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GoWesty 2.4 install and suspension rebuild
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mariusstrom
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 5:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jetpoweredmonkey wrote:
Marius there are already two seals between the final drive and AT, do you mean the torque converter seal? It looks like there might be room for two in there although the original was still leak-free at 150K!!

Erp, sorry - search tells me double seals for the torque converter..

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6403891&highlight=torque+converter+seal#6403891
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jetpoweredmonkey
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Marius, I had one torque converter seal on hand so I went ahead with using only that one, hopefully I won't regret it. The seal is really easy to install so I'm not worried about it at this point.

More progress! Got the transmission reassembled with new back to back seals, output seals and torque converter seal. Lots of scraping and scrubbing got the cases looking good, not perfect, but the whole thing looks quite a bit better with a coat of paint. I also cleaned up the torque converter carefully but didn't paint it for fear of balance issues. Installing the converter is easy, click-click-click as it engages the various splines, and it's ready to go. Once I get everything back into the chassis, I'll pull the AT section pan off and change the filter and gasket.

Stripped and repainted the throttle actuation rod and lubed the bushing. Some time ago I had trouble with the kickdown spring at the throttle body wanting to shoot the clip off the rod, so I replaced the clip with a two-piece bolt on clamp that will NEVER come off. I also shortened the spring slightly, I'm not sure what's up with that, but it would coil bind before you could get the throttle into the kickdown position. I'm not sure whether it was the original. Much better now.

Also installed the new GW gear reduction starter. It looks far too small to do the job but I'm sure it will work fine. I like that the connection for the solenoid trigger is moved into the engine compartment so you can see what you're doing. The old alternator feed wire to the starter was looking iffy so I added a Van Cafe alternator cable.

I am waiting for the feed pipe from the waterpump, the engine carrier bar and the tin to come back from the powdercoat shop, hurry up! The drivetrain is ready to bolt in otherwise.

Those new GW exhaust pipes are nice, they clear everything fine so far and I like that the front pipe doesn't bolt up to the crankcase anymore. That bracket was always a hassle to get aligned and I can't help but think that a heat path directly from the exhaust into the oil pan may not have been the best plan.

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P1050007 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Next on today's agenda was a thorough scrub down of the engine compartment which now looks like new. It's hard to know where to stop, though! All of the wiring connectors were inspected closely and no problems found, everything looks like new back there. I went through the whole compartment and disconnected every plug to spray Deoxit on the contacts.

Moving up front, I pulled out the old radiator. If you haven't done this job, it's not too bad. Before you start, study the various wires and hoses. You will need to disconnect the wiring to the fan and pull it out of the way, and remove the cardboard cover over the throttle linkage as well as the front mounting point for the air conditioning hoses. Don't disconnect those from the condensor! Once that's all out of the way, you can remove the radiator brackets and drop the whole thing out as a unit. Be careful you don't drop it on your face! The assembly is pretty heavy to wrangle out of its slot.

The old radiator was showing signs of corrosion and a small leak at the bottom so it was time. Got the new one situated and while it was out, I cleaned the condensor using compressed air, no point in putting in a new radiator if you have a bunch of crud blocking the airflow. While I was under there, I installed a new throttle cable, I forgot to disconnect the old one from the transmission bracket and it got badly kinked when I was removing the drivetrain. Also put in the new transmission mount.

Here's the front end looking a little naked, yes it's really that clean in there after a quick wipe down!

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P1050003 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr
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jetpoweredmonkey
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 11:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lots of progress this week and haven't stopped to post anything on the thread. Here we go. Just to prove that I'm doing all the work myself - here's a shot of me in my office.

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photo by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Got the new SA radiator mounted up with new GW air deflectors. They are made out of plastic and look like they will last 1000 times longer than the cardboard originals. The bottom one is still VW OEM, cardboard, but at least it's easy to replace once it rots out. It needed to be trimmed to clear the air conditioning hoses. All installed with new stainless hardware.

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P1050009 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

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P1050010 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

I have a question for you guys, my cooling system is now 99% new - all new plastic fittings in the engine compartment, thermostat housing, rear heater core, main cooling pipes, heater hoses, all rubber - except for the front heater core. I had planned on replacing it as preventive maintenance probably next winter. It *looks* like I might be able to get the last little bit of cooling hose (between core and valve, core and main heater hose junction) off it without pulling the dash, has anyone tried? Any problem using straight heater hose there or will it kink? The original hoses are molded.

Got the new stainless pipes installed and tried to put them back exactly like the originals. There were no instructions showing what pipe goes where. The rear pipes are obvious. I compared them to the old plastic pipes to make the determination. Although one of the ends was departing the original plastic pipes, surprisingly they were still not brittle and seemed to be in pretty good shape.

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P1050011 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

If you bend the wire holders open a little, you can get them to fit around the slightly larger stainless pipes, I think that is a good plan as they make for a strong connection to the body at the end of the pipes.

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P1050012 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

The pipe set was easy to match up even without comparing to the originals because the center joints are offset, so you can't really get it wrong. A nice feature as it also prevents the rubber couplers from pushing the pipes apart in the middle of the run. Not sure if they are all like that. This set came from Bus Depot. The hideous modern car in the background is NOT mine!

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P1050013 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Installed the Vanistan oil cooler into the base of the right side air intake duct. It fit perfectly, very easy to install.

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P1050014 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Serviced the drive axles. The CV joints were all in good condition, no pitting on any of the balls, a few shiny spots here and there but no play when assembled dry. They should be good for another 150K miles at least! I stripped the paint of the axles by hand and sanded them smooth, there was only a bit of surface rust. Paint is from a can, Ace brand "Appliance Epoxy" paint, it goes on thick and dries extremely smooth. No good for high temps but should work fine on the axle shafts. All put together with new Lobro boots and hardware. I am saving the old boots just in case the new ones turn out to be of lower quality. The originals are 20 years old and still looking good. The boot kit came with CV grease that does not inspire a lot of confidence. I think I will pack the joints with Red Line.

The joints came off the axles with moderate persuasion from a hammer and drift and went back on the same way, no problem. Splines all look great, not surprising since my poor old engine wasn't exactly putting them to the test.

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P1050019 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

I changed to VC springs some time back and noticed a missing bump stop on the left rear. How on earth it came out of the spring is a mystery but the welds that were left behind did not look to have been particularly effective. You can see how the spring has been walking back and forth on the bulkhead, not good! Today I went to the junkyard and stole a bump stop off another Vanagon. I also liberated its upper shock pads and I plan to install two pads on the left rear to help level the van (because of the Westy gear).

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P1050016 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Used bump stop prepped for install.

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P1050017 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Installed with a crappy borrowed flux core welder. The battery is already disconnected, but before welding I removed the Digifant computer as a precaution. I'll go back and clean up the welds, then rust proof the area.

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P1050018 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

The VC springs were definitely a handling upgrade over the OEM, but they look kind of puny next to the GW springs. On the other hand, they are not really designed to be lifting springs. Can't wait to try these beauties out! The suspension arm drops plenty far enough to install the GW springs without needing to compress them. If your van isn't all in pieces you will probably need to remove one end of the drive axle to allow enough drop, though.

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P1050020 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

I bought an axle bearing whacker the other day and then thought better of it. I decided to splash out for a 3/4" air impact gun, a cheapie from the Chinese tool store but it will only see use on the Vanagon and that will be few and far between, so it should last me darn near forever. It was $75, money well spent to avoid the aggravation of removing those big ol' nuts.

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P1050021 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr
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jetpoweredmonkey
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Today I extracted the rear trailing arms, disassembled the bearing housings and rear brakes, and cleaned the grunge off of all those pieces. I'm beat. No pictures yet because I ran out of light! Tomorrow I will drop off the arms and bearing housings at Kombi Haus to have new bearings and bushings installed.

Nothing was rusted and all of the bolts came out looking more or less like new. Got to love those California Vanagons!

The cheap Chinese impact wrench paid for itself on its very first outing by effortlessly whacking the axle nuts free in about one second per side. WHY OH WHY did I wait so long!!
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jetpoweredmonkey
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Busy couple of weeks, whew...got the drivetrain reinstalled:

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P1050022 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Rear suspension and brakes reinstalled, touched up the undercoating in the rear fender wells and added undercoating inside the spring bulkhead on both sides. The brake shoes and springs had few miles on them and were re-used, but I put in new wheel cylinders. The drums appear to be original and have very little wear with 150K miles - not bad. Stripped and repainted the drums, brake plates and bearing housings but left the hubs alone. The trailing arms still had all of their factory paint so they got a good rub-down and a fresh coat of VHT satin epoxy suspension paint. I re-used the old lower spring pads but now I see that Burley has a set of new ones for sale, might have sprung for those instead had I known. The 3/4" drive impact gun did the trick again, ten seconds per side to install the axle nuts - rattle them on briefly then turn up the power to align the nut with the cotter pin hole. NICE.

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P1050024 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Looking pretty good underneath. Re-used my Van Cafe oil pressure gauge fittings after a good cleaning and freshly sealed threads. I installed it with a T-fitting so I could run the stock low pressure switch to avoid false alarms, because the low pressure switch on the VDO sender is slightly different. I don't remember the PSI spec off hand. Note to VC if you are reading this, shorten the hose and ship it with an adapter that screws into the crankcase first, it is a royal PITA to tighten that little hose end crammed in next to the pushrods!!

The tin is powdercoated in "chrome" color, the closest I could find to the original aluminum finish. Looks nice. I clearanced the front of the left side pushrod tin to accommodate the oil cooler hoses which I will install after break-in. O2 sensor was new recently so I left it alone. The cat is the GW stainless California version.

Ran out of exhaust gaskets before I put the drivetrain in, so I installed the collector and J-pipe afterward, which allowed me to tweak the position of the muffler a bit. Both of those parts are Dansk and were coated in high-temp ceramic. Exhaust is bolted in with stainless fasteners. The GW exhaust system fit up with no drama, no fiddly mounting brackets, and it tucks up a lot nicer than the old system. Why buy Dansk exhaust manifolds at almost the same price, this is the only exhaust you need (unless you can swing for the RMW/Vanistan!). The Dansk have lousy paint that will burn right off and then they begin to rust. The front crossover pipe actually fits up between engine and transmission and is no longer a low point, GW makes note that the same exhaust fits the Syncro as well. Very nice.

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P1050026 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Wiring and hoses all routed and installed, compressor and PS pump mounted, new German coolant pressure reservoir installed, filled the crankcase and filter with standard 20W/50 and pressure bled the cooling system with phosphate-free blue Pentosin which I found on sale at Napa of all places! Keeping it German!

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P1050027 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

One interesting item on my van was a ground wire running from the AFM to engine block ground. It was obviously added somewhere along the line, not at the factory. My engine also has the VW AFM "filter cable". I have never read anything about adding a ground path for the AFM but it seems like a good plan and I have never had any drivability problems, so I made a new ground wire to replace the old brittle one while I had things apart. There is a threaded hole on the back side of the AFM that the wire bolts up to. I also noticed that a ground wire had been added to the Digifant connector plug (the big one under the seat). Belt and suspenders against Vanagon syndrome by some thoughtful dealer or mechanic, maybe?

Because of the oil cooler I added in the right air duct, the ICV black box had to be relocated. I made a mount out of aluminum sheet which hangs behind the cruise control pump mount, no extra holes in the body needed. Since the black box is now easily accessible, that should pretty well guarantee it will never go bad. I'll get a photo of the mount.

She is back on all four wheels and next up is front end disassembly. With two spring pads under the left rear, I have 18.25" axle to fender on the left and 18.75" on the right. My cabinets are mostly empty as are the water and propane tanks, so I'd say the extra spacer was a good move. Will check again after I put a few miles on the new springs.

The old oil filler tube sucks. It is a bit loose and leaks a drop between the plastic filler tube and metal lower tube. I see new ones are available around $100, ouch - any way to stop mine from leaking?
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Last edited by jetpoweredmonkey on Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:19 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Zero419
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 4:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sooo CLEAN!

Where is the rust?
Even your radiator mounts are clean!
The radiator fan housing is clean.
Has this van ever been driven in the rain?
This whole van looks new!
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
The old oil filler tube sucks. It is a bit loose and leaks a drop between the plastic filler tube and metal lower tube. I see new ones are available around $100, ouch - any way to stop mine from leaking?


Silicone Gorilla tape tightly wrapped a few turns to cover the joint. Use a wire tie or hose clamp around the free end to keep it from unraveling. Seals those buggers right up.

Looking good!
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jetpoweredmonkey
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 10:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Chris. That's what I needed!

Zero - as a lifelong California resident, we don't even KNOW what rust is around here. I do not own a nut splitter and have never needed one. Smile I think my Westy is pretty exceptional, but you don't have to look long to find one without any rust.

Now, don't go getting any ideas about poaching our California vans!
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Atadloco
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 3:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is one clean rig, great job on the build.
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Zero419
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 4:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jetpoweredmonkey wrote:
Thanks Chris. That's what I needed!

Zero - as a lifelong California resident, we don't even KNOW what rust is around here. I do not own a nut splitter and have never needed one. Smile I think my Westy is pretty exceptional, but you don't have to look long to find one without any rust.

Now, don't go getting any ideas about poaching our California vans!


Aside from rust, I don’t see road grime, or any sign of actual use.
It looks as if it came off of the assembly line.

Seriously one beautiful ride.

OK, I’m done.

I’m running the same springs and shocks. I changed all the front end bushings and other replaceable components. I took it in for an alignment and only got about 10,000 miles out of the front tires. Worn outside of passenger, worn inside of driver. I think I need to take it somewhere else.

I hope your results differ.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 9:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Zero. She is a pretty nice rig, that's for sure.

Big update today! Had the van towed to a friend's German repair shop to do the first start-up, DRJ Performance in Sacramento. I had to do it at a friend's shop so I could hover and not get kicked out of the service bay. I don't trust anyone to do this part but myself, but I want that GW warranty! Felt kind of bad - half of the shop came out to ogle the install and the rest of the van. That's right boys, look all you want, but this one's MINE!

She started on the second try after fuel made it through the lines, oil pressure came up on the first try and she settled right in to a nice smooth idle! The guys set the timing and tweaked the idle speed just a bit, let things warm up all the way once, topped up the coolant (lost about 1/3 of the reservoir, not bad), and ran at 1500RPM for 15 minutes. Then road tested - like buttah! Oil pressure is 15-20PSI at idle, hot, and 50PSI at around 3000RPM. Looks good. Temp gauge stays at the bottom of the LED and barely climbs at all when stopped - bit of a change from my old radiator. The shop signed off on my install and I drove home for a thorough front to back inspection looking for leaks and issues.

And found a big one. The torque converter seal leaked! Damn. I pulled out the Bentley to see where I might have gone wrong. Found the problem. The manual states to "drive the seal in fully" using the SPECIAL TOOL. You know, the one that NOBODY has. What it fails to state is that the seal should be installed flush with the housing, not driven down to the bottom. I think this part of the transmission might have been designed by a British engineer. That's what I get for not writing myself a note about where the old seal lived. Oh well - disappointed but motivated by the new found power and smoothness, I obtained another TC seal, dropped the trans, popped it in and buttoned her back up within a couple of hours. So, all those thinking that two torque converter seals are the answer - I've got news for you, seal #1 does nothing, although it does act as a nice spacer to put seal #2 in the right place. So there's that.

OK, onward! I managed to put 150 miles on the beast since then. I took it out on some nice straight country roads and ran it up and down between 25-55 to help seat the new rings. It runs absolutely PERFECTLY. I haven't opened it up past about 1/2 throttle but even at that point it has way more power than my old engine did. It sounds and idles exactly the same, there is no indication at all that it is a bigger and badder version - a good thing in my book. Idle is very smooth. Even at 1/2 throttle it is accelerating up some hills where the old engine would just hold a steady speed. I am happy!

Last night I went around and checked the belts, looked for any leaks (none), re-torqued the exhaust manifolds, and got out the VOM to check all of the voltages and resistances at the computer plug just to make double sure everything was in spec. Coolant temp sender and AFM are looking good and talking to the computer just like they're supposed to. Making my way back to the engine compartment, I couldn't get a steady reading on the O2 sensor - strange, since it runs perfectly. I checked in with GoWesty to see if they ever found a need to tweak the AFM with the bigger engines, but their take was that if it's running great, don't mess with it. Good advice. I poked around for a while and could not account for the weird O2 voltage. I checked for vacuum leaks and was seriously contemplating popping the lid off the AFM until I got out my spare VOM and checked the test leads on my main one - and found a bad lead! Figures! With that cleared up, I found the O2 sensor was putting out the proper signal after all, and used that to ballpark the CO setting with the sensor disconnected. Sweet.

Feeling good about all readings being in spec, I took it to the smog shop this morning. For those of you who live in California and drive old but not smog exempt vehicles, you know how it is - the suspense is terrible. But, having rebuilt the fuel vapor system, and thoroughly checked all of the engine parameters, I was confident. And here are the results. Not too shabby!

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P1050031 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

So, at 150+ miles in, I am feeling the love for this engine. Getting on the freeway tonight I looked down and was already at 65 at the point where I used to be at 45 - and still trying to keep out of the gas! Whoa. Can't wait to put some more miles on so I can try WFO!! I do have a couple of flies in the ointment left to correct. The front heater valve has decided to stop shutting off completely. I got underneath and adjusted the cable, but no luck. I'll get a new one coming. And, the air conditioner seems to have misplaced some of its cold air - hmm. I'll probably go through and replace all of the o-rings and receiver. Anybody got a good thread?? AND, I got distracted from finishing my suspension project, so the front end is still making a racket. I'll have to pry myself away from driving it for a few days so I can do that job.
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16CVs Premium Member
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Those emissions numbers look like my Toyota . Unreal actually . I just had my tired 2.1 done and it JUST passed .
I am tempted by that same GW machine ,but my checkbook is holding me back .


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 10:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi jetpoweredmonkey
Love your work. You stated that you disassembled the breather tower, I didnt know it came apart. Could you advise how it comes apart as you cannot get these new any more and I suspect mine will also have lots of gunk in it. Regards Phil
jetpoweredmonkey wrote:
Got some good work done this weekend. My garage looks like Christmas, lots of boxes showed up this week! I did a lot of cleaning, checking, bead blasting and painting and got most of the ancillary bits bolted back up to the engine. The plating on all of the steel brackets was tired, so everything was bead blasted and painted in high temp satin black. All of the cooling hoses were recently new, as were the fuel lines, so I am reusing those although I did buy a new set of hoses for the oil cooler as they are a pain to change once the engine is mounted up and always look a bit fragile to me. I couldn't find them locally, but I plan to replace any old grungy hose clamps with some nice stainless Gemi clamps. GW included their alternator bracket beef-up kit and it bolted on with no problem and does look like it will strengthen that area of the case very well.

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P1040998 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

The distributor got a new cap and rotor and 20 years of grunge scrubbed off, and a new plug wire set. I also disassembled the breather tower and cleaned it really well, lots of crusty gunk came out of there. Throttle body and intake boot were cleaned well and the throttle pivots lubed, it still has very little play. The TPS was replaced with a Shoebox unit some time ago and it is going strong. Likewise the fuel injectors were cleaned about 6 months ago so I bolted them back in with new seals.

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P1040999 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

The power steering and A/C brackets cleaned up like new, along with most everything else - she's looking good! Bought a whole pile of shiny new fasteners to put it all together. In the mail this week came the Vanistan oil cooler, a box of miscellaneous goodies from Van Cafe, new stainless coolant pipes and radiator from Bus Depot, and I cashed out my store credit from the engine purchase at GoWesty on a new gear reduction starter and new engine mounts.

Lots of scrubbing and scraping on the crusty old transmission got it fairly clean and I'll pull it apart over the next couple of evenings to replace the back to back seals, and give it a coat of paint. I also have a set of axle seals I should probably put in. I noticed that the transmission mount was looking sketchy when I pulled out the drivetrain, so I ordered a new cheap one from Van Cafe, it looks just fine, hopefully it will hold up as well as the original.

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P1050002 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Easy project so far, but I had one setback today, the pulley key for the alternator disappeared, hopefully the FLAPS will have one for me. Tomorrow I will drop off the engine tin and a couple of steel parts to be blasted and powdercoated.
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jetpoweredmonkey
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was a little surprised at the low emissions numbers too - I credit a sharp tune up with all new parts, obviously the top end is in perfect condition, and that California cat definitely isn't hurting anything.

Luckyphil, you will see how the breather tower comes apart once you get it off the engine. The top cap does not come off, but there is a baffle inside that will come out for cleaning. In fact I think it just drops right out. I soaked it in Super Clean for a while, used a bottle brush and kept at it until I wasn't getting any more stuff out. Running it through the dishwasher might be a good way to loosen up the grunge too.
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jetpoweredmonkey
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Joined: September 20, 2004
Posts: 194
Location: Sacramento, CA
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have been REALLY enjoying driving the van this week but decided it was time to grit my teeth and finish the final piece of the puzzle (for now), rebuilding the front suspension. Driving on bumpy roads, the rear suspension is now nice and quiet but the racket coming out of the front is unreal. So I tore it down over the last couple of days and dropped off parts to have bushings and ball joints pressed out at Del's Machine Shop here in Sacramento. It's a real old-school machine shop, they do all kinds of work from heads, crankshaft grinding, you name it. Got all of the suspension bits removed, touched up the undercoating and now just waiting to get parts back.

I had already installed Powerflex bushings on the sway bar ends and steering rack. I put the sway bar bushings in with the supplied lubricant. Don't bother. It was all gone and those bushings were really squeaky. I took them apart and re-greased with Bel-Ray waterproof grease and they move a lot smoother. Steering rack is looking good with no leaks so I left it alone for now.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

P1050038 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

I borrowed a spring compressor like this one, I'm hoping I might not even need to use it up front since everything is apart. We'll see. Anybody used this kind? Does it work for the front end?

http://amzn.com/B003A18KCQ

Since I am waiting on parts today, I took the opportunity to fix a few annoying issues in the cockpit. First up was the cigarette lighter socket. I replaced it with one from GoWesty when I bought the van, it works fine with all of my gadgets, but it was always a sloppy fit in the dash. Went to the hardware store looking for some kind of shim or washer to put under the green illuminated bezel - the problem is that the tangs on the bezel are made for a thicker dash and there is no way to adjust them. I came up empty at the store but found a fix. I wrapped dental floss around the back side of the bezel until it was built up enough to take up the slack. Now it's a nice snug fit. I guess you could use wire or something instead but this worked great, it doesn't wobble at all, and you can't see it once installed. The "vintage" EMPI sticker has been on my dash for a while but finally seems (almost) relevant with the new engine.

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P1050037 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Next I took the Westfalia gauge panel apart for a couple of fixes. The voltage indicator had died some time ago and I had been wanting to change the fridge indicator to a blue LED. I removed both of the old ICs (they are the same), soldered in sockets and installed new chips. If they go bad again I can just pop a new one in place. The water tank indicator stopped working recently too, they are available again but at $70 I think I will monitor it manually for a while!

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P1050034 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

The blue LED is much easier to see than the old faint green one, even in direct sunlight. It might even make a halfway decent night light if you are camping somewhere dark. From the side it's not glaring, but visible. Nice.

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P1050035 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Moving out back, here's a shot of the idle speed black box mounted on an aluminum plate behind the cruise control pump. Simple. I drilled the plate and installed the black box using zip ties, it can't come loose and is easy to remove.

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P1050039 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Last item for the day was checking the belts. When I first bought the van, the water pump failed right after I had installed new belts. I'm pretty sure it was the original and was just worn out, but I have always been leery of tightening the belts too much since then. I would always leave the water pump/alternator belt just a tad loose and I could hear it slip just a little on start-up, very annoying. But there is no way to tell how much tighter the belt is if you put more tension on it and I decided I didn't want to risk killing a water pump. I finally bought a $10 Krikit gauge. The Bentley has no spec for belt tension in pounds or kilograms, unfortunately. But the instructions that came with the Krikit specify a minimum tension of 50 pounds for a v-belt and give suggested settings for various belt configurations. I checked my belts and found that all of them were well below 50 pounds. I set them all to 65 pounds as suggested by the Krikit manual and now I have no more squealing on start-up. Better than that, I also have a good indication of how much tension is on each belt. Replacing water pumps sucks!

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P1050041 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

I don't know how accurate the Krikit reading is, but I will say it is easily repeatable and at least I have an idea of how much tension stops the belts from slipping, so I can set them there from now on without worrying about overtightening.
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BillM
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Joined: June 18, 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 5:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think that spring compressor is going to work on your front springs.
It may but this one I know works
http://shop.ktcautotools.com/products/macpherson-strut-spring-compressor-bmw-toyota-honda
and won't damage the power coating on
the springs. Those 2wd lift springs are pretty long and I have not been
able to get them in without a compressor unlike stock springs that can be
installed simply by dropping the lower control arm.
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87 Westy
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jetpoweredmonkey
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Joined: September 20, 2004
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Location: Sacramento, CA
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, it's been a while since I updated this thread. That tends to happen when you have a good running Vanagon! We have been out camping in it every chance we get.

Couple of photos are all I had handy - finished the front end rebuild some time ago. That was a big, heavy, dirty job. But, the results are very worthwhile. All of the bushings are now Powerflex and the van rides and handles unbelievably better, and no more SQUEAKS!! Couple of shots of the front end.

I had Del's Machine turn the front rotors while they were installing the new ball joints for me. I plan to upgrade the brakes someday, but for now, I'll keep the old ones going for a bit. New Mintex pads, these work fine. The GW lifting springs went in with the spring compressor above, but I wouldn't recommend it. What a struggle. I managed not to ding up the powdercoat by being careful, but it was not a fun job. The "paddle" type compressor is what you want.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

P1050060 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

Detail of the Addco swaybar linkage. The bolt is longer than the one supplied with the swaybar. The bushing rides on the shouldered part of the bolt and I added large washers on each side so there is no chance of it coming off. The threads are completely covered by the nuts and under tension (nyloc nut on the end). This is the hardware that should probably come with the swaybar in the first place.

Lower ball joints are spendy Lemfoerders. Uppers were recently replaced with Karlyn brand (from my local import car wholesaler). The only good thing I can say about those was that they were very cheap. After less than 10K miles, both of their boots were torn. I could not find Lemfoerder upper joints, so I used Febi. These will accommodate a much larger angle of operation than the Karlyn. The boots are made of a soft plastic material. I'm not sure if that's good or not. At least the uppers are easy to replace.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

P1050062 by jetpoweredmonkey, on Flickr

So, my suspension setup - Heavy Duty Bilsteins, GW 1.5" springs, all Powerflex everywhere, and an Addco front swaybar. The van corners very flat and there is little nose dive on the brakes. With Powerflex bushings in the steering rack and those beefy springs, high speed handling is quite nervous. I blame the tires for this. I'm still running Vredestein Comtracs on my stock 14" alloys and although they are a high load capacity tire, there is a lot of sidewall there. I'm certain handling will improve 100% with larger wheels, which are next on the list. The suspension now feels like it is trying hard to be precise, but you can feel the tires screwing that up.

I had a recommendation to take the van to Warren Brake and Suspension for the alignment, which I did after driving around for a few hundred miles. $120 got me the four wheel treatment and for once, a shop got it right the first time! Now she goes down the road straight and the steering wheel is right in the center. Always nice to find a competent shop.

As for the engine, it has about 2000 miles on it now. I've changed the oil a few times, running standard non-synthetic oil, and I've hooked up the Vanistan oil cooler. The longest run I've had between oil changes has been 1000 miles, and no sign of any oil usage so far. Drivability is just perfect. I figure it has enough miles to put my foot into it now, and I am consistently surprised at how fast it will climb up a fairly steep on-ramp and be at or near freeway speed at the top. With a reasonably light foot (that's how I usually drive), I have seen a best of 17.5MPG and I'm averaging about 15MPG (GPS miles, not odometer) - just a hair better than the old 2.1, so essentially no change there.

Before hooking up the oil cooler, I did one quite steep hill climb on a very hot day (105), and watched the oil pressure drop from about 45PSI down to a bit under 40PSI (at 3000 RPM or greater). Last weekend, with the oil cooler hooked up, we climbed 10,000 foot Tioga Pass coming into Yosemite from the east side, and with foot to floor or close to it, made it up the pass at 30-35MPH. I actually caught up to a little Chevy hatchback! The temp gauge was right over the LED and the oil pressure never dropped below 45PSI at the very lowest. On a very hot day (100+), freeway cruising keeps the pressure at about 48-49 PSI.

I won't lie, up in the high Sierras, the power definitely tails off. Coming back out of the west end of Yosemite, we drove home on 49 on another HOT day, and I was amazed all over again at how much more power the 2.4 has down in the valley. We went up all the hills in top gear and she will hang on to that for a LONG time even on the really steep ones. Still not a threat to a SVX or 1.8T, but I am pretty darn happy.

One fly in the ointment so far - a small oil leak which appears to be coming from the case seam just behind the drain plug. In a couple of months of driving it has left one drip on the driveway. I am confident it's not coming from the plug, but not yet 100% sure it's not dripping down from somewhere behind the crankcase. Not real happy about this - I need to get under there and give it a good cleaning and see if I can tell for sure it's the seam. I'm guessing there won't be a good fix for this. But, if the engine keeps running the way it is now, I will try to look the other way.
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Last edited by jetpoweredmonkey on Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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reido
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My buddy and I camped next to you at Stumpy's a while back and I've been stalking your pics ever since! Glad to see you got the front end put in and (almost?) sorted out. I hope your search for the oil drip is on the easy side and lets you keep the van rolling. After all, you've got to keep those of us with lesser vehicles jealously drooling...you're helping me aspire to make mine a cleaner and more trip-worthy machine!
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jetpoweredmonkey
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Reid, good to hear from you! PM'd ya.
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slo356
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wonderful installation, attention to detail and workmanship on your rebuild. Would like to have a updated impression and report on the GW2.4 since you have now had it for a few more miles. Power and reliability still good? Have you any improvement on mpg range? Any issues or hassles with the SST exhaust?

Thanks for the thorough text, photos, examples and inspiration.

David
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