Fifty Fotos In Forty Hours

[Amskeptic]

Type III...now there's an easy generator removal.

And that is why my Squareback's generator has never ever drawn attention to itself in the past ten years. It just sits there and works.

Yeah, all of the above fotos were in the service of visiting jtauxe in Los Alamos via a lap around the caldera. Finally got to his house and had a good belt of coffee. Took one look at Jelly Bean, the Wild Westerner '73, and attacked:




Yeah, I did that to my customer's car. In the name of love. We did a brake adjustment and took a joy ride, and the car just wants to drive. It is a VW bus with all the stout heart willingness to serve, and we have to keep them going, so the above photograph was just a little rust eradication symposeum. Jtauxe has promised a phospho spa treatment for this car and I hope he gets to it. Meantime, he gets to enjoy newly cancelling turn signals and a passenger door that lets people leave from the inside of their own volition. Here's jtauxe at first sight of what I did to the left rocker panel:




The main point of the day was to get the 1972 Sportmobile running nicely, and we did. Simple stuff, clean the plugs, compression test, timing check and dual carburetor synch'n'adjust. Oh, and get rid of cracked brake booster elbows.

Now pay attention!
We had two dead cylinders. It was assumed that they were 1 and 3. I assumed that we had "cracked brake booster elbows". Yet! When we removed the spark plugs, it was 1 and 3 that showed signs of life, and it was 2 and 4 that were just black and dead.
What gives? I'll wait for anyone to guess.

Next time through, I want to drive that one!




So, when I left the jtauxe call in Los Alamos, I had just run him through the story of dorking with my voltage regulator. The test of my latest NoDielectricGreaseOnTheVoltageRegulatorContacts was now, now that it is dark, now that I need headlamps. The car started with a bright red generator light that then flickered off/on/off/on/off while the lights brightened and dimmed and flickered and threatened "severe electrical damage" just like the factory manual promised. I thought like a wounded wolf, "must go leave to die". Gently drove down the NaranjaWesty Crash Street and turned out of his view. Pulled into a parking lot and hit the high beams, ambulance fans, emergency flasher, rear window defogger, interior lights, and dragged the engine down to about 500 rpm. The generator was still putting out. Accelerated in 1st gear to 15 mph in the parking lot (6,700 rpm @ the generator) and watched the brightness brighten correspondingly. Then the regulator finally got the message and kicked everything back down to normal illumination. Repeated the test and found no change in brightness no matter the rpm or load. Now I am wondering if the regulator just up and died. Shut off the engine with all accessories still on. Started engine with all accessories still on. Lights dimmed, motors slowed, then recovered once engine caught. I guess I actually fixed it.
ColinInRoswellNM

[asiab3]

Did you ever figure out what your "clevis pin" bolt is made from?

Night time. A few minutes of high beams at idle (you running the H4s?)
Go to the back and rev the engine to about 3,000 rpm.
Do you see eerie electrical lightening? I might have to wait for the new brush to bed in, because it certainly is well-lit in there when I rev the engine.

When my brushes were new last week, (same Wolfsburg West bag as your new brushes) I had blue glowing sparks off the brushes at idle and 3,000 RPM. I applied grandpa's old "brush seater and commutator cleaner" from the early fifties, and white powder went everywhere. I rinsed with GumOut, and the blue glow was very much diminished.It was about 20 miles home, and there was no glow or spark upon arrival, though I did not rev the engine much above idle when looking. I'll do that this weekend, since the bus is taking a break while I fiddle with a 2001 Honda Accord throttle response issue at the moment.

Dumb question maybe, but why not remove the generator to do all this work?

I'd like to introduce my procedure, from Colorado, November 9th, 2016:

- Remove 36mm fan nut, scraping the skin off your knuckles.
- Remove fan nut and washers.
- Remove belt and generator strap.
- Pull generator forward, out of the fan, dropping all the shims and spacers onto the crankcase/cylinders inside the fan shroud. For shits and giggles, the fan will drop a few centimeters and cut off access too.
- Spend twenty minutes fishing around with a magnet before deciding to remove the engine.
- Remove the engine.
- As the engine separates from the transaxle, the washers and shims fall to the ground.
- Remove fan shroud.
- Reinstall washers, shims, fan, special fan nut, fan shroud, and belt.
- Forget to tighten generator strap.
- Reinstall engine.
- On September 7th, 2017, tighten generator strap after installing new brushes.

Robbie

[Amskeptic]

A) Did you ever figure out what your "clevis pin" bolt is made from?

B) I applied grandpa's old "brush seater and commutator cleaner" from the early fifties, and white powder went everywhere.

C) I'd like to introduce my procedure, from Colorado, November 9th, 2016:

- Remove 36mm fan nut, scraping the skin off your knuckles.
- Remove fan nut and washers.
- Remove belt and generator strap.
- Pull generator forward, out of the fan, dropping all the shims and spacers onto the crankcase/cylinders inside the fan shroud. For shits and giggles, the fan will drop a few centimeters and cut off access too.
- Spend twenty minutes fishing around with a magnet before deciding to remove the engine.
- Remove the engine.
- As the engine separates from the transaxle, the washers and shims fall to the ground.
- Remove fan shroud.
- Reinstall washers, shims, fan, special fan nut, fan shroud, and belt.
- Forget to tighten generator strap.
- Reinstall engine.
- On September 7th, 2017, tighten generator strap after installing new brushes.

Robbie

a) No, and I asked myself anew what this fine 10mm handsomely shouldered bolt with the 4mm threads and 8mm nut on the end could have possibly gone to? It is good tough stuff though, several thousand clutch applications and not a lick of wear.

b) What is this Grandpa Old White Seater/Cleaner all about? I should tell you that I know first-hand that GumOut Brush/Commutator Cleaner shoots flames in a nice clockwise circle . . .

c) Thank-you for your procedure submission. We will review it and get back to you just as soon as possible.
( so you got around to tightening the strap three days ago?? )
ColinWhatReallyHappenedInRoswell?

[asiab3]

We had two dead cylinders. It was assumed that they were 1 and 3. I assumed that we had "cracked brake booster elbows". Yet! When we removed the spark plugs, it was 1 and 3 that showed signs of life, and it was 2 and 4 that were just black and dead.
What gives? I'll wait for anyone to guess.

Waited long enough? I would like to guess:
A) chokes stuck on/over-adjusted allowing the lean cylinders to combust properly.
B) anyone else?

Robbie

[Amskeptic]

We had two dead cylinders. It was assumed that they were 1 and 3. I assumed that we had "cracked brake booster elbows". Yet! When we removed the spark plugs, it was 1 and 3 that showed signs of life, and it was 2 and 4 that were just black and dead.
What gives? I'll wait for anyone to guess.

Waited long enough? I would like to guess:
A) chokes stuck on/over-adjusted allowing the lean cylinders to combust properly.
B) anyone else?

Robbie

Ding ding ding, we have a winner. Isn't that fascinating? Thank-you for responding just hours before my memory bank was going to de-frag this all into little zeroes . . .
Colin 42*RainInPensacola*%$@!