Well, after only 7 months my '84GL is once again rolling down the road after
a complete engine rebuild. I started out with the intention of just
replacing the heads, but broken head studs and a desire to "do it right" led
me down the path to complete dis-assembly. Some of you may recall my
questions about the head studs back around Christmas - I'll be posting a
short note on that subject soon.

My thanks go to all those of you out there who've answered questions and
provided the ongoing dialog and ideas that make it feasible for amateurs to
tackle the big jobs. People think I'm nuts doing a rebuild, but with the
back-up of    folks here, the confidence to do it comes easily.

The engine started up perfectly and runs fairly well, no lifter clatter or
any mechanical clashes, and it sounds good. Nice feeling, cause it had been
about twenty years since I had done this kind of job (That was a '72 Westy).

I do have a little bit of uneven running, and it's also running a bit rich.
It seems to run better with the O2 sensor unplugged. Any thoughts out there?
The uneven operation manifests itself as a *slight* power loss and/or surge
as the power comes back during constant speed driving.

One item I will be taking care of is the capacitor addition to the ECM -
it's never been done. I have had occasional  stumbling problems over the
years (I've had this van from new), but it responded to re-seating
connectors and always went away. I figure that by adding the cap I'll never
have any problem from that area.

Once again, thanks to all for your help and inspiration!

Cliff Ober