IAC Visits The Twin 71 White Westys in Hood River
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 11:20 pm
Well my head is spinning still from Colins visit today and I'll try and get some of this out while it's still fresh.
3rd appointment with Colin
I have two 71 white westys. One I normally drive and one I dragged out of a field and have been fixing up to have as a back-up. They are basically identical twins and bone stock. (I also have a 71 white tin top waiting in the wings to be fixed up)
When you're going to cart your family around the country in an old Bus, you better have a back-up, right?
Lots of engine changes since the last visit. Lots of detail here I could add about each engine but I'll skip it for now. The engine I'm using right now is the HFM long block I ordered. This is the 2nd one after the first one failed during break-in. This one seems to be great so far and I immediately left on two long road trips with the family. The first trip was about 900 miles after 300 miles of breaking in the engine. The 2nd trip we just came home from two days ago. It was a killer long road to Glacier Park, 13 days and 2291 miles. That story I'll have to tell later but basically an epic family adventure in the bus.
By the way, after one comes home from 13 days on the back roads, one has a lot of catching up to do. It doesn't help when one (me) gets the damn date wrong that he thinks Colin is supposed to arrive! I was all set to go a day EARLY! Where the hell is he?? I know he's on time...?! After a couple PM's Colin "reminded" me he'll be there at 9am on the 10th....not the 9th. I have some rescheduling to do for work. I still had to run out for a couple hours during Colins visit but otherwise I was trying to stay focused on absorbing as much info as I could. It all worked out fine.
I am amazed at what we accomplished today.
I have been banging my head on these issues and spending money on lots and lots of parts and time trying to fix what we worked on today.
In no particular order,
We adjusted the steering box as well as could be (it's old and needs a rebuild ultimately). Fairly simple and straight forward, especially when you're the one turning the steering wheel and Colin is doing the adjustment on the box. We did this last year and just tuned it up a bit more. It works well but has a bit of a clunk in the middle when you turn the wheel back and forth.
We tuned the HFM engine. I was having trouble with this and it seems as if my vacuum retard pulls too much..? Colin may have a better explanation but with some timing and carb adjustment, it seems to be running really well now. I also learned that I need to keep the oil level to the high mark of the dip stick. I generally kept it somewhere in between the marks but will have to change that habit.
We went over a long block I have with 3k miles before a valve seat fell out of #4 cylinder. The heads are currently at HFM being repaired. This was not an engine or heads from HFM but a more local shop that has since closed it doors. So no more warranty on that one. So I sent heads to HFM and waiting on them to come back so I can put this one back together and get it in one of the westys.
We notice some scoring in cylinder #4 and discussed this in detail. Checked endplay and determined it could be shimmed up a bit more. Discussed appropriate ways to torque heads and seal cylinders to the case and of course many other details on 8mm vs 10mm studs etc....
This was huge and I will post some pictures later. We fixed the dimmer relay on Bus 2 so now I have brights! I had no brights on the last 2 trips. I ordered 2 new relays and tried what appeared to be a decent old used one. None worked. I figured the problem was elsewhere. We checked the contacts on the blinker switch, we grounded out the relay, nothing. We couldn't figure out why that wasn't working and I would have never ever figured this one out.
Listen up.
I ordered two new relays. I cannot find the 2nd right now but I will. Those suckers were make wrong!! Meyle brand "Germany" was one and the other I believe "Pacific" think. They were a bit different looking but same cheap plastic cover and basically a shitty looking part inside. We had to run a JUMPER wire inside the box to get the right spades the power. Colin will have to tell you exactly and I need to put up some pictures to show it. I don't want to take the one Colin "fixed" apart right now until I have something else of better quality that works to replace it with. HAS ANYONE BOUGHT A NEW DIMMER RELAY LATELY AND HAD IT NOT WORK? It seems to be the way they are made and I can't believe that these would work for anyone. Crazy but true.
We also I believe figured out my electrical gremlin in Bus 1 but I'm beat and I've got to hit the hay. This part will take a while to tell. Let me add on to this tomorrow. I can't just tell you what the problem was, I need to tell you how I went about trying to fix this myself, it was insane.
Please excuse any spelling/punctuation errors. I'll clean it up later.
I learned a lot on this visit as always. I hope to retain at least a portion of it.
Thank you Colin. Your service is invaluable to me.
3rd appointment with Colin
I have two 71 white westys. One I normally drive and one I dragged out of a field and have been fixing up to have as a back-up. They are basically identical twins and bone stock. (I also have a 71 white tin top waiting in the wings to be fixed up)
When you're going to cart your family around the country in an old Bus, you better have a back-up, right?
Lots of engine changes since the last visit. Lots of detail here I could add about each engine but I'll skip it for now. The engine I'm using right now is the HFM long block I ordered. This is the 2nd one after the first one failed during break-in. This one seems to be great so far and I immediately left on two long road trips with the family. The first trip was about 900 miles after 300 miles of breaking in the engine. The 2nd trip we just came home from two days ago. It was a killer long road to Glacier Park, 13 days and 2291 miles. That story I'll have to tell later but basically an epic family adventure in the bus.
By the way, after one comes home from 13 days on the back roads, one has a lot of catching up to do. It doesn't help when one (me) gets the damn date wrong that he thinks Colin is supposed to arrive! I was all set to go a day EARLY! Where the hell is he?? I know he's on time...?! After a couple PM's Colin "reminded" me he'll be there at 9am on the 10th....not the 9th. I have some rescheduling to do for work. I still had to run out for a couple hours during Colins visit but otherwise I was trying to stay focused on absorbing as much info as I could. It all worked out fine.
I am amazed at what we accomplished today.
I have been banging my head on these issues and spending money on lots and lots of parts and time trying to fix what we worked on today.
In no particular order,
We adjusted the steering box as well as could be (it's old and needs a rebuild ultimately). Fairly simple and straight forward, especially when you're the one turning the steering wheel and Colin is doing the adjustment on the box. We did this last year and just tuned it up a bit more. It works well but has a bit of a clunk in the middle when you turn the wheel back and forth.
We tuned the HFM engine. I was having trouble with this and it seems as if my vacuum retard pulls too much..? Colin may have a better explanation but with some timing and carb adjustment, it seems to be running really well now. I also learned that I need to keep the oil level to the high mark of the dip stick. I generally kept it somewhere in between the marks but will have to change that habit.
We went over a long block I have with 3k miles before a valve seat fell out of #4 cylinder. The heads are currently at HFM being repaired. This was not an engine or heads from HFM but a more local shop that has since closed it doors. So no more warranty on that one. So I sent heads to HFM and waiting on them to come back so I can put this one back together and get it in one of the westys.
We notice some scoring in cylinder #4 and discussed this in detail. Checked endplay and determined it could be shimmed up a bit more. Discussed appropriate ways to torque heads and seal cylinders to the case and of course many other details on 8mm vs 10mm studs etc....
This was huge and I will post some pictures later. We fixed the dimmer relay on Bus 2 so now I have brights! I had no brights on the last 2 trips. I ordered 2 new relays and tried what appeared to be a decent old used one. None worked. I figured the problem was elsewhere. We checked the contacts on the blinker switch, we grounded out the relay, nothing. We couldn't figure out why that wasn't working and I would have never ever figured this one out.
Listen up.
I ordered two new relays. I cannot find the 2nd right now but I will. Those suckers were make wrong!! Meyle brand "Germany" was one and the other I believe "Pacific" think. They were a bit different looking but same cheap plastic cover and basically a shitty looking part inside. We had to run a JUMPER wire inside the box to get the right spades the power. Colin will have to tell you exactly and I need to put up some pictures to show it. I don't want to take the one Colin "fixed" apart right now until I have something else of better quality that works to replace it with. HAS ANYONE BOUGHT A NEW DIMMER RELAY LATELY AND HAD IT NOT WORK? It seems to be the way they are made and I can't believe that these would work for anyone. Crazy but true.
We also I believe figured out my electrical gremlin in Bus 1 but I'm beat and I've got to hit the hay. This part will take a while to tell. Let me add on to this tomorrow. I can't just tell you what the problem was, I need to tell you how I went about trying to fix this myself, it was insane.
Please excuse any spelling/punctuation errors. I'll clean it up later.
I learned a lot on this visit as always. I hope to retain at least a portion of it.
Thank you Colin. Your service is invaluable to me.