Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:12 am

I was only 15 minutes late to Jivermo's Shims?WeGotShims! compound. The Miami traffic swarm was just as bad as I forgot. Pulled a cup of Starbucks Dark Verano right out of Jivermo's Keurig coffee maker, and we got to work on a little prescient Crankshaft Endplay Concepts and Physics symposeum. Hied on out to the Westy at 10:10AM and dropped the engine/transaxle/driveshafts.

Our task was to replace the hockey stick ball to eradicate a terribly vague shifter. The camera found the dog fetching, so it refused to focus upon what I wanted to focus upon. A terribly focused shot of the terribly worn hockey stick ball causing terribly vague shifts:

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A Man and his Motor:

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As is often the case, my hopeful customer had a Nice! New! part that I did not want to use. It was a new nose cone assembly with fresh new bronze bushings, and a new seal too, but look at this original nose cone! It has these trick "roller-array ball bearings" instead of simple bronze bushings. This, because Volkswagen knew that their new (c. 1976) spring-loaded shift design was likely to beat up the shift linkage (they should have known the hockey stick ball was going to hate this spring resistance too!).

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A Man Torques his Nose Cone:

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"But wait!", you say, "why is the next photograph shot in the dark?"

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Remember that "prescient" thing? The morning's discussion of end play and all the ways you can screw it up, and the increasingly urgent need to get thicker shims to allow our older worn engines to stay within factory specs, all came to terrible head. Jivermo followed my prattle as best he could, we did a text book end play check with subsequent math to bring his end play from a measured .014" down to the best we could get > .007". The factory range is .0028" to a wear limit of .006". Well, the engine locked up as we did the final torquing of the flywheel. As I tried to find the cause of the locking up, I noted that the flywheel could rotate a bit then clang to a halt. I thought I found the cause to be the late model bus TDC sensor hitting the signal rivets in the flywheel. That is what it felt like. Did the same thing again, without the TDC sensor. That movement of the flywheel could only be one thing, a loose #1 main bearing in the case, just like Belle Plaine's engine in 2010. Here is the picture of Belle Plaine's bearing movement. This is caused by a failure of the locator dowel in the bearing saddle:

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Unfortunately, Jivermo's #1 main bearing moves at least twice as far as Belle Plaine's (I hope you have a photograph of yours that you can post here, Jivermo). After much consideration in the presence of my cheerful fecklessness, Jivermo decided that it is Time To Rebuild The Engine.

Next day, we decide to do other things, like repack the CV joints and stick on new boots, and replace the left rear wheel bearings. The axle nut has other ideas. This was my first Couldn't Remove The Axle Nut. My loyal old 3/4" T-bar + Pipe Cheater could not do it. We drove the BobD to Home Depot to get an air impact wrench." What should I get?" "I am no good at these purchases." "500 ft/lbs?" "Sure." That was a no. The air impact wrench had not a chance against this well-over-tightened axle nut. (People? Do not over-tighten your axle nuts!) So we got out the Makita and a chisel and sallied forth into battle:

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We won, too.
These late buses have cheap stamped roller bearing shells that have a tendency to squirt out of the housing bore as you try to tap them in. Thankfully the custom 1948 Dodge Bearing Installer Tool worked,. Allow Vannajivermo to show you:

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The appointment had by this time, descended into Utter Entropy. No engine. No transaxle. No axles. No left rear wheel. Parts all over:

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And I said, "good day, sir."
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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: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by hambone » Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:44 am

I can't imagine your head at night, remembering the 1,000 unfinished projects. Fretting. Fixing in your sleep.
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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energyturtle
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by energyturtle » Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:47 pm

Damn, I hate these stories, but progress is progress. Jivermo, read my In need of type 4 case thread and pm me if I can help. We are all in this together, and I feel a sense of duty and obligation to help the folks who have helped me so much. Let me know and we can work something out I'm sure.
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Everyday.....save a bay
Scottie

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by luftvagon » Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:12 pm

Ok, you guys -- I was just in Miami yesterday... Had I known...
1981 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia - air-cooled Type4 1970cc CV (hydraulic lifters, 42x36 valves, stock cam, microSquirt FI with wasted spark ignition)
1993 Ford F-250 XL LWB Extended Cab 7.3L IDI

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BellePlaine
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by BellePlaine » Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:13 am

Amskeptic wrote:
That movement of the flywheel could only be one thing, a loose #1 main bearing in the case, just like Belle Plaine's engine in 2010. Here is the picture of Belle Plaine's bearing movement. This is caused by a failure of the locator dowel in the bearing saddle:
Image

Unfortunately, Jivermo's #1 main bearing moves at least twice as far as Belle Plaine's (I hope you have a photograph of yours that you can post here, Jivermo). After much consideration in the presence of my cheerful fecklessness, Jivermo decided that it is Time To Rebuild The Engine.
I'm still limping along with this set-up. Please tell me if you think if it is about ready to blow up when you come to visit this summer. On second thought, I don't want to know. I'd rather be surprised.
1975 Riviera we call "Spider-Man"

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:36 am

BellePlaine wrote: I'm still limping along with this set-up. Please tell me if you think if it is about ready to blow up when you come to visit this summer. On second thought, I don't want to know. I'd rather be surprised.
Limping? Gallantly sallying forth, I'd say . . . . we'll check the end play later this summer.
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: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by Jivermo » Mon Apr 21, 2014 1:52 pm

I'm on the road right now, and not in my bus, with her engine and related parts strewn about my barn back in Miami. I had to get to New Orleans in order to muddle my head about the impending type 4 rebuild. Day 1 with Colin was about 14-1/2 hours of solid labor, leaving me quite exhausted. Up again the following morning for another round, this time CV joints and a rear wheel bearing job. Why do I like these buses? Is it my Russian ancestry overcoming the Scottish part? Suffering and pain abound in both cultures, and oftentimes appears to be embraced. Shims, shims...why hast thou forsaken me? Passeth me the .038, yet ye tell me that .041 lies there, with the teeth of hens? Thrust bearing, thou in whom I have placed my trust, hast given up the ghost, and has laid my course for all to see. Bring me a stout bundle of birch, so that I may whip my back also, as I embark on this voyage of discovery and peril.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:17 am

Jivermo wrote:I'm on the road right now, and not in my bus, with her engine and related parts strewn about my barn back in Miami. I had to get to New Orleans in order to muddle my head about the impending type 4 rebuild. Day 1 with Colin was about 14-1/2 hours of solid labor, leaving me quite exhausted. Up again the following morning for another round, this time CV joints and a rear wheel bearing job. Why do I like these buses? Is it my Russian ancestry overcoming the Scottish part? Suffering and pain abound in both cultures, and oftentimes appears to be embraced. Shims, shims...why hast thou forsaken me? Passeth me the .038, yet ye tell me that .041 lies there, with the teeth of hens? Thrust bearing, thou in whom I have placed my trust, hast given up the ghost, and has laid my course for all to see. Bring me a stout bundle of birch, so that I may whip my back also, as I embark on this voyage of discovery and peril.
Beautiful!
The Itinerant Air-Cooled website has been raised a notch closer to the angels of Erudition. But our boots are yet mired in the moors of Muck.
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: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by Jivermo » Thu May 08, 2014 1:38 pm

Back in Miami after a three week tour of the South; New Orleans, Natchez, Vicksburg, Monroeville, Al and many points in between. Driving, but not in my bus. Walked out into my barn, and there all was as Colin and I had left it; type 4 engine sitting precariously on bricks and a Jack, 091 with new ball and thrust plate installed sitting over here with a crunched solenoid on the starter, and one redone CV, sitting by its yet unopened, ugly brother. Although I have yet to pick up a wrench, I have been reading...probably too much. First, Wilson's tome on the rebuild, Bentley's, and countless forum articles. You may have no idea on how many forum threads there are on type 4 rebuilds, here, the Samba, and on the 'net. Infinite thoughts and comments by our brothers and sisters in pain and euphoria abound. Raby, Raby haters and detractors, Raby fanatics and lovers, Boston Bob loyalists, Amskeptic and True Believers, type 4 freaks and FI scoffers, pancake doubters, Tories and Federalists...they are all here. A spun bearing has brought me to this place. All I want to find out is if this thing had fouled my wonderful aluminum case and, if it has, what land do I travel to to get a worthy replacement, and the quality parts to build a 100,000 mile engine? Arrrrrrggggggg!

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami I

Post by Amskeptic » Thu May 08, 2014 2:20 pm

Jivermo wrote:Back in Miami A spun bearing has brought me to this place.
I want to find out if this thing has fouled my wonderful aluminum case,
quality parts to build a 100,000 mile engine?
Welcome back!

Let us know.

We shall. I have a potential source for quality bearings, pistons. cylinders, camshafts, lifters.
All it takes is $$$$$$$$.
I have a good case that might work for you after I choose which one I keep.
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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