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Subject:Re: TenCentLife TPS experience??
From:Scott Daniel - Turbovans
Date:Tue, 5 Oct 2010 16:45:47 -0700

hi Karl.
sure, 'yes' on both.

I installed the electro/pneumatic TPS unit ..
on one of his engines.  ( more below on that ) ..

My first thought on that unit ..
that it senses idle position of the throttle plate by measuring air
pressure/vacuum ..
and responds to that .........and that  has to be far superior to depending
on a mechanical switch ..
considering that throttle bodies wear, that the mechanical micro switches or
their mounting can wear etc. It's using electronics to transcend the
limitations of mechanical devices...always a leap forward.

And installing one of Chris Corkin's 'better waterboxer 2.2' engines I
emailed with him a bunch.
The guy is one smart dude in my opinion. I am seldom impressed ....but I am
with Chris..
articulate, gives excellent directions, for example, on installing his oil
cooler kit ..
I can tell he really gives it  200 % effort.

the engine was just perfect.  Flawless even.
He's thorough about break instructions and break in oil..and so forth.

About the electro/pneumatic switch.
On this particular van and engine .........
part of the story is that this van was  a rusted to near  death 91 Syncro
.....needing just 'everything' ....
so 'most' parts on it ......were either missing, broken, or just very tired.

I put the original throttle body back on.
Oddly, the air bypass screw on it had minimal affect on idle rpm.
The pneumatic switch seemed to be working, there's a small red LED on it
..showing it gets power.
the van idled well enough ...
just didn't seem to respond to the air bypass screw...both before I put on
the gizmo and afterwards.

Whether that throttle body was faulty, or clogged, or whatever  I didn't
find out - the van needed dozens and *dozens* ( ! ) of things done to it
just to be able  to install engine and trans ..
so feeling like I put about 50 extra hours into it I wasn't about to go
digging in yet another system or part , since I'd already given away so much
time on that job.

I asked Chris about the idle...if he had any thoughts.
It 'sounded' different  to me too.
it also had new Dune Buggy/racing  type headers on it .........thought that
might be a factor in the idle quality or sound.

 He told me that VW uses a cam that gives a nice idle, and that he uses a
cam that has a slightly different cam profile ...........that gives less of
an optimum idle but a nicer power band.
It idled just fine .
but not like a stock waterboxer quite.
and it ran very well.  'Bout the best waterboxer I've ever driven.

As far as I could tell, the idle switch gizmo worked...
and Chris is a super meticulous engine builder, and his engine is 'The'
enhanced waterboxer engine I recommend these days .........the only one
actually.

Scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Wolz" <wolzphoto@Q.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2010 4:17 PM
Subject: TenCentLife TPS experience??

> Does anyone here have any experience with the electrical TPS made by
> tencentlife?  Or, for that matter, anyone had any dealings with the
> indivicual hiding behind the odd name?
>
>
>
> I need a TPS, and his unit might just be superior to our adjustable ones.
>
>
>
> TIA,
>
>
>
> Karl Wolz