Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

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Jivermo
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Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by Jivermo » Wed Nov 13, 2013 2:04 pm

But wait...

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by weisswurst » Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:09 am

Jivermo wrote:But wait...
Hi Jivermo! great to hear about this weekend!
You are right, but wait, there's more! :cheers:
and if you paypal right now (which of course we did) you get your visit from Colin :notworthy:
at no extra charge! Except for the per diem of coffee and diet coke!

I'm nervously prepping for my first Itinerant visit, feels like the first day of high school.
Will he like me? Will he like my diesel vanagons? Will he think I'm cool? Will it rain all day on Saturday :pale: !?!?


Jeff with no garage :-( in Hollywood FL
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by Jivermo » Thu Nov 14, 2013 4:41 pm

Jeff, if it rains, you can come down to my place, and we'll back it into my barn so you can work on it, if you have no other option. I'm in South Miami.

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by weisswurst » Fri Nov 15, 2013 11:27 am

Jivermo wrote:Jeff, if it rains, you can come down to my place, and we'll back it into my barn so you can work on it, if you have no other option. I'm in South Miami.
thanks so much for the offer, I hope to meet you soon but I've got 2 vehicles slated for repair with the
master and I can't drive both to your offer of a nice barn :scratch: also I am in Hollywood so thats a bit of a haul for the one that needs a timing belt :pale:
I'm getting the tarps ready and hoping for short "Miami style" showers if they come.
It will be hot and humid so at least Colin will be happy anyway, High of 84 and 40% chance of showers
is the current forecast. BTW you have a 10% chance of rain in case you havent looked yet =D>

Jeff
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Nov 15, 2013 11:48 am

Well, yes, I got all panicky at my poverty and stuck in two Miami calls.

That, of course, annoys the weather gods, and of course we are looking at rain.

But . . . it IS 78* here on the Florida Turnpike southbound as I get threatened with Eternal Hell if I do not repent and give my life over to Jayzuss on AM 1150:

Image

Currently praying for SaalvaAYASHUN here at a rest stop . . . :
Image

This is not a VW bus sort of cruise . . . the 32-valve-4-cam-aluminum-V-8-with-cross-drilled-main-bearings is loafing along a 2,600 rpm at 80 mph and giving me 26.5 mpg.

Image

Heck, there is even an "Easy" button ( known as the "ECT-PWR" button to let you blow the doors off BMWs that get in your way:

Image

My manymany Chloe dashboard photos somehow invite the view. This car . . . . doesn't:

Image

Weisswurst has no idea that we are in for a heap of trouble down there with my skinny truncated tool box. We are doing a TIMING belt (here's what it looks like on a Lexus, it has only one just like a Vanagon diesel) :

Image

What we will be doing is Mad Improv with every trick in the book.
We need:
a) flat bar stock about 6" long to lock camshaft
b) a cylindrical metal straw about the size of a straw with a metal pin the size of a bic pen ink cartridge to go down the middle of the straw ] to set injection pump timing
c) a 15mm diameter pin, or ground-down bolt shank the same size, to lock the injection pump
d) a dual pin on a flat bar thingamajig to stick in the idler pulley so we can tension the belt

Don't worry about the rest of the required tools except a floor jack, I left mine in Pensacola.
Maybe jivermo's offer of a dry garage would serve us if he also has bizarre tool-fashioning detritus . . .

Back onto the Toll Road. I must help Florida in its quest to empty my wallet.
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
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by Jivermo » Fri Nov 15, 2013 1:04 pm

Well, Colin, you know I got all that kind of stuff in the barn. Whatever you guys decide to do, you're welcome to use any of my resources. Hollywood to my area is about 27 miles. The rain, this time of year, is usually quite intermittent, with periods of bright sunshine alternating with brief wetness. You have my cell, and I'll be around on Saturday.

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by weisswurst » Fri Nov 15, 2013 6:34 pm

"Weisswurst has no idea that we are in for a heap of trouble down there with my skinny truncated tool box."

Trying to upload first pic ever... Like this??
Jeff
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"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by weisswurst » Fri Nov 15, 2013 6:50 pm

Oh well, my last pic post shows I got all the weird tools loaned to me except one!! =D> Also I heard that the injection pump timing gauge (metal straw bic pen thingy) is only if we mess up and move something when we chock up the all other parts (highly technical term)!
Oh well, there's always the "flat tow kits" I installed If we need to go to miami when the sun is shining! :geek:
Can't talk, heading out for last minute gumout and paper towels.... :salute:

Jeff
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:02 pm

weisswurst wrote:Oh well, my last pic post shows I got all the weird tools loaned to me except one!! =D> Also I heard that the injection pump timing gauge (metal straw bic pen thingy) is only if we mess up and move something when we chock up the all other parts (highly technical term)!
Oh well, there's always the "flat tow kits" I installed If we need to go to miami when the sun is shining! :geek:
Can't talk, heading out for last minute gumout and paper towels.... :salute:

Jeff
Wow! That's pretty good.

Good thing I still have a little Phil Hill race car driver blood in me. At 4:45PM in the left lane of I-95 doing 80 mph, the Lexus did its old Drop Dead trick AGAIN.
Bam . . . into neutral. All idiot lights aglow.
Bam . . . right turn indicator followed by mandatory 3-over lane change to just nick the nearest exit.
Bam . . . shoulder pass the stopped cars on the exit ramp, blow the red light onto the shoulder of whatever street. Pass those cars, too.
Bam . . . hit the first right turn, we're down to barely 20 mph now, cross over to middle.
Bam . . . hit the opposing traffic's dedicated left turn lane (with curbstones through the grass island!)
Bam . . . pull a hideous U-turn barely missing the right shoulder curb/drain grate
Baizzdpt . . . stopped dead on the hill into the driveway of the Race-Trac.
Tried to restart. No.
Swapped EFI and magnetic clutch relays. No.
Took out fuel pump relay and blew on it to cool it down. No.
Cars are barely missing me IN THE DRIVEWAY on their way to the pumps.
Finally a nice guy in a Dodge pick-up offers to help me push it "out of the way".
"To the pumps!" I yell.
Filled it with less than half a tank needed.
Tried to restart. No.
"We DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" I scream at my nice car.
Tried to restart. It coughed and burst into whisper (that's the way it is with a Lexus).
"GET ME TO WESTON!" I figure hell, it seems to be listening, might as well take advantage of the moment and tell it what I need from it.

Then the traffic ground to a halt. It was 5:00PM on a Friday in Miami in the rain. Stop and go. Paranoid panic that the engine might play another possum game on my tired frazzled nerves.
After one hour, we had barely managed another ten miles, so I bailed, "I can figure this out, just find a parallel street down to the I-575, so long suckers," as I peeled off the parking lot once known as I-95.

My street quickly clogged tight. Idiot traffic signal timing was so slow that we're backing up through intersections. Finally escaped to a left turn lane and waited through four signal changes to finally get my chance. The cold street light glare and rainishmist is making my side view mirrors unreadable, the glare of headlamps is making the rear view painful, my windshield has millions of pocks and wiper blade scratch marks, and this street is even more slow. Unbelievable. I see flashing lights way up ahead. "Oh, an accident. I'll just bail through this parking lot and take another side street over." Yeah, me and 34,288 other commuters. Finally, I get on the side street, and it is stopped solid. Another accident. It is 6:15PM. The cops have shut down this street on OUR side. The oncoming traffic has jammed too, so we can't do our U-turn but one car every three minutes. Seriously thought about curb jump across the center island, but this exhaust system would cost more than my reckless driving defense ever would. I am ready to chew through the steering wheel.

Finally get back onto the "more slow" street at 6:45PM. Decided another right turn "SR 838" it says. Now I am totally stopped on a bridge over 441 south, which is also stop-and-go. I want 441 and I want to cry. There is no entrance to 441 S from this side of the 838 purgatory. Did another "opposing traffic's dedicated left turn lane" U-turn, but THIS TIME the engine is running at least. At 7:10PM I reach I-575 westbound. And I am finally off the road, some 688 miles from Pensacola.
Good night.
Colicommucommando
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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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by weisswurst » Sat Nov 16, 2013 3:43 am

Oh Colin, I refer back to my very first post about south Florida possibly receiving you in an "unkind" manner.
It seems the Friday night I-95 traffic and even worse 595 westbound traffic have extracted their toll on you (literally).
I assumed you would be coming down 75 from the west side to aligator alley and then Weston would have been the shining city of lights peering at you from the dark Everglades as you blazed through them. :sunny:
I should have spoken up when you made your "turnpike" post earlier. :silent: Sorry my captain, I'll make it up to you somehow!
Rest up weary traveler, we are all glad you are here! :cheers:
BTW the wife has been cooking ribs all day and they smell really good!
You're not vegan right?!? :tongue:

Jeffupat5amtoexcitedtosleep
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Jivermo
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by Jivermo » Sat Nov 16, 2013 4:05 am

Great, descriptive narrative. Can't wait for the book. Then the movie. Welcome to South Florida. Koyaanisqatsi.

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by weisswurst » Sat Nov 16, 2013 4:54 am

Excuse, my rudeness jivermo, I just realized I didn't offer you an invite to my pad here in hollywood hills today! :pale: The more the merrier of course! I have a nice chilled case of German Hofbrau lager for the occasion and need to work on meeting you anyway. I'm very close to hollywood hills elementary school on Taft street. PM me for the actual address if you wish to come. I've got bus parking in the back for three where we will be working and the wife made ribs for lunch!
:occasion5:
Cheers!
Jeff
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by Jivermo » Sat Nov 16, 2013 4:39 pm

Thanks, Jeff...I had my hands full down here. I'm betting you did not get to drink that beer up on this work day. Hope you had time to get into those ribs...

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Randy in Maine
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by Randy in Maine » Sat Nov 16, 2013 5:43 pm

I still want to know what the running problem cause with the Lexus is.....

(Although the ribs are tempting)

Randy at the Beach in Maine
79 VW Bus

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Water-Cooled Miami-bound

Post by weisswurst » Sat Nov 16, 2013 7:23 pm

Jivermo wrote:Thanks, Jeff...I had my hands full down here. I'm betting you did not get to drink that beer up on this work day. Hope you had time to get into those ribs...
Wow! You are so on the money! I usually get to drink a few beers on Saturday
but with so much info I kept it down to about three! :partyman:
Btw I'm making up for it now though! :cyclopsani:
I'm planning for a follow up visit for Monday since I have many more issues for examination uncovered by the maestro...
Work be damned the vanagons need Colin! :cheers:
Have a great day tomorrow jivermo! :thumbleft:
Jeffsotiredandhappy...
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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