Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

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Ronin10
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Location: Columbia City, Seattle, WA
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Ronin10 » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:06 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:20 pm
Dammit, the remote disabler has a stuck button, I can't undisable.
Colin

(what DID you find?)
Based on the way the car died, I had a hunch that the problem was in the fuel delivery. Power more or less faded away with little gasps of normal power here and there. So I started with taking a fuel pressure reading and found out it was only providing about 13 psi of pressure. I swapped out the fuel filter with no change and also the fuel pump, again with no change. The only thing left was a fuel shortage or a blockage between the filter and the tank. I added some fuel and after many cranks, it fired up, a little ragged at first and then stronger after 15 - 20 seconds. I had run out of fuel.

When asking myself why, I discovered that my fuel gauge was nonfunctional. I realized then that I had the habit of subconsciously noting only whether the gauge was in the red when scanning my instrument panel instead of a defined level (full, half, 1/4, etc.). With no needle visible, I had scanned right over it.

I checked out the wiring to the gauge and found a flaw. As you had assigned for homework, I wired up a piggyback at the fuel guage to connect the base plate of the alternator/turn signal lamps, the base plate of the oil pressure lamp, and the fuel gauge into one electrical loop. However we didn't have it quite right to start, the brown wire with the black tracer was wired to the vibrator. Consulting the wiring diagram, I discovered that the gauge (double black wires) and vibrator (brown w/black tracer) needed to be swapped so that the double black wires were on the vibrator and the brown/black was on the gauge. Made that switch but my gauge remains dead at this time. Maybe it got cooked by having full 12v all the time and nothing from the vibrator?

Further investigation to come tomorrow.
Oscar: 1976 Sage Green Bus, Stock Motor, Solid Lifters, Manual Transaxle

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:15 am

Ronin10 wrote:
Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:06 pm
Amskeptic wrote:
Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:20 pm
Dammit, the remote disabler has a stuck button, I can't undisable.
Colin

(what DID you find?)
I had run out of fuel.

:cyclopsani:

double black wires on the vibrator
brown/black on the gauge.
Made that switch but my gauge remains dead at this time.
OK yes, black 12 volt to vibrator, then you need the stepped-down output from the vibrator to go to the gauge. It was red on the last unit I looked at. THEN, brown black is the variable ground to the sender.
Good luck.
Colin
(ran out of gas . . . . . . . he ran out of gas . . . . . . . . did he just say, "I had run out of fuel"? ran out of gas, is this what we have to diagnose here these days?)
: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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Ronin10
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Ronin10 » Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:52 am

In my (feeble) defense, with 12V to the gauge constantly, it read full prior to the gauge dying.
Oscar: 1976 Sage Green Bus, Stock Motor, Solid Lifters, Manual Transaxle

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Bleyseng
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Bleyseng » Tue Aug 01, 2017 11:58 am

Andrew, ran my Westy's setup all weekend sometimes plugged into shore power too. My inverter doesn't make that noise at all yours did. Charges up a dead aux battery in 60 minutes too. My refer did get nice and cold on shore power or driving or camping but drains the aux battery overnight.
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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Ronin10
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Ronin10 » Tue Aug 01, 2017 1:26 pm

Bleyseng wrote:
Tue Aug 01, 2017 11:58 am
Andrew, ran my Westy's setup all weekend sometimes plugged into shore power too. My inverter doesn't make that noise at all yours did. Charges up a dead aux battery in 60 minutes too. My refer did get nice and cold on shore power or driving or camping but drains the aux battery overnight.
Good to hear. I had mine running for a couple days after Colin's visit and found that it would cycle a bit. The cooling fins would be barely below ambient temperature for a while, then cycle to noticeably cooler, and so forth. I kind of fell out of working on it as I had to drive it and other priorities emerged, but I have a road trip starting on Thursday so I'll run it off the aux battery and see how it acts during the trip.
Oscar: 1976 Sage Green Bus, Stock Motor, Solid Lifters, Manual Transaxle

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:42 pm

Ronin10 wrote:
Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:52 am
In my (feeble) defense, with 12V to the gauge constantly, it read full prior to the gauge dying.
Yes, it would, I guess. Do you think the gauge is smoked?
Colin

(Greta says hi- doin' fine)
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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Ronin10
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Ronin10 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 6:15 am

I swapped the gauge from my old cluster and it was working again, so yes, I think the gauge was toast. Everything else on the cluster remained unchanged.
Oscar: 1976 Sage Green Bus, Stock Motor, Solid Lifters, Manual Transaxle

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drober23
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by drober23 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:29 am

The original refrigerators are not very efficient. They draw quite a few amps, and will drain most aux batteries overnight if not on shore power.

The more modern 12v refrigerators do much better, if you can stand the thought of changing out the original.
DJ

'75 Westfalia, '79 Deluxe
(plus more busses than sense)

In a time of chimpanzees I was a monkey

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Bleyseng
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Bleyseng » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:01 pm

This is what I want to install!
seamarknunn.com/acatalog/waeco-cu-55-cold-machine-cooling-unit-2089.html
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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drober23
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by drober23 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 5:35 am

Ahh, use the cooling unit while keeping the original cabinet? Nice!

In my '75 I pulled out all the original cabinets. Kept the full width bench/bed and made a bench (tool storage underneath) and a spare tire cabinet. The fridge is a portable unit by Engel. It is quite efficient in terms of amp draw and insulation. Teams up great with the solar panel and auxiliary battery to keep the fridge running.

https://www.engelcoolers.com/mt45f-u1.html
DJ

'75 Westfalia, '79 Deluxe
(plus more busses than sense)

In a time of chimpanzees I was a monkey

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:10 am

Ronin10 wrote:
Fri Jul 28, 2017 1:53 pm
For my part, Colin and I had a fairly leisurely day on the weekend. I had four items on my to-do list and we got three of them, the fourth being usurped by a random comment by me which led to adjusting valves, pulling a lifter, and Colin declaring my engine one valve adjustment away from its demise.
Leisurely panic.
I mean, what is leisurely about hearing, "whoa, this intake is at .034". When were the valves last done?"

Here is the lifter:

Image


Although it looks like we are just measuring the outside dimensions here between the offending lifter and a new lifter, I assure you that it was far more demented than that. We had to measure the pushrod pocket-to-lifter bottoms of each and we even used a pen and paper and math and a caliper. What was the actual difference, Ronin10? We needed proof that the lifter really was going bad, because the surface looked pretty good. The edge, though, could have sliced ham like butter. It was bad. So was its opposing pair:

Image


I enjoyed our visit even as I was nervous about the utterly relaxed unraveling of the day. Here is Ronin10 willing the engine to please work for the rest of the summer. We barely barely have enough room left on the adjusting screw for the locknut to lock. Barely. What makes this exciting is that he gets to drive it until the clatter gets too clacky.
Then . . . that's it:

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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Ronin10
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Ronin10 » Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:30 am

Last week, I dropped off my spare GE engine case, 2.0L crankshaft, rods, etc. (acquired from The Bus Co.), and AMC heads to Jerry at Northwest Connecting Rod for inspection. I should find out later this week what level of usability these components are at. I expect the case and crankshaft will be fine. The head castings look in good order, but I have a hunch there's an issue with the valve train. I already have matched camshaft and lifters and a cam gear (if it meshes well with the cam drive gear) so much of the heart of the engine is on hand.

Since Colin's visit, I've put about 700 miles on the engine, most of it over this past weekend. The adjustment is definitely opening up, I'll try and get in there later this week and see how much they've opened up. The clock is most definitely ticking (as is the valve train).
Oscar: 1976 Sage Green Bus, Stock Motor, Solid Lifters, Manual Transaxle

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:40 pm

Ronin10 wrote:
Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:30 am
Since Colin's visit, I've put about 700 miles on the engine, adjustment is definitely opening up, clock is most definitely ticking (as is the valve train).

Dang, those lifters/cam are done done done. Hey, but that is 700 miles of memories more . . .
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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drober23
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by drober23 » Sun Aug 13, 2017 6:11 am

Here is the (admittedly) stupid question: Could he just replace all the lifters and squeeze a little more out of this setup?
DJ

'75 Westfalia, '79 Deluxe
(plus more busses than sense)

In a time of chimpanzees I was a monkey

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Washington

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:36 am

drober23 wrote:
Sun Aug 13, 2017 6:11 am
Here is the (admittedly) stupid question: Could he just replace all the lifters and squeeze a little more out of this setup?

Yes, but there is a risk of metallurgical failure between new lifters and worn camshaft. That can shed metal shards into the oil.
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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