Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:59 am

From the appetite call in the concrete and steel scrum of New Jersey, I headed north towards Maine. North seemed like the wrong way to go for my heat-seeking self. Late summer has a whole lot of poignancy for those of us who know about Halloween-through-Mother's Day snow:

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There is something ridiculously gorgeous about New York state:

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Arrived in Maine way up at Seattle type latitudes to find pretty decent sunny weather.
I loved our day in Maine, and I am still sorry that I did not get pictures of that big day of front suspension work. You need to see these torsion leaves that serve as springs. I enjoyed the reparte between foxmon and me and RandyInMaine, who showed up to help only to be saddled with benching that beam on up into the frame channels. I cuddawuddashudda stayed for more beer at the end of the day, but I was too restless with all of the driving and appointments in front of me.

From the foxmon call in Maine, I tripped down the east coast to the Drozdenko/Ethan Connecticut call. I-390 southbound:

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It has been a wary time of it, wary of temperatures that might dive into freezing cold, wary of highway mishaps that might further defile my loyal BobD travelling companion, wary of a bratty failure of the Delco replacement starter solenoid that would, of course, only crop up in the unwanted rain, and I have been newly recently wary of Life Itself, time is relentless.

Drove to Connecticut.

I enjoyed the reparte between drozdenko and ethan and me.
We discovered that ethan's Vanagon engine had a seriously recessed valve. His shirt aptly reflected the situation:

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Peeking through, you can see the brown all over the inside of the cylinder head/rocker area from oil broiling in excessive heat:

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We moved on, we had to, to other tasks like replacing CV boots. On the Vanagon, the outer CVs are hidden in a cave inside the trailing arms. It is quite the trick to align and start the bolts on the outer axle flange holding a greasy driveshaft exquisitely still so as not to knock crud into the joint. Ethan was up to the task:

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While ethan and I were occupied with ministering to the Vanagon's engine, drozdenko was:

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. . . but fortunately he:

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and we discussed Advanced Aesthetic Repair Techniques to get the sliding door to travel smoothly along a damaged lower roller track. A JB Weld-applied thin steel insert may cover over the rust-pot-hole damaged track. I look forward to an update.
We had our Annual "Ethan Stiffs The Itinerator" accounting tiff. See, last year it was $100.00 short (I don't know why, but I never count money in front of people). I called drozdenko who called ethan who discovered that he had an extra $100.00 tucked in his bill fold, and we made it all square and fine. Well, THIS year, I counted the money in a very exaggerated and ostentatious manner.
"You're $10.00 short, is this a joke?"
"What do you mean I am $10.00 short, are you pulling one on me?"
"No, I am most-assuredly not."
So everybody gets to looking around for a ten.
"I had it ALL in the Vanagon, right there."
Drozdenko rustles up a ten and I am on my way.
Got a PM later, "ethan found the ten in his Vanagon."

Tripped down to Maryland for the Cheesehead II appointment via a detour through the hills of Pennsylvania. This is overlooking the Delaware River Valley from I-84 on the way to Scranton:

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Our ever-growing need for electricity has its downsides . . . :

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This is a pile of coal outside of Carbondale PA. Carbondale had an underground mine fire from 1946 through the mid-70's. I was scaredily impressed as a child attending summer camp nearby, had visions of Dante's Inferno in the night, but they were actually pretty well-hidden (now China emits more annual carbon dioxide from its coal mine fires than all US automobiles do).

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Decided to visit the old summer camp outside of Honesdale PA on old Route 6. What a heart-breaker heavy little walk through the ruins. I had dreams of running that place:

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It is now a girl's dance camp??

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Still gorgeous countryside, but the buildings are getting extremely tatty and grossly "secure", with deadbolt lockable front doors (you know, to prevent terrorist threats) and hideous flourescent streetlamps to wash out the Milky Way at night:

1979
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2014 (the woods behind the upper cabins were mowed down for garish new tennis courts with a huge Prison-Lite wire fence)

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I remember *this* view as an nine year-old July 2, 1968 at 7:35AM, "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream was playing on the public address system to rouse us to another day of childhood . . .

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This is the old owner's cabin with a blown out front window, proof to me that the current owners are swamped or something, cuz back in the day, that window would have been repaired in hours:

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Old Cabin 1 was burned to the ground, the new tennis courts were so grotesquely out-of-proportion, the barn apparently was razed, anyways . . . life, you know? It just goes on in the future direction. You can't go back:

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So I take in the startling beauty of this road I have known since July 1, 1968, grateful that it has survived along with me to September 29, 2014 at 11:42AM.
Colin

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( p.s. )
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. . . thus proving that a sloppily dressed 12 year-old can still arrive at Great Success
while a tidily dressed 12 year-old can still end up homeless :flower:
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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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Oct 18, 2014 7:26 am

I knew it would come to this . . . I am talking to myself.

Visited cheesehead on the last day of September. Cheesehead is one of our founding members, one of our most loyal Itinerant Air-Cooled customers, and though she is shy when it comes to posting, she holds her own in the realm of Volkswagens. I have been trying to get her to try, just try, a nice little stock exhaust system on her Raby engine kit, but she actually likes that performance exhaust:

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We wanted to track down an oil leak that was fixed in May . . . :geek:

We fixed it again. Seemed to be about a little o-ring under the hat of the dipstick:

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Then we test drove through the clots of clogged Greater Washington/Baltimore traffic, desperately trying to find enough open road to get a fair read on her CHTs. We managed to get into the 400s with our recently-installed L-Jetronic retrofit fuel injection, which her original dual carburetors never exceeded. Beseechingly, I entreated her to ignore them. Wouldn't you trust this mechanic?

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Made a clean get-away after she took me out to dinner, a clean get-away is a rare thing amongst the metro Washington-Baltimore commuter clumps of clods, and I was treated to a beautiful night of Washington Monument, Capitol Dome, Jefferson Memorial, and the light rail station parking lot denizens who wanted to know why I was flitting about the engine compartment with a flashlight (to re-secure my Dakota Digital thermocouple connections I tell them, what's a Dakota Digital thermocouple connection? Don't you have a train to catch?)

Have to get to a dual carb adjustment appointment! Will get back to this.
Colin :bounce:
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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dingo
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by dingo » Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:05 am

..waking up to 'The Cream' and putting on the knee-high tube socks !!...what an era !.....how far we have fallen...it must be the end of the empire..
'71 Kombi, 1600 dp

';78 Tranzporter 2L

" Fill what's empty, empty what's full, and scratch where it itches."

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asiab3
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by asiab3 » Sat Oct 18, 2014 3:30 pm

Did Glasseye give you that red "IAC in a van" shirt? There should be a small asterisk and text saying "pending speed sensor cooperation" somewhere below.
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Oct 18, 2014 8:02 pm

asiab3 wrote:Did Glasseye give you that red "IAC in a van" shirt? There should be a small asterisk and text saying "pending speed sensor cooperation" somewhere below.
Nah, I butchered the original photograph in Paint.net. That shirt used to say "Isaac Heating & Air-Conditioning - when you need us, we'll be there." Heck, the letters were just staring at me, IAC came out perfectly spaced.
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 Down To South

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Oct 18, 2014 9:15 pm

dingo wrote:..waking up to 'The Cream' and putting on the knee-high tube socks !!...what an era !.....how far we have fallen...it must be the end of the empire..
I used to fall asleep to Janis Joplin crooning "Summertime". Rode to Hershey in a dual cab with my uncle listening to the Doors "Light My Fire". I think I have enjoyed a perfect music life.
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 Down To South

Post by Jivermo » Sun Oct 19, 2014 6:42 am

Too much! Camp Skycrest was only 32 miles away from our cabin near Starlight, Pa. I'm very familiar with the area, and had the bus up there last summer. Honesdale is where we go to shop. Beautiful countryside.

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asiab3
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by asiab3 » Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:44 am

Amskeptic wrote: The bigger question here is, what is wrong with the camber settings on the front tires photographed above?
Colin
Left front looks like it has negative camber. Right front looks like it has negative camber. Is your toe-in suffering too? Because it's the same picture…………
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by glasseye » Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:51 am

Amskeptic wrote:
asiab3 wrote:Did Glasseye give you that red "IAC in a van" shirt? There should be a small asterisk and text saying "pending speed sensor cooperation" somewhere below.
Nah, I butchered the original photograph in Paint.net. That shirt used to say "Isaac Heating & Air-Conditioning - when you need us, we'll be there." Heck, the letters were just staring at me, IAC came out perfectly spaced.

The bigger question here is, what is wrong with the camber settings on the front tires photographed above?
Colin
I wish I had. On viewing it, I mouthed aloud "Awesome T-shirt. I want one."

Great job, Colin.
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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glasseye
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by glasseye » Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:52 am

Amskeptic wrote: I think I have enjoyed a perfect music life.
Colin
As have all of us who are older than about 60.
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by SlowLane » Sun Oct 19, 2014 11:04 am

asiab3 wrote:
Amskeptic wrote: The bigger question here is, what is wrong with the camber settings on the front tires photographed above?
Colin
Left front looks like it has negative camber. Right front looks like it's running really close to 0*. Is your toe-in suffering too?
Right Front and Left Front pictures look suspiciously IDENTICAL!
Is this a test or sumpin'? :scratch:
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by asiab3 » Sun Oct 19, 2014 1:07 pm

SlowLane wrote:
asiab3 wrote:
Amskeptic wrote: The bigger question here is, what is wrong with the camber settings on the front tires photographed above?
Colin
Left front looks like it has negative camber. Right front looks like it's running really close to 0*. Is your toe-in suffering too?
Right Front and Left Front pictures look suspiciously IDENTICAL!
Is this a test or sumpin'? :scratch:
Haha I just went back and noticed that. Whichever it is, it has a slight camber. Notice the pavement dirt encroaching on the small grooves. Look for the green horizontal hashes, and compare both sides.

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So I can't tell which tire it ACTUALLY is, but since we can see a slice of BobD front suspension, we can see camber looks a little negative, which (I think) doesn't work well with our buses toe-in setting. So which is it, and how about a fourth picture? :cherry:

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Down To South

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Oct 22, 2014 5:30 pm

asiab3 wrote:
SlowLane wrote: Right Front and Left Front pictures look suspiciously IDENTICAL!
Is this a test or sumpin'? :scratch:
Haha I just went back and noticed that. Whichever it is, it has a slight camber. Notice the pavement dirt encroaching on the small grooves. Look for the green horizontal hashes, and compare both sides.

So I can't tell which tire it ACTUALLY is, but since we can see a slice of BobD front suspension, we can see camber looks a little negative, which (I think) doesn't work well with our buses toe-in setting. So which is it, and how about a fourth picture? :cherry:

Robbie
How about my thumbnail files fricken screwed me up when I renamed them to put them in order. I done deleted the miserable lot of them from Photobucket which also has its own stubborn thumbnails that are incorrect.

Good eye, folks! I'll be needing more of that as I unravel in to dithering dementia.
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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