Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Aug 03, 2016 8:36 am

The Portland OR-to-Eureka CA traverse was actually a bit horrendous in the realm of gasoline, gasoline towel baths, gasoline filter shot cocktails, gasoline fumes, and several highway escapes barreling into little pull outs, gas stations, parking lots, maintenance yards, railroad access driveways, for filter cleanings. I have a bucket of filter disgorgements now, and I plan to experiment with combustible chemicals to see what is best at dissolving the particles at a modest rate.

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Head temps were awful in the 95-102* heat. Since I promised history and science not to muck with the essential AFM adjustments until I had fully measured the air/fuel ratios with the RandyInMaine loaner LM-1, there were few options to help reduce the readings from the high of 437*, average of 410*.
I blamed the stupid ring terminal under the spark plug here in Weed CA:
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That is Mount Shasta climbing at that ridiculous angle behind me along the railroad tracks. I pulled the #3 spark plug and yes, the terminal was ovalized and leaking.

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"This spark plug well needs a notch," I said to myself. Stuffed a grease-impregnated paper towel into the vacant spark plug hole and stuck a router bit barely into the dremel collet and went to town on the cylinder head completely completely blind. I would pull the dremel out of the hole and look at the most recent excavation and try to remember the feel of the bumps and resistances to grinding and map them out in my mind,
"that is the fin to the left just up from the well wall"
"that is the slippery slope down from the cross groove"
The router had such a small grinding surface, that all of the above had to be revisited in waves as I ground down to flush with the plug seating surface. Two hours later, I had a groove for the ring terminal.
See the groove for the ring terminal? Me neither:

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Since I forgot to bring my two hundred gallon air compressor, I used Brake Kleen aerosol to get the grinding dust cleared from the area. The spare ring terminal was so very carefully installed, the filter was cleaned, and I did a little house-keeping in the back of the car:

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Hit the road to Redding, hopeful.
435* Oh well. Called RandyInMaine in Willow Creek.
"Hey RandyInMaine, can I extend your LM-1 harness before I get killed trying to read the display that doesn't quite reach between the front seats?"
"Sure, are you going to use a trailer light harness or something?"
"No. It will be individual wires." Seven of them, in fact:

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Did the harness extension right about here in the 90* sunshine with a view of the cold Pacific shrouding Eureka way back there:

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Got too hot, so I went down the hill to a turn-out. Saw this peeking out from the brush:

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Way over on the other side of the turn-out where I went to take care of some Diet Coke-induced business, I spied this down the hill a bit:

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The LM-1 now reaches the e brake handle and I can start plotting mixtures with the original factory settings, then hopefully save the engine from those readings. Checked the valve adjustments yesterday morning, they are all FINE. Will report back as data is generated. Will also report the unbelievable "incident" on CA-299 involving a twelve pack of Diet Coke . . . .

Meanwhile, an excavator ponders whether or not to eat itself:

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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whc03grady
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by whc03grady » Wed Aug 03, 2016 3:28 pm

Amskeptic wrote:Got too hot....
Uh, what?
Ludwig--1974 Westfalia, 2.0L (GD035193), Solex 34PDSIT-2/3 carburetors.
Gertie--1971 Squareback, 1600cc with Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection from a '72 (E brain).
Read about their adventures:
http://www.ludwigandgertie.blogspot.com

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airkooledchris
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by airkooledchris » Wed Aug 03, 2016 8:01 pm

Hopefully the head temps are starting to chill out now that your in more reasonable temperatures :sunny:
1979 California Transporter

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:26 pm

airkooledchris wrote:Hopefully the head temps are starting to chill out now that your in more reasonable temperatures :sunny:
Reasonable? 62* death chill, head temps can't seem to get above 340*. Poor pdlrofdrms, ripped out her rear window, ripped off the stabilizer bar, ripped out the CVs, then left.
Colin :blackeye:
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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vwlover77
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by vwlover77 » Thu Aug 04, 2016 9:27 am

Amskeptic wrote:Poor pdlrofdrms, ripped out her rear window, ripped off the stabilizer bar, ripped out the CVs, then left.
Colin :blackeye:
It seems this year's itinerary is taking a more, shall we say, "direct approach" to fostering self-reliance among the customers??? "Here, I took it all apart for ya' - wow, you've got a mess there, but gotta get going! There's at least 5 fuel filter cleanings between here and my next appointment. See ya!!! " :joker:

KIDDING!!!!! :flower:

Is that poor abandoned beast an old Audi 4000??? The wheels look familiar but I can't quite place them.....
Don

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

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by tewa3240 » Thu Aug 04, 2016 10:45 pm

vwlover77 wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:Poor pdlrofdrms, ripped out her rear window, ripped off the stabilizer bar, ripped out the CVS, then left.
Colin :blackeye:
It seems this year's itinerary is taking a more, shall we say, "direct approach" to fostering self-reliance among the customers??? "Here, I took it all apart for ya' - wow, you've got a mess there, but gotta get going! There's at least 5 fuel filter cleanings between here and my next appointment. See ya!!! " :joker:

KIDDING!!!!! :flower:

Is that poor abandoned beast an old Audi 4000??? The wheels look familiar but I can't quite place them.....
It is at this point, i was sure Colin was going to pull the tank, drag it up to the VW, route some soft line through
the engine access door (left ajar), sneak it passed the foam engine seal, clamp it to his fuel pump inlet.....
and wind up with a camper with 400+ mile driving range.
But No . Oh well.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Aug 05, 2016 6:40 pm

tewa3240 wrote: It is at this point, i was sure Colin was going to pull the tank, drag it up to the VW, route some soft line through
the engine access door (left ajar), sneak it passed the foam engine seal, clamp it to his fuel pump inlet.....
and wind up with a camper with 400+ mile driving range.

But No.
Oh well.
Great idea, however.
Next time I spy an abandoned late model Saab wreck, I'll have a go.
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 California

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Aug 06, 2016 10:21 am

The Great Diet Coke Incident occurred on CA-299 on a hard downhill right sweeper approximately three hours after this picture was taken:

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The right-hander had a diminishing radius which meant that side loads were increasing more rapidly than I could hope to stave off with braking. At this point, the Diet Coke 12 pack end flaps blew open and sent three cans rolling over to the pedals. I needed to brake as the road transitioned left. I thought to myself, I thought, "you are going to kick the bucket right here if you don't maintain an eye on the road."

So, I kicked the can, instead.

It exploded with a geyser of foam directed at my face, my front, the driver's side window. Another can was somewhere down there joining the fun and this left turn is now on me. I kicked that can and the first can. Second can blasted a jet up at the ceiling and was ricocheting off the visor. I reached down and lobbed the third can at the passenger door and it of course exploded. WTF? It looks like a murder scene out of Pulp Fiction and I am only down to 35 mph or so and cannot really see what I am driving into but water sparkles all over the inside of the windshield. I HATE the glue guy at the Diet Coke factory with a murderous rage. More cans are going rogue as this Diet Coke insurrection reaches a climax of rolling and throwing cans, braking, trying to see an escape pull-off, and a sprightly discussion with myself about the end of civilization. How do you properly address the End Days when you are dripping with Diet Coke fizz? Found myself at a forest road gate well enough off the road to strip down, empty out the front of the car, wash my shirt and shorts and the dashboard towel which had drunk two cans of Diet Coke, ScotchGuard upholstery/carpet foam clean both seats and the floor carpeting, wash the headliner, and all the windows. This incident was so violent that Diet Coke had entered the air-extractors and made it out of the leading edge door ports and blasted the outside of the doors with little "flames" of dried Diet Coke spatter (note to self, close air extractors before you axe your passenger). What the hell, clean the fuel filter, too.

I love pdlrofdrms. Her bus, Olive, is a testament to her great determination to live and to learn. Although I was not all that sure of what our appointment was to accomplish, we found ourselves multi-tasking soon enough. First discussion was to forego the new "heavy duty" stabilizer bar with the bright red urethane bushings and see if we could clean and paint the old one (to prevent rust-induced risk of fracture) and install rubber bushings. Then I saw the rear window channel rust and listened to her talk about the water incursion that was occurring in the back of the car. Took the rear window out and set her to work painting on rust-catalyzing primer while I knocked off the rust and the undercoating and smoothed the original stabilizer bar:

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Oh, and remove the drive axles for a repack and new boots:

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Pdlrofdrms is one of those people who demands to be fully engaged and involved:

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While the bondo set and the paint dried, we went to Arcata to score some genuine FAG rear wheel bearings and a new temp sensor 2 from the local VW shop. Thanks, pdlrofdrms, for letting us put an hour hole in the middle of the day with your car in pieces. Came back, finished packing the CVs, primered over the rust-catalyzing primer, and decided that the stabilizer bar needed to dry overnight before we wrestled the new rubber bushings over the fresh paint. I told her that I would come back in the morning to install the right side driveshaft and stabilizer bar. The next morning, I went to Discount Tire Outlet of last year's wheel balancing fame:

http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/vie ... 69&t=12638

They removed a nail from the right rear tire and balanced and rotated all the tires.
"How much?"
"We are not charging you anything."
"What?"
"We are not charging you anything."
"Why not?"
"We will call it free follow-through. We read your Yellow Pages review last year."

Drove back to pdlrofdrms. She had ALREADY installed the right driveshaft.
"I was careful like you said not to get any dirt in the CVs, that was hard to hold the driveshaft while getting the bolts in."
"!"
"Oh, and the bushings are on the stabilizer bar. Just a little lubrication and this hammer."
"!"
See, she just gets in there and gets the job done. I look forward to seeing the rear window installed.

Now, I have problems, Chris, that is why I did not visit you. I have serious head temp issues. I have already cleaned and reduced the centrifugal advance range:

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Have played with the mixture screw up and down to no avail, until the RandyInMaine LM-1 lost power and I had to resolder the power supply socket:

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Adjusted the valves, did not like the feel, took out the new 10mm swivelfoot adjusters to find that they have been galling inside their little sockets, re-chamfered the rocker arms to allow the adjusters to back out a bit more:

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Camped under the stars in the forest:

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I have been hitting 437* CHTs on the highway. Today, I fool with the factory adjustments finally. I will not be able to continue driving this car if the temps don't come down. Enthusiadam is already on-notice that his appointment tomorrow may be cancelled if I can't get down the interstate in this heat. Stay tuned!
ColinGETtuned
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 California

Post by 71whitewesty » Sat Aug 06, 2016 11:00 am

That diet coke may do you in sooner than later. That stuff is bad news and this story proves it. :cyclopsani:
Great night shot with the moonlight bouncing off the pop top.
(Just put 1100 miles on bus 1 and working great)
Safe travels Colin.

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SlowLane
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by SlowLane » Sat Aug 06, 2016 12:32 pm

Amskeptic wrote:I have been hitting 437* CHTs on the highway. Today, I fool with the factory adjustments finally. I will not be able to continue driving this car if the temps don't come down. Enthusiadam is already on-notice that his appointment tomorrow may be cancelled if I can't get down the interstate in this heat.
You once asked me, sir, whether I trusted my CHT gauge. I now return the favour: do you trust your CHT gauge, and more particularly, the ring sender? Is the sender ring doing an adequate job as a gasket, or is it letting tiny little blasts of hot combustion gas leak through on every ignition? Are the high readings corroborated by spark plug readings?

Also, consider that the inlet screens on your injectors may be silting up. Although you've been diligent in blowing pebbles and grit out of your fuel filters, they're only pre-filters intended to block contaminants of 20 microns or so. Despite your best efforts, there still must be some silty stuff circulating around your fuel loop.

On the plus side, temperatures are cooling down in the SF Bay area. They were quite toasty as little as a week ago, so that may help.

On the minus side, I found that navigating around the highways in the Bay area produced the most worrisome head temperatures of my trip last summer. I saw 445 degrees briefly while trying to avoid getting smeared into the guardrail while merging onto the 280 south of SF. Unfortunately, there's just no avoiding the highways around here.
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Aug 06, 2016 5:35 pm

SlowLane wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:I have been hitting 437* CHTs on the highway. Today, I fool with the factory adjustments finally. I will not be able to continue driving this car if the temps don't come down. Enthusiadam is already on-notice that his appointment tomorrow may be cancelled if I can't get down the interstate in this heat.
You once asked me, sir, whether I trusted my CHT gauge. I now return the favour: do you trust your CHT gauge, and more particularly, the ring sender? Is the sender ring doing an adequate job as a gasket, or is it letting tiny little blasts of hot combustion gas leak through on every ignition? Are the high readings corroborated by spark plug readings?

Also, consider that the inlet screens on your injectors may be silting up. Although you've been diligent in blowing pebbles and grit out of your fuel filters, they're only pre-filters intended to block contaminants of 20 microns or so. Despite your best efforts, there still must be some silty stuff circulating around your fuel loop.

On the plus side, temperatures are cooling down in the SF Bay area. They were quite toasty as little as a week ago, so that may help.

On the minus side, I found that navigating around the highways in the Bay area produced the most worrisome head temperatures of my trip last summer. I saw 445 degrees briefly while trying to avoid getting smeared into the guardrail while merging onto the 280 south of SF. Unfortunately, there's just no avoiding the highways around here.
The LM-1 would show me a lean-out (and it does) due to siltation and filter clogging. I can easily force a 9:1 fuel ratio at 4,500 rpm which is proof enough that there is sufficient fuel supply.

Most significant reduction in alarming head temps (447* today) occurred when I dropped the timing from a scattery 28* BTDC @ 3,400 rpm to 25* BTDC @ 3,400 rpm. That kept me out of the 440s.

Finally cracked open the AFM and richened 1/2 tooth on the wiper / leaned 3 teeth on the cog.
This has dropped 60 mph a/f ratio from 12.5 to 12.1 : 1, and my maximum CHT in the heat of the afternoon here in Red Bluff has been 428* full throttle, 410-425* at steady cruise. This is *better* but not good enough.
Back out unto the highway for more experiments . . .
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 California

Post by luftvagon » Sun Aug 07, 2016 8:21 am

Colin, what is your steady state cruise AFR like? If WOT is 12.1, what is your steady state cruise like?
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by EskimoTom » Sun Aug 07, 2016 4:23 pm

Loved the diet coke story. Pamela adds, good thing it was diet coke and not regular, sugary coke.
1971 Camper. Sportmobile. "Rusty"

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by airkooledchris » Sun Aug 07, 2016 7:58 pm

And that's why these damned CHT gauges are such a pain in the ass. Without it, would you have assumed everything was normal and running correctly?


If I knew you had an unmolested AFM I would have loaned ya a spare AFM to mess around with, just to confirm that going down that road would be the adjustment needed to make everybody happy. That said, there's something to be said for knowing that your starting point was a proper factory setting.

I could picture the Coke scenario and while I would have laughed quite a bit to witness this in some comedy flick, it was cringeworthy to read about it happening within the original Westy.

Praying to the VW head gods that the temps are tackled shortly.
1979 California Transporter

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From California

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:04 am

luftvagon wrote:Colin, what is your steady state cruise AFR like? If WOT is 12.1, what is your steady state cruise like?
My WOT is now 11.3 to 11.9 at 55 mph, and temps will get up to 430*f on a hill climb.
Steady state cruise at 60 mph is 12.3-12.7
Timing is now retarded to 25* BTDC @ 3,400 rpm.

Running out of adjustment options.
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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