Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jun 18, 2017 4:14 pm

As always, a heartache to visit the people I love, but they can see the look in my eye more easily now. I can't be held down just yet. Give me a little more time with this. It will be, it is, too late to pick up where I left off fifteen years ago, but sometimes my heart wonders anew what price has been paid with all of this traveling. I can't imagine who I'd be had I not taken off for these laps of the country, so it is what it is and I am who I am and the clutch doesn't chatter anymore, so there's that.

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Western New York gave me a halcyon day of golden sunshine over the rolling fields. It also let me own my Lexus. Through the past several weeks, I have been all up in arms because the seller did not provide me a properly transferable title. Albany DMV said I had to go persuade the seller to register smog inspect the car in Utah and obtain a proper title in order to sell it to me. Well, Mr. Seller basically said he was done with the transaction and I said no you're not you curbstoner flipper scofflaw, and I was ratcheting up the notion of payin him a call. Thankfully, the little ol imperturbable DMV lady in Albion NY had time and patience and we did a nice "correction" on the bad Texas title and I get to own my own car. I know, because I had to pay the sales tax. Fine.

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Had a superb spaghetti supper with Cindy and family and some soul-restoring laughs:

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In the summer, I can imagine living here in western NY like I did for thirteen years. Then I remember the relentless cold that steals your plans the other ten months. Besides, look at this countryside:

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Now look what they are doing to it:

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Like locusts, developers are rapaciously consuming farmland even as the greater Rochester region's population continues to shrink:

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So phooey on them, I slink into the area like a ghost from the old days and go to my old barn and drive my old cars down the roads like I used to when they were in daily circulation and I try to avoid the hurried traffic that we never used to have.

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The Squareback put up a good fight again. This time, the starter refused to turn over the engine and the brakes were bound up tight on account of the new roof leak nearby. Removed the starter in the dark and the spider webs and realized there was nothing I could really do for it with the rain drumming on the roof and dripping on the floor, so I hit it a few times near the brushes and reinstalled it. Tried to jump with Chloe, and Chloe the cow said "generator light", meaning no jump start from her, bad cow no clover.
The Mercedes started so quickly that it startled me. Just instantaneously, like who was just driving this thing? The Mercedes gave the Squareback a good thirty minutes of charging while I finished up reassembling the starter and trying to start the close-to-impossible upper starter bolt/nut buried under the fuel injection. And then . . . the Squareback started. And it broke itself free of the clutches of rusted brake drums, and puttered out to the main floor where I removed all shoes and pads and cleaned them up:

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Then I illegally drove my plateless insuranceless registrationless but definitely not dragging plucky little Squareback to the gas station:

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Had to wash the engine of mouse nesting, food residue, and mouse pee. Coated it in WD-40 which I hope is repugnant to mice. I really hope:

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The Mercedes had a flat tire, a twenty one year-old Michelin MXV that actually holds air, but the aluminum wheel is corroded and possibly leaking from the bead:

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The Squareback did another trip to the gas station so I could air up the Mercedes wheel, then I took the Mercedes to the gas station to pump up the other tires:

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That Mercedes is so fine. Smells like good solid ol leather inside, moves out smartly, slows with authority, even the damn vacuum door locks are all still perfectly functional:

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I'll fill in on the appointments in PA later, but here is the sign to Zelienople that let Cindy's daughter win the alphabet game in what, 2006?

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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

Jivermo
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by Jivermo » Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:15 pm

Colin, I love to read what you write. A pure pleasure.

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cheesehead
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by cheesehead » Mon Jun 19, 2017 10:26 am

I hear you when you talk about the price you pay ...this song from the musical Wicked came to mind...I for one am glad you follow your heart...see you on your way back around :flower:

“Like a comet pulled from orbit,
As it passes a sun.
Like a stream that meets a boulder,
Halfway through the wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you,
I have been changed for good

It well may be,
That we will never meet again,
In this lifetime.
So let me say before we part,
So much of me,
Is made of what I learned from you.
You'll be with me,
Like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end,
I know you have re-written mine,
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring,
By a wind off the sea.
Like a seed dropped by a skybird,
In a distant wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you,
Because I knew you,
I have been changed for good.”

Peace,
Meg

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SlowLane
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by SlowLane » Tue Jun 20, 2017 10:03 pm

Sooooo, type 3s don't​ need an around-the-engine seal? Cuz of the boot surrounding the fan?
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jun 22, 2017 7:50 pm

cheesehead wrote:
Mon Jun 19, 2017 10:26 am
see you on your way back around :flower:

"Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you,
Because I knew you,
I have been changed for good.”
I say "for the better" every time I have a little coffee in your kitchen.
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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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jun 22, 2017 7:51 pm

SlowLane wrote:
Tue Jun 20, 2017 10:03 pm
Sooooo, type 3s don't​ need an around-the-engine seal? Cuz of the boot surrounding the fan?

Yep. That was the most powerful engine for its size in the world in 1965, just eighteen inches high.
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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Bleyseng
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by Bleyseng » Fri Jun 23, 2017 6:23 am

yes, 66hp on the Type 3's "S" model and cruise all day at 80-85mph on the hardly fulll freeways.
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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sgkent
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by sgkent » Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:36 am

remanufactured a type 3 for my brother back in the 1980's. Dual solex carbs, adequate engine cooling for size of car, heater that could cook a moose in the dead of winter plus heat two cabins. Excellent fuel economy. Impressive car. Wish Rick had kept it.
TBone208 wrote: "You ppl are such windbags. Go use your crystal ball to get rich & predict something meaningful. Nobody knows what's going to happen. How are we supposed to take ppl who don't know the definition of a recession & "woman" seriously?"

Merlin The Wrench

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Jun 23, 2017 12:54 pm

And here we are in Michigan with Michigan's *appalling* roads. Last year, Michigan's appalling roads triggered the process that led to the Final Solution to NaranjaWesty's gas tank woes, the r&r of the tank in SG Kent's air-conditioned flourescent-lit garage outside of Sacramento. This year, no such maladies, just a bellowing cow thundering over the heaved pavement, chased and spooked by monstrous trucks in a hurry to Motor City. Chloe is running absolutely splendidly, I should point out. For a compromised engine, it is peppy, offering a solid 20 mpg @ 62 mph, utterly benign head temps, and now, with the old new and improved 48 year-old geriatric clutch pressure plate, super smooth shifting.
(Air-Cooled Net says I have to pay return shipping on that defective brand new Brazilian piece of crap Sachs ruinous chatterplate because "we cannot know if the parts we sell you might be defective". I think we can . . . with due diligence)

Went to Grand Rapids to pay 70Crew a call:

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70Crew has a very nice doublecab in L90D Pastelwhite:

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The list went on forever, but we whittled it down after a tune-up. Paparazzi got identified (busted) in the rear window:

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The engine is pretty much identical to Chloe's 1600 singleport with vacuum distributor and 30 Pict3 carburetor, but it runs so much smoother and quieter, ach . . . . :

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After we got the engine running, we were able to determine that though the clutch linings talk loudly to the flywheel and pressure plate, they are fine, and therefore no need to remove the engine. The test drive also told us that the steering could be better as it was sort of crunchy clonky. So we re-rebuild the steering box, yeah we did too:

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It just needed a little backing off of the peg needle bearings and a new seal. But we did manage to get in a whole world of hurt by my OCD need to remove the bearing retainer wire circlip, whereupon all the little ball bearings fell out and we couldn't get the wire circlip to fit over the worm shaft, it was a mess that was thankfully squared away with some good improvisation. Now it steers quietly and smoothly with the box mostly centered at straight ahead.

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The skies opened up at the end of the day in anticipation of my having to find a campsite. it rained and rained. It rained so hard that I got completely drenched just dashing from the gas pump to the driver's door. It rained so hard that the driver's vent window started leaking on my priceless new old stock door panel, the windshield started leaking on the intake plenum and trickling onto the floor mat, and it rained so hard I couldn't sleep anyway on account of the incessant drumming on the roof. Cindy, Cindy, Cindy. Still disrupting my sleep.
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

70Crew
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by 70Crew » Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:50 am

Actually, it is Lotus White L282 but who's keeping track. :-)

For me, the day was both highly productive and educational, just like last year. Grace the wonder dog was bored with both Colin and Chloe and spent most of the day sleeping after an initial bark and sniff.
IMG_3823a.jpg
As Colin will attest to, I had a long list of things I wanted to fix. We didn't get through many of them because, well, we found more important things to work on. We did get my steering fixed, which was driving me nuts. What a difference. I had rebuilt the steering box last year but did it incorrectly (one too many shims on the end cover) and did not have the box centered correctly. I avoided an engine pull based on Colin's assessment of clutch noise, saving a lot of time and part expenditures. I also got a good lesson on basic tune-up procedures and double-clutching.

Things I get to troubleshoot over the next couple weeks that we identified during Colin's visit: gas in the oil, hard starting when hot, a potential rear wheel cylinder leak, and a stripped points anchor screw thread. Colin, you should probably go ahead and put me on the scvhedule for the next 5 years…. couldn’t do it without you.

Update Sunday AM…. I had a spare matching distributor so I swapped the points mounting screws and both now tighten correctly. One down and 27 to go. :-)

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jun 25, 2017 9:34 pm

70Crew wrote:
Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:50 am
Actually, it is Lotus White L282 but who's keeping track. :-)

For me, the day was both highly productive and educational, just like last year. Grace the wonder dog was bored with both Colin and Chloe and spent most of the day sleeping after an initial bark and sniff.

IMG_3823a.jpg

As Colin will attest to, I had a long list of things I wanted to fix. We didn't get through many of them because, well, we found more important things to work on. We did get my steering fixed, which was driving me nuts. What a difference. I had rebuilt the steering box last year but did it incorrectly (one too many shims on the end cover) and did not have the box centered correctly. I avoided an engine pull based on Colin's assessment of clutch noise, saving a lot of time and part expenditures. I also got a good lesson on basic tune-up procedures and double-clutching.

Things I get to troubleshoot over the next couple weeks that we identified during Colin's visit: gas in the oil, hard starting when hot, a potential rear wheel cylinder leak, and a stripped points anchor screw thread. Colin, you should probably go ahead and put me on the scvhedule for the next 5 years…. couldn’t do it without you.

Update Sunday AM…. I had a spare matching distributor so I swapped the points mounting screws and both now tighten correctly. One down and 27 to go. :-)



Me? 27 down and 27 to go. And in the 99 problems department, the laptop got doused with coffee last night and it sort of killed the keyboard. So I cancelled the re-visit with Troll and Wes Simpson, and have been tearing down and rebuilding the laptop here in Findlay Ohio after a dry-out of the opened laptop in front of the middle seat heater outlet did not help restore all numbers to the right of 8, all letters to the right of y,h, n, and no 9 or 0 or - and a stuck ========================================================================================================== ============================================================================================================== that prevented any hope of getting in with my password (actually==, the equal sign just stuck again== so I best be careful here======================================. It is 12:30AM and I just got the damn wireless adapter to finally turn on. Yay, goodnight all.
Colin
(dang this internet/computer thang is so indispensable when you lose access to it)
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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hippiewannabe
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by hippiewannabe » Mon Jun 26, 2017 5:08 am

Hey Colin, don't forget the simple work-around:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/logitech-mk ... Id=1294039
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Jun 26, 2017 7:06 am

hippiewannabe wrote:
Mon Jun 26, 2017 5:08 am
Hey Colin, don't forget the simple work-around:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/logitech-mk ... Id=1294039


That is exactly what my brother recommended as a temporary work-around. We found my oem Chinese Darfon keyboard online last night for $14.00, and I lose the backlight option in the process. However, in the Better News Through Diligence department, not only is my clutch smooth, but the keyboard seems to be working this morning . . . except for a long POST beep during boot-up. We shall see if it dries out or if coffee etches the insulation off or welds the contacts, or whatever is going on in there. These laptops are complex, squished, work environments, my trembling fat fingers and watery blurry vision were having a devil of a time with ribbon cables and itsy-bitsy screws disappearing under panels. Now then, where did I leave that engine, it was just here . . .
Colin :bom:
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

Jeffrey
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Re: lack of top end power

Post by Jeffrey » Mon Jun 26, 2017 8:07 am

When setting the valve lash last week we noticed difference in the depth of the adjustment screws. I am wondering if the rocker arms might have been assembled wrong, mixing an intake and exhaust rocker. This would of course throw off the geometry of a least one cylinder, probably two. I will check this out at first opportunity.
I am also going to check the advance curve of the distributor as soon as I can get to it.

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sgkent
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Midwestbound

Post by sgkent » Mon Jun 26, 2017 10:17 am

they should all be generally the same. If one is backed way out it is possible the valve is sinking into the head or stretching.
TBone208 wrote: "You ppl are such windbags. Go use your crystal ball to get rich & predict something meaningful. Nobody knows what's going to happen. How are we supposed to take ppl who don't know the definition of a recession & "woman" seriously?"

Merlin The Wrench

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