Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington DC

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington DC

Post by Amskeptic » Sat May 20, 2017 6:05 pm

You can see that I have knocked out a few calls so far. Good for Chloe, who now has 1,475 miles on the rebuild. As of the last valve adjustment, things might be stabilizing in the left cylinder head. I will give it five hundred miles and check them again. Plan C, if Chloe gets sick, is to pull the Squareback out of storage in western New York and drive it to Pensacola to pick up NaranjaWesty.

First main lap call was in Kentucky at PaducahFrank's, a man of great enthusiasm in the face of a two year challenge to get his poor bus to run. That is his wife, the Day's Stenographer taking in the afternoon:

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This fuel injection conundrum had taken Frank to ECU replacements and quite a number of other parts too. There we were in the kitchen, I was prattling against my better judgment and humility that I had not been licked by a fuel injection problem YET.
"Soo, let's get to work," said puffy ego guru. The squirrel knew better:

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Hours skidded past. The ol' bugaboo, No Injector Ground Path, presented itself. A few other tasty little confusions interjected themselves, like an injector plug that stayed lit * after the ignition was shut off *
"Ahh, uh must be the the diode, the diode in the double relay, got a double relay?" Of course Frank had a double relay, he had two of most everything by now. And we replaced it and we tested injectors with 9 volt batteries and cold start valves with 12 volt batteries, and there were ohm readings and everything:

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I even fell into starting fluid primes ("Don't EVER use starting fluid," I have said many times) that let the engine run however briefly. With absolutely incoherent intuitions, I came across bad gas, bad double relay, and some mis-matched injectors, and carbon-contaminated plugs. Yes, we had to drain an almost full tank of gas and replace it with fresh gas and we were running by about 5:00PM. The once-phluffy ego and his customer:

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Enjoyed meeting you Frank and Lydia, and I am still grateful that your engine took mercy on us. Drove on out of there because I landed a half-day visit the very next day in Nashville Tennessee with Aaron McGarity and his blue Vanagon .

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This here is 60 mph in 85* heat 319* CHTs and a temporarily quiescent clutch:

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Aaron is planning on an epic trip, and wanted to know more about his engine. We met at the Cracker Barrel parking lot off interstate 40 in the frying heat of the afternoon.
"Let's do some concepts inside the Cracker Barrel," I suggested. What a horrible clot of trashy junk just dying to be sold to unsuspecting dining patrons, what horrible music, what horrible smells, what bubbly bright offers to seat us, what great good common sense did Aaron and I agree that outside was better than *this*. We went over concepts in the Vanagon with the poptop up, then set about adjusting valves and checking timing and cleaning off huge gobs of red silicone from the valve covers:

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THEN we had to fix the newly cleaned and correctly installed valve cover gasket leaks and checking out the LED headlamps and interior lamps and fixing more valve cover gasket leaks. Don't even buy Felpro valve cover gaskets, they are so skinny now that they don't even compress under the bails:

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Good luck Aaron. hope to see you in Colorado. Drove into the night on my way to Maryland with an escape clause all ready to execute. By Knoxville, if the engine keeps tightening up the #3 and #4 valves, or if the clutch chatters any worse, or if the crankcase gives me any more evidence of imminent destruction, we'll bail down to Atlanta and park the cow. Checked my valve adjustment in the morning, as usual. #3 and #4 exhaust were, as usual, tight. The clutch hammered in reverse. The end play was damn close to .006" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and I kept driving past Knoxville, because I love my little brown cow and I wanted to keep driving.

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By the time I reached Washington DC, there were discussions taking place:

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I had a vile clutch-annoying traffic jam from 7:00PM outside of Frederick VA through Washington metro up towards Baltimore due to two crashes that had pinched off all but one lane of Interstate 95, then MD 295. The 295 jam was on a mostly uphill stretch that exercised the chattery clutch to a tremulous seizure. At 1:20AM, I peeled off the road and zonked out ... "appointment? whatever"

Morning came too quickly, but we had a good time at cheesehead's spread. Coffee, conversation, valve adjustment, inner door scraper, horn repair, slumming around the local community visiting her dad, chatting with neighbors, that Westy, Clementine, drove as beautifully as I have ever remembered. The Raby engine just mocked my chattery vibrating anxiety. Had our annual beer/quesadilla/philosophy dinner and I blew out of there in the morning, fortified with real coffee for my next call, kevinj73us.

http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/vie ... 03#p225303
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 Washington DC

Post by GOBlueWesty » Sun May 21, 2017 8:14 am

Thanks again for the great tutelage the other day! I bought new valve covers and seals, but before installing I checked the oil, and the level is perfect even after the large leak. (I'll never overfill with oil again, I swear) Then, I cleaned the exterior of the valve covers and everything around that area so that when I fired it up I could check for drips and leaks. After firing it up, I don't see any leaks coming from the valve covers...oh how perplexed I feel! I do however, still have my original oil leak. With a flashlight and careful observation, I see that it is coming from the oil cooler. It then drips down to the oil filter and drops to the ground from there.

Reading on the forums oil cooler leaks seem to be common. Would a correct plan of action be to replace the oil cooler gaskets? What does this job entail?

So...back to the valve covers and gaskets and bales and all that jazz- I will probably just install everything brand new because I now have the parts, and hope for the best. What is that type of glue that you used to hold the gaskets in place the final time we installed the ones that you brought? My new gaskets from BusDepot look to be the same kind that you installed. They are not as wide, but thicker than the useless pieces of Felpro crap.

Glad to see the bus is still carrying you along despite some difficulties!

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wcfvw69
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington DC

Post by wcfvw69 » Sun May 21, 2017 9:41 am

GOBlueWesty wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 8:14 am
Thanks again for the great tutelage the other day! I bought new valve covers and seals, but before installing I checked the oil, and the level is perfect even after the large leak. (I'll never overfill with oil again, I swear) Then, I cleaned the exterior of the valve covers and everything around that area so that when I fired it up I could check for drips and leaks. After firing it up, I don't see any leaks coming from the valve covers...oh how perplexed I feel! I do however, still have my original oil leak. With a flashlight and careful observation, I see that it is coming from the oil cooler. It then drips down to the oil filter and drops to the ground from there.

Reading on the forums oil cooler leaks seem to be common. Would a correct plan of action be to replace the oil cooler gaskets? What does this job entail?

So...back to the valve covers and gaskets and bales and all that jazz- I will probably just install everything brand new because I now have the parts, and hope for the best. What is that type of glue that you used to hold the gaskets in place the final time we installed the ones that you brought? My new gaskets from BusDepot look to be the same kind that you installed. They are not as wide, but thicker than the useless pieces of Felpro crap.

Glad to see the bus is still carrying you along despite some difficulties!
On your oil cooler, I'd get it pressure tested while it's off. If it passes, then install new seals. I had an oil cooler leak that I "assumed" was the seals. It was the oil cooler which required a second engine drop on my type 1 bus engine. I was not happy.

I use Indian shellac on the valve cover gaskets to glue them to the covers. Obviously, only apply it on the side that goes against the valve cover. :blackeye:
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington DC

Post by GOBlueWesty » Sun May 21, 2017 11:26 am

Thanks for the advise! I've read you don't need to drop the engine to replace seals on the 81 vanagon, but you might have to to remove the oil cooler? I'm not sure.

So I've been trying to replace my distributor today. Let me just say, it sucks to be a neophyte! I know everyone has been there are some point but damn. I'm pretty lost, I took the old one off, put the new one in (with new rotor) connected the power wire to the coil, and no start. I've read the rotor should be pointing to #1 wire coming off cap. I did that I think, and I'm just not getting anything. I've also tried changing the timing, and rotating the shaft 180 degrees. Granted any of these things could have been done wrong...

Any advice to get ol' Baloo to fire up?

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Randy in Maine
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington DC

Post by Randy in Maine » Sun May 21, 2017 3:58 pm

Remove the distributor cap and have your lovely assistant pretend to start the car. Is the rotor actually turning?

If not, the distributor is not fully engaged in the drive with those teeth. Sometimes you need a dusting of wheel bearing grease on the distributor shaft to lube it up, so that you can wiggle it all in.

Try that..
79 VW Bus

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington DC

Post by Amskeptic » Sun May 21, 2017 7:54 pm

Somebody want to mentor Aaron through this. I gots to run.

I wrote this earlier, but more detail is needed to figure out what is going on . . .
You installed a whole new distributor?

a) did you set the engine to TDC #1 before removing the old distributor? Does the rotor on the replacement distributor rotate with the engine? It needs to be properly engaged with the slot at the bottom of the distributor hole.

b) does the new distributor have breaker points or an electronic module?

c) remember that the timing mark at "0" on the scale could be cylinder #3 about to fire the spark plug, or cylinder #1. We cannot ask the distributor which one if the distributor has been taken out. We can only ask the valves. Yeah, I know, you need to remove a valve cover AGAIN. The left one, in fact. You need to rotate the engine (a 4th gear push in the forward direction only will do) and WATCH #3 valves. WHEN the exhaust valve pushes in, be alert. Keep pushing and watch intake valve. As soon as the exhaust begins to close, and the intake begins to push in, stop! Now, line up the timing mark on "0" at scale, it should be pretty close. You are now at #1 top dead center ready to fire its spark. Make sure the distributor rotor points to the terminal on the distributor cap that leads to spark plug #1. The other wires should follow 4-3-2- clockwise from that #1 wire that is over the rotor.
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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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington DC

Post by Amskeptic » Mon May 29, 2017 4:31 pm

Curtp07 wrote:
Mon May 29, 2017 12:49 pm
Colin,

If you're not using it already, WAZE. I commute to LGA from Boston and have been saved from many hours of sitting with this handy app.

Curt


You know what I use, Curt? A ball point pen and napkins, paper towels, scraps of receipts or yesterday's newspaper to transpose my online map directions into Itinerant Shorthand. My phone has number buttons on it, but it is as dumb as a brick.
Me too,
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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asiab3
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington DC

Post by asiab3 » Tue May 30, 2017 11:34 am

I enjoy shutting the GPS off for rural routes and lazy days.

But I also found Summit lake in one shot last year.........

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

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