2012 Michigan City, IN visit

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poptop tom
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Location: La Porte, IN
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2012 Michigan City, IN visit

Post by poptop tom » Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:31 am

Colin came by on monday for a half day visit with myself and Ophelia.
Per usual, my pictures were taken after the fact, and none during the meat of
the day.

With each visit, the to-do list grows shorter, and the visit day less stressful! As
it should be, right?
We actually got to pretty much everything on the list! First thing for us was:
1) Front wheel bearings. I've never repacked my front wheel bearings, and felt
learning to do was a must. ((I did admit on sunday, to Colin, while he and vwtopia(Kevin)
worked on Kevin's buses, that I did shamelessly in fact repack the outer bearings recently, only to run out of time to get in there and do the inner's.
Colin coached me through the driver's side procedure. I was able to repack both bearings and replace the seal with a brand new shiny Made in Germany seal Colin happened to have a "spare" of.
I will be doing the passenger side as soon as I get a replacement seal for that side.

2) I believe our next mission was to get a working horn and turn signal return to work properly. We were also thinking an adjustment to the steering column would be necessary, as there was (still kind of is) pretty good gap. Some bending of the contact point under the horn button gave us a working horn!
And after adjusting the steering wheel column, and realizing my steering wheel was put back on last fall #-o 180 degrees off, (installed a new turn signal switch) it wasn't too difficult to get the turn signal switch to work as it should.

3) While we were in the vicinity of the steering column, we decided it was a good time to check and see why my low speed wipers weren't working. Glove box, etc., was removed to get at the wiper unit and check the wiring. The wiper/washer switch was then removed from the steering column, and off Colin went into having flashbacks of when he decided to tear has own switch apart while in the desert last summer,.........and losing the small plastic pin that holds one of the four tiny springs in place in the switch itself. He and I managed to get it apart AND back together without losing any parts! I was ready to sacrifice an old license plate if Colin get a case of the shakes, or his bifocals went cuckoo! :tongue:
Despite the efforts of tearing it apart, cleaning it up, and reassembling, the low speed still doesn't work properly. A new switch will be searched out and purchased at some point.

4) Colin asked what was next. I mentioned our discussion from the previous day about having never done a compression test on this engine since its been on the road (11,000 miles). Upon starting Ophelia, Colin now remembered my poor cold idle issue from last years' visit. He had mentioned a faulty AAR, and I had a spare. So we detoured the compression test momentarily, and started playing with both AAR's. I think we ended up with the original one being the one used. Possibly some internal debris that was dislodged with some carb cleaner.

5) Compression test went well. 1 & were both 140 psi. 3 was 140 and 4 was 130. Or something like that. Colin told me it wasn't important to know the cylinder numbers and their proper location. :scratch: :rolleyes: :yawinkle: Hahaha.

Overall, it was a pleasant day with lots done to the bus, and good fun and laughs with Colin! Thanks buddy!
Here are the few pics I took after the fact!
[album]gallery/image.php?album_id=89&image_id=356[/album]
[album]gallery/image.php?album_id=89&image_id=355[/album]
[album]gallery/image.php?album_id=89&image_id=354[/album]

Chloe is a beauty! Safe travels Colin!
Mr. Blotto wrote, "Boy - thanks for the offer, but a month in poptop tom's world means 5 years"

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Amskeptic
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Re: 2012 Michigan City, IN visit

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:33 pm

poptop tom wrote: Colin off Colin went into having flashbacks of when he decided to tear has own switch apart while in the desert last summer,

He and I managed to get it apart AND back together without losing any parts!
Despite the efforts of tearing it apart, cleaning it up, and reassembling, the low speed still doesn't work properly.
Flashback:
Image

Yeah so your switch won't do the low speed because the contact is just missing its spot due to wear of the detent. There were so many license plate frames hanging around, too . . .
Colin :alien:
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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