Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jul 12, 2015 10:13 am

. . . yes, I will write a post here. Later.
Unfortunately, today I must diagnose why Chloe stumbled yesterday on my visit to spiffy in Walla Walla, stalling and backfiring and scaring the hell outta me.

You who I visited, I sure hope you have some photographs, because I only have a couple at misszora's call.

*appt. with Rusty Sub (cameos by Gypsie, stuart***foose, IFBwax)
*visit with hambone and fam
*visit with dingo in Eugene
*appt. with Vistacruzer (why did I not take pictures of that amazing dashboard??
oh yeah, we were being tormented with weird valve geometry)
*LuckyLab night
*appt. with misszora (hung over but worked through it)
*visit with pj
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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vistacruzer
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by vistacruzer » Sun Jul 12, 2015 11:53 am

Fought with mating the newer 3 rib trans to motor. the newer 3 rib was for a type 4. so i cut the shaft and now need to change out the clutch pressure plate. Wednesday's job after the strength war I waged on Friday I had nothing left Saturday.

Thanks again Colin. :thumbleft:
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70 wide lowered body rag top 2056 type4 DTM nothing stock if I could touch it.
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hambone
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by hambone » Sun Jul 12, 2015 1:55 pm

Condenser mebbe.
Are you already out of town? Was thinking I'd send you off.
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by ruckman101 » Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:54 pm

Enjoyed touching bases at the Lab. Safe travels.


neal
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asiab3
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by asiab3 » Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:50 pm

Stuart Zickiefoose- that's the name! He was sending me pictures of Chloe all day waxing poetically on how beautiful she is.

Anxiously awaiting stumbling solutions and a write up and photos and a personal understanding of grammar,
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by Ronin10 » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:03 am

I'd like to say that I'm surprised that Stuart was down in Portland and popped in for an IAC visit - the dude lives 30 minutes north of me - but the truth is, I'm not. Totally in character for Stuart.
Oscar: 1976 Sage Green Bus, Stock Motor, Solid Lifters, Manual Transaxle

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by asiab3 » Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:58 am

Ronin10 wrote:I'd like to say that I'm surprised that Stuart was down in Portland and popped in for an IAC visit - the dude lives 30 minutes north of me - but the truth is, I'm not. Totally in character for Stuart.
We found ourselves in the same state once and each drove about an hour to surf and chat for a few minutes.

And we've had hours-long phone discussions about the effects of vacuum leaks on D-Jet vs. L-Jet, just because we could. He's a righteous dude.

Though I'm surprised this the the FIRST appointment he's crashed! :D
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Bleyseng
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by Bleyseng » Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:38 pm

His nickname in Seattle is "Stuart the Destroyer" as he loves to take apart stuff destroying it in the process. Nice kid
Geoff
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Ronin10
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by Ronin10 » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:50 pm

Stuart is great guy. All heart and will leap in to help you at a moments notice. Yes, something may go askew in the process, but he make it right.
Oscar: 1976 Sage Green Bus, Stock Motor, Solid Lifters, Manual Transaxle

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:50 am

I still have to do write-ups! I am at the border of California, a whole lot the wiser for a New Rule For Living With A Dumb Brown Cow:

Rule: Do Not Push The Cow

Chloe went all balky and acted so "burnt valve" on me because I was thrashing around trying to find spiffy in Walla Walla. Ever been late to a job interview and the traffic suddenly seems extra slow and stupid, so you get a little tough on your car? Well, that is what I did when I hit Sixty Minutes Late. Chloe decided to backfire and stall and just plain o' Mule on me. Dead at the intersection halt. Well, I made it to spiffy's and I asked for a beer in the middle of the afternoon. Great visit with Mike and Elaine, beautiful life they are making for each other, beer on tap, sure, I'll get to it, but this about my meandering cow. The damn cow checked out FINE! Just barely a piece of little crap in the cut-off solenoid. Did a valve adjustment FINE! dwell/timing FINE! cylinder rpm drop test all FINE! but I was scared that I had pushed this cow too hard.

So I drove from Walla Walla OR to Medford OR in all kinds of rain and clouds in the middle of nowhere on US 395, and the cow just moseyed along.
Portland write ups, really, and a massive photo bomb coming your way.
Today, I have to camp in the high hills of California and paint the engine apron:

Image
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 Portland

Post by Jivermo » Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:36 pm

Beautiful photograph. Nerve wracking stuff, that ill-running business.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by ruckman101 » Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:39 pm

Coil or condensor.

A friend of mine offered this advice to me once regarding intermittent issues, "Drive it until whatever fails totally, then you'll know." It kinda works, just take that grain of salt with it.

Was Stuart at the Lab? I don't remember a Stuart.


neal
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Jul 14, 2015 9:21 pm

My massive wordy post here just got wiped out by a stupid button. Now I have to do it all over again, but the battery is low. Damn fool too many buttons. No back space could save it.

So, Portland OR, thank you for that lovely heat wave with sunny days. As you suffered, I exulted. Such a gorgeous and gritty city, beautifully lit at night, a little bit edgy on the freeways, hard-scrabble neighborhoods, hard-working classic cars still doing daily duty, like this 1972 Datsun 510 wagon:

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I went down to Eugene first, to see dingo and skindaddio and DJEep. Well, I got to see dingo at least, and he introduced me to a kindred BMW/VW spirit by the name of Evan, whose Vanagon Carat Digifant was giving him some caniptions. This guy is 33 years old with six kids. Drove back up to Portland after doing a transaxle/engine oil change (the fourth oil change of the Itinerary, already) here in this abandoned warehouse:

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Caught Hambone at home, collared him into a beer on the back patio. It is good to drink beer with Hambone. His daughter is now what, twelve years old already? I met her when she was three. A joy to see her personhood take form, we went out for pizza. Erin shows up, bam, the New Yorker in me pulls out the New Yorker in her and we yackityyakky.

My first official Portland appointment was Rusty Sub. He took pains to declare himself a beginner at this VW wrenching. He is going to do fine, smart and funny guy. We put him to work adjusting the valves, cleaning and gapping the points, checking the dwell, adjusting the timing, and finally contorting our fingers to adjust the backwards centermount carburetor on his 1972 bus. We had visitors. Gypsie! who offered me some good insights into my deteriorating infrastructure as he evolves towards a new profession in the healing arts, IFBwax! who updated me on his used-to-be sprites, growing right up out from under us, Stuartfrickefoose from Seattle (Stuart The Destroyer, as he is known, destroyed the vintage cap to my select 2011 stock Sherwin Williams L90D spray paint) who was present in the name of adventure. Had a day of tune-up and exhaust leak eradication with Stuart guiding my addled self back to the house from our trip to the auto parts store. Sure, I left at 10:00PM to go find a campsite, he left to go back to Seattle so he could go to work the next morning . . . . youth. It was excellent to meet you Stuart and Rusty Sub.

The next day was LuckyLab but first! vistacruzer. I have known vistacruzer for years, but never quite got him, until this year. I got to visit him at home, you see. He is an artist! and his patio is filled with his sculpture, and his workshop below is filled with artistic strivings in the Volkswagen realm, and his house is all about the restless artistic quest. I wish I had photographed the custom dashboard on his 1970 bus, so aviation, so Porsche 911, yet so hand-crafted. You should have seen the beer bottle cap knobs across the dashboard. See? Art! Engages the creative process in the observer. I have been working on what beer brands are most suitable for which knob.
Corona . . . headlights - think "coronas, light around the sun during an eclipse"
Dos Equis . . . wipers - think "dos means two and equis would be crosses, like across the windshield"
Heineken . . . emergency flashers - think "heiny, protect your rear"
you figure out the rest . . .
I was there to help set endplay and replace the main seal/o-ring on his mule 1600 engine, and we tackled the valve train geometry on the DTM Type 4 performance engine whose name I cannot remember, but it was there on the cooling tins. Just about late, I skedaddled over to the LuckyLab to hang out with ruckman101 and Cheryle and kubelwagen & fam, Hambone was there, I got to meet Marya70westy, and I got to see MentalQtip, and after I had cut myself off, I was offered a round by Bill, who else was there? Left the LuckyLab a bit tipsy, but found a quick campsite down on some road near the Columbia.

Arrived at misszora's house a bit hung over, yes, I did, but we got to work under the watchful eye of our supervisor:

Image


Green fingernails and pink wiring labels. What other career gives you this wonderful whimsical moment from a customer who has grown into a friend and a fine mechanic and heck, a first-class fabricator of a light-festooned desert-certified self-propelled cupcake, I kid you not :

Image


There is work to do, stared the supervisor:

Image


We did tune-up ministrations, a test drive to determine that the bucking and hesitation complaint had been addressed, and a patented "steal the headrest escutcheon" impromptu front shift rod bushing replacement on misszora:

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This little Dharma Bug is a fine fine car. We fitted an ill-fitting intake manifold to the engine back there on the stand under the now-stable canopy/garage (ask misszora about the wind thing something about "blowing papers right out of the house"):

Image


That was it for the Portland OR calls. Picked up some real paint from Bob's Paint Land, visited pj The Councilman in Battle Ground (and discovered with great relief that the candya$$ red Westy is still safely tucked in the garage) we drank vanilla steeped vodka or was it gin? Veered off the Columbia Gorge east of Troutdale in mid-afternoon because my brakes were pulsing. Found a mixed shade parking area along the railroad tracks in the 100* heat. Disassembled the left front brakes. Shoes look FINE after 62,000 miles! As a matter of fact, pj was there when I put these shoes on the car on October 6th, 2011 at 89,000 miles:

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Here's why the brakes were pulsing . . . the extreme heat and serious mountain braking and long highway hauls had allowed some of the grease to push out of the inner seal:

Image


Sanded the shoes, sanded the drum, packed the bearings with a little fresh grease, cleaned the seals and reduced the grease charge in the hub, . . . :

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. . . . adjusted the wheel bearings, adjusted the brakes, made very sure to put caulk on the speedometer cable end because I am desert-dust-bound over the next thousand miles:

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Got back on the prettiest section of Interstate 84 in the country towards the Hood River call,
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=12619#p215255

Some pictures up the gorge, I hope I have not double posted:

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Image


Vehicular Homeostasis, right here:

Image


Image


Image
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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tristessa
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by tristessa » Tue Jul 14, 2015 9:32 pm

Sorry that I missed you at the Lucky Lab this year. I trekked to the Trinity Alps for the holiday weekend, and while I managed to get back to Portland with barely enough time to make an appearance at the Lab .. I was just too bushed to do so. Up since 5:30 on little sleep, 9+ hours driving in a full-to-capacity Subaru wagon, with the rear seat occupied by a 13-year-old, an 11-year-old and a 3-year-old. I don't even HAVE kids...
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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings Portland

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Jul 15, 2015 8:22 am

tristessa wrote:Sorry that I missed you at the Lucky Lab this year. I trekked to the Trinity Alps for the holiday weekend, and while I managed to get back to Portland with barely enough time to make an appearance at the Lab .. I was just too bushed to do so.


FINE!
tristessa wrote: Up since 5:30 on little sleep, 9+ hours driving in a full-to-capacity Subaru wagon, with the rear seat occupied by a 13-year-old, an 11-year-old and a 3-year-old. I don't even HAVE kids...
As they would say in West Virginia, "So . . . what's the problem? That thar's but a half load."
Must have been quite a holiday weekend to end up with a carload of someone else's kids.
Mary is going to be so pissed when she finds out. I won't tell her.

See you next year, I better.
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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