Naranja Westy Road Trip - Done!
Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 7:18 am
Had to hit the road. Had to hit the road southbound to guarantee proper painting temperatures.
Waded into metro Atlanta traffic with the specter of a clogged fuel filter causing mayhem on the highway, but guess what? I got 160 miles to Perry GA before the engine started protesting a lack of fuel. A couple of bucks and backfires, and I dumped off the interstate, turned left because it was the more clear path to marshall my momentum, and I made it to exactly here:
This time, I promised Naranja that I would replace that long-suffering fuel filter that has been blown out with blasts of carburetor spray some eight times already.
Let's Review:
I swore I did not want to drop the engine and pull the gas tank, even when I had to establish flow by reaming out the fuel nipples with a coat hanger. Many times, I wondered if this was folly. The first time we got the engine running, the filter gave us about 15 minutes before it died.
#2 (driving it home after buying it) Fuel Filter Clean-out:
I decided that I would clean the filter every time it bucked. I got a good 60 miles on my way to pick up the nos Leistritz muffler. There was an overlay of ruined volatility occurring as well. The varnish on the bottom of the tank would dissolve into the fuel and render it less combustible. But I would only add a couple of gallons at a time, because I did not want a whole full tank of gas to get wrecked if I had to do a full draindown. Well, I never did have to drain the tank, and you all should know that these engines (even the dainty little fuel injected ones) will indeed run on the worst-looking craptastic gas imagineable.
#4 (day I went to get nos muffler) Fuel Filter Clean-out:
Good thing I got the RandyInMaine-recommended 7/16" fuel hose from NAPA yesterday. The original large fuel hose had delaminated between the outer and inner rubber and had developed a chronic leak somewhere in the past 160 miles.
Yesterday's on-the-road Fuel Filter Clean-out:
I say I am home free. I say this gas tank does not need to be removed, the car is running smoothly, has good (excellent after Chloe) power on the hills, and I am glorying in that new Volkswagen engine perk . . . it has exactly the same sound whether cruising or under full power. Steering is unbelievably light, just a little loosey-vague, and the brakes are reassuring, and the gearbox is exactly as it should be (no more muscling into 4th like I had to all summer with Chloe's Rancho rebuild):
The interior is a mess. There is NO WAY I can use a Westy as an Itinerant Road Warrior, it just cannot stow my inventory worth a damn. As it is, I am relegated to the poptop bunk, surveying chaos strewn about below. The cactus, however, does not care, it has thrown out two blooms:
So.
First, an exhaust system paint, crossover/muffler replacement in Valdosta.
Second, front wheel bearings, chassis lube and some body/front beam rust eradication along the way.
Third, weisswurst has offerred to host the ever-dangerous removal of the original Volkswagen/Audi windshield (this one has a number of stress scratches and pock marks, to make it even more dicey) so I can treat the windshield channel, prime and paint, and install a new windshield seal.
Fourth, I'd like to trundle over to Pensacola (gas tank willing) and maybe help jackstar with some assembly of his Westy and maybe he will let me weld in a new battery tray while I am there.
Then, I must hie back to the frozen reaches of Atlanta where this car will have to sit outside all winter without me howling every time it rains.
Colin
get used to it, Naranja . . . :
Waded into metro Atlanta traffic with the specter of a clogged fuel filter causing mayhem on the highway, but guess what? I got 160 miles to Perry GA before the engine started protesting a lack of fuel. A couple of bucks and backfires, and I dumped off the interstate, turned left because it was the more clear path to marshall my momentum, and I made it to exactly here:
This time, I promised Naranja that I would replace that long-suffering fuel filter that has been blown out with blasts of carburetor spray some eight times already.
Let's Review:
I swore I did not want to drop the engine and pull the gas tank, even when I had to establish flow by reaming out the fuel nipples with a coat hanger. Many times, I wondered if this was folly. The first time we got the engine running, the filter gave us about 15 minutes before it died.
#2 (driving it home after buying it) Fuel Filter Clean-out:
I decided that I would clean the filter every time it bucked. I got a good 60 miles on my way to pick up the nos Leistritz muffler. There was an overlay of ruined volatility occurring as well. The varnish on the bottom of the tank would dissolve into the fuel and render it less combustible. But I would only add a couple of gallons at a time, because I did not want a whole full tank of gas to get wrecked if I had to do a full draindown. Well, I never did have to drain the tank, and you all should know that these engines (even the dainty little fuel injected ones) will indeed run on the worst-looking craptastic gas imagineable.
#4 (day I went to get nos muffler) Fuel Filter Clean-out:
Good thing I got the RandyInMaine-recommended 7/16" fuel hose from NAPA yesterday. The original large fuel hose had delaminated between the outer and inner rubber and had developed a chronic leak somewhere in the past 160 miles.
Yesterday's on-the-road Fuel Filter Clean-out:
I say I am home free. I say this gas tank does not need to be removed, the car is running smoothly, has good (excellent after Chloe) power on the hills, and I am glorying in that new Volkswagen engine perk . . . it has exactly the same sound whether cruising or under full power. Steering is unbelievably light, just a little loosey-vague, and the brakes are reassuring, and the gearbox is exactly as it should be (no more muscling into 4th like I had to all summer with Chloe's Rancho rebuild):
The interior is a mess. There is NO WAY I can use a Westy as an Itinerant Road Warrior, it just cannot stow my inventory worth a damn. As it is, I am relegated to the poptop bunk, surveying chaos strewn about below. The cactus, however, does not care, it has thrown out two blooms:
So.
First, an exhaust system paint, crossover/muffler replacement in Valdosta.
Second, front wheel bearings, chassis lube and some body/front beam rust eradication along the way.
Third, weisswurst has offerred to host the ever-dangerous removal of the original Volkswagen/Audi windshield (this one has a number of stress scratches and pock marks, to make it even more dicey) so I can treat the windshield channel, prime and paint, and install a new windshield seal.
Fourth, I'd like to trundle over to Pensacola (gas tank willing) and maybe help jackstar with some assembly of his Westy and maybe he will let me weld in a new battery tray while I am there.
Then, I must hie back to the frozen reaches of Atlanta where this car will have to sit outside all winter without me howling every time it rains.
Colin
get used to it, Naranja . . . :