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Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:20 pm
by Amskeptic
... with two hours to spare.

4,440 miles over 50 days with an arguably better car now. This last leg was driving hard with no concern necessary for the engine, but I will say the increasingly skippy steering box was ... amusing ... on the entrance ramp to GA400 north.
Happy Thanksgiving Y'All! and thankyouthankyouthankyou to all who helped me get here.

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Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:34 pm
by ruckman101
Have a great one! Glad you made it. Now relax, at least for this day. You've earned it.


neal

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 9:01 pm
by Sylvester
That exit ramp to 400 will get you killed, I do it in Samantha all the time.

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 4:26 am
by Bleyseng
So the next posts will "How to rebuild a steering box with JB Weld and staples"?

Glad you made it and Happy Thanksgiving.

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 5:52 pm
by Xelmon
Glad to hear that you made it home safely, even after all of these mishaps.

Happy -post- Turkey day everyone!

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:03 pm
by Amskeptic
That was interesting.

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Pulled out the BobD and took it onto the GA 400.

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Never have the model improvements been so starkly illuminated.
Easy tight steering!
Crisp turn indicator action!
Form fitting seats!
Laughably easy powerful disk brakes!
Light clutch pedal!
Quiet (!) engine!
Excellent 70 mph cruise with passing punch!

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But, there is something compelling about the earlier buses still. I love that shrieky little engine.

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I enjoy having a side-by-side comparison of the evolution of these cars.

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Colin

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:51 am
by Bleyseng
yeah, the early buses are like a made over splitty - weak brakes, loud engine, etc.....
Late bays are much more modern with the FI type 4, power disc brakes, comfortable seats etc.

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 9:47 am
by Amskeptic
Bleyseng wrote:yeah, the early buses are like a made over splitty - weak brakes, loud engine, etc.....
Late bays are much more modern with the FI type 4, power disc brakes, comfortable seats etc.
If I had to place them on a continuum, however, the early Bay is much closer to the late Bay than the splitty on that continuum.
The extra room in the front cabin was a huge improvement and the "new" placement of the engine and transaxle low into the frame rails with the fully articulated axles coupled with the longer front trailing arms defined the Bay as a decent road car with exceptionally decent off-road manners.
Colin

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 10:13 am
by Lanval
Bleyseng wrote:yeah, the early buses are like a made over splitty - weak brakes, loud engine, etc.....
Late bays are much more modern with the FI type 4, power disc brakes, comfortable seats etc.

Somewhat relative though. You should hear Colin when he gets behind the wheel of the Rat. With 98 water-cooled hp, it's another world booming uphill at 60mph, in a deluxe captain's chair!

I don't think he'd trade the older vans, though ~ at least he didn't when he had the chance (and you can be sure I argued for an air-cooled vanagon at least) and I still retain a soft spot for my first car which was a 73 transporter.

Michael L

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 11:42 am
by RSorak 71Westy
Too bad the TBRRD isn't a 71, Then you'd have a dual port for more HP and Power front disk brakes.

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:19 pm
by dtrumbo
Amskeptic wrote:Crisp turn indicator action!
Form fitting seats!
Does the TBRRD turn signal stalk seem "mushy", especially compared to the BobD? I've replaced the one in my wife's '70 and it's only marginally better than the one it came with. Is that just how they are?

I kinda like the seats in the early bay better. Besides sitting lower which I know you like too, I honestly think the early seats are more comfortable. I have to take my wallet out of my back pocket when driving my '78 due to that nice form fitting seat. Tuh-may-toe, tuh-mah-toe.

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:16 pm
by spiffy
Just catching up on some of the goings-on!!! Congrats on getting another gem back to the stable:)

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:25 am
by Amskeptic
spiffy wrote:Just catching up on some of the goings-on!!! Congrats on getting another gem back to the stable:)
Hey!! Good to see you 'round here Mr. ... Mr. ... WhatWasYourNameAgain?
How's Bill? Your intellectual property patent is almost expired on
"Up Yours Unless You're Right", remember that brake adjustment mnemonic?
Colin
(gem is getting doused on cold southeast rain as we speak ... the good news is that the vent wing I freshened up is not leaking ... the bad news is that all the other ones sure are)

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:43 am
by Amskeptic
RSorak 71Westy wrote:Too bad the TBRRD isn't a 71, Then you'd have a dual port for more HP and Power front disk brakes.
Oh no , I chose to immerse myself in the spirit of 1970. I love these singleport engines just fine and am completely and totally used to the non-power-assist drum brakes. The integrity of the experience is complete.

You ever compare a 1970 stock singleport to a 1971 stock dualport?
The singleport bangs it off the line more readily than the dualport. The better immediate torque is a reality. Later in the morning when both buses have eased into cruising speed, the dualport sort of hangs on a bit better. It is all a yawn either way.
:clock:
Colin

Re: Made It Home By Thanksgiving

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 3:18 pm
by Amskeptic
dtrumbo wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:Crisp turn indicator action!
Form fitting seats!
Does the TBRRD turn signal stalk seem "mushy", especially compared to the BobD? I've replaced the one in my wife's '70 and it's only marginally better than the one it came with. Is that just how they are?
Hi Dick!

Turn signal action is pretty bad. In keeping with the now-fact that Everything Is Wrong with this car, the steering wheel was put on 180* off, so the cancel tab is trying to cancel as I am trying to actuate. The cancel tab is supposed to be *across* from the switch.

Meanwhile, all the beltwork trim was taken off today to stop the growing rust stains that were leaching down.
I rubbed out the rust stains ....... :
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......... touched up the nicks and chips, waxed the beltline thoroughly, and removed the sideview mirrors to primer and seal to stop the galloping rust occurring where the mirrors are supposed to be sealed (hello?) against the door so water can't get in and rust the captive nuts from the inside out, not to mention rust stains leaching down the beltline and mirror arm.:
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......... sanded and rust-catalyzer primered every lousy last clip and screw so I will NOT get rust stains leaching down, because that is what you *have to do* if you do not want rust stains leaching down:
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........ and cleaned out the mouldings of perfectly preserved springtime pollen and what looked like eons of Portland vegetation debris from the bottoms of the mouldings because they MUST be able to drain if they are not to rust out the rusty clips and screws:
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........ then re-curved the corner trims because yes, they get bent up if you do not straighten out the lips that the clips will cave in if the lips are not straightened prior to bashing the mouldings on so violently that you cave in the lips and wreck the curve:
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Hey Chris, how' bout those big honking Bravo Axxis mudders now on the car?
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The junky black crayon Jupiters had to go before they hydroplaned me straight off the planet. I was so afraid of these monsters ripping up the steering box, that I cancelled an appointment with Discount Tire in Garland Texas. But today here in Atlanta, fresh off an estimate of $613.00 for four BF Goodrich ATV tires, I told the steering box Deal With It, We're Using Chris's Tires."
The steering is actually quite good, the speedometer is now exact, and though they are pretty monstrous, I foresee some excellent trail work .... :shaking2:
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