Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Atlanta

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Atlanta

Post by Amskeptic » Thu May 16, 2019 8:33 am

It was hectic, folks, hectic.
First, I had to recondition the new control arms bought off eBay for Alexus1 up in Atlanta, new grease, smooth the damaged looking arc, then paint them:

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Cleaned out then cleaned the 2019 Rodney The Pilot Hosted Art Studio.
Cleaned the Law Firm Volkswagen Project Garage
Loaded Alexus2 with all of the computer and art inventory.
Said good-bye to the finest 1970 Bug in the land:

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Changed all of the station presets in the entire house (and the bug) to the local NPR station (that's right, Rodney, I did that). Was heckled out the door by those Lionel Train punks:

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Thanked jackstar at the Law Firm for hosting the portable Computer & Art Studio Alexus Storage Unit:

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... and plopped me and the control arms into the loaded NaranjaWesty sending it right over the GVWR rating:

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Drove to Atlanta. Naranja decided to drive flawlessly at 65 mph head temps at 410* and 19.2 mpg. Richened the mixture in Opelika AL and dropped the fuel economy down to 17.2.


Found my brother at an abandoned gas station in Alpharetta and tore into the Alexus1's front suspension with looming clouds and wind:

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Got it done, and took off to the storage unit:

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Chloe started right up with a new battery. Yes, the eleven year-old Les Schwab battery finally expired:
We'll see how AutoZone's middling mid-grade battery does. Chloe felt "vibrate-y" after a winter with NaranjaWesty, but what a sweetheart still, light, willing, weak, and always at the first stop "where's the brakes in this thing?":

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Cleaned the heck out of the storage unit. Drove to Decatur to the zabo appointment:

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This bus has tried the patience of men, but now rewards past perseverance with a solid road-going demeanor. We re-positioned the condensor on the distributor, zabo-kid modified a condensor plug retainer and we stuck that distributor in and statically timed the engine. You know, I was only dimly recognizing that this zabo progeny was pretty effortlessly executing, and he called out my lousy ground choice for the test light long before I triumphantly announced, "this ground choice is not good."

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We piled into the spring plate bushing replacement job. Sanded and painted the torsion bar with rust-catalyzing primer:

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Ignored steps D, E, F, G, H, I, J, in the Bentley, and did very very basic math to determine the angle we needed and socked that spring plate back in with no index marks, "index marks, we don't need no stinkin' index marks,"
to precisely the angle we wanted plus a half degree. Sure does help to have a 17 year-old's eyes to read the protractor scale marks ...

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Drove the beautiful 1960 Beetle to check out its steering (it's fine, just need to break in the new tie rod ends and add a little toe in? out? Ask the tire treads):

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Then we drove the bus. No seventeen year-old I have ever driven with has been this relaxed and skillful. Seriously. Flawless hill start, damn close to correct shift points. A true treasure for the future of air-cooled VWs. Kudos to zabo and the kid.

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Time does march on. let this be a warning ... :blackeye:

Zabo Colin May 2015
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Zabo Colin May 2019

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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 Atlanta

Post by Jivermo » Thu May 16, 2019 1:55 pm

Whoa! A lot of stuff here! Hello, Jack (a modern day Phillip Marlowe if I ever met one)! And your brother, there, Colin! The Lionel Punks, heaping abuse! And why is one nut 19mm, and the other one 17mm? Is Bus Depot now bringing in Lexus parts, from Latvia?

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zabo
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Atlanta

Post by zabo » Thu May 16, 2019 2:57 pm

Not much to add to that but a few pics!
Colin - E really enjoyed the day and learned a ton, I did too. Thanks so much for the visit. Im going to install the new sliding door guide tonight While my son tackles the struts on his volvo :)
20190513_153311.jpg
20190513_153311.jpg (408.42 KiB) Viewed 12571 times
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20190513_114111.jpg (181.29 KiB) Viewed 12571 times
20190513_174702.jpg
20190513_174702.jpg (283.81 KiB) Viewed 12571 times

Time does march on- wish i could find the pictures from your 1st visit in may of 2005!
60 beetle
78 bus

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Atlanta

Post by appetite » Thu May 16, 2019 4:23 pm

This is one of my favorite times of the year on this forum, getting a window into the itinerary and watching people make their VWs better.

That is one fine looking bug.

James

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zabo
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Atlanta

Post by zabo » Thu May 16, 2019 6:04 pm

Yep. Needed a new one ;)
20190516_210219.jpg
60 beetle
78 bus

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Atlanta

Post by BusBassist » Thu May 16, 2019 8:04 pm

Great write up Colin. And nice to see that the 2019 Lap is now underway.

Zabo, congrats on your son's driving and mechanical skills. Some of my sons are interested in learning to drive my bus and help me with its upkeep. Others, not so much. The younger of my two daughters cringes every time I pick her up from school in the bus. She's 16 and only likes 'modern' things. And last year, when we drove the bus to see the local professional baseball team play, she hid on the floor as we approached the folks taking the parking lot admission fee.

Oh well.
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Atlanta

Post by zabo » Fri May 17, 2019 4:41 am

BusBassist wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 8:04 pm
The younger of my two daughters cringes every time I pick her up from school in the bus. She's 16 and only likes 'modern' things. And last year, when we drove the bus to see the local professional baseball team play, she hid on the floor as we approached the folks taking the parking lot admission fee.

Oh well.
Ha. That's my younger son all the way. He's 13. "Dad why do you and E buy these junky cars?"The only time he will ride in the bus is if we are going camping. Otherwise he pretty much refuses. He has laid on the floor more than once as well. ;)
60 beetle
78 bus

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Atlanta

Post by Amskeptic » Fri May 17, 2019 8:12 pm

zabo wrote:
Fri May 17, 2019 4:41 am
BusBassist wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 8:04 pm
The younger of my two daughters cringes every time I pick her up from school in the bus. She's 16 and only likes 'modern' things. And last year, when we drove the bus to see the local professional baseball team play, she hid on the floor as we approached the folks taking the parking lot admission fee.

Oh well.
Ha. That's my younger son all the way. He's 13. "Dad why do you and E buy these junky cars?"The only time he will ride in the bus is if we are going camping. Otherwise he pretty much refuses. He has laid on the floor more than once as well. ;)
Well, at least there is plenty of room for kids to cringe on the floor .... hmmph.
Hey folks, I have had a global computer disaster. Can't find any Itinerary data. I couldn't even log on here tonight, all browser bookmarks gone too. How embarrassing to ask for a new password to be emailed to me. What's my email password? Let it be known that I love my brother very much regardless of all catastrophes.
ColinShell-ShockedComputerAmnesiac
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 Atlanta

Post by weisswurst » Tue May 21, 2019 8:04 am

I see the last photo in this post and have to ask—are the Daisy Duke cut-offs I’ve heard so much about making a comeback? Please tell me yes!
-kit
Ha! great comment/question but, Be careful what you wish for... :cyclopsani:

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

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