Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jul 19, 2018 6:17 am

I will fill this in with exciting stories and pictures, but right now I am making same.

For example, we have done ryankchulz, and today we are visiting the lovely andrewtf and his daughter. Oh, and we have a Kentucky before the MI listed in the header.

Yesterday, I camped in a cemetery behind the gardening shed. "I won't be bothering people here." Got my soapy water Motel6 bucket, some 2000 grit sandpaper, and attacked the left side of NaranjaWesty. NaranjaWesty never was color-sanded after it was overpainted by Fred The Oversprayer. Let's give poor Fred his due, the 1976 paint code with that extra splash of chrome yellow does look good from a distance. This project was exceedingly delicate. Fred could not bend over (nor could he hold anything steady) and as a result, the paint job he did did not make it around anything pointing downward (except the license light, he got that real good).
The orange peel is intense on NaranjaWesty but there isn't much paint to work with to knock it down a little. I came up with a mathematical declining algorithm based on elevation from the ground and angle of degrees from vertical to not avoid sanding through his paint to the factory color underneath (sure you did, Colin).

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The surface looks terrible when done with the color-sanding. There are a lot of yellow water tracks. The good news is, you can bring it back with some serious elbow grease and 3M Rubbing Compound:

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I hope to carefully attempt to match the overdone Los Alamos Crash Repair where they did a fine job of color-sanding and polishing:

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Anyways, the peace and quiet at the cemetery was shattered by the gardening team that invaded with a squadron of mowers. Had to finish up at a drive-through window in a closed fast food joint. Off to andrewtf! More later!
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 IL/IN/MI

Post by asiab3 » Thu Jul 19, 2018 4:21 pm

At Maupin, you noted how messy the yellow runoff is during color sanding. Got any pictures of the toxic superfund site of this current batch of sanding? :blackeye:

It has been a real pleasure to Actually Read the last month of Itinerary updates today; it reminds me of 2013 when I discovered this site and would read archived Itinerary threads before bed like a temporal autobiography. Thank you for keeping us updated- even though readership appears to be down in posting, we're still here enjoying it!

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

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jul 21, 2018 6:04 am

asiab3 wrote:
Thu Jul 19, 2018 4:21 pm
At Maupin, you noted how messy the yellow runoff is during color sanding. Got any pictures of the toxic superfund site of this current batch of sanding? :blackeye:

It has been a real pleasure to Actually Read the last month of Itinerary updates today; it reminds me of 2013 when I discovered this site and would read archived Itinerary threads before bed like a temporal autobiography. Thank you for keeping us updated- even though readership appears to be down in posting, we're still here enjoying it!

Robbie

(the cemetery was awash with splashes of fall colors all over the green grass)
The readership now has an internet-wide embarrassment of riches to select from. Was just chatting with Emma (she's a modern kid) and I can see the trend a little better now. Perhaps we'll rename this site Old Fogeys Who Can Still Read Bedtime Stories. Then again, perhaps not.
ColinWiltingInTheHumidity
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 IL/IN/MI

Post by tommu » Sun Jul 22, 2018 5:54 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Sat Jul 21, 2018 6:04 am
internet-wide embarrassment of riches to select from.
The internet is a mile wide and an inch deep for matters as deceivingly complex as old Volkswagens. Until you stumble across sites like this.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:33 pm

It was with trepidation that I pulled into andrewtf/BigEmma's driveway. I had visions of mud caked in the windows and a body shell bonked into a trapezoidal or parallelogram shape after Big Emma's mud spa in Belize:

https://gobigemma.com/2017/12/21/the-co ... lindsided/


But there was Big Emma looking spiffy and light on her tires with a nice spartan interior, and there was Emma standing light in her shoes, and there was Andrew not yet realizing where we were going with today's appointment.
It looked like a simple brake booster removal:

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But it was actually draining a half gallon of Belize river water out of the booster . . .

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We did try to restore the function of the booster with a powerful spray of water through the control valve followed by WD-40 and several application of the push rod, but this booster could not rouse itself. A rebuild may resurrect it.

Though it looks like everyone is sleeping on the job . . . :

Image

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.. .. .. we did have a busy day of brake master cylinder removal and bleeding, and a test drive that demanded a look at the shift coupler grub screw which had worked loose.

Big Emma just seized my heart. All that epic driving around the continent, then getting tipped over and flooded (I saw some myself, it's in the coffee can), and here she was, driving Emma and me to the Walmart parking lot and back. That is one tough car and that is one committed owner, and how about her dad?

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Emma and I did a quick trip through the steering alignment to get the steering box back to true center and undo all that stupid tie rod adjusting we did to stop the right tire from rubbing the stabilizer bar. Guess what? Don't adjust the tie rods to stop a tire from rubbing the stabilizer bar until you have established that the stabilizer bar is actually centered between the torsion arms! How does a stabilizer bar come to not be centered between the torsion arms? I have no idea. We got the new horn to bleat a bit, and I took off for fricken Kentucky. Hours and hours and hours of driving later:

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Paducah Frank's '78 Westy is a very fine Westy in the locoqueso taigagrun sort of way. We did a valve adjustment, a hydraulic lifter valve adjustment. Then it all unraveled. Cylinder #4 was deaddeaddead. But the compression test yielded 140 psi. We swapped the fouled plug with #2. Then we had lunch. After lunch, the engine was still stumbling, but the deaddeaddead cylinder was now #2. Changed out the spark plug with a spare, and now we had a four cylinder engine once again!

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A four-cylinder mosquito-eradicating James Bond-smoke screen laying environmental catastrophe of blue smoke charging through the neighborhood yards. I had to leave before our hoped-for "maybe it will clear out" experiment was fully conducted. It did smoke pretty noticeably through our test drive.

If it does not clear up, Frank, I have to issue a Do Not Drive Directive. After I left, I realized that the quantity of smoke plus the tackitytacking might be a loose valve guide. If it does not clear up, do not drive . . .

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Hey Frank, thanks for letting me drive your Triumph through the streets of Paducah:

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Now I am in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Was there a headwind for the past 418 miles since yesterday afternoon in Kentucky?
Why yes.
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 IL/IN/MI

Post by BUGSTUFF » Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:28 pm

Did I miss the ryankschulz visit somewhere? ;-)

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by vinspee » Tue Jul 24, 2018 7:44 am

Reading these reports gets me very excited for our time together! Be well.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by PaducahFrank » Tue Jul 24, 2018 10:39 am

Colin,

Cancel the "DNDD"!!! The smoking stopped. That thing is running like a sewing machine. I'll PM you my plan of action with some details of the driving test over the Brookport Bridge into So ILL and back.

Good visit!!!

P-Frank
Paducah Frank

1978 2.0 F.I. Non Cali Westfalia
1974 Triumph TR6
2005 Chevy Colorado

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by tommu » Tue Jul 24, 2018 6:33 pm

PaducahFrank wrote:
Tue Jul 24, 2018 10:39 am
Colin,

Cancel the "DNDD"!!! The smoking stopped. That thing is running like a sewing machine. I'll PM you my plan of action with some details of the driving test over the Brookport Bridge into So ILL and back.

Good visit!!!

P-Frank
Fantastic result and a gorgeous TR6. Must get hard choosing which car to drive!

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by whc03grady » Wed Jul 25, 2018 10:01 am

https://gobigemma.com/2017/12/21/the-co ... lindsided/
There's never been a blog more in need of a map. How can you do a travel blog/website without a map? :blackeye:
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by GoBigEmma » Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:15 pm

You are not wrong. We had this thought for a while, but for some reason never did it. Will work on it! :)
'75 FI Riviera "Big Emma"

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by GoBigEmma » Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:53 pm

Hello Colin and readers of the Itinerant!

Sorry for the delay - enthusiastically driving Big Emma around town has been taking up a lot of my time lately :-P

But seriously - I am now driving Big Emma daily with more confidence than since before the flood. Slow and steady - and with Colin’s and her other human friends’ immense help - she is finally feeling not just more normal, but newish and improved.

To recap: while Colin was here, we worked hard to fix some of the problems that we amateurs were uncomfortable doing alone. One of those tasks was helping our resident Big-Emma-Buildout-Team (which does not currently include our main mechanic - he’s been banished to enjoy the tropical breezes of Mexico while we finish all the work :-P) feel LESS amateur.

This list included: timing; brake bleeding; removing, draining, and reinstalling our turns-out busted brake booster; adjusting our cab doors; fixing the horn; tightening our grub screw; attempting to adjust our hatch closing mechanism; and working to subdue an oil leak.

Of all of these activities (of course, they are all important!), my favorite at the moment is the timing, aka the confidence this has given me for driving around and finally being able to spend some time again with my bus in her native state. :-D

As always, it was more than a pleasure to have Colin not only help us with essential bus-activities but to just enjoy spending time with someone who continues to open my mind with creative, insightful ideas and conversation of all sorts. Not to mention so much information about buses that my head may explode (in a good way!).

Until the next time - may it be sooner rather than later and involve much less floodwater!

(Regular)Emma
'75 FI Riviera "Big Emma"

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by vinspee » Fri Jul 27, 2018 7:30 pm

Fantastic time with Colin today. I learned the ropes and did my first valve adjustment. We found some bad news on the exhaust valve of #2, some carbon build up around it and far too much “rock” for an engine with 3200 miles. He was kind enough to give Adrian from Head Flow Masters a call to explain the situation to him. We agreed to a “monitor closely” routine on that one from here on out. Otherwise, we found that my crappy running was due to an improperly seated (read NO NUT or threads) injector. Pushing it in resulted in #4 participating once more. We replaced it with a bolt and continued on to timing it and dialing in the mixture. We took it for a test spin and heard the siren’s call of the transmission's input shaft bearing. We opted to sail past it and put the van under some load. We could then replicate the “bucking” I had described. We pulled over and adjusted the mixture screw a turn and tried again. No bucking!

Elsa is running like a champion. I have some homework:

- oil change wherein I change from a 10w30 diesel oil (recommended for engine break in) to something more substantial. We’ll see what impact this has on my stubborn oil pressure light at idle.
- clutch master cylinder replacement. We traced the leak and Colin went over the details of replacement with me.
- Center bushing on the shifter. It makes a terrible “clang clang” when shifting. We traced it to that horrible spot over top of the gas tank. I’ll be getting a bushing in there and liberally silicon lubing it.

Looking forward to the BBQ tomorrow and a nice camping trip in the van next week. See you next year!
F2354648-C23E-47B3-B1AF-3082365F177C.jpeg

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by alman72 » Sun Jul 29, 2018 10:22 am

I had a great time with Collin on wed the 25th. We had a great chalk-talk (overview coffee/paper lesson) then went out to start with the standard maintainence stuff I needed to learn. Adjusted 3 and 4, after we just about had to get out the breaker bar to break the nuts loose. The guy who did them for me about 700 miles ago must have hung off the wrench. gotta get your pull ups in when you can. moved over to 1 and 2, and I went to click 1 by hand, and the motion out just about gave me a heart attack. The whole rocker arm assembly had lost its washers and nuts!! "I cant believe this got you home!" Found all but one washer. We are hoping it stays wherever it came to rest. It will be searched for if/when I ever pull the motor.

we moved on to dizzy and points, and my existing points were not even opening to the eye. "I cant believe this got you home!" #2
the Echlin points I had bought would not fit, so I opened the bosch and they DID fit. kept the old ones for a spare. The condenser was frayed outside the dist, so the bosch were brought out. no-go, as my dist had a round hole and the bosch was square. Echlin did fit after bending over a retaining tab on the can. Points adj were not a problem, as I had done this before on an old honda, so this was familiar

got it fired up and dwell and timing measured. I sure wish I had taken some notes, as I am sure I am forgetting some of the procedure. At least now if I read a walk thru, I will know what is up. (I hope) remembering valves is easy, as I did it 8 times. tune only once. I should have had us go thru it 2 or 3x.

my shift had been sloppy on purchase, and the shifter liked to pop out of the floor on a newbie. Colin did not think that should be happening. Yup. There it is in his hand! "I cant believe this got you home!" #3. I then asked about clutch adj, and free play, Colin took a peek under the bus. UH-oh. "I cant believe ... !!" #4 The Bowden tube bracket that hooked via 2 points on the trans had snapped off. Broken the point right off on the top point, and wallowed out the bottom bolt point. We stared at it, and thought about a nasty fix with sandwiched large washers. I happened to have some 1x3 aluminum stock that we got busy with. Colin would test fit, and had to me to do some grind/cut for optimum fit on the curve of the body of the trans. I think the part may make it into the hall of shame. but it works. I cant do anything until I source a new trans housing/body. My shift issue was due to a really bad shift cage that was much better with a new one. My shift pattern in the bus is sooooo tight and small, it just feels wrong! It was sloppy and huge before. then a clutch adj down to the last couple threads on my shift cable (Colin, I don't recall pursuing this with you. is my cable stretched, or am I looking at trans work? buy a new cable?)

took it for a test drive/lesson, brought it home and tuned my single carb. It has power now! not a gutless loaf of bread! next day It seems to be flat in some spots under throttle until it warms up. then it is a champ.
Still have big list of homework, (engine has an oil leak somewhere that makes it filthy. it has gotten worse because I went to synthetic a couple of weeks ago. Mistake I am told. may not get hot enough to boil off the moisture in the system.(I need a recommendation on oil Colin. in one ear out the other) but so glad I did this. I cant believe it got me home! I had many of these issues for 5 years. Please forgive the newbie who almost killed his bus. I hope to have you back next year
Alman72, Midland Michigan

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings IL/IN/MI

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Sun Jul 29, 2018 6:06 pm

As far as an oil recommendation ... I use 20w-50 Castrol non synthetic. Although any major brand in that weight will work....it's getting harder to find 20w-50 in any brand. I've always been curious about running 20w-50 dino oil designed for air cooled motorcycles (typically Harley's) . However, at nearly $9 a quart, a little hard to stomach...esp. when my engine burns a quart every 300-600 miles. Although after my impending rebuild, it may be worth looking at.

Cheers,
Mike
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FI ...not leaky, and not so noisy...and she runs awesome!
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