Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Dallas Y'all

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Dallas Y'all

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:05 am

Drove straight from Los Alamos to Houston.
Did I tell you I hit weather in Childress Texas, tornado sirens and all? I drove down sidewalks to find the local car wash bay to get out of the hail (dangittohail, dint I already pay enough with rock/gravel/sand storms in El Paso you Texans?).

Onion456 has two buses now, both with that most excellent VW bus feel, all worn out and smooth and loose and travelled! The new bus has a Raby engine kit, and it had that smooth well-machined sound and good pep, but I pointed out pointedly that we need a chassis/steering/brakes to match the engine PLEASE . . .

Drove from Houston to Dallas on I-45, crazy people drive too fast! and I was a mobile chicane at 70-75 mph. My first No Headwind Freeway Run yielded 19 mpg at 70-75, I'll take it.

James Dwan, you all should know, dreams big productive days. I listen with trepidation as he lays out our goals of disassembling the engine a bit to fix some leaks, putting in a rebuilt transaxle, painting engine tins, and taking it on a triumphant test drive before dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
then reality intrudes as usual.

James! The dipstick boot is leaking! What is this? The alternator has eroded the fan housing from vibration. The support bracket is broken in half. I'll just make a new bracket says James. James! The starter will not fit the new transaxle! Is this an 091 bell housing on this thing? (no) So, while James fabricates a new alternator bracket, I swap bell housings from his old transaxle to the new one:

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I need to paint the fan housing says James. And he does. We have projects boiling all over the garage and we have tools and bolts and nuts multiplying and exploding into new piles and disappearing in turn, where's the 13 socket? Here's James replacing the side reflectors while the day descends into project chaos:

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Some time around 4:45PM we actually have a transaxle within a foot of the engine with that pretty fan housing, secured alternator + new boot:

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James admiring his painting and assemblywork:
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At 7 or 8 or 9 or whatever, the engine is going in. I tell James that I will bench-press the transaxle into the nose cone mount because the ATV jack is in no way able to get far enough under the assembly to be anywhere near the center of gravity. Under the car with the transmission pressing painfully down upon my arms and hands, I attempt to lift the front of the engine and transaxle assembly about a foot with arms only. Here, I discover that I have not been weight-lifting with enough verve over the spring, cuz that thing is not cooperating. The safety catch deal on the ATV jack is banging into the muffler and I am unable to lift. Finally with a bit of irritation, I just get the nose cone mounts into the torsion tube/mount grooves and the back of the engine sinks like a rock. "Yeah, this jack sometimes lets go."
We somehow manage to jack it up, get the spare floor jack under there, get the sloshy shifter couplings and bushings together, temporarily replace a section of leaking NON-REINFORCED FUEL HOSE sold as suitable by nameless supplier (James, give'm hell) and start the engine around 11:30PM. The aluminum timing scale tortures me through several adjustments and shim washers. After discovering that my stop plate adjustment pinched off 1/2nd and readjusting it, the car moves itself acceptably well down the road and back. Yes James, we did it. And once again there were some real funny moments, some real pissed-off moments, and goooood music sprinkled in between the 70's disco tunes. Did I tell you that James Dwan likes 70's disco? Right James?
ColinOnWayToMississippi
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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hambone
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Post by hambone » Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:20 am

Oh sure Texas to the West to Texas to the Southeast. And why not?
Your madness needs no reintroduction. :alien:
I'd do it too if I could do it.
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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chitwnvw
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Dallas Y'all

Post by chitwnvw » Mon Apr 26, 2010 11:15 am

Amskeptic wrote:I attempt to lift the front of the engine and transaxle assembly about a foot with arms only. Here, I discover that I have not been weight-lifting with enough verve over the spring, cuz that thing is not cooperating.
Age catches up with us all. Do you remember, and it was only a few years ago, when you pressed the front of my bus with one arm as you replaced the center pin with the other hand?

[albumimg]1363[/albumimg]

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dtrumbo
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Post by dtrumbo » Mon Apr 26, 2010 11:52 am

Although I've never removed a Type 4 engine, I've had similar experience with using that thar Harbor Freight ATV jack. The first thing I HAVE to do is remove the exhaust cuz it does what it did when you used it. Second, I use my floor jack to hold the nosecone of the tranny and just make sure the wheels are lined up when I go to pull the ATV jack with the engine (sans exhaust) rearward. This requires a nice relatively level, relatively smooth surface in order for the wheels to track nicely. Obviously, this situation may not be available in all cases at which point, I feel for you. Keep eatin' them Wheaties!
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

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Vdubtech
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Post by Vdubtech » Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:23 pm

One of the many reasons I've never found it necessary to spend money on an ATV jack.....my floor jack does the job just fine all by itself.

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dtrumbo
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Post by dtrumbo » Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:55 pm

Vdubtech, that does look like the more elegant solution. What do you use to provide more surface area for the jack saddle? Chunk o' plywood, custom doo-dad? Also, where is the CG for the engine/tranny combo? In other words, where do you put the jack for the whole shebang to balance halfway decently?
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

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Vdubtech
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Post by Vdubtech » Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:50 pm

Without completely hijacking the thread....I use a chunk of wood to spread the load over the saddle of the jack, a chunk of plywood, a piece of 2X6, pretty much whatever I have around at the time. I put the saddle of the jack right around the front of the engine with the piece of wood going both under the tranny and under the engine. You'll know when you start to lift it if it's balanced or not. If it isn't, just readjust. I R+R engine and tranny assemblies by myself and have never had a problem. It also works well on my smaller Harbor Freight 2 ton jack....

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dtrumbo
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Post by dtrumbo » Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:18 am

Vdubtech wrote:Without completely hijacking the thread....
Oops! :blackeye: Maybe Colin can snip this and drop it in the Field/Shop Tips forum. Nonetheless, thanks for the info!

Now back to your 2010 Itinerary.
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

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James Dwan
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Post by James Dwan » Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:19 am

Well I drove him to work today and with the exception of an uneven idle it drives like a dream. I like the ratio in this gear box better. I shift into 4th at 45 miles per hour instead of 40.

What a weekend! I woke up at 6 am to get AAA to pick up my 23 Window and take it back to the Ennis body shop to make room for the upcoming activities. Long story short AAA system was down and at 9:30 I had to cancel the tow cause the body shop closed at 10:30 (an hour away) and I had a buddy coming over to help me pull the engine at noon. They pulled up 5 minutes later anyway, we got it there I drove back just in time to meet my buddy. But my Sirius radio crapped out and I was forced to listen to trash disco the rest of the weekend :pukeleft:

I have removed this engine twice with the ATV and a long piece of plywood reinforced with an "H" shape made with 2 x 4's but this time the wood had started to crack and the hydraulics in the jack were shot, plus I had never removed this engine with the new stock exhaust. Made for an eventful R & R. The ATV is going to the curb on Friday...

Anyway the engine was out and I began masking off the engine bay with another buddy of mine. I picked up the paint from English and was about to use a spray gun for the first time finished up with the base coat at 9 drank beer and kicked them out at midnight.
Woke up 6 hours later and shot the clear coat and organized the garage.
Colin showed up at 9 and the 15 hours of fun began :cheers:

The reason for all of this was the severe motor oil and gear oil leakage and what I thought to be a throw out bearing going South. I suspect the noise was loose transmission bolts we noticed when yanking the motor.

So anyway I knew I could do some painting in between the various projects during the day. I have a show this Sunday in Ennis and the engine and engine compartment looked bad. I got some Wurth German Silver paint and some gloss black for the tins. We must of had at least 4 procedures going on at the same time with the work bench and floor getting more and more cluttered as we went along.

I'm sure all of you know the super human qualities Colin possesses but I couldn't believe my ears when I heard him whistling along with the radio at 11:00 at night after working all day with no dinner! We had 2 PB&Js and a handful of chips, 2 diet cokes and 3 Foster's.

The reason I hire Colin every year for the last five is for the simple fact that his innate knowledge seems to be limitless. It seems that no matter what pops up he has a solution for it and he's come up with several over the years and a few on Sunday that prevented my daily driver from being down for a week.

The carnage around midnight Sunday:
[albumimg]3036[/albumimg]

The finished product Monday around 7 p.m.:
[albumimg]3037[/albumimg]

So 6 hrs prep work on Saturday a fifteen hour Sunday, 4 hours of sleep returning from work 12 hours later then 3 hours in the garage last night putting in an engine tin to body seal and a few pieces of sheet metal, minor brake work and a test drive on the highway all that' left to do is smile, smile smile.. on to the show this weekend. Thanks Colin and see ya next year :cherry:
'73/'77 Westfakia
'78 Super Vert
'59 23 Window Deluxe

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:37 pm

dtrumbo wrote:Vdubtech, that does look like the more elegant solution. What do you use to provide more surface area for the jack saddle? Chunk o' plywood, custom doo-dad? Also, where is the CG for the engine/tranny combo? In other words, where do you put the jack for the whole shebang to balance halfway decently?
Like Vdubtech said, the front center edge of the crankcase is a perfect spot. With the engine and transaxle as a unit, it is ridiculously easy to slip the nose cone mount in the receiver spots of the torsion tube and just jack it up, a one-man job with a beer in hand. . . but woe if you are far from the center of gravity, then it is all dead weight and cussing.

James, that work bench wins the 2010 IAC Entropy Award.
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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James Dwan
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Post by James Dwan » Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:08 am

Thanks! It still looks like that actually, been tracking down the brake problem and putting in tins and seals. Found it late last night, an adjusting star on the drum is broken and spinning uselessly around in circles.

Does anyone know if bug adjusting stars are the same? I have a few on a drum under the bench.

Where do I send the dipstick tube boot? The reverse lights are working now. Still trying to figure out the brake light problem. When the pedal is pushed the 2nd filament glows but barely. I am thinking it's the POS after market tail light assembly not making good contact with the bulb. If it were a ground the running light would be off too wouldn't it?
'73/'77 Westfakia
'78 Super Vert
'59 23 Window Deluxe

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dtrumbo
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Post by dtrumbo » Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:23 am

James Dwan wrote:I am thinking it's the POS after market tail light assembly not making good contact with the bulb.
Is the tail light bright, but the brake light dim? If so, the wires are backwards. I bought aftermarket bulb holders for a bus I used to own and hooked them up exactly the way the original ones were. No good. The crappy aftermarket bulb holders were reversed which means one wire in the factory wiring harness is now too long and another is too short. Too long isn't a big deal, but I had to extend the too-short wire to hook them up correctly(!?!). This may not be your problem, but when you mentioned "aftermarket bulb holder", it reminded me of this issue.
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

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James Dwan
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Location: Dallas, Texas
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Post by James Dwan » Thu Apr 29, 2010 5:31 am

Thanks for the reply dtrumbo. Turns out the tabs on the back of the tail light assembly are just a bit short and I had to rotate the bulb. I had done that the night before but it didn't fix the problem.
I went ahead and switched the wires anyway to check and after that didn't fix it, I just kept rotating the bulb until it did.

I'll be looking for new tail light assemblies at the swap on Sunday :bounce:
'73/'77 Westfakia
'78 Super Vert
'59 23 Window Deluxe

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