Hey,
        Food for thought. I had a similar problem with a 74 westy that i
have as a project except it was ok to marginal on the compresion test,
however i did not think of doing a compresion leak test.  A compresion leak
test will measure how much pressure it will hold giving you a good idea of
what to look for internally in our case the old solex carbs leaked gas into
the crank case and toasted all the rings.  In your case it may not be the
same case but it is a good sugestion to check it out.  Also adjust your
valves it may help out.
Later,
Adrian

-----Original Message-----
From: Joel D Shortlidge [mailto:shortlid@JUNO.COM]
Sent: Friday, December 10, 1999 10:11 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Shaft and compression

Hey Volks,
        Well my brother got back the shaft for his Syncro from the drive
line
place!  It was balanced with washers and had new U-joints installed. It
was $198 but it has a 90 day guarantee.
        Also my brother tested the compression on his '87 Syncro.  He
followed
all the directions for the tester and it read 90 psi, 90psi, 80,
84!!!!!!!  he got these same #'s three times!  No wonder it is so %#%$%#@
 SLOW!!!  I can't belive it even RUNS!!!  The BIG book says between
184psi and 140 MIN!!  This engine block has 150,000 miles on it, it was
rebuilt professionaly by a local VW guru 40,000 miles ago!  It does not
burn a drop of oil or coolant and starts and runs fine!  It just doesn't
have any real power, but it will do 70 mph on a flat away.  So what do
you think? valves? rings? bad reading?
        I will e-mail once the shaft is installed.

PS. E-mail me directly I am off the list right now!

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