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Author Topic: Vanagon progress  (Read 63629 times)

Reply #30April 20, 2008, 06:33:11 am

Anonymous

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Vanagon progress
« Reply #30 on: April 20, 2008, 06:33:11 am »
Hi all, :D

first time post, been lurking in the shadows for 12 months researching aaz & 1z stuff when I found this thread. I registered so I could post and say:


CHRIS, sort that exhaust out ASAP: :shock:  with the end of that down pipe not properly attached it allows sideways movement which could rip your turbo apart.

Ask me how I know?

I ran my 1.6td syncro bus (read Vanagon) with the same setup, until 5 days ago when the downpipe sheared 2 studs off the turbo then promptly levered the turbo until something cracked and dropped oil and water everywhere. I write this post whilst my Syncro stands on the drive, looking at me with a tear in her eye (headlamp?), cos her engine is dead :(

By the way, apart from the above, keep up the good work :)

Reply #31April 20, 2008, 12:40:38 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #31 on: April 20, 2008, 12:40:38 pm »
How do you mean? Plans are to brace the turbo to the block, similar to the JX engine. Right now the K24 is solidly mounted to the block via Quantum method. Otherwise I have one more rubber mount to support the exhaust pipe but I wanted to get it squared away otherwise.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #32April 20, 2008, 02:35:15 pm

Anonymous

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Vanagon progress
« Reply #32 on: April 20, 2008, 02:35:15 pm »
Hi Chris,

Don't want to send this thread off on a tangent so I'll PM you about it.

Reply #33April 30, 2008, 06:12:17 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #33 on: April 30, 2008, 06:12:17 pm »
Alamo came through and got the correct kit to me. Now maybe I'll be up and running by this weekend.


New thrust surfaces and spacer - it's the little guy that I lost:
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #34May 01, 2008, 11:45:55 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #34 on: May 01, 2008, 11:45:55 pm »
Compressor inlet adapter - takes the small K14 inlet up to the K24 size to fit my existing intake bonnet. This will be changed in the next phase of upgrades:


Complete:


Pretty much together:


Installed:


I took a quick run, about a mile down the highway to fill up a low tire then back home.

Initial results:
Boost maxes out at just over 10psi. Wastegate is lapped clean, spring preload screw backed out all the way. Hopefully I can dial in another 2psi with the screw and not need a boost controller.
EGT was about 400 at idle and cruise, climbed to 1200 before I backed out, on flat ground at 10psi. I need to spend a few hours tinkering with the fueling and boost to find a good balance between heat and driveability.

Overall feel is very nice. I think the van's been down too long and I've become accustomed to the powerband of my work car and my rocketCaddy. I can't wait to get some seat time in with the new setup.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #35May 02, 2008, 10:42:54 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #35 on: May 02, 2008, 10:42:54 pm »
Dial-a-boost worked for another 2 psi - now I'm at 12 psi total which was my original goal to keep combustion pressure reasonable. This seemed to help with EGT a little as well, I saw 1100 degrees on my quick cruise around town.

Now with a full (not quite) 4 miles of test time, I'm gonna make a run over the hill into Panamint Valley for a night or two. Fuel is better than $5 over that way, I'm sure my half tank will get me there and back.

On a wing and a prayer!
Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #36May 03, 2008, 09:51:31 am

Luckypabst

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« Reply #36 on: May 03, 2008, 09:51:31 am »
We got there just fine with little issue.

Right off, the wastegate malfunctioned and I was bouncing off the BOV at about 13.5 psi - this is not fun and requires that you drive by the boost gauge to keep from dumping boost. I'm thinking maybe my several minutes of cold-enging testing on flat ground wasn't enough work to see full boost. Or something like that. I need to spin the WG screw a little bit to get it right.

EGT stayed good the whole time, even on the long climb over the mountains. I was seeing 1200 degrees if I pushed it hard, 1000 degrees more consistently. I wonder if a cold engine has potential for higher EGT for the increased amount of unburned fuel?

Holding 60 in a light head wind made a steady 10 psi boost - I was expecting less but the engine was working a bit. I was able to hold 4th gear probably for 80% of the sections that previously required 3rd, staying between 50 and 55 mph instead of 40 - 45 mph.

EGT gauge was acting foolish. Apparently those things are very sensitive (amplified Autometer with Isspro thermocouple). The simple ground path is this: shared ground with gauge pilot lights, then shared with stereo head unit. I found out that flipping the high beams, stepping on the brakes or using the stereo caused the gauge to drop to zero and usually hang there. Turning the stereo up to the right spot caused the gauge needle to bounce with the subwoofer (oooo - dual purpose gauge!). So apparently this thing needs a dedicated ground and the notoriously poor VW electric system might need a little freshening up.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #37May 03, 2008, 08:25:31 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #37 on: May 03, 2008, 08:25:31 pm »
Yea, the foot-based boost control isn't too bad. I'd still rather not have to think about it, tomorrow I'll tweak it a little more and see what happens. I'd also like to de-tension the LDA spring a bit - boost comes on slow to about 5psi then builds pretty fast after that.

My last thought for today - the intake is pretty noisy now, sounds like a hammer as described in a different post. Air filter is a scabbed Honda thing with an exposed filter element, so I'd expect it to be loud. I just don't think swapping turbos would change the noise. I think that the noise is from crankcase pulsing through the breather tube - I unplugged the vent hose as part of the swap - that's my theory at least.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #38May 05, 2008, 10:57:26 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #38 on: May 05, 2008, 10:57:26 pm »
Hmm - I don't hear the intake noise any more, now it's back to the way it was. Maybe I'll take a look at things tomorrow but I kinda like how it is.

The van ran great over the weekend but just didn't feel like it had the oomph I was expecting and I was suspicious about the accelerator cable (I think I may have the wrong bracket at the IP, but that's a different puzzle). Today I got under there and adjusted things so I can actually hit the full throttle stop and now it's a rocket ship! A heavy, brick-like, marginally powered rocket ship but it's far far better than before all this work. It's a pleasure to drive and I can see all the clenched teeth two-lane roads being a thing of the past.

I should now turn the fuel down a touch but I might run through a tank of fuel to see what the mileage is how it stands. It does want to throw off some heat climbing hills so I gotta watch things but EGTs seemed under control on level highway. This has lit a fire under my butt to install the intercooler - as soon as I have this group of upgrades ironed out and finalized.

I wonder how it'll run if I ever get around to adjusting the valves...

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #39May 05, 2008, 10:59:33 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #39 on: May 05, 2008, 10:59:33 pm »
Oh - I was able to consistently, reliably hold 11.5-12 psi by adjusting the wastegate spring preload. I wonder if lapping the valve helped with the accuracy of that adjustment? BOV hits at about 13.5 psi so I think I'll leave things as-is for now.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #40May 18, 2008, 11:27:29 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #40 on: May 18, 2008, 11:27:29 pm »
A little rambling update:

On the EGT gauge catching interference from other electric items - I've run the ground across to the ground bus on the left A-pillar, behind the dash and taken power through a relay to the big wire that used to supply power to the camper goodies. All the connections at the ground bus and the two ground buses themselves have been cleaned to insure good contact. Ground straps have been removed and cleaned back at the engine, power wires at the battery have been removed and cleaned. About all this has accomplished is reduced needle flutter caused by the radio. Brake lights and headlights still send the needle to zero, sometims a quick blip, sometimes hanging at zero until I turn off the ofensive electical load. Upcoming headlight relays might help somewhat but otherwise I'm baffled.

I've installed a boost controller - the "Xcliber" off of ebay. Was pretty easy to bump up to 14 then 15 psi. 14 psi helped a bit with EGT but I think I need to tinker with fueling a bit at this point. 15 psi made little noticable change in EGT so I guess now is when I need the intercooler.

How can I get the boost on sooner? It comes on slow to about 5psi then builds quick to 15psi. I de-tensioned the LDA spring one turn (from an unknown previous setting) and I do have a little smoke under acceleration. Most annoying is shifting into 4th, especially on a moderately steep climb (it does alright on the highway, out on the valley floor). I'll be topped out in 3rd, shift to 4th and can't get much past 10psi before EGTs are beginning to worry me. Maybe this is something I'll have to live with, being a combination of rpms too low for the grade vs. availabe power? I shouldn't complain - it's like 1000x better than it was but it just seems like it wants to keep pulling past what I feel comforable with in 3rd. Is the 3-4 gearing jump just too much for accelerating uphill?

I have the intercooler mount fingered out, in the left taillight cavity. A TDi intake would help with plumbing, maybe even an IDI jetta intake would work too - I need to look into that a bit. Plumbing to the compressor should be straight-forward. The air cleaner issue is the real hang-up right now.

Turbo brace is mostly done. It's similar to the JX brace but will bolt to the bellhousing bolt down in that area rather than forward to the cast-in bosses behind the engine mount. My camera has been taken hostage for the week so no pictures to share at the moment.  

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #41May 19, 2008, 12:48:06 am

Luckypabst

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« Reply #41 on: May 19, 2008, 12:48:06 am »
Thanks Andrew - that's what I needed to hear so I can stop chasing my tail about things. I need to not only run up the hill toward Mt. Whitney for my tests and actually take a trip or something to enjoy my van again.

I never thougt to check the actual voltage up front. I guess I just assumed it was less than ideal due to the long run and poor connections. The alternator is about 6 months old, of course that dosen't rule anything out without a proper test.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #42May 29, 2008, 09:52:27 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #42 on: May 29, 2008, 09:52:27 pm »
I took it on it's first real "long" run, about 20 miles down the hwy to the next mentionable town, then about 5 miles up a dirt road to the local burro sanctuary. There's certainly no more free cruise control - hold it to the floor and let the van find it's own happy place - now I'm at about half throttle running 65 mph, 8 psi boost and maybe 600 - 900 degrees on the exhaust. 1200 degrees is about the most it makes on the highway as well. I guess at this point, I have the van that I want and now I need to build some confidence in all the new stuff while working out any bugs and finishing up some reliability mods.

My next question - With the intercooler mounted in the taillight cavity, mostly insulated from the engine compartment and having good flow-through ventilation, is an electric fan going to give much improvement? Anyone see any negatives to mounting the air intake up above the intercooler in a shared airspace?

Progress on one of the next stages of improvement:







The rear bracket is just right, the front plate is just wrong. Apparently I had some troubles reading my own drawings plus making the piece 250 miles from the van made it hard to test fit. I guess I need to retire the old "scribbleCAD" that I've been using.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #43May 29, 2008, 10:19:23 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #43 on: May 29, 2008, 10:19:23 pm »
Yea - the floor will be cut out but for now it's where my current air filter sits. I'm not terribly concerned about rocks being thrown up there but it wouldn't be hard to build some type of guard underneath.

I don't intend to put the air cleaner back in that side but I'm grasping at ideas to not complicate the intake piping.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #44May 31, 2008, 03:54:29 pm

Baxter

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Vanagon progress
« Reply #44 on: May 31, 2008, 03:54:29 pm »
That intercooler set up is basically how I did mine a few years back, but I did use a motorbike radiator fan above the cooler and had it wires to ignition live, the fan did make a big difference to how the van ran.
That was 1.6TD, JX with GTD nozzles, oil cooler and a fan assisted intercooler.
It was a nippy bus!
I cut the bottom of the tail light box out, then added a ally shield to keep the much and stones away, also had it ventedto the rear in an attempt to get the use of the negative pressure behind the van to "draw" air accorss the cooler at higher speeds.
My reckoning was that the vent in the pillar was running possitive pressure, and the back of the van negative, so it shoul flow on it's own, but the fan did help, lots.

 

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