Other VW gauges

hopefully the 58 is still "regular" as apposed to the extra crispy....

............Yeah. It's kind of funny that John and Travis have engine fires as their common experience that makes them kindred spirits.

timmy

i am waiting for my luck to run out....i narrowly avoided TWO engine fires recently...one when the oil line to the remote cooler blew off at about

...........I've got a fire extinguisher in my bug and I'm planning to replace all fuel hoses pretty soon. My oil lines are the Berg kit with the fittings and I'm hoping that they're good for a long time. Contrary to some of what I've heard about it, I think that oil fires must be less of a worry.......if you're using the fittings at the connections. I know that Aircooled.Net has fittings & hoses that don't supposedly need clamps(?) but I'd be nervous about that. John C. knows his business but I'd still use clamps.

i too have a fire extinguisher...but not having the fire start is best.....as far as the fittings on my oil lines they are from Aircooled.net.....i should have clamped them after john S. had his mishap...the fittings are fine quality as is the hose that comes with them...i do however believe running without clamps is inviting trouble....our group isn't that large(regulars) yet two of us have experienced the same thing....i personally feel it is due to the heat from the headers, as John and I both had one blow off at the pump end....so not the products fault, just maybe the application....

To straighten that out - mine blew off the oil pump output spigot BUT as I found when I went through it later, the hose was not John's! It was some kind of rip-off look-alike with all the "right prints" on it. I had removed John's segment of the system when I replaced the oil filter mount (and used it elsewhere) and replaced it with local clone stuff. When I brought the hose that blew off into my local supplier with John's Right Stuff beside it he just turned pale. He doesn't like to be fooled, either. Suffice to say he put out the word to his customers and all is well... cept for me. :)

Gadzooks! I had no idea! This is the longest thread I have generated here since I dared question the integrity of Berg Enterprises way back when I was a Newbie! (Yes, they had computers then!)

OKAY THEN.... How's it work? Well, it needs to be HOT, damned hot (the O2 sensor, that is!) I had it on a L-Jetronic (stock FI) FI bus motor. At first I had it back at the collector ahead of the muffler. I tried a three-wire sensor when the one-wire job did not perform. The 3 was better but not good enough. Over the next few years, I moved the sensor closer to the engine and it got better. Eventually, I took a perfectly good RARE 1979 bus left side exhaust heat exchanger, welded a bung on the #3 header about two inches from the port. THAT worked and worked very well.

Keep in mind that I had FI, so no worry about multiple carbs and multiple mixtures. I also had installed a fully adjustable mixture system (to go richer - not leaner) on-the-go from the drivers seat. (Timmy now has this!) AND, to make this a complete set, the Quad head-temp gauge that is going to Mr.Stafford was there to see if any cylinder was out-of-range of the others. THAT made the single port reading of the mixture gauge effective and adequate. If my CHT gauge had all the needles but #3 pegged hot, I'd have a pretty good idea that I was getting an erronious reading on the mixture! I used the gauge as a guide to tweak the mixture while freeway driving, mostly. Yes, it worked very well as a component in the set. Individually it doesn't do squat on a FI engine cuz the mixture is constantly fluctuating and more or less averaging out. I have not tried it on the Subey engine. It wouldn't do me much good anyway. I can't do as good at tweaking as the computer does!

BTW - Shawn, if you are using it strictly for "bench" tuning purposes, you can use the O2 sensor with a voltmeter and be maybe more efficient even... All the CB gauge is, is a very short-range voltmeter. Somebody here can tell you the voltage to strive for, or sometime later I can look it up in my Bentley Bosche FI manual for you.

Tim- I didn't send you the gauge, too, did I? I can't seem to locate it now that Shawn wants it!

-BaH

thanks for the clarification John....when we spoke before you did not say this....but i will still stick to my thoughts about clamps being "needed" due to the heat probably making the hose too soft to creat the grip it needs...not a biggie...four clamps set me back very little...im happy with the product...

I'm glad to see the medication has worn off. Or taken effect.

I laugh every time I think of how I cashed in the start of the kids' college fund to cover that fire damage. *slaps knee, laughing loudly* HAR DEE HAR HAR!!! :-D

...............Nah. You sent the pot only. I have my own A/F gauge from Aircooled.Net .

.....What I've learned with the L-Jetronic system is to leave it alone.......lol

............Seriously, I now think that the system works a lot better than I originally thought it did. My real problem with head temps running too high is that I didn't know, then, that semi-hemi heads run hot no matter what. Also, I didn't know that you're supposed to run about 40 deg. total advance with semi-hemi heads. I now have a new set of level 3 heads from Aircooled.Net that are going on later this spring. I'm also going to split the case and replace the bearings and install a 118 grind WebCam camshaft with new lifters. That ought to wake up my Berg 1679 enough to out accelerate those #@$%&^ Honda Civics & Chevy Suburbans with those idiots behind the wheel who think that my bug can be cut-off after leaving a traffic light.

Ya know, Tim..... A Subey 2.2 will fit in there with enough room to spare to put in a helluva radiator!

...............HA HA, but I'm a purist!

Yeah, so? So am I! Bussy is pure. Remember Johnny Cash's song about working in the Cadillac factory and having the big lunch bucket? Bussy is PURE Busaru! Oh - with a little Toyota Foreigner tossed in to keep things cool! I'm going to have to pull the power train out again and am thinking very seriously about moving the radiator underneath. I have proven the design I currently have, with the radiator in a fake spare tire up front and could always go back to that. The problems I have now are due to too much cooling and the next time I pull the engine out I will be adding a bypass valve to the main cooling lines. With that I will be able to short circuit the radiator with a percentage of the flow and keep a more even temp when running at higher revs. Currently, in temps below say, 90 or so, if I run the revs up over 3000, the water temp drops to the peg on the gauge, which is about 140. It means that with all that cooling capacity, when it takes a big gulp, it gets coolant that is too cool. With a bypass valve like a heater core bypass valve, I should be able to find a point where that won't happen.

If I put the radiator underneath, I change all the dynamics totally and start over at zero on the learning curve. Not looking forward to that aspect, but since I'm doing this, I might as well get to a point where I can actually tell others how they can make various system modifications for different priorities.

What's this all got to do with what Tim said? Very few people notice that Bussy has a radiator up front. Even people who have had multiple busses although confused at the profile, still think it's a spare tire up front. I extended the bumper about 10" and built a Continental Kit spare tire holder, tucked the Foreigner radiator inside with a FlexOLite fan, filled the area between nose and bumper with black ABS plastic... It looks damned good, but if the bumper was back to stock position it would look even better. It would not BE pure VW Bus, but it would at least look it to even the most picky-assed purist! Do I care? Not really, but there is a little voice on my shoulder from time to time!

-BaH

...............Don't get me wrong Dave. I really admire the engineering that has been put into Bussy. Your accomplishment in this project is amazing and far beyond my capabilities. As a long time waterboxer driver, I'd love to get behind the wheel of your bus.

Do you have some detailed pictures of what you describe above that you could share? I'd love to take a look at it all just out of curiosity. Thanks.

Where did you put the radiator?

. The problems I have now are due to too much cooling

have you checked into a mid 80's 3 series bmw thermostat? they are external bypass type units....one inlet, two outlets....one is a bypass...i can get you a pic..maybe...heh