Itinerant Air-Cooled

It was with great joy that I got to meet another member of the forum who is steeped in beauty, art, music, and buses.

Bus One was a beautiful little blue/white 1971 that needed just a little fresh gas and a breaker point adjustment to rouse from a nine-month sleep. Drove willingly and with excellent smoothness. I like an early bus where you just hear the generator/fan more than feeling every crankshaft throw through the floor. This bus was classic early bus gentility, and a bit of work here and there is going to yield an excellent example of the breed.

Bus Two was a flourescent yellow 1974 Westy with a very nice quiet driving experience even with some compromised carburetors that we tried to adjust only to find that the central idling circuit solenoid was removed and the port blocked. This bus needs a thorough going-through to get the little things squared away, but they are little things.

The house, the art, the whimsical detail of finding her SO working the sax under the bridge on our test drive, the beautiful pottery created by Birdibus herself, and what an overwhelming treat to be flooded with an earlier Philip Glass work I have never heard "Songs From Liquid Days" and a free-ranging conversation. Yes. . . . .
Colin
(good coffee too)

Birdi is the nicest person I've never met. I'm glad you all got a chance to get together. I still use one of her cups on every campout, it's a nice reminder of friends on distant shores and the comraderie of the IAC.

It was a very great pleasure to meet you, Colin. I hope I am not a hopeless cause as a mechanic, but am willing to learn, in small steps, as needed. I was reading the Bently manual last night and marking the sections about my carbs... still trying to figure it out, but making progress. Regarding the steering or axle, what is the center pin you referred to? I didn't find it called that in Bently.

That's a nice, positive assesment of my yellow westy, Colin. I tend to think of it as a sullen beast with a black heart lurking beneath the bright exterior. It has caused many a mechanic unease. I have been blind to the undercoating dimming the engine compartment until recently, so now I need to scrape off all that gunk and see what secrets lie beneath. Fire? I certainly hope not... I think the PO was merely hiding amateur bodywork, unless I was deceived. I've long had issues with the carbs, they have seldom seemed right, and are usually the part that fails me on long trips.

Colin asked me to drive his sweet little squareback out of my driveway to repark it. I'm embarresed by the way I drove it, so strange and unfamiliar and low to the road it felt with the clutch adjusted so stiffly. Between the stiff pedal and the tippy, tilted driver's seat it's no wonder he has developed sciatica. My mom's squareback was automatic, so it was a very different experience.

Birdibus wrote:
I hope I am not a hopeless cause as a mechanic, but am willing to learn, in small steps, as needed.
what is the center pin you referred to?

What I like by the one-on-one method of teaching, is that I get to adjust the delivery of information in a way that personally resonates with you.
Your clear artistic bent means I get to present the mechanical inquiry as an art project.
(center pin is what the "relay lever" or "swing lever" attaches to. It and its bushings are in a vertical tube at the exact center of the front beam, it translates the back and forth of the steering arm to the side-to-side of the tie rods which steer the front tires)

Birdibus wrote:
That's a nice, positive assesment of my yellow westy, Colin. I tend to think of it as a sullen beast with a black heart lurking beneath the bright exterior. It has caused many a mechanic unease. I have been blind to the undercoating dimming the engine compartment until recently, so now I need to scrape off all that gunk and see what secrets lie beneath. I've long had issues with the carbs, they have seldom seemed right, and are usually the part that fails me on long trips.

We might be able to clean up that engine compartment with a strong solvent that is nonetheless gentle on paint. Gasoline is good for that, but it is good for fireballs too.
The only dis-ease I have felt with the car is all the compromised decision-making that greeted me when I met your engine. I see the "sculpture" of the original engineering lurking under the "big block of ignorance" that confronted me. Really, your car can be brought back to functional condition with no more than focused simple effort.

Birdibus wrote:
Colin, do you realize that when you come to southern California in mid August, it is very possible that the temperatures in Pomona will be over 100 degrees? The idea of it makes me faint at heart.
I'll post a link to oddeovoideo so you can see a video of music in the tunnel.

Sounds absolutely lush. . . .
ColinListeningToLiquidDays
(I'd love to see the tunnel video)

Amskeptic wrote:(good coffee too)

That is just great, Birdi, just wonderful! Now we all on the itinerary this year are supposed to top the coffee from your place? He STEPPED on my coffee offering in October!

Sylvester wrote:
That is just great, Birdi, just wonderful! Now we all on the itinerary this year are supposed to top the coffee from your place? He STEPPED on my coffee offering in October!

And I'll STEP on it AGAIN if I do not have the finest in slow-roasted rich aromatic select Columbian Aribica beans ground fresh just before pressing.
Don Colin

I shall have to see about getting you a copy of Songs From Liquid Days

We shall pray for tolerable weather in August. 105+ degrees really sux bigtime.

I blame the big block of ignorance on someone else, someone who took my money. I didn't touch it!!

Birdibus wrote: A) Colin, here's the direct link to the voideo

B) I love making good coffee. Too bad I can't drink it anymore. Sure smells good, though.

C) I shall have to see about getting you a copy of Songs From Liquid Days

D) We shall pray for tolerable weather in August. 105+ degrees really sux bigtime.

E) I blame the big block of ignorance on someone else, someone who took my money. I didn't touch it!!

A) Excellent. Film noire/Walkabout Aboriginal/Blues and I loved the visual.
B) Enjoy the aroma while you make my next cup in a few months.
C) Got it! Listening to it, too. www.gomusic.ru
D) 105 is getting close to a tad chilly for me.
E) Heck yeah, I hope you didn't think I thought otherwise, yikes.
Colin