The Pensacola Post-Prep Post (upd 05/17)

Moderators: Sluggo, Amskeptic

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

The Pensacola Post-Prep Post (upd 05/17)

Post by Amskeptic » Tue May 07, 2013 7:49 am

Pensacola! Nice town! Lots of music down the street at the park. Marathons passing by, young kids flopping like fish, old ladies with an amazing economy of motion gliding by, some guy on a public address "here comes Margaret, come on, you can do it, yay." There are pick-up trucks . . .
Image

I have only two weeks with one customer in Maryland hoping I make it even less than that, to finish up this section of the book, try a template for this website that will be a wholly different appearance if zabo can be sufficiently inspired (thanks, zabo!) to execute, finish up tech articles with the exploding photographs, reset the torsion bars and put in new bushings, pull engine and stick in a new front seal/flywheel o-ring and sand that clutch disk/pressure plate, install the new (old) oem fuel pump with genuine anti-percolation valve, and and and . . . all the things I can't remember but are necessary, oh yeah, help Jack install a convertible top on his '79 White on White Beetle Cabriolet, and install a new new thermostat since the new one currently installed has failed, and try a new (very old) end plate in the generator since I hate the rebuilt generator's crinkle-shimmed wallowed-out endplate on this "rebuilt" generator that I rebuilt in the National Forest above Los Alamos last summer. Is this my life?
Image

There are other lives. This cat, for example, look in his eyes. Totally at the bottom of the heap of the pecking order. Has been beaten up time and time again by the bully orange one. Treated me like I was some sort of radioactive Godzilla dog for weeks! Slowly slowly did I try to make myself a neutral presence in his periphery. Made little kitten noises for his buried memories to consider to the point where I thought I must be going daft (you got something better to do, Colin? I THINK SO). Such skittishness, such anxiety, such a hyper-alert reaction to what has been a cruel world to this kitty, and now he has to figure out a kitten-squeaking bald man in cut-offs?
Well, after nine weeks or so, this cat now leaps for pets, nuzzles and lick and gnaws playfully, does this embarrassing shoe lick where I feel like some horrid old medieval king (don't worry, my online Visa bill straightens that out in a hurry). Now I feel the pressing responsibility for softening this cat's outlook. The orange bully looks on scornfully as this cat seeks his petting fix. God? What Hath You Wrought of Us?
Colin
Image
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

User avatar
Cindy
IAC Addict!
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep

Post by Cindy » Tue May 07, 2013 9:02 am

Take him with you. That's what I would do. He would adapt to life on the road.

Cindy
“No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side.
Or you don't.” ― Stephen King, The Stand

User avatar
dingo
IAC Addict!
Location: oregon - calif
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep

Post by dingo » Tue May 07, 2013 11:18 pm

I second that. Take the cat ! he looks like an able navigator...
'71 Kombi, 1600 dp

';78 Tranzporter 2L

" Fill what's empty, empty what's full, and scratch where it itches."

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep

Post by Amskeptic » Wed May 08, 2013 2:07 pm

Cindy wrote:Take him with you. That's what I would do. He would adapt to life on the road.

Cindy
A lovely thought, the relief for this kitty as the orange bully recedes in the background . . . but this little flea-bag I do not know half well enough to ensure his safety.
Border Patrol could freak that cat out pfzoom! Now I am chasing a cat across the desert?
Customer's dog, Brutus, "oh he's harmless, no reall, BRUTUS! BRUTUS! He usually comes when I call . . ."
Colin :shaking2:
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

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep (upd 05/12)

Post by Amskeptic » Sun May 12, 2013 9:21 am

I wonder if zabo thinks I can't even rouse myself out of bed any more. I promised him that I would do a website redesign prospectus and where is it? Huh?

Well, I had to do some chores this weekend, starting with pulling the bus into the garage:
Image


Jackstar, the Atticus-Finch-Meets-Clint-Eastwood Pensacola lawyer has never pulled a VW engine, so he requested this opportunity to assist . . . which means he pretty much pulled it himself. I am a Consultant, remember. He got it out in 57 minutes flat. Jackstar is nothing if not a fast learner:
Image


Why did we need to take the engine out of a perfectly running bus? Because not only did a drop of oil land on the driveway, but the clutch had developed a "chatter" when cold, and this "opportunity" then allowed me to tweak a few details that had been growing in the Someday File. The good news is that the gland nut did indeed let go when I heard that ringing snap. The bad news is that it was my shoulder. Instant numb all the way down to my pinky finger, like someone found the "funny bone" deep in my cervical vetebrae. Still very painful in the shoulder:
Image

The oil drip, I of course ascribed to the front seal. The bad news was that the front seal was totally lovely dry. But the good news was I got to readjust the end play, which came in at a hefty .007" (wear limit .006")
Here, I am countersinking the dowel holes in the flywheel, just a tiny bit, because the holes showed signs of puckering. I want the flywheel to run positively true:
Image

End play was set to an exacto .003". So, where was the oil leak coming from? Well, the bad news was that the gallery plugs looked a little suspect, one had been JB-Weld coated only partially. The good news was that this was an opportunity to dremel the sharp edges on the crankcase and dress the gallery plugs and re-JB-Weld:
Image

Image

The clutch chatter I do not believe was caused by oil contamination. I believe it might have been the resins used to bond the friction material. There was a glaze on the flywheel and pressure plate that was a little too shiny. Clutch plate manufacturers have recipes for polishing the metal, preventing rust, and absorbing heat. This clutch plate is not like the old brown material I remember with the little brass shards. This one was black and plasticky looking. I used 180 sandcloth and washed the heck out of all the components in the kitchen sink. Then, being double-clutch man, I lightly lubricated every diaphragm finger-to-collar contact with a q-tip of moly grease, very sparingly:
Image

It is a mess of many many different operations going on. The paint on this engine was terrible. Gas could wash it off. So, I decided to add Paint All The Tins to the list:
Image

The oil leak seemed to be coming from too-weird of a place. The oil cooler and adapter was perfectly dry! The right side of the case, however, was wet and dirty. Every case fastener I could reach was treated to Indian Head Shellac with a retorque. But lawdy lawdy . . . the case bolts were at . . . 12 ft/lbs TWELVE FOOT/LBS????
Yikes. I can't reach all the case bolts! I can't use a torque wrench on any of them but one. Why are they so low?
Because you are not supposed to use sealing compound on nylox nuts? Because this case was new and has "settled in"? I do not know. I used a torque wrench on one to 24 ft/lbs, switched to an open-end 19mm and made it move a millimeter further, and then tried to do the other four to what that "felt like". I deserve what's coming to me, but I am praaaaayin that it works out anyway . . . :blackeye:
Image

Oh, I am praaaayin that I did not overtighten the case and remove critical oil clearances in the main bearings. The Bentley manual specifically writes that case torque is critical to bearing clearances. Never have words seemed so scolding. Meanwhile, in IAC La La Land, I am stoned on gas fumes (the paint WASHES OFF with gasoline!) as I strip off the paint on the tins, wash them all in the sink, and spray paint in the parking lot with the new Rustoleum Engine Enamel ("see if *you* can press the triggers on our new paint cans!):
Image
Image
Image

Re-located the fan on the generator shaft, remembering at that moment, the over-heated day I spent in Los Alamos with Jtauxe suffering through bearing replacements and incorrectly indexing the fan with LocTite glueing all the incorrectness gloriously. I'll let you know if I got it this time.
I love these old cars with their unique old air-cooled engines:
Image
Image

I installed the engine while Pensacola was having another musicfest. Passers-by just had to come have a look.
"I used to have one just like this." "Engine blow up? Mine sure did, I was going through . . . "

The engine literally fell in by itself. I had it tottering on my Once Again Slightly Leaky Floorjack, was trying to pump up at the same rate as it was leaking down, and desperately attempting to:
a) get the seal over the side tins,
b) fwap the accelerator cable out of the way,
c) pump the handle,
d) steady the engine,
e) blindly aim the engine studs for the bell housing holes
f) wonder how I was going to shift the transmission into a gear so I could line up the splines.
While I was ineffectually slithering stuff around, the engine was in. Thank you, Chloe.

Image
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

User avatar
Bleyseng
IAC Addict!
Location: Seattle again
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep (upd 05/12)

Post by Bleyseng » Sun May 12, 2013 7:44 pm

Nice work and looks like fun. Sorry about the shoulder pop is it better?
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

Jivermo
IAC Addict!
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep (upd 05/12)

Post by Jivermo » Mon May 13, 2013 4:41 am

Thanks for the explanations as the work progressed. That new Rustoleum paint looks very good. Makes me want to disassemble my exhaust system and paint it. Well...maybe not.

User avatar
airkooledchris
IAC Addict!
Location: Eureka, California
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep (upd 05/12)

Post by airkooledchris » Mon May 13, 2013 9:05 am

sorry to hear of the injury, I hope you recover from it quickly and with relatively little side effects. :blackeye:


how is the drying time on that paint? I know some of the engine paints have a formula in them that makes the dry time extremely quick. others are tacky the following day still.
as wet and cool as the air is here you know which I prefer. VHT is quick, but pricey. if the rustoleum is just as quick id like to try that route when I get to my tins and shroud.
1979 California Transporter

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep (upd 05/12)

Post by Amskeptic » Mon May 13, 2013 9:28 am

airkooledchris wrote:sorry to hear of the injury, I hope you recover from it quickly and with relatively little side effects. :blackeye:


how is the drying time on that paint? I know some of the engine paints have a formula in them that makes the dry time extremely quick. others are tacky the following day still.
as wet and cool as the air is here you know which I prefer. VHT is quick, but pricey. if the rustoleum is just as quick id like to try that route when I get to my tins and shroud.
For the first day after it was all re-assembled, the clutch howled every time I stepped on the clutch pedal d-r-R-r-R-r-R-r-R-pppp, frightening. I thought it sounded like I forgot to lubricate the contact ring. When I shut off the engine with my foot lightly on the clutch pedal, it would moan to a halt r-wa-wa-ulk. Plan B Yank The Engine Again was under initial consideration until I remembered that Hambone, Ruckman101, and I went this very same issue when we pulled the engine the day after I took delivery of the bus. The contact collar on the pressure plate has to find its own "center" with the release bearing. And it did. And it is quiet now. That would be a difficult thing to convince a customer, "no really, it is perfectly normal, it goes away, I've been working on these things for thirty years . . ."

The Rustoleum ENGINE enamel 500* Gloss Black really knows how to lay down and shine. We can see that in the photographs. But, it does not have the wear resistance of the old Duplicolor Gloss Black Engine Enamel (before the newer Duplicolor paint family lowered quality with higher prices). It loses the gloss if you clean it with gasoline. It does not harden as effectively as the older paints did.

The Rustoleum was tacky throughout the engine assembly, but I barely gave the paint a couple of hours to dry before I reassembled the engine. Crazy, the things I had to do, to reassemble the engine. I had a hammer handle in the fan housing fresh air outlet to guide it down past the oil cooler so I would not leave fingerprints embedded in the paint.

I did a "curing process" that mimicked the VHT recommendations, 10 minutes warm up, ten minutes cool, 20 minutes warm up, 20 minutes cool, freeway blast for almost an hour for final heat curing. Who knows how it will hold up, but it has to be better than that cheap stuff originally on the engine.
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

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep (upd 05/12)

Post by Amskeptic » Thu May 16, 2013 7:44 am

I had to order some heat exchangers from Bus Depot so I could have a *reliable* exhaust pipe-to-muffler seal.

Oh my . . . bashed and dented, poorly aligned tabs to attach to the undertins, only two fins instead of the seven fins on the originals, and a lever that was tack-welded a good 45* too far back.

Bus Depot tells me that they ship these exchangers from Denmark in crates, just stacked up on each other and that Dansk considers this sort of shipping damage to be "inconsequential". Can you believe it? The arrogance?

Luckily, I have a spiffy on-site welder, really, his shoes are shinier than my engine and that is saying a lot:
Image

We dremelled off the weld and re-tacked with the lever in the correct position:
Image

I must leave Pensacola tonight. Crazy bunch of days coming my way, 1890 miles, five visits (one of which is an IAC call), then the Michigan call on May 28th.
Chloe? Please please just do it. Thank-you.
Colin
(we need folders on the index page so people can see what is read and unread!)
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

Jivermo
IAC Addict!
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep (upd 05/12)

Post by Jivermo » Thu May 16, 2013 10:19 am

I don't think I've seen a guy welding in what appears to be dress slacks, black shoes with a smart polish, and a nice white dress shirt, but not wearing a tie. What's up with that? (as they say). A nice Dot Repp tie (to hide the spark burns) from Brooks Brothers, with a double Windsor knot is proper for such exhaust welds. Please. Over the shoulder is permissible when doing a stoop or bend weld, to be replaced as soon as the welder regains erect posture. This, or a white wife beater, them's your two choices.

jackstar
Getting Hooked!
Location: Gulf Breeze, Florida
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep (upd 05/12)

Post by jackstar » Thu May 16, 2013 7:26 pm

Jivermo wrote:I don't think I've seen a guy welding in what appears to be dress slacks, black shoes with a smart polish, and a nice white dress shirt, but not wearing a tie. What's up with that? (as they say). A nice Dot Repp tie (to hide the spark burns) from Brooks Brothers, with a double Windsor knot is proper for such exhaust welds. Please. Over the shoulder is permissible when doing a stoop or bend weld, to be replaced as soon as the welder regains erect posture. This, or a white wife beater, them's your two choices.
Jivermo,
I completely concur with your smart fashion sense. I am quite embarrassed to have allowed myself to be pressed into service in such a state of disrepair. In my defense, I had taken off the tie (Jerry Garcia collection) because it was the end of my day and the cut of the starch of my collar was particularly bothersome that day. What looked like dress pants was in fact the other half of my "uniform". The other half was in fact a size 42 Brooks Brothers Grey Pinstriped jacket that was hung with care in my turn of the century armoire dressing cabinet in my office. The shine of my Cole Hahns was accomplished by application of only the best black Onyx shoe paste only to properly brushed out by a 36 year old white horse hair brush I have had since I was in the Army.
As to the weld, it should hold as long as Colin can maintain the proper pressure on his heater levers. Once it leaves my shop and control, I have no say in such matters.

Colin, take care. It was my pleasure. Safe travels and I will see you in the fall.

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Pre-Prep (upd 05/12)

Post by Amskeptic » Fri May 17, 2013 9:24 am

jackstar wrote:
Jivermo wrote:I don't think I've seen a guy welding in what appears to be dress slacks, black shoes with a smart polish, and a nice white dress shirt, but not wearing a tie. What's up with that? (as they say). A nice Dot Repp tie (to hide the spark burns) from Brooks Brothers, with a double Windsor knot is proper for such exhaust welds. Please. Over the shoulder is permissible when doing a stoop or bend weld, to be replaced as soon as the welder regains erect posture. This, or a white wife beater, them's your two choices.
Jivermo,
I completely concur with your smart fashion sense. I am quite embarrassed to have allowed myself to be pressed into service in such a state of disrepair. In my defense, I had taken off the tie (Jerry Garcia collection) because it was the end of my day and the cut of the starch of my collar was particularly bothersome that day. What looked like dress pants was in fact the other half of my "uniform". The other half was in fact a size 42 Brooks Brothers Grey Pinstriped jacket that was hung with care in my turn of the century armoire dressing cabinet in my office. The shine of my Cole Hahns was accomplished by application of only the best black Onyx shoe paste only to properly brushed out by a 36 year old white horse hair brush I have had since I was in the Army.
As to the weld, it should hold as long as Colin can maintain the proper pressure on his heater levers. Once it leaves my shop and control, I have no say in such matters.

Colin, take care. It was my pleasure. Safe travels and I will see you in the fall.
You are a good man, Jackstar, even if I have just been enlightened to your serious fashion faux paux. If I had known that a Dot Repp tie was required, I would not have allowed you to tack weld the heat exchanger lever. I understand the Jerry Garcia tie goes best with flourescent dye checks of oil leaks?

Thank you for hosting the 2013 Itinerant Winter Lay Over part B. It was an excellent environment for the Creative Muse. Pensacola won me over with its deep history (I never knew that it has been around since the 1600s!), its wobbly but earnest park gazebo folk singers, and the troop of marathon troupers running down the street every weekend.

I can't find a post new topic button, so this is the blog diary for now, right here, in Pensacola Post-Prep.

We're off!
Image


I am east of Montgomery Alabama with my new EZ-Breathe cheap Dansk heat exchangers (Jack, the old ones are under the Formal Wear Welding Bench). CHTs have been 320-340* with one hill at 357* in 75* ambient. It sounds gloriously happy back there. Must store Lexus, get inventory squared away, and scram to Maryland!
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

Jivermo
IAC Addict!
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Post-Prep Post (upd 05/17)

Post by Jivermo » Fri May 17, 2013 10:22 am

Neat bus-neat house.

jackstar
Getting Hooked!
Location: Gulf Breeze, Florida
Status: Offline

Re: The Pensacola Post-Prep Post (upd 05/17)

Post by jackstar » Sat May 18, 2013 5:12 am

Thanks Colin and Jivermo. The house was built in 1901 and what is now a parking lot was home to an identical house until a fire claimed it in the '40s. I use it as my office. Colin is right, there is alot of history and ambiance in Pensacola. Plus, it is a helluva lot drier than anywhere in the PNW. In the meantime, Hurricane season starts in 11 days until the end of November. So Colin, when you wind your way back here in October, remember it aint over 'til it's over. Safe travels.
P.S. I should have worn a bow tie. And yes, one that you have to tie. Geez!
Jack

Post Reply