That just happened . . .
Let's begin with the fact that I was supposed to have an appointment with drozdenko (Lee) and spin n wheels (Ethan). Before I had even found the coffee, a familiar gold Vanagon showed up, remarkably under its own power six years and six days after this:
Read all about it here:
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Here's a shot of Dad of type2sam and his Vanagon, a half-decade since I last saw him:
Apparently, his water-cooled du JB Weld engine is trucking along nicely at 124,076 miles. Yeah, but what about the appointment with drozdenko and spin n wheels? Oh, right:
Well, drozdenko (Lee) and spin n wheels (Ethan) thought it might be nice to give time to our newest member, Mysterymachine18 (Zack), to run him through a tune-up procedure on his recently acquired 1972 bus. I thought that was a nice thing to do, too.
"You can work with him while I just take care of a few things before we drop the Super Beetle body down on the floor pan," said Ethan.
"I'll work on my rear lights," that is what drozdenko said.
Spooky laughter, that is what drozdenko's poptop said (apparently, there were two children up there for most of the day).
Here's Ethan with his late model fuel-injected engine sitting in a Super Beetle chassis:
From this angle, it looks like any other beetle since 1939, except maybe the more robust heater ducts:
Here's a picture of the Super Beetle sitting on its rolling platform, yes, but here too is a mysterious paparazzi lurking near drozdenko's bus taking pictures of the proceedings:
Then look who shows up. Iwantmybustorun and his beautiful bus.
He has a story or two, too. We touched on some of the highlights of, you know, fuel hoses getting pulled off of gas tanks and listening to gasoline sizzle in incandescent trouble lights and stuff.
(now you know the back story to that cryptic sentence in May of 2011:
)Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Connecticut
Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:33 pm
iwantmybustorun wrote:
As many have said lately, about their day with you and the lack of picture taking, I too get so caught up in our activities that I never take the time to snap a shot for the record.
Caught up in little activities like ... I dunno, unplugging the trouble lamp?
Colin
So anyway, the appointment with drozdenko and spin n wheels . . . here is Mysterymachine18 (Zack) working on his valves. He did a fine job, nailing the tactile sensation of an easy exhaust .006" and a slightly more snug intake .006".
Here he is filing the breaker points while I chattered and socialized with our Itinerant Air-Cooled Reunion crowd:
Our other new member/old hand, CrRusty, aka Randy, helps here with lubricating the distributor bushings:
Randy has been an instrumental contributor to the enjoyment of these appointments at Ethan's house. He was there last year, when we thought Ethan's Vanagon had a lousy alternator bearing but it turned out to be a loose flex plate on his automatic transmission Vanagon.
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Man, I sure was glad we didn't have to deal with stuff like that THIS year . . . just a nice easy tune-up with Zack. Better get to it, it is almost 1:00PM you know . . .
But what about drozdenko's appointment? Here he is thinking, I think, the very same thing:
In the below photograph, things have CHANGED. We started the 1972 bus after a successful valve adjustment/breaker point clean and gap, and we were about to check the timing when such a terrible rattle emanated from the engine that we had to shut it down immediately. OK, found some loose flex plate-to-torque converter bolts, tightened them carefully, started the engine, oh noooo, terrible rattle still. That is when we discovered that the torque converter could turn about a half an inch while the engine was completely still. Here we go again . . at Ethan's house again . . . loose flex plate/ torque converter again . . . couldn't happen to a nicer more deserving bunch, I say.
We just looked at each other. There was no letting this slide, no real reason as to why we can't just . . . .
"Hey Zack, have you been enjoying your tune-up lesson?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Think you'd enjoy taking out the engine?"
"Uh, I think so."
Randy here, perhaps is remembering a little bit of last year . . . :
I distinctly remember Lee suggesting that I "stuff a sock in it." I would too, if it were my appointment:
This crowd, though, this crowd has a can-do attitude. Here is Lee welding the flex plate back together for Zack:
Here is Zack showing you all a beautifully welded flex plate for his bus:
This detour was so much more than any of us had bargained for. We still had to put a Super Beetle on its chassis!
But everybody got to work, and there is a certain bonding that occurs when you just sally forth into the middle of the thicket:
This is the you-should-learn-to-tune-your-bus-neophyte who has learned to tune his bus, remove the engine, weld the loose flex plate,re-install the engine, check the dwell/timing on NarnajaWesty, and check the dwell/timing on his own now-quiet bus at the end of the day:
. . . and we even got the Super Beetle on the floor pan, too.
I enjoyed all of your company. Unexpected detour, yes, but a good time nonetheless.
Colin
(so, as for that that drozdenko appointment? I did manage to take out a side marker lamp)