Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Jun 02, 2017 6:55 am

It has been pretty wet up here in the northeast. This is a wet road leading me into the dripping wilds of mid-upstate New York:

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And this is a 2017 New York dirt road, probably one of the last dirt roads in New York, but I am on it:

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My engine can barely provide heat to my chattering teeth and shivering ribs. They call this "a glorious spring morning":

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"If you want to warm up, boy, why don't you just mow the front yard instead of complaining, boy":

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But no, I prefer to complain and drive down the last dirt road in New York. This year, I did not get lost on my way to wdollie6's appointment. No, that embarrassment of 364 days ago was not to be repeated. I wrote down landmarks and road names and numbers on a brown Starbucks napkin in E-Z-Read sharpie marker bold black. Note that I am almost on-time:

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One more soggy hill and dale, and I am now not on-time, but at least there is that thar "macadam" road at the bottom of the hill, civilization returns!:

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I was complaining too much to whistle past the graveyard:

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Got my act together, found the house by 9:10AM and bitched together a warming cup of coffee and wdollie6 and I had a sprawling conversation at the dining room table. Eventually, we got to work:

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Wdollie6 has a '72 Westy whose engine we tweaked on a test stand last spring but is now safely ensconced in the vehicle. Like NaranjaWesty, this poor car is a low mileage lovely chassis that has endured some of the very finest Awful Bodywork Ever. We were gobsmacked dumfounded that "professionals" actually took money for their pathetic offerings. I hate to be a negative nellie, but I am. We spent the better part of the morning/early afternoon working that sliding door into some semblance of "functionality" as it attempted to "slide" in the once-rectangular-but-now-trapezoidal aperture. We also spent some time marveling at the re-skinned front doors and new nose panel that had but a diffident relationship with each other. Seriously. Now, wdollie6 loves his Westy and he couldn't help but feel hurt as my white hot withering scorn dripped all over that car. I had to reassure him that my heart went out to his Westy no less than NaranjaWesty, both lovely low mileage survivors that had endured innumerable insults.

So, we witnessed a lousy 'nuther rainstorm that crept its slimy wetness well into the garage as we checked valves, point gaps, dwell, timing, and carburetor adjustments. Everything behaved mostly except for the left carburetor's refusal to provide fuel to the central idling circuit beyond that which it deemed acceptable. Wdollie6 has promised that he will vanquish this issue:

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The test drive gave us a good account of the smoothness that I love in those early Type 4 engines, but we had a little imbalance in the airflow between the carburetors and the central idling circuit that manifests as a hanging high idle between shifts (the increased vacuum of high rpm throttle-off makes the central idling circuit too happy only transitorily).

We noted, too, that the brakes seemed a little "off" as we hurtled up upon the guardrail at our turn. Well, that is because the brake linings AND the engine only have 60 miles on them. Excellent dinner ended the day rhubarb cobbler!

I did not get lost on my out of there EITHER, unlike last year's wandering the hills of mid-upstate New York.
Colin

http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/vie ... 70&t=13050
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 New York

Post by wdollie6 » Tue Jun 06, 2017 2:09 pm

Finally a spare minute to comment on Colin's soggy but fruitful trip to the Northern Catskills.

Note that since Colin and Chloe arrived we have had nothing but rain, rain and more rain including over 3 inches yesterday afternoon, evening, still raining today. The guru had told me to put some miles on my bus so guess which day I chose to take my FatBoy to work, yup... Guess who also forgot that I had one missing/stripped screw on the luggage rack on top allowing the rain direct entry into the vehicle mostly caught in the spare tire well, shouldn't that have a drain? The good news is that nothing else leaked, even the POS's (Colin renamed the bus or was referring to me, frankly not sure which) front doors, probably a result of the new seals I installed with great labor into channels that were non-existent in some places, a story for a different time. Suffice it to say that my body man is not a door man, or for that matter a nose man or.... you get the point.

My main goal for this visit was to evaluate ball joints which were deemed serviceable after a late day, short but frightful road trip (Colin trying to scare me into getting some miles on the bus, "60 miles isn't enough to have brakes worn in"). So I now need to grease them again and wrap 'em somehow, (saran wrap?) until my next meet with Colin to change out the damaged boots. Secondarily I wanted to get through the engine/carb procedure we started last year. We discussed where we left off and quickly moved to a discussion of point gap vs. dwell. "Are you telling me that if I set the points correctly the dwell will be wrong, how can that be?". I was a virgin with regards to checking dwell but now have some useful experience, still not convinced though. As we continued through the engine the left carb still did, and does not want to provide enough fuel for the CIS, I was instructed to check the float level again even though we verified both carbs last summer, I will do as instructed, begrudgingly of course (this will be a little more challenging with the engine in the bus, "...its tactile feel man don't try to put your head in there..."). After we went through the procedure, other than chokes, and the aforementioned scary ass road test the bus engine was deemed worthy of a trip to ME later in the summer, nice. Now if I can keep the water out of it...

Someplace between the discussion on body work and the engine procedure we focused a few minutes on the sliding door, by that I mean hours. Believe it or not this problem of a growling, sticking door was also related to my body man, apparently his square and measuring implements were off (probably missing) when he replaced the track. We argued for a bit about the frame being a parallelogram or a trapezoid but settled on the trapezoid and then got to work. Minor adjustments like properly lubricating everything yielded no improvement and after installing a replacement lower assembly from BD it actually got worse, wouldn't move at all. Then we got serious pulled out the calipers and measured Chloe vs. Fat Boy and realized that the binding was because of a too tall bushing (sadly not a bearing) on the new assembly. We mixed and matched parts to get the correct height (back to all bearings), injected some magic potion of molybdenum fortified grease with ATF (?), and wallah we had a door that rivaled Chloe in operation, okay maybe not, but it was truly push the handle down and off it went, success at last. Apparently I spent too much time repeating this feat over and over, I was rudely reminded of other hills to climb...

During our time under the engine hatch Colin pointed out that some idiot had installed the hatch mechanism backwards (protruding into the hatchway) creating a dangerous catch point for arms, fingers, etc., didn't take the time to show him the scars on my arm from installing the battery...

Anyway a rewarding day and evening, for me at least, as apparently Colin appreciates my Florida digs much more than the NY, where we have bad/dirt roads (yes there are still hundreds of miles of dirt roads in the Catskills), bad weather and lousy body repairmen. Look forward to seeing you and hopefully Chloe in FL at the back end of the year or in the spring. As always appreciate the wisdom and commitment to the IAC cause, thanks Colin.
1972 Superbeetle Convertible
1972 Westy Bus
1972 Beetle
1970 Fastback
1966 6V Beetle with Sunroof

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Jun 06, 2017 6:38 pm

wdollie6 wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2017 2:09 pm
Finally a spare minute to comment on Colin's soggy but fruitful trip to the Northern Catskills.
Look forward to seeing you and hopefully Chloe in FL at the back end of the year or in the spring.
Oh me too. 48* rainrainrain Portland ME. The rhubarb cobbler was sumptuous, please pass along compliments to the chef.
Also, let me know as best you can what the fuel level in the bowl is before your fuel level adjustment, and after. You are allowed to stick your head in there for this one.
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 New York

Post by wdollie6 » Wed Jun 07, 2017 4:49 am

Colin, a thought to the over-revving between gear shifts. Last year on the first visit you had asked if the accelerator return springs were going to provide the spring tension needed to work properly and/or hold up under use. We discussed the different actions of the spring attached to the throttle cable vs. the two springs on the carbs, the return spring on the cable aids in the feel at the pedal while the others had the important job of returning the carbs back to idle.

As you recall both of my original springs were rusted to the point of being broken so I guessed at length and tension, went to ACE and purchased springs that were similar, actually having to cut and reform them to fit. After putting more wet miles on Fat Boy I became frustrated with the over-rev condition so decided to watch the release while my son operated the pedal, became obvious that more often than not they didn't always release back to idle, i.e. I needed to manually bring them home, just a touch to the cross bar was all that it took.

Two questions, first I am assuming that this stickiness will lead to the over-rev condition that we were and I am still seeing, and secondly assuming that the answer is yes where do I find the spec. for the springs, I found the part number, 021 129 881B (1 and 9/16" long) but apparently it is NLA. Some place in Slovakia had it for $7.50 but freight was $57, ouch. I also found the same part number but with a 'C' at the end, no specs. though so don't know size.

Hope you and Chloe eventually drive out of the rain, this morning we finally have blue skies and a toasty 41 degrees, more rain tomorrow though...
1972 Superbeetle Convertible
1972 Westy Bus
1972 Beetle
1970 Fastback
1966 6V Beetle with Sunroof

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asiab3
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by asiab3 » Wed Jun 07, 2017 9:17 am

Excellent sleuthing wdollie6!! I bet you'll appreciate the correct spring tension when you find them.

And welcome to the club of Tool Detritus!
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Wed Jun 07, 2017 7:21 pm

speaking of tool detritus... have a 13mm socket Colin left here....at least 6 years ago.
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 New York

Post by Jivermo » Fri Jun 09, 2017 12:14 pm

Hah! Good one, that "tool detritus"! I've also had clothing detritus, with a pretty nice long sleeved T shirt he left. So far, socket wrench, black handle screwdrive, and a 7mm combination wrench. If one signed on for a 20 year term of IAC visits, one could build a pretty good bus tool kit, and stay warm, to boot.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Jun 09, 2017 5:17 pm

wdollie6 wrote:
Wed Jun 07, 2017 4:49 am
Colin, a thought to the over-revving between gear shifts.
where do I find the spec. for the springs, I found the part number, 021 129 881B (1 and 9/16" long) but apparently it is NLA.
If you can get real spring steel springs, you can kustom-fab springs and dial in return strength by snipping off coils.
ColinItIsDry
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 New York

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Jun 09, 2017 5:19 pm

TrollFromDownBelow wrote:
Wed Jun 07, 2017 7:21 pm
speaking of tool detritus... have a 13mm socket Colin left here....at least 6 years ago.
WELL? I'm still WAITING . . . .
Colin
(don't worry about it)

(but whoever has my micrometer and my big beautiful phillips screwdriver with the pineapple/clear striped handle had best worry about it)
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 New York

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Jun 09, 2017 5:20 pm

Jivermo wrote:
Fri Jun 09, 2017 12:14 pm
Hah! Good one, that "tool detritus"! I've also had clothing detritus, with a pretty nice long sleeved T shirt he left. So far, socket wrench, black handle screwdrive, and a 7mm combination wrench. If one signed on for a 20 year term of IAC visits, one could build a pretty good bus tool kit, and stay warm, to boot.


Ha haa ha ha HA, it is fun making fun of the elderly addled, isn't IT??
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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asiab3
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by asiab3 » Fri Jun 09, 2017 6:17 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Fri Jun 09, 2017 5:20 pm
Jivermo wrote:
Fri Jun 09, 2017 12:14 pm
Hah! Good one, that "tool detritus"! I've also had clothing detritus, with a pretty nice long sleeved T shirt he left. So far, socket wrench, black handle screwdrive, and a 7mm combination wrench. If one signed on for a 20 year term of IAC visits, one could build a pretty good bus tool kit, and stay warm, to boot.
Ha haa ha ha HA, it is fun making fun of the elderly addled, isn't IT??
Colin
Sounds like an expensive way to amass tools. And my shirts don't seem to last one year before I rip a few holes in them; so TWENTY??
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

Jivermo
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by Jivermo » Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:23 am

The Itinerant Tool Santa, caught in the act of leaving a tool, in this case a 7mm combination wrench, and a shirt, which he has already peeled off and tucked away, during one of his nocturnal visits.



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