Itinerant Air-Cooled

11/02 9:20PM
Chloe draws up to the gas pumps with some sort of high idle. What could be the cause?
Throttle cable is slack.
Choke is off.
Engine is running well, not a vacuum leak.
Pulled out timing light, 8*BTDC ?? How did that happen? Tapped distributor back down to 0*, idle came back to 1,000 rpm.

11/02 9:25PM
Chloe is running lovelyly smooth, but seems a little winded. Pulled off at a rest stop. Idle is high again? Pulled out timing light, because if nothing else, I am on to this timing thing, and now it is 12* BTDC. Is the distributor managing to twist backwards against engine rotation? Seems good and snug.
I know! I know! the brass gear is stripping out and the distributor is advancing itself as the teeth skip.
Reset the timing, over crank the clamp nut (sorry) and try to pull on the road. Nooooooo diiiiice. Weak ass car can't pull 3rd. Back up on the shoulder of I-95 back to the rest stop and wait for the engine to cool. I know what it is now. The vacuum advance got stuck in a two step progression to full advance and stayed there. As I reset the idle timing twice, the whole map got stuck there permanently. That is why the engine was feeling weaker and weaker on the highway. It is hot and mosquito-y at the rest stop under the mercury vapor lights. Disassembled distributor. Hit the vacuum advance plate with concoction of ATF/engine oil and worked it free. Death Valley must have boiled off the grease I put in this very distributor in November 2011. ATF should last indefinitely. Pulled out of the rest stop at 10:30PM hot and sticky. Drove with windows open and looked at the half moon rising over the eastern horizon. Enjoyed the warm breeze. Chloe pulls 60 no problem, 355* CHTs, main bearings are not thumping, life is good.


11/03 12:30AM
Chloe just died dead on I-95 southbound with hurtling truck traffic and neon-lit Hondas darting past at 80 mph. Coasted to shoulder and found the breaker point wire had snapped off the breaker points. Spliced in a section of black 22g wire, set the points by flashlight while the car rocked from bow waves of passing trucks. Hotter than heck burning hot distributor, melting electrical tape, buggy sticky damp shoulder, even the distributor clips seemed to taunt me with conductive burn. Engine started no problem.
Turned on the flashers and accelerated down the shoulder. I have limited acceleration distance due to a narrowing at the overpass up ahead. Nothing but a wall of lights behind me.
.. 12mph, shift,
......................... 23mph, shift,
...............................................................................43 mph, shift,
....... "slip" into traffic, .......................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
.............................. ( flashers off ) ............................................................................................................... 60mph!
We're on our way. We're not dead in a hideous shoulder crash.
So there's that.
ColinNoSleepDoesNotBecomeMe

Oh, man...welcome to South Florida, where we have managed to import the worst drivers from everywhere else on the planet, and that is a fact.

Sheesh... Chloe is kind of being a bitch, right? How bizarre that you all of the sudden experience those distributor issues to include the broken wire.. Have you ever experienced that stuck advance plate situation before? I've never heard or read about the advance plate sticking on a running engine before but clearly it happens.

Glad you were able to get it fixed on the side of the road w/out getting run over by a semi. Nothing scarier than that..

I have had the sticking advance plate before ( grease just froze solid from age) but never had the points wire snap off. Weird.

I have had the little rubber bushing on the points wire work free, allowing the spade terminal to contact the distributor body, which is an instant warningless cutout as well. One of those 'what the?' moments.

I bought a 205T off The Samba classifieds. It had clearly been sitting in someone's junk pile for a long time. The advance plate was pretty much stuck. I had to wiggle it back and forth and then grab it with pliers to get it out. The main shaft also didn't want to come out of the body either.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... highlight=

I took some pictures of that distributor rebuild and made a thread on The Samba. It's amazing what some fine grit sand paper, oil and grease can do to make them work perfect again. The main shaft bushings were still in great shape in it, surprisingly.

I feel lucky that I've never had one have the advance plate stick like Colin experienced. Not very many people would of been able to figure out WTH was going on like Colin did so quickly on the side of the road.

Getting to Miami was half the fun. Couldn't park my new Westy in the storage unit because it is too tall. Couldn't park the new Westy in the garage at my brother's house because it is too tall. Now what?

So I drove to Miami. Before the distributor advance told me it wanted some oil, Chloe drove just lovely down from Atlanta, a real relief to experience a smooth engine once more, happy little 60 mph warrior dodging the traffic while the camera couldn't get its exposure straight:





"Don't worry about it," I said to the camera, "it's art." Even this shot that looks like the instant a nuclear bomb went off:



Three hundred easy miles later, I was in Valdosta Georgia in the very field on the very day three years earlier that I had rebuilt the steering box currently steering Chloe. So what project to do to commemorate?
Wiper Assembly Refresh.
The wiper motor had given me the most pathetic wipe in the morning, just a little dew, and these wipers were dragging like they were trying to shovel snow off the windshield (perish the thought). Even on the high speed, they barely crossed the glass. Now a lot of people think that slow wipers are evidence of a loss of lubrication, but that is not it . . .

Removed glove box:



And the wiper arms, and the sash, and the right side defroster duct:




You can't miss the wrench on the lower wiper assembly 10mm bolt.. .. .. :




.. .. .. but you also see that I waxed the intake plenum and emergency brake handle bracket and dusted the remaining ducts:



Note that there is plenty of good grease in the worm gear:




The reason these wipers go slow is that the commutator develops a film of thrown grease mixed with carbon brush dust:




Once sanded with 800 grit and reassembled, the wipers are frisky, I tell ya, 5 swipes in 7.3 seconds slow 5 swipes in 5 seconds on high speed:






This spider was a curious visitor:




So, I got everything together and drove to McDonalds to post of this delightful warm Itinerary Project Day. Was halfway into it, minding my own business, when this guy came up to me, "nice bus!"
I said, "thank-you, blahyeahblahblah, bye."
He said, "no, I really want you to see MYYY bus."
"Oh well excuse the f*** out of MEEeee, where is YOUUR bus?"
"Next to yours."
So I dutifully followed him out:



Hooboy, I was thinking, we have exact opposite ends of the Universe wormholed together right here, right here in Valdosta. But you know what? Very well done.




"What's the horsepower?" I asked.
"Oh, about 650, 700 with the nitrous. It'll do a 12 second quarter mile." He showed me the fuel tank and the nitrous bottles:




"Well, you better watch out then, MY bus will kick your ass."
"REALLY? What do you got going on in that thing?"
"Single port 48 net 81 ft/lbs, loses all volumetric efficiency at 4,000 rpm, that's what."

His scoop was a tad bigger than my factory duals:




It was quite the labor of love:




Mike Rowan was his name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvfFl4ZPdhk

We had quite the audience out there in the McDonalds parking lot, and both Chloe and this beast got equal measure of attention. Then I cranked up my fearsome kitten and tore onto the interstate . . .
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:Couldn't park my new Westy in the storage unit because it is too tall. Couldn't park the new Westy in the garage at my brother's house because it is too tall. Now what?

Lower it?

Put down the bat. I just mean temporarily. A spare set of stock rims with VERY short sidewalls should buy you enough room. If I could get my Vanagon Westfalia into my itty bitty garage, you must be really close already.


As for that split window bus with the massive engine in it? WOW. I love it.

How close is it? So let some air out of the tires.

Holy horsepower, Batman!! I think I'll stick with my setup though...

I love the fast that the front end of that thing is from a 91 ASStro van

Bleyseng wrote:How close is it? So let some air out of the tires.

Yep - when I was with Westy, I became an expert on tire deflation - darn thing didn't fit in my garage.

Mr Blotto wrote:

Bleyseng wrote:How close is it? So let some air out of the tires.

Yep - when I was with Westy, I became an expert on tire deflation - darn thing didn't fit in my garage.

As I remember, I offhandedly offered that you might want to saw up the header on your garage . . . well, I can't do that with my sister-in-law.
Colin