Itinerant Air-Cooled

. . . . psychologically


But foist, a toon:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133 ... am%20C.mp4

Very rough draft played on a Yamaha Clavanova CVT 8, I am looking forward to learning how to play this thing the same way twice. This version is too drawn out in the beginning because I was trying to remember the bridge, so I repeated the beginning until it came to me.

Totally blew a damn gasket the other day. A bug came crawling out from some recess in the BobD. Spent eight hours tearing EVERYTHING out of the car, seats, floormats, every single item that was not in the car on the day it rolled off the assembly line. These cars hold a lot:



Chlorox n Tide mopped it, washed the headliner for the first time since owning the car:



Did I mention that BobD sold me this car with gum wrappers in the rear ashtray??



Psychologically, this was a critically happy-making day of cleaning:






Put it back together, long day. Good ol' BobD:




So, what did I do the next day?
The whole thing all over again with Chloe . . .





Years of junk got blasted out from under the seats and the z-bed.





I must have sounded like Lady McBeth, "out! out! damn bug!"





My fingernails are utterly destroyed at the nailbeds. This has been developing all summer, but now they are irritated at the worn down edges. Chlorox and GumOut'll do that . . .



Good ol' Chloe. Started right up. Drove sweetly, as docile as ever:



We're going to Pensacola.
Colin

If this post is a compare/contrast, Chloe wins with the two-tone interior and devil-may-care lack of headrests & CHT/tach.

tewa3240 wrote:If this post is a compare/contrast, Chloe wins with the two-tone interior and devil-may-care lack of headrests & CHT/tach.

The CHT gauge and tachometer normally follow the driver from car to car.




However, this time I am leaving the gauges in the BobD. We're having an As Volkswagen Intended gauge vacation in Chloe .
I like it.

My favorite interior changes with the days of the week. The interiors belong to the cars. When blasting the left lane at 75 in the BobD, its interior is part of the deal, and I like it! When shambling along the shoulder in Chloe, the earlier interior is totally part of the experience. Sounds diplomatic, but I mean it.
Colin

Seeing Chloe all spiffed up reminds me, I need to send you a bill for her over wintering here way back when. Somewhere in the low two figures will make us even. That is unless you can introduce me to your childhood multi-zillionaire friend, I'd then consider us even.

pj wrote:Seeing Chloe all spiffed up reminds me, I need to send you a bill for her over wintering here way back when. Somewhere in the low two figures will make us even. That is unless you can introduce me to your childhood multi-zillionaire friend, I'd then consider us even.

He's a fierce Republican Conservative, you know . . . might be too fierce for your ol softy bleeding heart save the world . . . Why we are having an email exchange right now about the current spreading inequity in the context of historical collapses of society.

Why is it amongst my "Rich" friends the ones that came up poor, on SS raised by a Single Mom, got a free university degree are the most GOP/sharemymoneywithlosersf*ckno. While the normal "middleclass children" millionaires are all Dem's/liberal?

Only ONE bug?

Wow, that is an incredible job. I almost get goosebumps seeing how Chloe and the BobD look showroom new, but knowing that they are among the hardest working VWs on the road today.

aopisa wrote:Wow, that is an incredible job. I almost get goosebumps seeing how Chloe and the BobD look showroom new, but knowing that they are among the hardest working VWs on the road today.

It was days of trying to burn out my raging guilt for all of the assorted assaults that these poor cars have had to endure all across this big country. Haboob sand! Leaves! Dead bugs! Spilled coffee in Idaho! Found the factory decorative button for the sliding door hinge on the BobD, made it all worthwhile right there.

I could detail your bus for $1,000.00 too. These both took eighteen hours over two days each.

a) gummiflege all interior window seals, wash windows immediately after each application

b) remove all seats, all floormats (including center aisle), remove spare tire, remove glovebox, fresh air ducts/vents, door air extractor grills

c) clean out fresh air ducts, door air extractors

d) wash headliner with ammonia-based leather cleaner

e) wash secret compartments under the front seats, all painted surfaces, including each seat frame, rubber wheel well mats and rubber floor mats, with Tide/bleach,

f) wash all seating surfaces with ammonia-based leather cleaner and seatbelts with a spot of dish detergent in warm water,

g) wax all painted surfaces inside/outside, and in-between (meaning every door edge and door jamb)

h) apply vinyl protectant to all floor rubber in Chloe only (to season the mats)

i) reassemble everything, sweep out car again, wash windows again

j) sack the idiot who almost touched your precious car

We have a little Itinerary Interlude action going on here on the way to my really really last call of the 2014 Itinerary season, Sunday October 26 in Thomasville GA.

I am in Chloe and enjoying the heck out of this NoGaugeNoNothinSlowVolkswagen. Remember that three day exhaust system paint job I did on the BobD in Texas?

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=8735#p156991

Today was Chloe's turn. Drove down an abandoned industrial park parkway, hung a left past the No Tespassing sign (I was ready with my defense strategy, "officer, I might be trespassing, but don't you dare accuse me of 'tespassing'"), and parked. Had the apron and rear tin off in no time:




It was sunny and warm (78*!) and windless here outside of Macon GA. The view was finally vast enough:






This is the #2 exhaust port:



This is the #4 exhaust port:




I say that the right side is running a tad leaner than the left side, but both are clean and not too sooty like the BobD is as that damn Dakota Digital gauge ruins my intuition. Got a decent 19 mpg down here from Atlanta too!

After much much painful sanding in all the nooks and crannies of this magnificently complex series of shapes (my fingernails hate my career path) , followed by a Tide/Chlorox rinse that elicited pained winces anew, I primed and painted and waited hardly enough for it to dry, then installed the muffler:




Just after sunset, everything was buttoned up:



I will do the 10 minute heat/ten minute cool, twenty minute heat/twenty minute cool, thirty minute highway heat curing method . . . right now. I am being thrown out of here because it is closing time.
Colin

It is wonderful to see that fine example of a Type 1 bus roaming the pastures of our nation's highways again.

Pray tell us where Chloe acquired her beautiful muffler with vertically straight #2&4 small heat exchangers? The BusDepot 2012 "best available" only lined up after I removed the small exchangers with pliers and remolded them with the help of of exhaust leak putty. And "lined up" is putting it nicely.

And do you use new donuts and clamps, or somehow reuse the old ones?

Happy (slow) travels,
Robbie

As always, the buses look beautiful, Colin!

We leave Tuesday for Florida for a week! Fourth trip there for the bus!

asiab3 wrote:It is wonderful to see that fine example of a Type 1 bus roaming the pastures of our nation's highways again.

Pray tell us where Chloe acquired her beautiful muffler with vertically straight #2&4 small heat exchangers? The BusDepot 2012 "best available" only lined up after I removed the small exchangers with pliers and remolded them with the help of of exhaust leak putty. And "lined up" is putting it nicely.

And do you use new donuts and clamps, or somehow reuse the old ones?

Happy (slow) travels,
Robbie

It is an aftermarket Ernst, and the collars had a terrible time lining up. Basically, you have to break the little exchangers loose from their grip on the #2 and #4 pipes and slide them up or down a tad whilst rotating so the fresh air hoses are centered in the tins. The heat riser had a time of it getting aligned as well. These mufflers used to fit! Back in the day, boy. Abysmal it is what it is now. I re-used the gaskets. Had to.
Colin

I'm glad to see the nose of the BobD is perfect again! Chloe is looking fantastic.

Amskeptic wrote: These both took eighteen hours over two days each.

Both look amazing. My wife put an end to my VW tinkering at 6 hours the other weekend. My birthday, no less. A two year old in the mix certainly limits the time commitment to VWs. I do think I tracked down and stopped my coolant leak, so success there. Now to my oil leak(s).