Itinerant Air-Cooled No Longer In CA

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled No Longer In CA

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:37 am

My departure was delayed by a last-minute appointment request backtrack to San Diego to address Hans, the hitherto anemic yellow '72 bus belonging to vwdreamBayb. She happened to call when I was up in the mountains east of Hemet, conducting my annual pilgrimage to the Arctic explorer, Elwood, and his intrepid owner. (Barb! Say hi!) I drove through a skinny little finger of the recent Mountain Fire, here was its most westerly burn:

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I was also up there trying to fit new genuine German European Taillamp Lenses, which had a bogus fake plastic chrome surround moulded into the lenses themselves. I wanted to use the real metal chrome surrounds that were holding in the worst quality who-knows-where-from lenses that kept clouding up every two months. After some serious razor-blading of the perimeters, and drilling of the new lenses ....:

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.... we got a decent enough fit of the metal chrome surrounds on definitely higher quality lenses:

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I was also nonplussed by the instantaneous dust incursions into Chloe's engine compartment every time I took a dirt road. The pathetic new "engine surround seal" from Bus Depot is seriously useless. Here, look at this, would you look at this?

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Cut an adhesive-backed foam roll last used to re-seal the BobD's fresh air vents back in 2010. Applied it to the edge of the rear tins. We'll see if it helps. I will try a Type 4 foam surround seal next. My guess is that it will work well:

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Of course, my dismay always gets tempered, stupid gorgeous planet re-prioritizing my little day:

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The next morning, I came down off the hill to Banning, a descent of 5,000 feet in barely a couple of miles:

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I enjoy vwdreamBayb, she is a classic droll Southern Californian with just a sprinkle of Valley Girl in her speech. We actually managed to get Hans to show a little spirit after blowing a good part of the day replacing parts that should have lasted longer, like the electric fuel pump and the fuel hoses. We ended up with an engine that was running far more horribly than when I got there. As the light failed, I did a quicky left side carburetor removal and vwdreamBayb called out the cause before my befuddled brain could even begin to. The float bowl was empty, and she spied some loose little air jet that was keeping the float up. Where did this little air jet come from? I have no idea. In the dark, I did a truncated Dual Carb Adjustment Procedure without explaining a damn thing, sheer push at this point, and we performed a test drive in lovely downtown San Diego. Thank-you, Hans, for showing some spirit.

Here is my So Long Til Next Year shot of the Pacific Marine Layer looking like a sea of chill. I am sorry that my camera missed the drama. Interstate 8 does a serious climb out of El Cajon (where Jimmie Johnson harkens from) to the Tecate Divide at 4,000 feet. There is a whole civilization under that grey soup:

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In the 113 miles it took to go from San Diego to El Centro CA, the temperature increased from 67* to 111*.
movie clip! :happy1:

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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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hambone
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled No Longer In CA

Post by hambone » Thu Aug 01, 2013 11:48 am

Dust, dust...followed a huge water truck down a very dusty logging road yesterday. It sucked!
I once siliconed every gap in the engine tin, it helped but was obviously temporary. I think it is near impossible to avoid.
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vwdreamBayb
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled No Longer In CA

Post by vwdreamBayb » Thu Aug 01, 2013 6:28 pm

Glad the universe smiled on us and we got to catch up, Colin!

I took Hans for a joyride the day after you left, and I have to say that Hans seems to be running better than ever!

I am looking forward to going for a spin when I get back next week (we left for Tahoe the next morning), Hans is waiting for a beach/run surf check upon my return!

I cannot thank you enough for pretty much saving Hans from some sort of fiery demise (again) Hans and I are so lucky that you seem to be rambling through at the opportune moments!

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled No Longer In CA

Post by luftvagon » Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:22 pm

"It's hot!" , followed by, "E.T. phone home!" just as the camera shut off.
1981 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia - air-cooled Type4 1970cc CV (hydraulic lifters, 42x36 valves, stock cam, microSquirt FI with wasted spark ignition)
1993 Ford F-250 XL LWB Extended Cab 7.3L IDI

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