IAC visits Gypsie

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Gypsie
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IAC visits Gypsie

Post by Gypsie » Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:47 am

Well,
After fretting, futzing and wringing of hands I pulled the trigger on scheduling a visit.

I will provide a write up with pix but I am just going to say right now that I am much more relaxed after being clenched for a couple years trying to get back to 'normal operation'.

I do think that I can call it 'good' and set to attending to some body work, bug fixin', and camping.

More details to come, though likely not tonight (Lucky Lab Monday, don't ya know, aqnd I drove the van to work so it can make an appearance.)
So it all started when I wanted to get better gas mileage....

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whc03grady
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by whc03grady » Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:36 am

Gypsie wrote:I am much more relaxed after being clenched for a couple years trying to get back to 'normal operation'.

I do think that I can call it 'good' and set to attending to some body work, bug fixin', and camping.
It is kind of like a clarity trip when it's over.
Ludwig--1974 Westfalia, 2.0L (GD035193), Solex 34PDSIT-2/3 carburetors.
Gertie--1971 Squareback, 1600cc with Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection from a '72 (E brain).
Read about their adventures:
http://www.ludwigandgertie.blogspot.com

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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by bajaman72 » Wed Jul 13, 2011 10:14 am

Good to hear your in the "no pucker zone" now. Although arriving late, I'd still like to see some pics ;)
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1959 Karmann Ghia - Full Race Car

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Amskeptic
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Jul 13, 2011 11:35 am

bajaman72 wrote:Good to hear your in the "no pucker zone" now. Although arriving late, I'd still like to see some pics ;)
I didn't take any. We had a photographer there. Sort of expensive, but I think she got off a couple of shots.

I was all focused over the "seized" Beetle engine that I just had to get running, but by the end of the day, I got to drive it into the Gypsie Garage. Such a sprightly lively car. The Vanagon was a pleasure to drive with real brakes and a cooperative kick-down switch. I do not know what to make of VDO CHT gauges, so imagine how blurry my vision was with TWO (2) VDO CHT gauges leering at me while we tooled around.
Enjoyed our day Gypsie, and the banter at the hardware store as we fixed your oil sender plumbing with a . . . you tell them, Gypsie.
Colin

Just up the hill from Gypsie:
Image

Image
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Gypsie
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by Gypsie » Thu Jul 14, 2011 1:16 am

So, I have to admit that I have fallen prey to the 'after the push' collapse. I have shed my tears of relief and am now getting to sharing some highlights of our visit.

Before Colin arrived, a couple weeks before, I pulled the engine and inspected, discovered some major F@#*up$. Doh, head slap. Major self doubt and loathing.

Ok. Roll widdit baby. 'Sall you can do. Jes don' do it again...

After puttin it all back together and gettin' a good feelin about where I was at I cleaned everything up and set the shop right in anticipation. Colin showed up at our pre-arranged time.
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I had donuts, coffee, Homemade muffins, etc. which we picked over while discussing the possibilities before us. I had a long list of items that were numbered according to my priorities. Colin allowed me to iterate and then proceeded to quiz me...uhhhh...well it is...I mean I think it's..uhh....Quizzing! Man it was like the V.W.A.T.'s Lifters, wear, theory...It aint even 10 am...Where's that coffee....

After we had pared the list and talked some about world events we set to wrenchin'.

Seems Colin had a hankerin' to find out what I meant by "the Bug seized up"...
It is a cute bug
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I had pulled it out of the garage before maupin and let it Idle for about 20 minutes while I got some camping gear down. I turned it off and it sat for about 30 minutes. When I went to start it, it did not turn over....I tried to 'bump start' it with some momentum and the clutch but I ended up skidding my tires on the gravel. I tried to manually turn the crank and (thankfully) it seemed to turn freely until it came to a certain point in the rotaion. Then it felt solid. like encountering something solid. I had bigger fish to fry so I parked it and thought "Maybe colin could look at it when he visited" Little did I know that he would spend the first hour trying to get this to go. This part of my projects was waaaaaay down on my priorities list....
But this little lemon called out to Colin. He found that it was not in fact seized and opined that p'raps what had happened was "hydrostatic lock" wherein fuel drips down from the carb into a cylinder and locks it up when it tries co compress. It sure felt solid to me, but in the three weeks from when I had parked it it was not seized. In fact it turned right over and ran for a few minutes swimmingly. then it dies and we could not get it back, try as we might. We jiggered around with it for a while and I was getting antzy cause I wanted to get feedback about the van...

As Colin said we did get it done later in the afternoon,m after attending to the Vanagon shtuff, when we found that the points had been fried (likely when I was hooking up the alternator and tried to let the magic smoke out of the electrical parts due to some crossed wires. New points and all was well. Sometimes it is the simplest things.

Then we, thankfully, set to the Van list starting by resetting the lifters to 1.5 turns in instead of the recommended .5 turns for the WebCam hydro lifters. The jury is still out on whether it is a good or bad thing for them to only be at .5 though it did seem to run a bit rougher.

Looking in the engine bay colin saw some oil pooling on the upper tin. "What is that!" says he with an invasion of body snatchers wide eyes and pointy finger.
This is what he saw:
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The red circle is where I had spliced a bit of fuel injector hose twixt two male threaded fittings and clamped to mount the new oil pressure sender for the new gauge. It was leaking and Colin reminded me of the pressures the oil was under in that particular location and just had to have this fixed afore he could go on. This sent us on a hunt for a fitting that would accept the threaded fittings for a more solid seal. I have a grip of brass fittings and the one I proposed was brass and designed for electrical usage though it was the right length and received the threads. Not quite right enough because of the concern for sidewall bursting under heat and load, and we headed off to the local hardware store. My little town has a true value but it isn't as wide a selection as some. No luck. After an hour delay on this fitting we resigned ourselves to using my little electrical fitting, wrapped with some tape and clamped with a hose clamp to give added support for the sidewall pressures. I am not worried about the heat pressure issue as they are not always together. When it is cool the pressure is higher, when it heats up the pressure drops. I will still keep an eye on it and look for something a bit more beefy...

Then we set about seeing if there was anything to be done about the low rpm loping. Vacuum was very low at the spec'd idle Timing 'sat down' (ie no centrifugal advance) o around 8btc at this speed, but vac dropped off to around 4 (lbs? hg?...?) anyway the number was 4ish. Jumped right up with an increase in rpms but so did the timing (to around 12 at 1000 rpms.

Changed some variables, idle mix, dynamic mix, checked for vacuum leaks...then colin noticed something that had been bugging me for years, my s boot fittings (the crankcase breather and Aux air) both were sticking out of their sockets beyond the rib that is meant to sit in the groove in the boot. That and my Goopy RTV I was using to make a "might seal"...
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Well that will not do. We pulled it and set to coaxing the boot into allowing these fittings back into their home after having been out of the groove for several years. Much care was taken to not harm the boot but they are in their proper place now and I am greatly relieved that this potential vacuum leak is resolved...

Gotta go but I will finish this later...
So it all started when I wanted to get better gas mileage....

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Amskeptic
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:29 am

Gypsie wrote:So,
That last photograph is the face of a man haunted by TV cable junctions being used for oil pressure senders.
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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hambone
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by hambone » Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:45 am

You guys are the Odd Couple of mechannickking. Quite funny to picture.
Nice writeup, eagerly await more.
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your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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Gypsie
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by Gypsie » Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:40 pm

After 'resolving' some fault potentials, we moved on to a test drive and brake testing.

One of the items on my list was front end suspension work that included changing tie rod ends, rebuilding the front cylinders, changing the rotor and shoes and bearings. A slough of items I had planned on doing to assure that these items were fully functional and I knew where they were in their lifespan. New parts equals starting point and known condition. That and I had what I like to call a 'might stop' condition when I used the brakes. Kind of like pulling a boat into dock, a gentle glide to stop.

We went down to the local park that had some gravel road and asphalt where we could 'lock em up' to see what was going on. We did find that the front brakes were not gripping as they should, but part of the situation was being impacted by low vacuum and the brake booster bottoming out. But as a whole the system was operating as it should. And the screeching to a halt in the parks lot may have turned heads but we left afore johnny law showed up...

The lesson I received here was 'if it aint broke don't fixit'.

Well duh, but, what about, shouldn't I, isn't it important to ..."IF IT AINT BROKE DON'T FIXIT"...

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This lesson should have been ingrained considering that I had 2 years of tail chasing (four engine extractions and full bottom and top end rebuilding) trying to improve 15 mpg in a vehicle that may have a 15mpg as an indicator of 'pretty good mileage' for it's design.

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OK ok, I get it. My thick skull will accept this.
Image
We checked the bearings as they sit using the screwdriver to shift the bearing retainer washer. "just snug, not tight and don't you go jabbing the bearings themselves. just the washer..."

Image

Inspection of the bearings, rotor and calipers revealed that they should not be futzed with. (IIABDF). I did have paper thin pads that wouldn't allow the front brakes to engage completely cause they were pressing in on the retaining spring. New pads improved immensely. The rest of the parts I had at the ready will be placed in a box on the shelf and will await their call to arms in the future.

All in all the visit was fruitful and I was only thwacked a couple times for my 'sketchy wrenchin'.

Just a few more shots:
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And a shot of the splitty I got for christmas:
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It's a Vauxwagen....

and a moment of mild discomfort wherein I couldn't just get a shot standing next to da man but had to pull him in close
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"ok you can take your sweaty pit off'n my nice clean shirt now..."

Then it was off into the sunset with him:
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A big part of the success of this visit was the reassurance that the engine is doing what it should, and things to keep an eye on, (like oil pressure that may be an issue but I will not worry on for the next few oil changes whilst I monitor for swirlies and shavings....)

I think I can relax now and enjoy using the vehicle. 200 mile trip planned for this weekend. We'll see...

Photo credits for all of the above photos goes to Lil Gypsie who was tasked with taking pix. Great Job kiddo!
So it all started when I wanted to get better gas mileage....

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Cindy
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by Cindy » Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:12 pm

Please tel Lil' Gypsie that I love that photo of Colin by himself.

Cindy
“No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side.
Or you don't.” ― Stephen King, The Stand

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dtrumbo
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by dtrumbo » Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:48 am

mor·ti·fy verb \ˈmȯr-tə-ˌfī\
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- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

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Amskeptic
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:16 am

dtrumbo wrote:mor·ti·fy verb \ˈmȯr-tə-ˌfī\
Mortified? Me? It's just a reflex. Pay no (well, not too much) mind.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by pj » Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:07 pm

Funny, every time he came to my house he had that same look. I think he realized that Mrs PJ and I are from the Smoky mountains in western North Carolina and our matching overalls kinda gave him the creeps. Also he really never warmed up to Mrs PJ and I playing dueling banjos, we figured it was his Yankee upbringing and let it slide.

Now that I see him and Gypsie, I feel somewhat better that it just ain't us.:)

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chachi
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by chachi » Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:18 am

...
1974 transporter panel, 2.0 dual solex
1991 vanagon NAHT, RJE 2.3

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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:18 pm

chachi wrote:wow, i have never heard of this hydrostatic lock. gyp, as i have mentioned to you, i have a bus with a "stuck engine" where it freely turns until it gets to one point, then seems to encounter something hard, exactly as you describe. what i am gathering from this is possibly it might be this locked condition?
Loosen your spark plugs a couple of turns and rotate engine slowly. If it is now free, hydrostatic lock. If it clangs to a halt, you have other issues.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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chachi
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Re: IAC visits Gypsie

Post by chachi » Sun Jul 17, 2011 9:21 am

...
1974 transporter panel, 2.0 dual solex
1991 vanagon NAHT, RJE 2.3

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