Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by Amskeptic » Fri May 31, 2019 7:32 am

Yuck.
Rain rain rain all over again, like last year. Stay tuned for me blowing a mental fuse again, and scampering across the country in three days again in search of a blue sky sunny day again, I'll do it again, you know I will.

My poor Westy bravely cut through the trillions of gallons of water thrown at it from this latest "system", and I think to myself, "sure am glad that fuel filter saga is past me." But, I lost a valuable online resource (Intellicast, with its real-time radar maps for anywhere in the country just by punching in a zipcode) to help me avoid things like "tornado warnings in New Jersey". Thus, I pulled off Interstate 80 right in the middle of a tornado warning swath, and fired up the laptop huddled in an open parking lot to see a red box around my location. Over the hill behind me, the tornado dumped a tree on a family of four huddled in their car at the local high school.

After a serious blatting blast of heavy raindrops, fierce gusts, and hopeless staring at lousy weather maps, everything settled down, and I took to the road again to enjoy GLARING HEADLAMPS and BLINDING TIRE SPRAY and HORRIFIC POTHOLES and best of all INCOMPREHENSIBLE ROAD SIGNS, I must be in New Jersey or something. Got thoroughly lost, but my pigeon brain stem came through and intuitively led me to yet another late-night New Jersey suburban street that wetly and reflectively splashed me through sodden neighborhoods to Grove Street somehow, accidentally and gratefully orienting me to my next appointment's location. Bailed into a parking lot and set up urban camp, this was a full curtain encampment with towels draped across the poptop frame to blot out some more of the detestable streetlamp glare. NaranjaWesty is a lovely interior environment that permits me to fall asleep exhausted in record time. Morning light wakes me reliably at 6:30 AM and I don't know the weather of the day yet because I can't see out. First curtain pull shows me ........ another cloudy day. PhooeyWhatever. Everything is stowed, windows windexed, curtains are carefully pleated and pulled back, carpet swept within ten minutes.

Arrived at appetite's house to appetite's 1969 Westy on time, ready to go.

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Appetite was ready to go, too:

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Through a honed intuition, appetite decided we should have a look at the valve adjustments, and they needed an adjustment, all right. Some hieroglyphics to assist in future adjustments ... :

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He had procured a correct tailpipe (537 B, thankyouverymuch) that I gladly tackled while he adjusted the valves:

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Through a honed intuition, appetite decided we should have a look at the rear brakes and had all parts necessary to resolve what turned out to be a badly leaky right rear wheel cylinder and soaked brake shoes:

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Last year's field supervisor came home from I don't know, supervisor school? and waded right in with his usual crafty questions designed to keep us focused. "What are those?" "Why?"

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We discovered that the new window regulator chewed itself to death and detached from the window lifter. I recommended that he score a used one if at all possible:

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Got the turn indicator dashboard indicator lights working again by virtue of switching the taillight brake and parking light wire spades at the bulb holder. I think they were backwards since we assembled the car back in ... ouch, 2013:

https://itinerant-air-cooled.com/viewto ... 37#p202797

Did it begin to rain hard as we put away the last of the tools? Yes. Yes it did. The Universe was taunting me to blow a mental fuse and hie off to drier vistas. Got lost on the way out of Montclair to Englewood NJ and got to spend a couple of hours in New Jersey's finest traffic jams with my fellow doused motorists. Camped in an especially seedy broken down closed restaurant parking lot nestled in the comfy curve of an exit ramp where people must throw their trash out their windows and down the embankment. Listened to the incessant traffic and rain and just gave myself over to the gritty city.

Next morning's appointment was with skip and his Thing and his orange Westy. I did not take one picture, no, I waltzed into the kitchen and sat down with a cup of coffee and said, "I have had quite a year with God, skip." We of course plowed into our annual discussion of the Miracle of Creation, then went out to the Thing. Why won't it start? It cranks. It has spark. It has fuel. In our test for fuel pressure, we discovered that the fuel itself was contaminated with who knows what, water? cloudiness, and we set out to drain the carburetor and provide fresh fuel. We checked the spark plugs which were pretty much brand new. Put it all together and cranked, and it was just so dead. Checked for clean breaker points, grumbled a bit about the spark not being sufficient, little spritz of fuel into the carburetor throat, and it should really really start. Then a little intuition from the VW gods ... this poor car has been sitting under the deck all year, do the Wake Up Method, battery willing. That is when you commit to a serious spell of cranking with the accelerator to the floor. And lo! a little chuff occurred, and more cranking, another chuff, and by and by, a few more cylinders began to weakly rouse themselves, and finally, the Thing was roused and we just kept it running to heat up all of those spark plugs and combustion chamber surfaces, then set to finding out why it would not idle. It was a simple reason. The mixture screw was a few turns too lean, and the idle air screw was a few turns too open, so the idle circuit was acting like a vacuum leak.

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Once running well and starting right up, we turned to the "rebuilt" wipers on the Westy that have had only one speed. After various diagrams of wires and a used wiper motor with a lot of wires, we determined that the rebuilder had used a single-speed armature (as found on all new post-Germany wiper motors) and didn't tell skip that the rebuild was a downgrade. We left it at that, repositioned the crank so the park feature would actually park the wipers at the bottom of the stroke, reinstalled the defroster vents and glovebox, and I took off for New Jersey's finest traffic once more. And yes, it began to rain, recalling the last time I left skip's house.
Colin

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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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skip
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by skip » Fri May 31, 2019 9:21 am

Thanks for the visit...it poured,back yard flooded like crazy after you left and as we discovered * "in all things God works for the good of those who love him" That picture was from last year, the ground was dry, but I look the same, you on the other hand...I have a cell phone photo of you with your head in the engine bay, should I post it on TheSamba and put the link here? I'm so happy I can start the Thing at will. It's suppose to be dry for a couple of days so I'll begin welding the pans. I trust the directions out of town were sufficient. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...North Jersey traffic is the worst, we can prove it.

Safe travels, Cayman says "see ya next year"
Skip




* ROMANS 8:28
Complexity is the enemy of reliability.

76 Westfalia
74 Type 181

RinTinTin in Waldorf Astoria 1956

appetite
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by appetite » Fri May 31, 2019 11:10 am

Another fine and productive IAC day. Thanks Colin for your patience and expertise.

I have a line on a used driver's side window regulator for the low, low price of (gulp!) $120 plus shipping. A new crappy aftermarket version (like the one that just broke) is half the cost. And if I needed the passenger side, it would be a mere $20. Law of supply and demand my ass. I'm doing this procedure for the last time (because the last time almost killed me), so $120 it is.

Cheers, all.

James

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by xyzzy » Fri May 31, 2019 11:18 am

For everyone else with a 2019 Lap Appointment -- When you see this:

http://canyouactually.com/this-incredib ... ks-insane/

Then you know Colin is close!
---
1973 Westfalia
Encinitas, California USA

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by Amskeptic » Fri May 31, 2019 11:20 am

skip wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 9:21 am
Thanks for the visit...it poured,back yard flooded like crazy after you left
"in all things God works for the good of those who love Him"
We dodged the rain, and I am grateful for that. And God works for the good of all of us, or He can be fairly accused of favoritism. See, I used to think God was just out to toy with me when things would disappear right out from under my nose, or it would rain hard for three days straight just when I scored a few days off to attend to my chariot. Then I had to realize that the same thirteen trillion gallons of rain was landing on everybody else in the area.

skip wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 9:21 am
That picture was from last year, the ground was dry, but I look the same, you on the other hand...
I aged a whole year just crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge last September 3rd. Then I aged another year when the hurricane barreled up the Baja Peninsula and caused flood warnings in New Mexico. Then I aged another year when I couldn't get JR and Kit's compression readings down. Then I aged a year when the Thing first refused to start and I thought I felt a drop of rain.

Remember when I said, "keep moisture out of your Westy !!!!!"? I collected rainwater at the tailgate of NaranjaWesty last night, so rear window comes out at earliest opportunity.
Colin


skip wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 9:21 am
I'm so happy I can start the Thing at will. It's suppose to be dry for a couple of days so I'll begin welding the pans.
skip wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 9:21 am
I trust the directions out of town were sufficient.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...North Jersey traffic is the worst, we can prove it.
Safe travels, Cayman says "see ya next year"
Skip * ROMANS 8:28
I attribute my steely mental strength to NJ-4 eastbound.
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by JRR » Fri May 31, 2019 12:21 pm

skip wrote: ↑Fri May 31, 2019 12:21 pm
I'm so happy I can start the Thing at will. It's suppose to be dry for a couple of days so I'll begin welding the pans.
skip wrote: ↑Fri May 31, 2019 12:21 pm
I trust the directions out of town were sufficient.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...North Jersey traffic is the worst, we can prove it.
Safe travels, Cayman says "see ya next year"
Skip * ROMANS 8:28
I attribute my steely mental strength to NJ-4 eastbound.
Colin
I chuckle at the well meaning auto website commenters and their haughty, "Well, who really needs 300+ hp SUV anyway?"

Please come merge with me into a 10' opening on the NJ Turnpike at 90mph over 1946 Berlin quality onramps. The next stop may be at the store for a X5M or 392c.i. Durango.

Jeff (Exit 136 or 12, Take your pick.)

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by skip » Fri May 31, 2019 6:45 pm

Hey Jeff, I actually have 5.9L Durango and wanna put straight pipes and a HellCat 6.2L supercharger on it,
well maybe just the pipes. Sold my big block 68 Buicks (GS400 & 430 Wildcat both convertibles). New Jersey traffic is not for weaklings.

Exit 161 GSP or 71 I-80/95
Skip
Complexity is the enemy of reliability.

76 Westfalia
74 Type 181

RinTinTin in Waldorf Astoria 1956

appetite
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by appetite » Sat Jun 01, 2019 6:28 am

Thread drift...

Any of you Jersey boys going to the VW show at the Sayerville VFW on 6/23?

James (Exit 148 GSP)

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by Curtp07 » Sat Jun 01, 2019 7:00 am

Boy I’m gonna miss you this year. No garage, rain. Not good. Maybe next year...by then the bus may be in the throes of a Subaru conversion! Imagine you helping with THAT? BTW...is New Jersey REALLY the “Northeast”? Does a Nor’Easter ever hit NJ? (Me thinks only New England can be the real Northeast)..but I am biased. Safe travels I’m watching!

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by JRR » Sat Jun 01, 2019 9:11 am

Skip, I've got some questions about the big boy Durango. Will PM you, not to bore everybody else.
James, should be there with a kinda beat looking 76 Topaz Metallic (browngold) bug.

Jeff

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jun 01, 2019 6:03 pm

Curtp07 wrote:
Sat Jun 01, 2019 7:00 am
Boy I’m gonna miss you this year.
Maybe next year...by then the bus may be in the throes of a Subaru conversion!
Imagine you helping with THAT?
Of course.
Colin
(then we'll fly that 747 with some nice CFM LEAP-1B engines oh heck yeah, it'll be great)
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 From Northeast I

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jun 01, 2019 6:13 pm

JRR wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 12:21 pm
I attribute my steely mental strength to NJ-4 eastbound.
Colin
I chuckle at the well meaning auto website commenters and their haughty, "Well, who really needs 300+ hp SUV anyway?"
Please come merge with me into a 10' opening on the NJ Turnpike at 90mph over 1946 Berlin quality onramps.
Oh, I laugh at the merely haughty.
I am full-strength Utterly Arrogant Who Needs More Than 67 HP?

After experiencing the plod of a 48 net hp VW 1600 bus just reaching 4th gear at 40 mph merging onto the GSP or the Saw Mill River Parkway, friday nights on NJ-17, and crawling up I-70 to the famous Eisenhower Tunnel Approach west of Denver, well, this current 67 net hp VW 2000 is lively, by golly, it just canters in comparison, it is nifty, by gum.
What you need is steely mental strength and the height of deferential politeness.
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Northeast I

Post by JRR » Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:37 pm

My nerves aren't what they used to be.....And I recommend not driving a vehicle with adaptive cruise control if a person is easily tempted by convenience. ACC is an Epicurean exercise on a caterpillaring parkway for us air-cooled stoics. I, for one, welcome our self driving overlords.

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