Irvine's Last Stand

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Lanval
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Irvine's Last Stand

Post by Lanval » Mon Jul 22, 2013 10:37 pm

We've been here a few years, but this may be the last time Colin gets to enjoy the faceless corporate comfort of Irvine; the wide, clear streets, the greenery, the lack of bums or Colin-approved camping spots, and sun. Always plenty of sun.

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OK, no sun. Turns out it was gonna be overcast and occasionally rainy, which left Colin a bit nonplussed. It did sprinkle a few moments here and there, enough to piss Colin off momentarily, but not enough to bother us.

The first order of business was dealing with a leak. Might be the heads that were done two years ago by Colin and me (99% Colin, 1% me, unless you count the money...) but Colin didn't want to believe that. Mainly, I think, because it would have caused a lot of work. We knew too that there was a leaky pipe, so we attacked that and hoped for the best.

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It's the black pipe in the center, and you can see it here after we got it back together. Luckily, I had a spare gasket that should hold, and plenty of sealant left over from doing the heads. In the largish mass of seals that I had, Colin discovered some for a 73-74 bug/bus manifold, and so I sent him along with those.

Having gotten the engine back to not-leaky, it was time to consider my shoddy-awesome job of timing. The van had been running really poorly for awhile, so a few weeks ago, I timed it as best I understood. Doing so resolved the issues I was having, but I had the nagging feeling after reading a 10CentLife post over on the Samba that I had timed it wrong. So we had to check.

The flywheel had a host of marks, divots and scratches which pointed in all directions, and would confuse even an expert, let alone a churl like myself. Thus, an R & R on the flywheel, and then we must bring order out of chaos. Here he is filing down the aberrant marks on the flywheel:

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Ah, the hands of the master. Once the flywheel was prepped, then a new set of marks showing all the key points for timing. Here you see a nice set of organized marks:

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And that was followed by a nice color-coded explanation. Colin asked me where to put it, and I said, "Put it in the firewall." Imagine my surprise, when it landed on the overflow reservoir, but I have to admit ~ it's a nice bright spot, and close to the flywheel. Now, when the reservoir goes, I guess I have to re-paint it.

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In the end, he wanted to replace the coolant. Personally, I think it's imperative to simply throw away the old stuff, and buy new ~ how else will I keep the corporate overlords of Irvine happy, if not by shamelessly consuming while poisoning the countryside as a gift for future generations? Anyway, he wasn't having it. A funnel and some paper towels... sigh. So old school. But cheap and effective:

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With our opening conference, all that work ate up the morning. While Colin is likely to work right through the day, I never do. Never. The lovely lady of the house provided us with Panini and cut fruit, so we snacked on that as we were finishing up the timing.

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In the afternoon, the car running smoothly and drip-free, it was time to decide what else to do. We didn't have enough time to delve into the dash, I thought, since I didn't have the repair parts for the washer lines, so it was time to deal with something that I'd been putting off, but had the parts for. New carpets.

The first part was putting in the mats underneath the carpets. I wondered about gluing, but Colin sagely noted that:

1. If you glue it, it won't drain off water as well
2. It'll be hell to replace later

So we used some duct tape to hold the three pieces together while we put the carpet on top. Here's two pictures of the work done there; first, Colin adjusting the size of the mat, then the set put together.

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As you can see in the second picture, we've begun putting the carpet down. The padding and carpet came from Sewfine, and I have to say, given the price I paid, and my experience with sewing (I'm only average, but my mother and sister-in-law are essentially professionals) the quality of the fit in the original cut, and the carpeting sewn together was not impressive. Seams weren't trimmed, the pieces fit only so-so, and the thought which went into the overall set of the carpets could have been greater. We had some difficulty getting the seams to lie down appropriately, but in the end perseverance triumphed over indifference.

Here he is removing some extra glue I laid down doing the driver's side carpets.

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Here we are fitting the center carpet, trying to figure out how to fix it in place, when most of it is sitting on the padding. We got it done, and then had to fit the shifter boot. I didn't think it would fit the hole that had been marked to cut, but while I was away, Colin managed it. Chances are good he told me it would fit without cutting, and then cut it when I wasn't looking. Whatever.

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Here you can see him finishing up some work, as the driver's side carpets are on in the back:

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Here you can see the carpet finished and in, and though Colin didn't like that I put in black instead of brown, I preferred it. It goes well with the black rubber mat in the middle, and anyway, most of the replace interior parts available nowadays are black, so the car is slowly morphing anyway.

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After we finished up and we took it for a drive. I have one more pic of that, but maybe a bit of mystery to end the day...

Upon return we turned to a repast that was a bit of a feast. Chicken and mashed potatoes with roast vegetables, rolls, pickles, corn on the cob. I always try to give Colin a decent meal before he hits the road (In all fairness: I did squat. My wife did all the work. Maybe next year a pic of the kid working on the car, and the wife making more yummy food).

I threw a couple of bucks at Colin, filled his coffee cup, showed him where the cheap gas was on the way out of town, and with that... poof, he was gone.

Oh, and it was sunny and warm today. Sorry.

Bye-O-nara!

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Amskeptic
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Re: Irvine's Last Stand

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:51 am

Lanval wrote: The first order of business was dealing with a leak.
In the afternoon, the car running smoothly and drip-free,

New carpets.

Colin didn't like that I put in black instead of brown, I preferred it.
I have one more pic

Upon return we turned to a repast that was a bit of a feast.
I do so hope that you are still leak-free. With my improvisational history with Vanagons and cylinder heads, I need that it not be leaking.

Yes, you will always have an online reference for your timing mark riot of colors, right here:
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Now, I still don't like the black that is swallowing up our properly designed original Volkswagens, but RatRodVan is definitely looking more civilized and chic by the day:
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And who is going to argue those minor aesthetic points with such a proud owner?:
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Lovely dinner with your beautiful family, I shall continue to prime your son for a future with Volkswagens, and I hope you all can get out and camp with RatRodVan-again.
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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