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IAC Greetings From Los Alamos-update!

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:24 am
by Amskeptic
Man, I was going to give you all the update on the wretched limp into El Paso in the heat with a belt that had flipped itself inside out........:
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......... that I attempted to fix here:
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......... and here:
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......... until I got to an Auto Zone that had some 35 inch belt that seemed to work . . . a little tight but not too bad. It destroyed the Hambone supplied rebuilt generator's new bearings in 50 miles.

Yesterday, on the side of the mountain above Los Alamos, with newly painted pulleys hanging there off the tailgate hinges:
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Here's a mess for ya .... where is that woodruff key?
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I replaced the already loose new bearings (black)with some excellent used bearings (brown) from the Jblair630 Collection (much smoother and tighter):
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and discovered much to my surprise that the rebuilt generator had terrible secrets, like a bored out bearing housing on the belt side endplate with a strange spacer to "hold" the bearing in place:
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Fifteen minutes to discovering that the vibration would be awwwwwwful:
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Stupidly! I used loctite on the bearing to help "hold" it in place, and the fan vibration is back with a vengeance! No time!! Must take it out again!!!
Chloe is still kicking my a$$!
Colin

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Los Alamos

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:47 am
by hambone
That generator was expensive too...
You should email Always Veedub/Ashley with this tidbit, he's such a priss about "selling only the best" etc., and for top dollar, always.
alwaysvdubpdx@yahoo.com
I have the same generator on my bus, but it's been trouble-free.
What caused the belt to flip? I've never seen that. And how the HELL are you in NM already?

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Los Alamos

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:04 am
by sped372
I have some shims around here someplace for spacing the crankshaft pulley out, if you need them. I had to use them on the previous POS engine to keep it from shredding belts (never flipped one, though). Never did figure out why I couldn't get the fan shroud, genny, etc. slid far enough forward to line the pulleys up. Same parts on the new, more reputable, engine and it all lines up great with no spacers behind the crank pulley.

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Los Alamos

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 7:43 am
by Amskeptic
sped372 wrote:I have some shims around here someplace for spacing the crankshaft pulley out, if you need them. I had to use them on the previous POS engine to keep it from shredding belts (never flipped one, though). Never did figure out why I couldn't get the fan shroud, genny, etc. slid far enough forward to line the pulleys up. Same parts on the new, more reputable, engine and it all lines up great with no spacers behind the crank pulley.
Belt alignment was exquisite, is exquisite, shall be exquisite.

THANK YOU Hambone, I shall contact them!!!

*Did an appointment with pmaggiore yesterday from 9:00AM-8:00PM

*Generator pull and loctite clean-out 8:30PM-2:00AM this morning

*Now have an engine pull in a 77 Westy > endplay/front main/pushrod tube seals 9:00AM-6:30PM

Chloe lost her driver's door window regulator this morning at the car wash.
Colin
(almost forgot, the engine is smoother once more)

Re: IAC Greetings From Los Alamos-update!

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:36 pm
by hambone
I had to shim the crank pulley 1/4" during my last build...WT(heck?)????

Re: IAC Greetings From Los Alamos-update!

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 7:32 pm
by Amskeptic
hambone wrote:I had to shim the crank pulley 1/4" during my last build...WT(heck?)????
I think I might have tried to scoot the generator's position on the pedestal to align the belt. Loosen the fan housing side screws to help everybody cooperate. I have run Chloe's generator in a couple of different positions, you can use the "locator" stripe around the generator as a reference. There is also a very interesting difference in spacer rings on some generators that can push the pulley out or in from where it likes to be. The old generator end plate from the Jblair630 Collection had big beautiful spacer rings, and this rebuilt had a simple ring with a tinny little "splash plate" or whatever they call it.
Colin

Re: IAC Greetings From Los Alamos-update!

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 7:09 pm
by jtauxe
The day after Colin left my driveway, Steve Kent and his wife and scotty-dogs were in the driveway, picking up a nice sunroof interior panel. Steve was disappointed that he had missed you -- I had not thought to make any connection, until he mentioned that he hoped to catch up with Colin on his rounds and I said that he had missed him by less than 24 hrs. Funny how space and time sometimes line up for us and sometimes they do not.

I had no work for Colin this year, as the pickup Bluebird is in Colorado undergoing restorative surgery to replace the rotted rust parts with nice clean parts. This time next year, we'll have to dig into something again.

So why was Colin even here? He was giving some much needed TLC to Yellowbird (real Tewa name is Ko'och'it Was't'itch, which is the name of a yellow bird that lives on Zia Pueblo), the '76 Westy that I had owned for 18 years and then sold a few years ago to some neighbors, who love it, but don't really take care of it like they should. Let's just say that they are not the grease monkey types. Yellowbird is still a very good bus, though, and will be running much better now thanks to Colin. New main shaft seals front and back, push rod tube seals, and a huge amount of gunk removal will make the engine much happier.

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Los Alamos

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 8:26 pm
by ruckman101
hambone wrote:That generator was expensive too...
You should email Always Veedub/Ashley with this tidbit, he's such a priss about "selling only the best" etc., and for top dollar, always.
alwaysvdubpdx@yahoo.com
I have the same generator on my bus, but it's been trouble-free.
What caused the belt to flip? I've never seen that. And how the HELL are you in NM already?
Fingers crossed. I also went with Ashley when I replaced Bertha Bus's generator. Not many miles on it yet, currently on the new engine in Gretchen Ghia. But is has been kinda noisy, and on occasion, concerningly so on start-up but quiets down after a bit.

That is the first time I have ever seen a belt do that Colin.


neal

Re: IAC Greetings From Los Alamos-update!

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 11:15 am
by Amskeptic
jtauxe wrote: So why was Colin even here? He was giving some much needed TLC to Yellowbird Westy neighbors, who love it, but don't really take care of it like they should. Let's just say that they are not the grease monkey types.
No, not a grease monkey, but an automotive restoration artist...... :
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....... who ministrates to his VW once a year or maybe two:
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I put Richard through his paces, but he accounted for his 70 (!) years way better than I did my 53 years, and the bus put me through mine. I have never run into that degree of baked-on caked filth. Every single operation I performed on that engine required a hand clean/tool wipe. Push rod tube seals were a difficult job with open crankcase bores. It was almost demoralizing anxiety. But the car has a great spirit, and that inspired me.
The rear main oil seal (fan hub, folks! not the front main flywheel seal) was spinning in the case bore (!) it was so hardened and heat-shrunk. We replaced the front seal after reducing the endplay from .008" to .005". Once more, my flywheel shim stock has lost a nice thick shim and I have accumulated yet another skinny one to go with my growing collection of skinny shims.
Richard was good company and a hard worker, and you, jtauxe, are a Prince!
A more gracious host in the face of spreading grime and parts and loose nose cone mounts I could not have asked for.
Thank you!

My JB Weld window regulator repair here, failed in a day:
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Next repair of that annoyance was at a motel in Blanding Utah under the supervision of a gypsy two and half a year-old "I am ALMOST THREE!!" (well exCUSE MEEE) and her itinerant mason dad watching the proceeds. The next repair was effected by means of a Haagen Daaz bar wood stick reinforcement garnished with a glaze of JB Weld slathered over it all, with two pieces of motel room plastic card as visegrip release shims. The plastic room card pieces are now a permanent part of the Haagen Daaz stick heavy-duty window regulator repair, but at least the visegrips were free to go back to the tool box.
ColinInAZ Almost Nevada

Re: IAC Greetings From Los Alamos-update!

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:40 pm
by Amskeptic
Hippie wrote:Nice Bus. Well worth an Itinerant party.

(Re regulator: Pop rivets? Or swing by in August and I'll weld it up purty.)
Not a bad idea, but there is no overlapping metal at the break. It is a fracture of the u-channel plate itself just at the edges of the tack-welded bracket piece that you screw to the lifter mechanism. So far Haagan-Daaz balsa wood/JB weld is holding, good thing too, the heavy rain in the Cococino National Forest that botched my clutch cable repair was maddening, but the window went up!
Colin

Re: IAC Greetings From Los Alamos-update!

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 5:55 pm
by hambone
JB doesn't seem to like twisting/pulling forces. As a simple plug it seems to last forever.

Re: IAC Greetings From Los Alamos-update!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:11 pm
by Amskeptic
Hippie wrote:
hambone wrote:JB doesn't seem to like twisting/pulling forces. As a simple plug it seems to last forever.
True. It works better as a supplement to rivets or something. Fiberglass mesh in it helps too--like composite, man. :thumbright:
Just picked up a new used window channel lifterthingy-ma-bob at Interstate Parts in Lake Elsinore.
"How much?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Wow, thanks!"
"Hey, you drove from New York."