Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by Amskeptic » Tue May 13, 2014 6:34 am

This was to have been only a quicky three-day marathon with appetite up in New Jersey, and has turned into a whole epic journey of crumbling roads and windy cold days followed by fierce rains and sticky humidity and a close eye on the BobD to see if it is indeed in the mood to do a whole country again.

I visited cheesehead, a real friend in this big old world, she has little complexities that I bemusedly enjoy, she has a Raby-engineered-but-built-by-others-Westfalia that is ready for the road, so take it already. She takes her bus seriously and it is best to have an answer to her questions. Sometimes I am able to answer them, like, what is the cause of the oil leak? Well, the plastic filler pipe actually likes that mean single-wire spring clamp better than the broad serrated hose clamp that people frequently use in its stead:

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It was at cheesehead's house that I discovered a leak in the right rear tire of the BobD, caused by the trash and debris littering our neglected highways that had peppered the car from New Jersey to Maryland. She watched with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation as I screwed in an adhesive globbed self-tapping screw into the tire and drove the car around the block to "seat it", but hey, it did prevent the tire from going flat through the night. She was graciously accommodating as we mailed the Lexus plates to the NYS DMV and stopped at Enrique's Tire Emporium for a BobD repair plug as we tested the Westfalia for any recurrence of the oil leak that was the basis for this visit:

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Next visit was along the More Evidence Still of The American Decline, Ruined I-64 to Norfolk VA to see Vis the day after he retired from the military at the ripe old age of 24. We worked on his 1969 bus brakes. First operation of the day stalled us out cold - Remove The Rear Axle Nut. My suffering 3/4 breaker bar and pipe cheater were no match for this thing. Unlike Jivermo's late model axle nut that I could just cut off, this early bus had a Serious Big Nut. We drove his bus around looking for a machine shop and found that air impact wrenches and a generous application of heat could not budge the thing. I finally suggested that we do all the other brakes and hoses and he could use his new-found brake replacement skills later . . . when the local VW shop gets the nut loose. Does anyone do math any more? 253 foot/lbs of torque is an easy stand on the breaker bar 18" from the center of the nut if you weigh 160lbs, then advance only to the next cotter pin hole.

Took a few hours on my way to Tennessee to visit Energyturtle to try to straighten the exhaust pipe that was sticking out too far on the BobD (after that brutal truck tire carcass strike of the Washington Beltway):

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The German Leistritz muffler was a pretty well-built item. It took a serious pull with the pipe cheater to straighten it back out only about half way. The springiness of the endcap refused to let me go any further:

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Do you think I was enjoying the sunshine and warmth? You bet:

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So much so, that I started sanding and painting and making that tailpipe all it could be:

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Final result yielded a grade of "barely acceptable".

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The visit to Energyturtle felt like a visit from the Grimtinerant Air-Reaper Himself. Car ran FINE. Decent power, nice new wheel bearings, man . . . so close, but the recently rebuilt engine had a deadly little canary chirp during starting and a lousy 50# compression in the #2 cylinder. We await the teardown. We discussed the Philosophy of Setbacks on the porch with the family:

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Setbacks. I am so very familiar with setbacks. We talked about harnessing the curiosity of discovering what did not go right, the little improvements that can be made going over the same old ground yet again, the additional learning. I might seem blase in the face of catastrophe, but after traveling the many detours of many setbacks, I have learned to enjoy the same old scenery twice or twelve times around . . . :flower:
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by Jivermo » Tue May 13, 2014 8:08 am

Unlike Jivermo's late model axle nut that I could just cut off...
Excuse me? "Just cut off..." I seem to recall quite a bit of effort leading up to the "cut off" decision. We didn't just grab the grinder, and go to town. That axle nut did not go softly into that dark night. I must find out where to get the 800 foot pound torque wrench used to mount it, when my new one comes in...

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energyturtle
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by energyturtle » Tue May 13, 2014 11:25 am

I'm going to fix that mean ol' energyturtle once and for all. It lived up to it's name and ran pretty damn good for 50# on 2. I'm pissed, but adversity builds strength. Gotta keep on bussin'. Down South giving up ain't an option. I chose Energy turtle, and damnit I'm gonna make her a happy camper. (No pun intended) :)

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by hambone » Tue May 13, 2014 3:59 pm

What is that extra pipe in front of the exhaust?
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by asiab3 » Tue May 13, 2014 4:32 pm

hambone wrote:What is that extra pipe in front of the exhaust?
Late T4 bus heat dump tubes. Routes heat exchanger flow out from underneath when you don't have cabin heat on. Started aroud '78, older buses (and other ACVWs) just had outlets on the nose of the (heater control valve-ed)

#41

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1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by hambone » Tue May 13, 2014 6:19 pm

THAT is weird.
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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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by Amskeptic » Tue May 13, 2014 7:35 pm

hambone wrote:THAT is weird.
It was such a good idea that I made my own for the Road Warrior:

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=4597#p75728

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. . . and I painted the factory ones on the BobD under a beautiful tree in Texas in 2011:

viewtopic.php?f=65&t=10045#p179583

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You should check out my website some time . . . we got stories and pictures . . .
Colin :rabbit:

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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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by luftvagon » Tue May 13, 2014 7:41 pm

Where are you at? Looks like you are early into the itinerary... You could just come up here, and start working on learning the inevitable... EFI tuning at leisure and comfort from the front seat ;) No more wipers to move, no more distributors to twist around.....
1981 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia - air-cooled Type4 1970cc CV (hydraulic lifters, 42x36 valves, stock cam, microSquirt FI with wasted spark ignition)
1993 Ford F-250 XL LWB Extended Cab 7.3L IDI

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by airkooledchris » Tue May 13, 2014 9:22 pm

my condolences to energyturtle and that motor. tis a beautiful bus, one of my favorite combinations of colors and options...

I do wonder how one deals with being the 'deliverer of bad news' as Colin often has to do. How many folks are signing up for a visit because their busses run great as is, Vs those who have been trying to figure out why they aren't running properly (only to find out it needs the dreaded heart transplant)?

Maybe that's just how the start of this tour has felt from the reports thus far. I look forward to the next quick easy fix that made everything and everyone super sunshiny happy.
1979 California Transporter

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by Amskeptic » Wed May 14, 2014 5:51 am

airkooledchris wrote:my condolences to energyturtle and that motor.

I look forward to the next quick easy fix that made everything and everyone super sunshiny happy.
That's a Eurekan for you . . . desperate for super sunshine.

After four glorious days of pure 85* sunshine, dumping a huge horrible grey or black cloud of doomsday despairing defeat upon the utterly crushed Once Hopeful, I find simply refreshing.
:blackeye: :flower: :blackeye:

(you'll enjoy the super catastrophe coming my way when I attempt to remove the passenger compartment windows on the BobD to replace the window chrome . . . if I so much as nick the headliner, you will the hear the howls from Pensacola to Eureka)
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by Amskeptic » Wed May 14, 2014 6:11 am

Yeah, so that four glorious days of sunshine I was talking about?
I spent it doing inventory for the 2014 Itinerary.
I spent it throwing the BobD plates onto Chloe (they were hers originally after all) and taking a hot lap up the GA 400 to drive any moisture out of the oil. Ran into a new Corvette at the light. I coulda smoked it easy, but um, I was busy:

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Man, what a sweetheart. There is an immediacy to the early Volkswagens that you get from nothing else. I was filled with instant doubts about taking the "fresh" bus out into the wilds, when this little cow is just raring to . . . walk . . . around the country.

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Engine was willingly anemic:

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Chloe is actually smoother through the floorboards. That is because the 71mm stroke 2.0 in the BobD is throwing a lot more stuff around:

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Pulled the battery cable off Chloe (seeya next time) and adjusted the valves in the BobD.
Left Side:

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Right side:

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Please take a moment of silence with me . . . . . . the 93,600 mile factory original heads are beginning to brown a bit. This is the beginnings of leakage through the exhaust valve guides, and proof that they are aging.
Fricken life! Everything leads inexorably towards death.
Colin :sunny:
(so why did Hallmark Cards reject my birthday card portfolio?)
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by retro1302 » Wed May 14, 2014 1:27 pm

A little more on that, Professor. Those heads look pretty fresh. What "brown" are you referring to?
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1971 Super Beetle Convert
1980 Triumph Spitfire

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by Amskeptic » Wed May 14, 2014 6:00 pm

retro1302 wrote:A little more on that, Professor. Those heads look pretty fresh. What "brown" are you referring to?
The brown where you see brown used to be shiny oily aluminum. It is evidence of combustion carbon making its way into the reaches of the engine. I might have *also* gotten brown deposits from that plastic bag sucked into my fan, causing an overheat of about 535* temporarily. That's like burning the butter in the frying pan.
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Wed May 14, 2014 6:46 pm

Amskeptic wrote: The visit to Energyturtle felt like a visit from the Grimtinerant Air-Reaper Himself. Car ran FINE. Decent power, nice new wheel bearings, man . . . so close, but the recently rebuilt engine had a deadly little canary chirp during starting and a lousy 50# compression in the #2 cylinder. We await the teardown. We discussed the Philosophy of Setbacks on the porch with the family:
Image
What he needs is a used engine with unknown miles with pigeon sh!t in the cooling fins, saw dust in the valve covers, and a helicoil that won't let go of an ancient spark plug. Just Sayin' :flower:
1976 VW Bus aka tripod
FI ...not leaky, and not so noisy...and she runs awesome!
hambone wrote: There are those out there with no other aim but to bunch panties. It's like arguing with a pretzel.
::troll2::

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Down South

Post by Amskeptic » Thu May 15, 2014 8:58 am

TrollFromDownBelow wrote: What he needs is a used engine with unknown miles with pigeon sh!t in the cooling fins, saw dust in the valve covers, and a helicoil that won't let go of an ancient spark plug. Just Sayin' :flower:
That was the winning recipe back in the day. I remember buying used engines for $100.00 and sticking them into people's bugs or buses for $50.00 and that was that.
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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