Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Vermont

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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Vermont

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Sep 06, 2014 5:52 am

Well, I WAS in Vermont, now I am in New York.

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Totally excessive greenery and too many picture-perfect farms nestled in the soft late summer scenery:

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What was going to be a nice couple of weeks of trying to resuscitate my old cars is now an anxious shove to get them ready to drive themselves to some as-yet unknown new storage environment . . . that I can afford.

So, what a time it was in Vermont. We, Waterdawg and Aopisa and I, decided to do a two-day mash of all kinds of projects on Aopisa's beautiful Taigagrun westy and Waterdawg's wounded Dakota Beige westy.

This included yet another windshield channel repair that we tried to cram into the space of two days. How many people have had to endure this frightening procedure now? Pmaggiore, Sylvester, Elwood, airkooledchris, and now Aopisa, who have endured bondo, sandpaper, primer, and questionable paint-matching by yours truly, followed by a slippery pig wrestling windshield installation (add Appetite to that) onto fresh fresh paint. It is scary.

First day was mostly windshield channel repair with bondo followed by sanding followed by bondo followed by sanding while we repacked CVs and installed new boots and troubleshot a glowing alternator lamp with various instruments of measurement and installation of a voltage regulator that was subsequently removed since it did not work at all.

Here is the second day application of BobD taigagrun with a dollop of L90D pastelwhite and a drip of powerful green in a spray paint cap, applied with a Prang watercolor brush in the midst of an alternator change-out/front-n-rear suspension adjustment, cv boot repack + oogling a Synchro-Vanagon daily driver (!) that had arrived with a local club member who we put to work with Waterdawg measuring wheel camber and toe:

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Somehow, we got to the end of it all, including a test drive of our seriously OutsideOfTheLines GuesstimateWheelAlignment of Waterdawg's westy with the terminally toed-out left rear wheel (it accounted for itself pretty well at the parking lot where we did donuts to see how each tire was absorbing its load).

Here is the Aopisa windshield installed on still tacky paint at failing light at the end of the second day .

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. . . then we got to the main event, the shifter rattle. I had experimented on the BobD's shifter rattle and discovered that the gear shift ball pin was prone to sticking due to the little spring gouging the hole where the pin must glide. We filed the hole, greased up the pin and the spring and the shift rod socket (aopisa was pretty much done with grease of any kind at this point), then sent Aopisa on a test drive while I did the Final Exam/Invoice with Waterdawg.

This visit was a test of organization and multi-tasking and cleanliness and creative guesswork analyses of the interactions of thrust angles and camber vis-a-vis toe-in/toe-out, and color matching under the biases of electrical lights versus sunlight due to rain spatters versus sunny spells, paint-drying times synchronized to alternator installation times slipped in between instructions on how much to move ball joint eccentrics.
Confused yet? I still am.
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 Vermont

Post by Boxcar » Sat Sep 06, 2014 4:38 pm

Just driving away from such a feast has to have effect on a cellular level.
1975 003 Auto Westy L90D

repair!!!!aug2015
Jan/16 Bumped mixture a few notches richer. finally developing HP.


1.8L/LJet/Pertron DVDA+PertronixCompufire 42/36Ham Heads/AA 93mm pistons/barrels.Porsc.Swiv.Adjusters/CromoSteel pushrds/ Web 9550Cam/55cc chmbr.,035 squish,8.6:1CR/German Supply VWCanadaReman Rods/Schadek 26mmPump/vdo dualOP8/10#low sender/Quart Deep Sump
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Vermont

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Sep 07, 2014 6:37 am

Boxcar wrote:Just driving away from such a feast has to have effect on a cellular level.
I don't quite know how to interpret the above. Driving away had a certain relief that all the different tasks had seemingly arrived at some sort of conclusion, but driving away also had 50 mph wind gusts and sheets of rain and a Toyota Camry that had slowed to 15 mph on a major highway.
Colin :blackeye:

( I look forward to updates from our Vermont appointments . . . :cyclopsani: )
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 Vermont

Post by aopisa » Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:39 pm

I will update soon with a few pictures. I did not take many since I was covered in grease most of the time or wrestling with an alternator.

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It was a tough two days. After five visits I am still learning basic tool usage 101. Every procedure down to the smallest thing needs to be explained to me. Still, I have to say that I was also surprised at how much I have learned and retained from Colin. Unfortunately, a lot of it does still not translate from what I know in my head to what I should be doing with my hands.

Waterdawg was a huge help in trying to make that poor windshield channel do something it no longer wanted to do. At least he and Colin helped stave off some future significant rust issues for a few more years. This bus is relatively rust free, but the windshield situation was beginning to show signs of being the area where rust was advancing at a more noticeable rate.


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Waterdawg attacks the rust
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Colin expertly matches paint while Steve sheds a little light on the subject
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Replacing the CV boots and repacking the joints was a far bigger job than I had expected. You are correct, I don't want to deal with grease for a long time. My heart sunk when Colin told me to grease the shifter ball as one of the final tasks of the day.

I knew the alternator was going to a pain and it did not disappoint. It was needed. Proven by the fact that the alternator light no longer glows. I do believe I have caused a new troublesome issue when performing this procedure (more below).

Getting rid of the rattle was number 1 on Colin's list and as usual, it was the last thing we worked on as the light was failing and the radar was lit up with severe storms heading our way. The shifter still rattled after the pin unsticking procedure. In desperation Colin crawled under the bus with a flashlight, did something and we said our goodbyes. The drive home with the warm late summer air coming through the windows and vents while lightning flashed in the distance was truly enjoyable and RATTLE FREE!

I don't really know what was happening a few feet away over at Waterdawg's bus. Lots of theorizing in three dimensions, with wheel base, camber, caster, toe in and out numbers being called out. Things I noticed that were employed were, multiple jacks, rulers, 2x4's, hammers, ladders, levels, scribes, crazy procedures like driving the bus forward in the garage with wheels just making contact with the floor, my spare tire being swapped onto the other bus and lots of measurements being called into question as to which side of positive or negative something should be. Somehow in the end Waterdawg's bus was deemed drivable. The amount of knowledge that Colin keeps in his head about every millimeter of these vehicles is astounding.

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Colin and Waterdawg enter uncharted alignment territory
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I will refrain from discussing Colin playing the role of grim reaper on another friend's bus who stopped by to see what an IAC visit was all about.

Colin talks to Kristina about the historic significance of her 1980 Vanagon
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Steve's Synchro and possible IAC candidate for 2015
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Getting ready to install the windshield. Check out that paint match!
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I have to say while two days was still a whirlwind, it was nice to take the time to address some important issues. It was also nice to be able to spend the extra time getting to work, banter and joke around with Colin. Hopefully we will work up a still larger Vermont contingent and bring ourselves up to pizza and beer status!

Thank you Amskeptic for another year of preservation and improvements!
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Right now I am still frustrated by the fact the bus will not start when warm. Yes, I have determined that problem exists when the bus is warm. Weird thing is that I can pretty much restart it immediately after I turn it off. If I let it sit for a few minutes, it will not turnover or start. I just checked and cleaned (again) all the connections to the starter. I even cleaned the little braided ground strap coming off of the solenoid. I let it warm up for quite some time, off, on, off, on, off, on. Hey, I did it. Took it for a test drive around the neighborhood to get it even warmer. Back in the driveway, off, on, off, on. That was easy. Took the dogs for a walk to let the bus sit for five minutes. Went to start it, nothing, just the battery and oil lights glowing at me. No turnover, no click.

15 minutes passed....

Starts right up. Back it up the driveway, turn it off and it starts right up. Try again and no go. Push started it by letting it roll down the driveway.

It may be just a coincidence that this is a new problem that just happened to crop up now, but I can't help but think I did something to cause this during the alternator installation.
1977 Westy 2.0L F.I.

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate. - Chuang Tzu

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Vermont

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:33 pm

aopisa wrote:I will update soon with a few pictures.

Waterdawg was a huge help

I knew the alternator was going to be a pain

Right now I am still frustrated by the fact the bus will not start when warm.

It may be just a coincidence that this is a new problem that just happened to crop up now, but I can't help but think I did something to cause this during the alternator installation.
Waterdawg was a huge help. So was . . . Steve de la Synchro?

You did do something to help create this starting problem. You removed the alternator feed wire to the starter solenoid, right? If the post gets tweaked by a little over-tightening, it can fracture/crack the solder joint between the post and the relay coil of the starter. Try a new starter. If it doesn't cure all symptoms, I will buy it from you.

Waterdawg, update? I really did bend my brain on that thing, and it would be nice to have an update so I can get my first good night's sleep . . . or total insomnia attack.
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 Vermont

Post by aopisa » Sat Sep 13, 2014 9:09 am

I have added pictures from our IAC day. Please see my write up above.

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1977 Westy 2.0L F.I.

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate. - Chuang Tzu

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Vermont

Post by WaterDawg » Sat Sep 13, 2014 11:13 am

Update?

Well not much to update. Sandy sits in the garage and I visit and talk to her ever day and tell her she will be better real soon.

I've made arrangements with the insurance company to be able to bring her to the shop of my choice far far away. They weren't too thrilled about that, but she'll be going to my friends Restoration Shop in Peekskill NY, Brian's Automotive. He and I are former neighbors and he started turning wrenches on my tractor and my cars when he was just a wee little pup :D

We're going to replace the Trailing Arm, Spindle (??) and possible the sway bar and anything else on that wheel that might be bent. Then we will get the front ball joint fixed and set her up for an Alignment again and see how we did.

They will then attack the body work by pulling the glass and soda blasting everything. Some on my dime others on the insurance co. Once down to bare metal they will begin doing what they do best...make her beautiful again.

I hope to have her on the road for my Key West trip in Dec, but if not, I will put her to bed for the winter and we will work on her interior along with the dizzy issue. Then when Spring arrives she will be ready to run from the barn and play on the road again.

Oh, and I need to still call Adrian re the #3 cyl issue.
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Vermont

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Sep 13, 2014 12:09 pm

WaterDawg wrote:Update?
We're going to replace the Trailing Arm, Spindle (??) and possible the sway bar and anything else on that wheel that might be bent. Then we will get the front ball joint fixed and set her up for an Alignment again and see how we did.
Why? I think the front may be within the realm of a simple alignment. Check alignment specs before committing to surgery.

The left rear alignment is our problem child with that toe-out, but again, based on the driveability of the car, I thought we were going to merely monitor the tire wear, since it stops steers swerves pretty well. If the left rear toe-out is indeed gruesome, a diagonal arm may be in your future.
WaterDawg wrote: I hope to have her on the road for my Key West trip in Dec, but if not, I will put her to bed for the winter and we will work on her interior along with the dizzy issue. Then when Spring arrives she will be ready to run from the barn and play on the road again.

Oh, and I need to still call Adrian re the #3 cyl issue.
Does my above post correspond with our notes or is my memory failing me?
Priority-wise, follow the bold.
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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