Anyways, the Seattle call was our good forum member, Ronin10, the author of a thread stretching over seven, maybe eight, pages regarding the running issues of his personally rebuilt 2.0 engine that had various issues with slightly balky running.
viewtopic.php?t=12345#p211425
I was most-interested to get to this bus and see for myself what the hoopla was about. On the way to the hoopla, gorgeous scenery through Washington State, a very diverse geographical smorgasbord of desert flatlands and mountains and for the coastal denizens, dripping rain forests and Pacific mists, except for right now, of course, we are enjoying My Kind Of Heat and sunshine:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2002.jpg)
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2006.jpg)
Here's the hoopla, including new rear brake backing plates in the midst of it all:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2007.jpg)
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2008.jpg)
We took a test drive up I-90 to watch the head temps sail into the 430s. Now, in the Eight Page Epistle linked above, there was much mention of hesitation and bucking. Ronin10 had to gone to the great length of obtaining another AFM and we decided that was to be the "control" AFM, while his old one could be the experimental "mule" AFM. That mule lived up to its name. Bucking and hesitating even with nice tracks. Control AFM then became "experimental" AFM and we ripped into the control with copious notes and terrible driving habits like driving uphill at full throttle with my left foot on the brake pedal. After much consultation and vague suppositions of "cause and effect", we seemed to arrive at some verification of prior counter-intuitive conclusions long ago reached with the BobD, such as:
"a richer mixture yields better fuel economy and lower head temps". I await with bated breath the longer-term results. We also enjoyed conversations about the state of the world, yes, but more importantly, the state of airline safety. At the end of the day, I tore out of there at dusk to go find an urban campsite. Found it:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2009.jpg)
A river, a willow, a riverbank, birds, moon & stars (this was at night that I found it, you recall), and I awoke refreshed and defintely under the flight path to some airport (SeaTac?), cuz that was a humongous 747 that vooshed overhead with all flight control surfaces fully extended.
Day Two at Ronin10's was devoted to bringing his son into the Wonderful World Of VW Maintenance. As I hopefully dove into the Concepts Class at the kitchen counter, I saw what looked like distraction and perhaps inattentiveness. Not one to sing and dance to amuse the younger generation, I plowed on ahead with a slightly sickly awareness that I must be getting old and irrelevant to those youngsters, by golly. Hah.
The kid took it all in:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2010.jpg)
We had to replace all of the valve adjusting screws that had been killed by some prior overtightening of the locknuts, and we did points, timing, and carburetion as we ripped into the politics of the day. Kid, I am glad to see that you will be a part of the solution.
We took a test drive and he of seventeen years showed an easy command of driving and a stubbornass refusal to get his foot off the clutch pedal at stops. That's OK. We can do main bearings at a later date:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2011.jpg)
Took off at dusk again, for points south. The sunset was a little too far gone, so this picture was a tad under-exposed:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2012.jpg)
Back in 2012, I fixed the passenger door latch with a hideously tortured fresh air ventilation link retainer spring:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2012%2005/08WI03.jpg)
Then I found a real door latch spring hiding in the driver's door and removed the H.T.F.A.L.R. spring with the correct one. Well, the correct one got another case of wanderlust and managed to escape out of a drain hole, rendering my passenger door recalcitrant. It was a lovely 95* sunny day yesterday in the ferns and woods of Washington state around Centralia:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2014.jpg)
Right here, I stripped the door down and removed the latch:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2015.jpg)
. . . . and I found the old H.T.F.A.L.R. spring in my bag of "sliding door rollers and hvac springs"!
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2016.jpg)
It was like a homecoming. Spring knew exactly where to go. About thirty test cycles, and I trusted the trusty old Hideously Tortured Fresh Air Link Retainer spring to do its job:
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2015%2005/06%20WA%2017.jpg)
So far, so good.
Colin