter is changed every 2 oil changes
(they're cheep).  If the plastic filter is left on for too many miles, the
pump starts to whine.  Changing the plastic filter has eliminated the whine
every time.  Although ETKA is less clear about it, the original parts fiche
shows this arrangement on *most* Vanagons through 1985.  The 86-91 fiches
show just an adaptor fitting in the filter's place.

Later Vanagons didn't come with the plastic pre-filter because later
production and current fuel pumps are supposed to have a mesh screen to keep
contaminates at bay.  However, if this gets clogged and the pump starts to
whine, the only way to clean it is to remove the pump and rinse the inlet
out.
--
Jim Thompson
84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
oldvolkshome@gmail.com
http://www.oldvolkshome.com
jim@airheadparts.com
***********************************
On Sat, Nov 1, 2008 at 6:50 AM, Mike Collum <collum@verizon.net> wrote:

> Allan Streib wrote:
>
>> Does the '84 have a filter before the pump?  My '91 does not, the hose
>> from the tank goes straight to the pump, and *THEN* to the filter.
>>
>
> "Stock" '84s have a square plastic (low pressure) fuel filter between
> the tank and the pump and don't have the metal (high pressure) filter
> between the pump and the engine.
>
> Mike
>