Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Florida I

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wcfvw69
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Florida I

Post by wcfvw69 » Tue Mar 01, 2016 6:44 am

Amskeptic wrote:
Wasn't even the clutch cable's fault . . . it was the Bowden Tube and the fight I had in November to reinstall the original cable where I laboriously threaded the entire clutch adjustment threads through the Bowden Tube not asking myself why, and more importantly, not inquiring further.
It's amazing how many of us chose to "ignore" that little voice in our heads when we KNOW we should stop and explore further during a repair. Or the other mental hazard of "it'll be fine like that".. I know I've done that and have always been burned with my decision. It appears that we often are presented with these situations during a repair. Our "little voice" says to us "this isn't right" and the evil little voice counters with "it'll be fine". Being a naturally impatient person, it's even harder for me to listen to my rational side.

My last example was when I bought my bus and had the engine disassembled on the floor to reseal the oil cooler that was causing a leak. It appeared the seals where not causing the leak from it by I "over rode" those thoughts and only changed the seals vs. inspecting or pressure testing the cooler. I was rewarded for not listening to my rational thought by having to pull and tear down the engine a second time to change the leaking oil cooler...

Those Bowden cables can really make an impact on the clutch system I learned. When I bought my 67 bug, I was shocked at how hard it was to push the clutch in. I suspected an issue with the pressure plate. Whenever I buy a used VW, I always change the clutch cable and inspect the clutch pedal hook on the pedal assembly. I also change the throttle cable too. When I pulled the pedal assembly off, the hook was about to break due to the excess wear. I couldn't pull the clutch cable through the Bowden tube and had to cut the cable off. After fixing the clutch cable hook on the pedal and installing the new clutch Bowden tube and cable that were nicely greased, the clutch was beautifully smooth and easy to depress.
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Florida I

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Mar 01, 2016 6:59 pm

Jivermo wrote:Colin returned, after dealing with his clutch cable, to finish up my brake job. The front discs proved okay, and we thought we were going to have an easy time of it, but nooooo. That last wheel, the only one we did not pull, defied adjustment. It was heating up during our test stopping.

So the afternoon passed into the night, and the inevitable stumbling block presented itself to us, and how we dealt with it, I'll leave to this spooky fellow to relate.

So yes, we are developing an album of late night photography there at McIntyre Acres, I remember one evocative shot of the man who had discovered his #1 main bearing was rotating in the crankcase.

I arrived at 11:30am after the late night clutch operation. Washed the Naranja Westy with the meanest fighting python of a balky water hose and the rudest sprayer I have ever been so disrespected by:

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Finished sanding and painting the left side lower tin:

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Then I took a shower to clean up before getting grimed up with brakes.

This entire Florida visit was graced by top-drawer accommodations and gracious hospitality and a generosity of time and resources on the part of Jivermo. Sort of makes me want to be a better person. This appointment, however, began to unravel on the test drive. The brakes, the Cause of Today's Occasion, misbehaved right out of the driveway. The warning light came on at every application. The front pads began to chirp after we perhaps hammered them a little too hard. The left rear brake simply jerked my chain. I adjusted the rear brakes. I like how I adjust rear brakes, I don't have to "think" about the procedure, yet this left rear brake was all sticky-to-turn within a quarter mile. I re adjusted the left rear brake after taking responsibility for moving the adjusters in the wrong direction. "Hey Ian, I must have adjusted the adjusters in the wrong direction." I loosened the adjusters. The next test drive, we were rationalizing. "Does the car coast freely?" "Yeah, I think so." We did several firm slow downs and stops and the wheels all felt cool. I jacked up the rear and checked my brake adjustment. The wheel was difficult to turn again! Loosened the adjusters back to free-wheeling. Asked Ian to step on the brake pedal and apply the ebrake. "Now release." Wheel was tightened up solid.

That is when we went into the left rear brake at 6:00pm to see what was going on . I posited that the ebrake lever was rusted onto the rear shoe, and the application of the ebrake was forcing it forward where it would "stick". Close . . . it was a frozen wheel cylinder piston. The brake fluid all over the place was another clue that the wheel cylinder was hosed. The fact that the wheel cylinder had absolutely no marking, no stamp, no identity, told us that it was a crap no-name possibly Chinese hunk of porous iron prone to things like "rusting solid".

I'll give this to two somewhat seasoned gentlemen at the end of a long day. We got reserves. Even when the brake line refused to loosen. Our gradual escalation of force was a beautiful thing to behold. Right to the edge of metallurgy, old 11mm open-end / 7/16 brake flare wrench / new 11mm open-end / application of PB Blaster / small vise grips / medium vise grips / wheel cylinder unbolted / rebolted to the backing plate / big breaker bar handle in wheel cylinder + vise grips on fitting / break out the propane and fry that mess / medium vise grips and lots of smoke, and the little bitty 11mm fitting finally let go. And you know what? There was no rust in the threads, it was all because Monkey Man Went Ape back when these no-name wheel cylinders were installed. Still had a salvageable nut on the fitting too! We reassembled the works and did not go on a test drive. Ask the Spooky Photographer to relate . . .
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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MountainPrana
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Florida I

Post by MountainPrana » Thu May 19, 2016 9:30 pm

Amskeptic wrote:Here's the repainted muffler/crossover pipe, and the right side exchanger/manifold with the cut off bolts just painted over. See that coffee POT? These guys are the best:

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I'm super curious what this procedure looks like. What kind of paint do you use and what is the prep? Any other helpful Tid (technique, initiation, duration) bits? I was bored yesterday and removed the exhaust from Odyssa in order to have more room to scrape off crud and detail the undercarriage. That stuff is just sitting on the garage floor now, I'd love to clean it up and make it pretty!

Tim

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MountainPrana
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Florida I

Post by MountainPrana » Sat May 21, 2016 10:49 pm

MountainPrana wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:Here's the repainted muffler/crossover pipe, and the right side exchanger/manifold with the cut off bolts just painted over. See that coffee POT? These guys are the best:

Image
I'm super curious what this procedure looks like. What kind of paint do you use and what is the prep? Any other helpful Tid (technique, initiation, duration) bits? I was bored yesterday and removed the exhaust from Odyssa in order to have more room to scrape off crud and detail the undercarriage. That stuff is just sitting on the garage floor now, I'd love to clean it up and make it pretty!

Tim
Ah, I found it... knew there had to be some more information on here somewhere!
Hiding back in the 2014 Itinerary.
Amskeptic wrote:The good news is, that because I was not on a dirt road dead-end this time, I was able to brush/sand/soapy water brush/hot water rinse all of the parts . . . .

Image

. . . . before painting them again with the VHT 2000* flat aluminum, this time also with a high temp primer:

Image

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http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/vie ... 68&t=12077
Tim

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asiab3
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Florida I

Post by asiab3 » Sun May 22, 2016 11:34 am

Tim, fantastic searching! I struggle to search this site sometimes, but usually Google helps me out.

I have had great success by having my exhaust components professionally sandblasted before using the VHT system. My reasoning is that A) I'm not doing it in a field in Texas, B) their shop is down the street and cheap, and C) quality will not be sacrificed in the name of saving time. That last one is key for me, because rarely rarely do I ever farm out work. But if you schedule a time to have it done and coat it immediately, there will be no opportunity for flash rust, and you'll be pleased with the results.

Baking the coating in a hi-temp BBQ or oven will also cure the paint better than on the car, since the muffler will never reach temperatures that NEED the 2000* protection like the manifolds will.

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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MountainPrana
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Florida I

Post by MountainPrana » Mon May 23, 2016 9:10 pm

asiab3 wrote:Tim, fantastic searching! I struggle to search this site sometimes, but usually Google helps me out.

I have had great success by having my exhaust components professionally sandblasted before using the VHT system. My reasoning is that A) I'm not doing it in a field in Texas, B) their shop is down the street and cheap, and C) quality will not be sacrificed in the name of saving time. That last one is key for me, because rarely rarely do I ever farm out work. But if you schedule a time to have it done and coat it immediately, there will be no opportunity for flash rust, and you'll be pleased with the results.

Baking the coating in a hi-temp BBQ or oven will also cure the paint better than on the car, since the muffler will never reach temperatures that NEED the 2000* protection like the manifolds will.

Robbie
Thanks for the tips!

Tim

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