Itinerant Air-Cooled Farewell Oregon

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Farewell Oregon

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:40 am

I had an even better time this year than last in Oregon. Good good good people and plenty of beer and my annual perfect cup of coffee (thanks Brent!) at the DeschutesRiverRendezVW:

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Starting with beetle brakes in Maupin with Mark capped with drunken revelry at the Quimby Lab, the next call was the mysterious Oregon72 anomaly, a smooth-running engine with low compression that spontaneously improved 30 psi (update me at your next test). I moved on to Westy78 where we did front wheel bearings the better which to steer that Raby engine through our highway acceleration runs (and a drama-free quick 50-60 in 3rd gear in what was it, 5 seconds?). Next anomaly was a hydraulic lifter on justgimmecoffee's Westy that succumbed to our sidewalk surgery with a test lamp probe, that bus drove nicely, and then off to jmiller's fresh '79 Beetle Cabriolet and Champagne Westy. Dhoch14's engine gave us the next compression anomaly but the very finest kickdown shift I have experienced, and petrohemorrhaging aside, that engine sounded gooooood. Then I took a day off . . .
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. . . to drive to Bellingham WA for a day with Microbusdeluxe before heading back to Portland for more VW resuscitation with Khargis in the blessed summery sunshine:

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Misszora was another "let's put the engine back in the bus" day which ended with an eye-opening trip to the pizza joint in Gorgerunner's intercooled turbo Subaru-powered Vanagon. What a concert of sound, and a very very nicely done installation. The induction moan/turbo spool-up was an audiophile's gourmet garnish on who knows what gear/sprocket noise, but it all sure sounded good as that Vanagon displayed evidence of serious acceleration potential.

Fancypants was my last Portland appointment, and we gave it a day of cleaning and replacing pushrod tubes to help locate and eradicate oil leaks. So far, the new pushrod tubes are out of the leak equation, but we still have some mysterious oil, and I hope the Portland contingent is called upon to help a brother out in tracking this thing down. Heavy oil leakage at the fan housing after running only (so gallery plug like), and the fan seal does not appear to be the culprit. There is an o-ring inside the lip of the fan hub . . .

I enjoyed visiting all of youse and look forward to another where maybe I can space things out for a more sociable time. Ya know?
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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Maz804
Getting Hooked!
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Post by Maz804 » Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:35 pm

It was nice to finally meet you in person Colin! I'm so glad to finally make the Monday Lab gatherings a 'somewhat' regular occurrence in my routine. The tweaking you did on my brother Eric's blue riviera made loads of difference, and he, as we all, are VERY thankful to be associated with you and all these wonderful folks we call friends.
Make some more time... Next time. :drunken:
We'll see you next year at Maupin!
Safe travels and MILES OF SMILES!
Cheers!
:cheers:
Michael
"I love the curves man... Early Bays got the curves..."

1970 Riviera: Ramona
1969 Safare Camper: Lucy - reduced to parts
1971 Deluxe Transporter: Miles - sold
1963 Bug - sold
1973 Squareback - sold
1979 Westfalia - sold
1967 Bug - sold
1971 Westfalia - sold

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Xelmon
Sedna of VW lovers
Location: LA or Portland, OR
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Post by Xelmon » Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:47 pm

Good to have you on this side of the country, as always. =)

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hambone
Post-Industrial Non-Secular Mennonite
Location: Portland, Ore.
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Post by hambone » Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:54 pm

You got ants in yer pants so I'm grateful for a few hours each summer. See ya next time!
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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