Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Minneapolis

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Minneapolis

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jun 08, 2013 5:27 am

Let's start off with the ambience . . . we'll call it "misty".:
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The best I could do with the city skyline:
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Minneapolis is a beautiful metropolis fetchingly set at the confluence of two rivers, and is named the "Water City" if you speak Dakota or something like that. It is. I had the night shot of the ages of Saint Paul but my camera thickly refused to capture it. It complained "AF" or something, like the aperture just couldn't open far enough to take the shot at 55 mph in anything under a shutter speed of 10 seconds. It was beautiful, though.

I enjoyed the Minneapolis Contigent greatly. Generous good people, living under a blanket of clouds perhaps, but with high spirits nonetheless. I have photographs of each visit except the Annual The Miz Oil Leak Eradication Attempt. We just sat against Chloe's hubcaps and drank beer anyway . . . :drunken:

Now here is my problem. I am already out of time this morning. I must be in Anaconda Montana, 1109 miles away by Monday night. I have to back-track to Saint Peter this morning when I should be on the road westbound twelve hours ago. Why? you ask . . .
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This, this, this . . . abomination kicked my dominoes all the way to the DeschutesRiverRendezVW. I left the Grifftenstein Family hard at work on June 5th with a promise to return and help reassemble the engine:
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Every minute I dawdle makes my average speed necessary to get to Anaconda go up. I have not had time to track down the generator fan imbalance, so I really can't allow my cruising speed to increase anything beyond 62 mph.

Will join in your thread, Muede Stephan, enjoyed our sprightly conversations sprinkled through the impact gun racket.
Belle Plaine, breathe deep the refreshing air, we have inhaled our quota of fetid air for the year if not the decade.
Grifftenstein, we have 4 1/2 hours starting at 8:30AM this morning, to get your 1700 running! But we can show off the tailgate seal and latch area paint job regardless.
TheMiz, you and Vanna White deserved a full day, and shall be the first priority next summer.

Oh, it is sunny this morning here in Lakeville Minnesota.
Colin :cyclopsani:
(please say a prayer for Chloe's engine's health through the next 72 hours!)
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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Bleyseng
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Minneapolis

Post by Bleyseng » Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:50 am

Hopefully you pulled that poor clogged oil cooler to clean it! yikes...

I thought you fixed that generator last year? This is a new problem with it?
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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whc03grady
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Minneapolis

Post by whc03grady » Sat Jun 08, 2013 9:41 am

Lemme see here, if worse comes to worst I'm able to do Wednesday June 12th with the understanding that I'll have to take an hour or so around 1pm to give my staff a lunch break. Then we can merrily work into the wee hours. Missoula's only two hours away, as long as you don't petulantly drive 100 miles out of the way to avoid 'clouds'.
Speaking of clouds:

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Ludwig--1974 Westfalia, 2.0L (GD035193), Solex 34PDSIT-2/3 carburetors.
Gertie--1971 Squareback, 1600cc with Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection from a '72 (E brain).
Read about their adventures:
http://www.ludwigandgertie.blogspot.com

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MuedeStefan
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Minneapolis

Post by MuedeStefan » Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:23 pm

Colin-
I hope you're deep into the Dakotas by now and runnin smooth!
Drink some extra coffee; you sounded a little threadbare when we spoke earlier today...I know I was beat all day Friday ;)
Thanks again,
Stefan
Morgen Morgen, nicht immer Heute

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Minneapolis

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Jun 10, 2013 8:59 am

MuedeStefan wrote:Colin-
I hope you're deep into the Dakotas by now and runnin smooth!
Drink some extra coffee; you sounded a little threadbare when we spoke earlier today...I know I was beat all day Friday ;)
Thanks again,
Stefan
Oh, I am beyond threadbare . . . I literally have blood dripping off my eyelids. They are not getting a chance to heal with this driving and their brilliant ability to catch rust and dirt.

ALTHOUGH Lakeville was sunny in the morning, Minnesota just couldn't pull off a whole day. I had 300 miles of driving rain starting on Grifftenstein's test drive. Beautiful pictures and some real joy when the next morning in South Dakota was sunny!
ColinInBillingsMontana
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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the miz
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Minneapolis

Post by the miz » Tue Jun 11, 2013 7:22 am

Hey Colin,
I hope you and Chloe are doing well and are in MT, and that the return to St. Peter bore fruit. FYI, Vana and I did a 40mi Interstate run yesterday; speeds up to 70m/h...no drips on my driveway upon return! I think the shellac on the upper case bolts may have helped a bit. We still have some wetness up there, but it is far reduced. There is a bit of wetness along the seam as well...and of course, from the case bolt to the right of the oil pressure sender. Also, I put in those new Bosch Platinum Plus plugs on Sunday(the 3 Champions and one Autolite that I pulled out were pretty gross-lots of Adobe). I also installed my new gray wires, rotor and cap. Vana seems to be running a even more smoothly and powerfully than before! Hopefully I will get that 300mi run in soon and I will be able to see how quickly her valves are receding; I will be sure to keep you up to date on that! Thanks for your help on the visit...Vana and I look forward to our full day appointment in 2014...hopefully early in the season again. FYI- we will be in the upper 70's for the remainder of the week...we might even see the sun once or twice! :sunny:

the miz
1982 Westy- Vana White

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Minneapolis

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:19 am

the miz wrote: A) I hope you and Chloe are doing well and are in MT, and that the return to St. Peter bore fruit.

B) no drips on my driveway

valves receding; I will be sure to keep you up to date on that!
B) Glad to hear it. And please do. It is a suspense story, that rocker arm-to-valve retainer clearance. For the readership, we are monitoring a receded valve that is at .016" to contact. At .010" we have to pull Vanna White the Vanagon off the road stage.

A) As much as I enjoyed the Minnesota Contigent, I was getting Cloud Fever, a malady akin to cabin fever remarked upon by whc03grady who still marvels that I have driven hundreds of miles to get out from under grey skies. That last morning in Minnesota had dawned sunny! and I was infused with energy! it is summer! there are things to do! people to see! and there was an engine to reassemble in Saint Peter! There was a magnificent partial engine seal fresh from our favorite vendor! "Are you sure?" asked the vendor.
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Is spearing the gauges on the dash the new thing?
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We reassembled the engine, grifftenstein and I. He was almost startled by my barking and bustle. Grifftenstein is a damn smart member of the air-cooled tribe, he will restore his '72 by dint of will.
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The clouds yet gathered yet again, "we found him, the crabby little itinerator," they rained on our test drive. And it rained all day all the way to Sioux Falls South Dakota . . . The Itinerant Air-Cooled Traverse.
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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