Hi everyone,
The e-mail below is from Tom Carrington.  I had e-mailed him regarding a
1982 diesel Westy that had a 1986 1.8 Jetta engine installed in it.  Not
being familiar with these conversions (my previous buses were all early '70s
type II's), I had a few questions about the car.  Tom answered them very
well, but he also suggested that I send mail to this list to see if anyone
in the area (San Jose, CA) could help.  Below is my original e-mail to Tom,
his response, and my response back to him.

Thanks in advance,
jeff

>
> Hi Tom,
>
> I was looking at your web page today and I thought that maybe you could
> answer a
> couple of questions for me.
>
> I am thinking of buying a 1982 Westy that has a water-cooled 1986 Jetta
1.8
> fuel
> injected gasoline engine in it. The conversion was done in 1991 and there
> are 40k
> miles on the rebuilt Jetta engine. I took it for a test drive and
everything
> seemed OK,
> except the acceleration was a little sluggish and the overall response of
> the engine
> seemed a little slow.
>
> The owner told me that the fuel injectors needed to be "tuned up."  I
asked
> him if
> that meant having them cleaned, having the spray pattern adjusted or
> whatever, and
> he said they just needed to be "tuned up."  If I did that, he said, it
would
> run better
> and I would get about 1/3 more horsepower.  He also said that the angle of
> the
> accelerator cable caused some drag on the pedal (which I noticed).
>
> I guess my question is, are these conversions problematic?  The bus itself
> is in
> incredible shape; it looks almost brand new, inside and out.  But I don't
> want to buy
> something that will have a lot of mechanical problems.  Do these
conversions
> have a
> history of mechanical problems?  Also, if I take it to a mechanic, will he
> know how
> to work on it, or will he look at it and say, "What the hell is this?"
>
> Thanks for your help,
> Jeff

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Carrington [mailto:tcarrington@relitech.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 1999 1:09 PM
> To: jmannino@etrade.com
> Subject: Re: Diesel Vanagon Conversion
>
>
> Jeff:
>
> Be sure to get a compression check run on the engine. That bit about
> getting the injectors "tuned up" sounds like hogwash. If it would
> increase the power by 1/3, why doesn't he do it?
>

That's a good question.  I think probably because he is kind of like a
middleman.  He works for one of those car charities where people donate
their cars and they fix them up  and resell them.  This one was donated by
the original owner and the guy doesn't want to auction it off because he's
afraid some dealer or reseller might come in and lowball him, and he says
he'd like to get what the car is worth.  In other words, it's not really his
car, so I don't think he wants to put any work into it.

> Another good way to test the engine is to use a pair of
> *PLASTIC* pliers
> and pull off, one at a time, the spark plug wires from the
> engine while
> it is runnning at idle. Pull it off, and the RPM of the engine should
> drop noticably. Put the wire back on the spark plug, and go
> try the next
> one in line. If you pull the wire off one of the cylinders,
> and there is
> no decrease in RPM, that cylinder is not working. COuld be a clogged
> injector, no spark or *worst case* a serious engine problem.
>

I was thinking of that.  I have a compression tester, but I didn't think to
bring it with me.  The engine sounded pretty tight.  It loped at first, but
once the cold start valve kicked the idle down, it hummed pretty smoothly.

> With the 1.8 engine and stock sized tires, the engine should not be
> sluggish at all!
>

I agree.  He said it was due to the throttle cable, which has a weird angle
to it because the engine is mounted sideways.  I'd say it has about a 230+
degree angle to it, which would definitely cause some drag.  The pedal did
feel stiff, and in fact I stalled it a few times because I was not pressing
hard enough on the pedal.

> Be careful before parting with your money, and maybe insist
> that as part
> of the deal, the owner get the "tune up" on the injectors done for
> you...and don't take delivery or give more than a $100
> deposit until he
> does!
>

Also a good idea; I've done that in the past. I'll bring it up and see what
he says.

> You could also send a message to vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com and ask for
> assistance. Just tell the people where you live, and one of the nearly
> 1,000 people that will receive the mail will probably
> volunteer to help
> you out.
>

I will do exactly that.  Thanks for the tip

> Good luck and let me know how it goes!
>

I will and thanks again!

Jeff