Maiden voyage

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:08 pm

We're leaving in a few hours for the bus's maiden family camping voyage--Hendy Woods State Park about 50 miles away. I hope to return and call this a "team building exercise" to build confidence in longer and more frequent trips. Wish us luck!

(hope this post doesn't jinx anything)

zblair · Post by **zblair** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 8:25 pm

Sending ya some good vibes there, Ritter...

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

dtrumbo · Post by **dtrumbo** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:37 am

Good luck man! We just did our maiden camping voyage to Maupin earlier this year and everything went great! I'm sure yours will go just as well!

Gypsie · Post by **Gypsie** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:35 am

Bon Voyage....

Hope it's a successful beginning to a long camping career.

JLT · Post by **JLT** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:14 am

Ritter wrote:We're leaving in a few hours for the bus's maiden family camping voyage--Hendy Woods State Park about 50 miles away. I hope to return and call this a "team building exercise" to build confidence in longer and more frequent trips. Wish us luck!

Good luck!

If you're not on it already, you should check out the Yahoo "VWCamperFamily" list. It's basicaly a bunch of SF Bay/Sacramento Valley people who like to camp together once a month or so. Very kid-friendly.

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 8:58 am

We made it and it was good! I'll get pictures up...eventually.

The camping spot was lovely (if crowded). We'll be heading back in late September in hopes of fewer people. My wife enjoyed it and really liked having a sink and bed! A good 1:15 run with lots of 3rd gear and sometimes 2nd gear hills. I got to practice some double clutching for the 3rd to 2nd shifts.

One mechanical snaffu: Stopped at Safeway to grab some grub on our way back home (about a mile from home). Turn key. Nuthin but oil/bat light. Shit. I look at my wife. She echoes the sentiment.

I hop out, check the reactor bay. Nothing seems amiss. I head down under to check the starter (pavement's hot and so's the engine--sort of like a Ritter panini press). Before my eyes, there dangles the funky hot start relay, somehow shorn off of its mounting flange. I stare at it for a bit and realization slowly comes to me that the ground circuit is through the mounting flange to the transmission--thus the starter is not energized. The second half of the mounting flange has a hole but it is, of course, too small to get the bolt through. I didn't have a drill or a file. But I had vice grips. So I clamped that f'er to one of the trany ribs, go topside and bam! we've got lift off! Made it home just fine with just a bit of parking lot oil in the back of my hair.

Gypsie · Post by **Gypsie** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:30 am

=D> excellent troubleshooting procedure and shootin form the hip fixit!

Your merit badge is in the mail.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 10:05 pm

Ritter wrote:So I clamped that f'er to one of the tranny ribs, go topside and bam! we've got lift off! Made it home just fine with just a bit of parking lot oil in the back of my hair.

Welcome . . . To the

Hack Side

Colin

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 7:07 am

Love the vise grip fix! Sounds like a fun time. Congrats.

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 8:45 am

Amskeptic wrote:
Ritter wrote:So I clamped that f'er to one of the tranny ribs, go topside and bam! we've got lift off! Made it home just fine with just a bit of parking lot oil in the back of my hair.
Welcome . . . To the Hack Side
Colin

Fortunately, while you were here last summer crawling around under the bus you said something to the effect of: "well look at that big 'ol Ford relay someone wired in for your hot start." Since I could thereafter identify it and since it was a Ford part, I figured a hack fix was ok.

JLT · Post by **JLT** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:45 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Ritter wrote:So I clamped that f'er to one of the tranny ribs, go topside and bam! we've got lift off! Made it home just fine with just a bit of parking lot oil in the back of my hair.
Welcome . . . To the Hack Side
Colin

OK. This has gone far enough here. It should go even farther somewhere else, namely a topic expressly devoted to "great hacks." I bet you guys and gals have stories to tell, and you can tell them at:

http://itinerant-air-cooled.com/viewtop ... 396#120396

scruffy · Post by **scruffy** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 7:59 am

Odd one really, center contact on my bug distributor cap (Bosch) had come completely undone in the dark in the middle of nowhere (took me a while to find out exactly WHAT the problem was!) Took apart a "clicker" ball point pen inserted spring into cap and I was on my way!

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Maiden voyage

Maiden voyage

Re: Maiden voyage

Distributor cap hack