IAC Leaving Los Alamos

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Amskeptic
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IAC Leaving Los Alamos

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Aug 23, 2015 5:02 pm

Was moseying past the Bowers when I decided to stop in and chat with Richard, a customer of many years now, who has Yellowbird The First, the beautiful Westy that jtauxe let get away.
Richard was minding his own business reading the morning paper, but I had an idea:

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This is the touch-of-trepidation face of a man who is attacking his beautiful Westy with a scraper. Well, it needed it:

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Richard cleaned the old windshield seal carefully ... ... ... :

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... ... ... while I treated the rust with Marhide Rust-Catalyzing primer:

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Then I disappeared to an afternoon of buying a new wallet and replenishing depleted supplies. Stopped by AutoZone and picked out two colors, Chrysler Hemi Engine Orange and a nice bright VHT Engine Yellow (who on Earth paints their engines this yellow?) because I had a notion:

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I had a notion that Chrysler Hemi Orange and Bright Yellow would actually make a decent match. The Universe got wind of my plans:

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So I had to mix-n-match Chrysler Hemi Orange and Bright Yellow in the sun, in the shade, in the dark, it was a sensationally colorful disaster of caps and brushes and spatters:

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While Richard's paint dried, I took off for an afternoon of playing with Lousy Paint Matched Savanna Beige from Bob's Paint Land of Vancouver WA (dot one), with VHT Bright Yellow added (dot two), a little more yellow (dot three), and Chrysler Hemi Orange added (dot four), then a little more orange (dot five), and a splash of VHT Gloss White Engine Enamel (dot six, which you can barely see because we NAILED it! at least this once. The recipe is based on spray time into the cap:
4 seconds Savanna Beige +
1 second VHT Bright Yellow +
2 spritz of Chrysler Hemi Orange and
1/2 second of VHT Gloss White Engine Enamel:

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Back at the Bowers by 4:30PM, it dried a little too dark in spots and a little too light in spots, but from 20 feet it looked pretty good:

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We stuck in the windshield with the seal 180* rotated on the glass, to give a new section of seal a chance to bed onto the blob-welded channel which I had thinned out to a consisistent width with my dremel grinding stone:

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That VHT bright yellow blended well with the car's original paint in direct sunlight:

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I descended from the Los Alamos plateau for my call the very next morning:

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Had a disrupted as all hell sleep in noisy Espanola, went to Deadaheadub's old address, tried to call, phone signal still dead, fired up the laptop, battery dead, got out the ChiTwnVW Commemorative Voltage Inverter and finally was able to realize that Deadaheadub had indeed given me his new address on the PayPal deposit, so I rushed over there slowly (do NOT push the cow!) and we got to work on his:

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and we took out the ripped fuel filler grommet on the:

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and we went back to the singlecab to resurrect this engine. Jtauxe stopped by to offer encouragement and was instrumental in our successfully completed list, running out for fuel pump fittings to allow us to use 1/4" american fuel hose, installed disdainfully by yours truly:

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A delicate dance with much persuasion and cajoling and feeding little spoonfuls of gasoline and hot-wiring the coil to the battery, and the engine finally burst into song on 1 and 1/2 cylinders. Shut it down, pulled the plugs on the dead cylinders, cleaned them of a bit too much anti-seize, and we had a real sweetheart running lustily by the end of the day. Here's the oil bath air cleaner:

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I surreptitiously kicked Chloe's rear tire on my way to the toolbox, "you got it good." Deadaheadub has been well-primed on the next step. Stop The Rust:

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Deadaheadub had no idea of how sick I was yesterday, a terrible intestinal upset that required the ultimate in self-control, no laughing, no coughing, no lunch, no sudden exertions, and I might have come across as a bit constipated but I assure you, it was just the opposite, it was so the opposite. I left him confused and rebuffed at the end of the day "you want to take a shower?" as I sponged off behind the bus with great foaming suds of Tide and Chlorox. Thirteen years of this Itinerary and never have I been anywhere this close to a real predicament. Whatever the drink was that Deadaheadub made at the end of the day, it was probably the most appreciated alcoholic beverage I have ever had, lime and fresh mint and Cuban rum, sipped gratefully as we wrote down the New List of things to do on the singlecab with the now-beating heart out there in the grass. Thank-you Ryan, and sorry if I seemed out of sorts.

Took off for Salt Lake City. Found out my cow is going lame.
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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glasseye
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Re: IAC Leaving Los Alamos

Post by glasseye » Sun Aug 23, 2015 5:29 pm

Even though I'm not a Bus owner any longer, I still love these posts. :salute:

Rattle-can stoichiometry. :cheers:
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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Mr Blotto
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Re: IAC Leaving Los Alamos

Post by Mr Blotto » Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:28 am

glasseye wrote:Even though I'm not a Bus owner any longer, I still love these posts. :salute:

Rattle-can stoichiometry. :cheers:
Ditto :pale:
1978 Sage Green Westy - 2.0 FI - SOLD WITH 109887 miles :-(

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whc03grady
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Re: IAC Leaving Los Alamos

Post by whc03grady » Mon Aug 24, 2015 6:17 pm

Amskeptic wrote:Took off for Salt Lake City. Found out my cow is going lame.
Huhn?
Ludwig--1974 Westfalia, 2.0L (GD035193), Solex 34PDSIT-2/3 carburetors.
Gertie--1971 Squareback, 1600cc with Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection from a '72 (E brain).
Read about their adventures:
http://www.ludwigandgertie.blogspot.com

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deadaheadub
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Re: IAC Leaving Los Alamos

Post by deadaheadub » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:20 pm

Colin, I am so grateful for your immeasurable assistance -and that is major understatement. Looking at Lucy's condition was so overwhelming I wasn't convinced I would be able to resurrect her, not having ever done such remedial work before. But getting her running, and sounding so fine, considering her heritage and "eclectic nature," I now have the confidence to put the time in and get 'er done. It'll be a long haul, but it now seems within the realm of my possibility.
I'm sorry you were so physically uncomfortable- I didn't know how to interpret your lack of appetite. It's not like my kitchen is in any condition similar to my Lucy! It did seem like you were just a bit tired, though you truly muscled out an awesome day of very productive accomplishment. I was tired myself and you just kept going until we achieved a beautifully purring engine. Thank you for the guidance of your "to do" list. And I'm glad the mojitos sat well in your system- for future reference: they are actually quite medicinal. Mojitos do the job for me every night.
You could have taken a bunch of the mint with you: it is known to aid ailments such as indigestion, diarrhea, flatulence, even vaginitis, whatever might have been ailing you!

It was great seeing you again, and meeting Chloe, and I hope your repairs on her went well in Moab.
Buen viaje for the rest of your itinerary!
Ryan

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Amskeptic
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Re: IAC Leaving Los Alamos

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Aug 26, 2015 10:01 am

deadaheadub wrote:It'll be a long haul, but it now seems within the realm of my possibility.
Yes, just like life itself, we cannot see the future, but we can dream it into its own being.

deadaheadub wrote:
You could have taken a bunch of the mint with you: it is known to aid ailments such as vaginitis, whatever might have been ailing you!
I must reiterate how critical it is to diagnose logically to help you narrow down symptoms to the cause.
For example, I do not have a vagina. :cyclopsani:
Colin
(I choose to blame it on that filthy filthy McDonalds in Los Alamos where I shaved in that filthy filthy sink with the holes in the wall where the mirror used to hang)
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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jtauxe
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Re: IAC Leaving Los Alamos

Post by jtauxe » Sat Sep 05, 2015 9:20 am

Amskeptic wrote:(I choose to blame it on that filthy filthy McDonalds in Los Alamos where I shaved in that filthy filthy sink with the holes in the wall where the mirror used to hang)
This is something that I simply do not understand, Colin. You have offers of nice paved driveways with access to garage shops, and yet you prefer to yank off the brake drums on a gravel road.

You have access to showers, and decent bathrooms, and food, and you decline all that in favor of shaving in the filthy bathroom in a stinkin' McDonalds, of all places.

On top of that, you refuse to drive a Westy, which would be the totally obvious choice given your chosen summer profession.

I think you are purposely trying to be nonconformal. Well, it's working! :cyclopsani:
John
"The bus came by and I got on. That's when it all began..." - Garcia/Weir/Kreutzman
http://vw.tauxe.net

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Amskeptic
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Re: IAC Leaving Los Alamos

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Sep 06, 2015 7:25 am

jtauxe wrote: I think you are purposely trying to be nonconformal. Well, it's working! :cyclopsani:

Someday, I will explain it to you, and it will make sense, like the whys of an engine that refuses to run right. Then I will invite you to the bramble spot that looks out at all the crazy people in the world, and you will see them as perfect as the aforementioned engine that doesn't run right, the engine that is perfect in its misfire waiting for one of us to discover the cause and the effect, and after you have repaired it, you think, "the symptom was the only path to the solution".
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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