Itinerant Air-Cooled

Hiya there brother Colin! Long time no hear from you or you from us down here back in Miami. Seeing that the Itinerant tour is at the half-way point, I hought it'd be a good idea to post a couple of pics of the bus that started it this year; our lovely "Dory". Hope you like how it's coming out thus far.

Dory

Dory

Looking good! It is a fine sight to see a well-loved bus. How is it running? Miss you all down there in Miami, will have to visit when the rest of the country gets all cold in the fall.
Colin

Excellent work, Ray, Dory is looking grand...que Bonita! Yeah, Colin, we'll be ready for ya down here. Right now, you're in the right place, we got heat and now some Zika bullshit going on down here in the tropics. Always something here.

So happy to hear from both of my very great friends!!! Colin, the engine is running smoothly. I had for a while an "issue" with the engine wanting to stall during braking at stop lights and traffic lights. It presented all of the Sudan, and pressing on the brake pedal would make want to shut off, while pressing on the brake and then accelerator pedal would make the brake pedal push up. Thought it might be something to do with the one-way brake valve, engine vacuum and whatnot. About a week ago I decided one night to nose around the engine bay, and while looking through the clear distributor cap (Empy ) noticed that one of the spark plug wires was not plugged in all the way (something to do with either the engine vibrations OR more likely the cheap-ass clear blue Empy cap you told me to get rid off long ago! Anyways, I pushed the wire plug all the way in and the engine stabilized itself and the whole ordeal evaporated, much to my surprise and delight. One other great news...last weekend I did the second oil change and, as you can imagine, was very nervous about finding metal debris like during the first change, and thinking back to Jiverno's first engine troubles. I am thankful to report that neither the oil, filter or wither one of the oil pan cover or the oil strainer had the slightest sign of metal debris or shavings. The only other matter I should report back to you master Colin, is that I have been a very, very bad student / apprentice and have not followed through as promised to having taken the time to re-torque the heater boxes bolts and nuts, nor the exhaust muffler nuts, nor re-calibrate the rocker arms-valves clearance, installed the heat tubes,...my oh my! Which brings me to a very important point. Since I don't foresee any time in the near future needing or using the cabin heating system, I wanted to tell you that I would love to get my hands on a set of heat dump tubes to divert the heat presently coming off of the heater boxes away from the fuel tank and bottom of the bus. So, please keep me in mind if you come across a pair! We miss you down here, that's for sure. But im sure we'll be seeing each other before the end of the year! The wife, kids and myself will have eggplant lasagna waiting for you. "Please hold"

VW Treasure wrote:So happy to hear from both of my very great friends!!!
A) engine running smoothly.
neither oil, filter or strainer had debris.

B) I have not re-torque heater box bolts muffler nuts, nor checked valve clearance,

C) I would love to get my hands on a set of heat dump tubes

D) The wife, kids and myself will have eggplant lasagna waiting for you.
"Please hold"

a) good

b) critical > valve clearances!

c) make your own. Carefully pry off the "bells" on your current heat valves, and you will see the tube underneath that you can use for sticking on a flexible aluminum duct that you can run down to the engine carrier wings and hold in place with plastic zip ties, like I did on the Road Warrior:












d) Eggplant lasagna? On my way . . .
Colin

Wow! As if I not was already blown away by your knowledge of these lovable vehicles; now I officially am!
Thanks a million for your clean,simple, "do-it-yourself" solution with pictures included! I'll make sure to get that done this weekend. The valves clearance job I'm thinking I can also get it done after having done it the first time with your help (that is, if I can figure out how to put each of the pistons at top-dead center with both valves closed, right? )
Question: Once I attach the flexible tubing to the heater boxes, would it be advisable from an "engine cooling" standpoint, to run the heater blower during the summer months so as tohelp keep the engine temperature under control? I did install a Dakota Digital gauge and this consistently reads between 215-250* .
By the way, love all your pictures of the latest Itinerary and it warms my heart to see that so many good folks throughout this great land love you and appreciate you as much as we do done here! Keep up the great work my good friend!

Thanks for the compliment my good friend Ian! We need to get our busses and our families (Sofie, Paloma) together soon!
Let me know next time you're out and about close to Key Biscayne and I'll let you know when I take Dory to Ralph's house to see if I can stop by yours along the way. And if you hear of any upcoming VW meet, do also tell so that we can get together as well!

VW Treasure wrote: Question: Once I attach the flexible tubing to the heater boxes, would it be advisable from an "engine cooling" standpoint, to run the heater blower during the summer months so as tohelp keep the engine temperature under control?

I don't think that's necessary. The booster fan only really helps at idle and low RPMs. There are a few one-way flaps stationed around the ducting system that prevent the main engine cooling air from entering the booster fan and escaping, so when the engine is humming along quickly on the highway, the booster fan is practically just spins for nothing. (That is, if you've removed all the foam… )

The cool thing about air-cooled Volkswagens, is that their heater is "always on" helping keep the cylinder heads cooler. The levers in the cabin merely dictate if we want the air inside or dumped outside. And since the booster fan doesn't do much when the engine is spinning fast and working hard, the heat dump system (tubes or caps) takes care of cooling airflow needs just fine.

So don't wear your fan out prematurely.

Robbie

PS- it might be helpful for you to start your own bus thread so you can keep all your answers in one place, and we won't be clogging up the Itinerary forum with Technical questions. Once you've started a thread here, Colin can move all your relative posts over so "your" thread will be a topic just about your family bus. He should have time to do that some time before Winter of 2019.

Thanks Robbie, for taking the time to explain the ins and outs of how a VW bus air cooled engine works, what it needs, and what it doesn't. These engines really are a work of art, and unlike anything else I had been exposed to in my teens and early twenties (those been Chevys and Fords V8 engines). These are completely different animals indeed! Thank you also for suggesting starting a personal thread with all of my previous, present and future posts. As you might have figured by now, not only am I a novice VW mechanic, but also quite illiterate in all-things Internet and posting. Not to worry though, I will take your advice and recruit the help of someone in the family that can help me get my act together. I really got a kick of the "engine foam" line. =D> I know it's hard to imagine what the builder was thinking at the time he reached for that can of expanding foam (and I personally took a liking to him as a man of good moral principles, as a human being and as a craftsman). I believe the end justifies the means and, after some "tweaking" of the final product compliments of Colin's vast knowledge, the engine is truly performing much better than I had expected and envisioned (Thank God)!

Am I too late to have you come to Lucerne, Ca.?
North East of Clearlake.

Norma Jeanne wrote:Am I too late to have you come to Lucerne, Ca.?
North East of Clearlake.

Tragically, yes. I am currently in Livermore/Sacramento then San Louis Obispo and south.

The good news is I am available to help you learn about your VW in 2017.
Colin

Colin,
Any chance on that Vegas pit stop happening at the end of the month?

Scott

(edit: just read up on the next post that all itinerant scheduling is on hold until gas tank is figured out, hope it gets sorted quickly and easily. If not this year, definitely want to get into the mix for next year's scheduling.)