A note on the throttle cable and cooling system

I have not posted details on the cooling hookup, nor the throttle cable installation, because I got tired of cleaning my camera after taking it under the van.  The cooling installation was fairly straightforward.  As I mentioned, the 1990 GL vanagon (ours) came standard with a rear heater, which was already plumbed into the hoses that run forward to the main (front) heater core.  So, hooking up the Bostig configuration was not difficult, other than the fact that the T connections for the heater hoses face in different directions, and require a somewhat longer hose to allow a non-kinking connection.  That may be an advantage when it comes to emptying the cooling system, which will come immediately after the initial run.  One thing that bears repeating:  the original water cooling layout for the boxer engine was a surreal assemblage of hoses, pipes, and connectors, and I almost wanted to re-assemble it and hang it from the garage ceiling, like a fossil skeleton, so I could sneer at it from time to time.
The throttle cable turned out to be somewhat complicated.  I tried at least three different cable routings, and kept coming up an inch or two short of the length I needed to get to the front bracket.  At one point, I measured the new cable against the old, and they were identical lengths.  So, back under the van, and I finally got a reasonably good path and got it attached and fastened down.  One of those half-hour jobs that ended up taking almost three hours.

All done . . . sort of.

Finished the last of the installation steps on Wednesday afternoon.  On Thursday morning, I got the Elmscan software loaded onto my laptop.  This required a big download from the Scantool website, since my laptop doesn't have a CD drive, which would be required to load the software from the supplied disk.  After getting the software ready, I took the laptop out to the vanagon and plugged into the ECU port.  The Elmscan failed to connect to the computer.  After some fooling around, I opened a ticket with Bostig, and ran through a couple of checks suggested by Jim.  He asked me to double-check the custom chip installation in the OEM computer, paying attention to whether the contact pins on the Ford circuit board were really clean.  Turned out I'd missed several, which were still coated with the plastic barrier.  So, I re-cleaned the board and reinstalled the chip.  Now everything worked, the Elmscan connected and I was ready for the test start.  I double-checked all connections, topped off the coolant, verified the oil, pulled out the fire extinguisher, and turned the key.

Nothing.

The connection to the starter is straight from the key to the solenoid.  I confirmed that 12v showed up at the solenoid connector, then realized that I'd plugged the starting connector to the wrong spade lug on the solenoid (there are three - take your pick).  After that was fixed, I turned the key again, and the engine cranked healthily.

Nothing.

So, I'm now troubleshooting the no-start issue.  We'll see what happens next.

The shift selector lever

The folks at Bus Depot regretted to inform me that the new shift lever had not arrived in their latest shipment, and might (but might not) arrive in June.  So, I went back to the old shift lever and smoothed out the inside as much as I could, then re-attached it to the shift rod and re-installed the linkage and new boot, with a generous dose of Phil's Waterproof Grease.  It should be better than it was, maybe much better, and can't be any worse.  The problem we'd been having was that the shifter would be very hard to get out of fourth gear if it had been driven for a long stretch without shifting (like, for example, on a trip to Oklahoma).  I suspect that the plastic ball on the trans was binding in the shift lever cup, but we'll see.

Some belated answers to Comments

Hello to Ian and Louise - I'm not sure whether IE was the cause of my not seeing that comments had been entered.  However, better late than never -  here are a few replies.
1.  I'm working by myself, except for a couple of small steps (feeding the wiring harness through the firewall, testing the re-installed clutch servo, pressurizing the fuel system) where Joan needed to be somewhere and I needed to be elsewhere in order to get the task done.  It's not been hard, solo, though I don't think I could have come close to removing and re-installing the engine without the engine hoist and floor jack that I was loaned.
2.  I'm using the stock heat shield, though I'm planning on purchasing some corrugated aluminum conduit to shield the lower coolant hose, which I think runs too close to the cat to be out of danger.  Re. the custom heat shield, STC diagnostics and HC oilpan - I decided on the minimum-cost approach as much as possible, since I want a better engine option, but I'm not made of money, and the oilpan and shield can be added later.  I've also got to save $$ to reactivate the A/C next summer, which was one of the objectives of doing this upgrade.
3. While Bostig shows the MIL light connected to spare fuse 25, always hot, I believe it's more appropriate to put it in the same circuit as the other warning lights.  There's no requirement that it be permanently energized, and tapping into T14 will allow a short wire (with coupler) to run to the lamp, easier to see and disconnect when I have to return to odometer-surgery.  During fuel system pressure-testing, I was able to confirm, using my voltmeter, that T14-8 is switched +12v.

Brake booster coupler - the resolution

Bostig gave me the name of a local (to them) Ford parts expert, who was very helpful.  He remembered having dealt with this problem some months ago, and after some research, he called me back and told me that he'd originally found a catalog error, in that the part was separately numbered, but not labeled as such in the catalog itself.  With the actual part number, it was easy to order the part, and it arrived last Friday (17th).  Here's a series of photos of the part, whole and disassembled:

From the top . . .

From the side - note teeth at bottom

Disassembled

In the bottom photo, the gray part at the top was already inserted into the intake manifold.  The row of teeth at the bottom are angled outwards, which holds the gray part in the manifold.  I decided that trying to pull the old coupler out would result in tearing of the hole in the intake, and risk damaging the seal that the outside O-ring makes.  So, I carefully worked out the red plastic ring shown at bottom, which also released the interior O-ring.  I was able to remove the old O-ring from the existing coupler, insert the new O-ring (with some WD-40), and then insert the new vacuum pipe and red locking ring.
It's ready for action, and I hope that the seal is good.  A small leak won't affect braking, but (like any air leak after the air mass sensor) will cause fuel mixture problems.

Just as we solve one problem . ..

. .. we get another.  I've been struggling to post on the blog, but was unable to enter and save any post text.  It turns out that the Blogspot posting application no longer supports Internet Explorer.  So, we have to download the recommended browser, Chrome (surprise!), and move everything over from IE.  Not a big chore, but it took awhile, and though Chrome is much faster than IE, there are still some sites that I use, especially related to my internet satellite work, that require IE.  I had really liked having only one browser to keep updated, but there we are.  Now, back to the main show.

What's left?

We still have to run the new throttle cable, connect the shift rod (I hope the new parts arrive soon), and connect and fill the cooling system.
The cooling system diagrams shown on Bostig's documentation do not cover the case of a vanagon with the optional rear heater, which ours has.  However, the automatic transmission models have a similar setup, with the transmission oil cooler taking the place of the heater that our van has, so I don't foresee a problem.  I'm also having a problem obtaining the Ford proprietary coupler that connects the brake booster vacuum line to the intake manifold.  The local folks aren't sure what it's called, and I may have the same problem with the Ford dealer up north.  If I need to order this (likely), I may plug the intake manifold and run through the start-and-monitor cycle that is done before taking it on the road.