Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

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BellePlaine
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Location: Minnesota
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Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

Post by BellePlaine » Sat Jul 02, 2016 6:40 am

“Now, spit on it,” Colin says referring to my engine. Not sure why but I spit and miss. Colin, with one in the chamber, spits on the hot case near the oil filter. The saliva didn’t boil.

“See, this engine is not running too hot.” he confirms. A lady drives slowly past us wondering WTF.

This was my trillionth time with Colin and we had two high priority tasks. Replace ball joint boots and figure out why my oil temperate was freaking me out at 260F levels.

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I found a source for really good ball joint boots in the Netherlands. For some NOS parts, I recommend checking out BusOK. I ordered these Meyle boots and they sent three Meyle and one with a VW/Audi logo, which I had ready for my appointment with Colin. They are for sale here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... id=1430760

We proceeded to dissemble the front wheel hubs by removing the wheels, calipers, tie-rods, and steering knuckle assembly. I learned how the eccentric is a steel conical bushing with an off-set hole. It’s purpose is to adjust camber(?) Prior to removal we made a punch mark where it lived in the knuckle so we could set it back to same position and enjoy long tire tread life. Actually we were only able to remove the passenger side eccentric, the drivers side won’t budge so we punted and tried slipping the new ball joint boot over it. It worked!

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These ball joints are original yet pimped out with grease zerks from a prior visit with Colin. The old grease was “watery” because I used a different kind of grease then what was already being used. Mixing different types does something to the viscosity. So we flushed out the old grease with fresh Valvoline DuraBlend making sure to build a “grease dam” inside the joint.

We learned a new trick to install the retaining rings by starting at one end and wrapping/rotating the spring around the boot as opposed to trying to slide the whole thing over the boot at the same time.

Ball Joint Boot Porn
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We buttoned up the front end and then went for a highway drive at 70/75 MPH looking for hills to climb. After about 20 minutes, my VDO oil temperature gauge hit 260F. We pulled off into a rest stop and got out our laser thermometers. Colin showed me a section of diagonal engine case just inward of the oil filter which is reportedly a reliable location for taking readings. We were about 217F. We took the temperature of the valve covers, headers, oil strainer cover, and then we hogged a loogie. It all checked out. Stupid gauge.

Ok, let me pause here. Brady and my wife are calling me to hurry up because today is the day we are picking up a new puppy. A Boston Terrier we are naming “Wilco”. Cheers for now.
Chris
1975 Riviera we call "Spider-Man"

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asiab3
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Re: Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

Post by asiab3 » Sat Jul 02, 2016 8:57 am

Glad to hear your engine is not in dire peril!

The ball joint boots are one of my favorite jobs on these cars; glad yours went off without any major hitches. I'll have to remember the slip-over-the-eccentric trick for the next time I encounter a stubborn one… Yes you are correct in the adjustment of camber! (AND along with that comes just the slightest unavoidable adjustment of caster. There's no REAL way to set caster without messing up the camber, BUT if you install the eccentric wrong you can actually get correct camber and destroy the caster. It's a real doozie, and it's why we mark the locations first. :blackeye: )

Congrats on the new pup adoption, and thanks for the detailed write-up!

Impatiently waiting on the rest,
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jul 03, 2016 7:38 am

asiab3 wrote:Glad to hear your engine is not in dire peril!

The ball joint boots are one of my favorite jobs on these cars; glad yours went off without any major hitches. I'll have to remember the slip-over-the-eccentric trick for the next time I encounter a stubborn one… Yes you are correct in the adjustment of camber! (AND along with that comes just the slightest unavoidable adjustment of caster. There's no REAL way to set caster without messing up the camber, BUT if you install the eccentric wrong you can actually get correct camber and destroy the caster. It's a real doozie, and it's why we mark the locations first. :blackeye: )

Congrats on the new pup adoption, and thanks for the detailed write-up!

Impatiently waiting on the rest,
Robbie
If I ever find the time! I have so many stories and pictures. Met a real 86 year-old Iowa farmer yesterday honking at me to get off his property, two hours later he is inviting me to meet the missus, "she'd get a kick out of you, come back and see us next year."
ColinMustRunYetAgain
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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BellePlaine
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Re: Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

Post by BellePlaine » Sun Jul 03, 2016 11:34 am

Ok, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we got a dog, from Sioux Falls!

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But we couldn't drive the bus to South Dakota because the fuel pump started to whine just as Colin and I were cleaning up and organizing our tools. We jacked up the car and swapped in an fresh filter. No change. A test drive produced severe hesitations. We suspected the fuel pump so I had a new one ordered from the Bus Depot. Still, this new fuel pump makes a loud whining noise.

Sent a PM to Colin and he suggested I test the fuel pressure and back flush the gas tank at the outlet. So, today I tested the fuel pressure at 38 psi with the engine off and running the fuel pump. The pressure would hold at 32 psi for a super long time afterwards.

Then I took the supply line off of the fuel filter and drained some fuel into a Mason jar. Seemed like flow was good because gas drained out pretty fast. I got 10 feet of clear hose tubing and a barbed nipple coupler. I tied one end of the hose to the sider-door handle and the other end was connected to the supply fuel hose.

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I was able to blow long breaths of air into the gas tank without tasting gas. Flow from the supply line improved dramatically. The whine from the fuel pump is gone and the car drove great on a 10 mile ride around the river. There was one small "power blip" upon acceleration right after deceleration. I hit the gas to make it to the stop sign. Just going to watch it. Today I'm at 99K miles:

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PS, on Monday themiz and I hosted a VW BBQ and IAC Social at Rahr Malting where we work. I think we had about 9 buses present at one point; here's a few the them. We have a proud Minnesota IAC Contingent.

Image
1975 Riviera we call "Spider-Man"

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vwlover77
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Re: Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

Post by vwlover77 » Mon Jul 04, 2016 7:06 pm

What an awesome picture! What cool co-workers you have!

Congratulations on the new puppy too!

I'm inspired to replace my torn ball joint boots now!

And to use more exclamation points!!!! :geek:
Don

---------------------------
78 Westy
71 Super Beetle Convertible Autostick

"When we let our compassion go, we let go of whatever claim we have to the divine." - Bruce Springsteen

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Bleyseng
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Re: Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

Post by Bleyseng » Wed Jul 06, 2016 10:48 pm

I am inspired too so I ordered a couple of those repair boots from Busok and just happen to have a friend coming from Germany to visit. So free shipping and hand delivered to me on monday.
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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Amskeptic
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Re: Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jul 07, 2016 7:02 am

BellePlaine wrote:We have a proud Minnesota IAC Contingent.

Yes, we do.

Image
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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BellePlaine
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Re: Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

Post by BellePlaine » Thu Jul 07, 2016 11:23 am

Bleyseng wrote:I am inspired too so I ordered a couple of those repair boots from Busok and just happen to have a friend coming from Germany to visit. So free shipping and hand delivered to me on monday.
Here's a closer pic of the boots I got from BusOk.

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I originally found them while searching for an original fog light switch. Not sure if I should be proud of the fact but I paid 65 euro for this bad boy!
Image
1975 Riviera we call "Spider-Man"

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Bleyseng
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Re: Unconventional Methods in Minnesota

Post by Bleyseng » Mon Jul 11, 2016 6:19 am

With a bug part number no less.....
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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