Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by Amskeptic » Sat May 29, 2010 7:32 am

Man, what a sensitive bunch of pansies here in Michigan. That's right. Every single customer in Michigan was all worried about the appearance of their butts. And since they are all easily over 40 years old, IF NOT 50 EVEN, how was I going to point out that . . . well, butts do finally succumb to gravity and they spread like aluvial plain deltas, and they creep like glaciers. But no. These Michiganers demanded a little lift.

So, for the legions of readers right here, please note:

Do not ever assume that your butt is sagging until you load up the front with two hefty heifers. Once so loaded, place a bubble protractor or spirit scale on the sliding door sill. If it is level, your butt is fine, really, you look just as pert as can be.
:flower:

If you remember from 2008:

Image


. . . then you are prepared for this this year:

Image

See, Don daringly defies entropy with a cavalier sweep of his arm and a risque "it's here somewhere". It must be said, however, that I actually saw his garage floor this year (it is a mosaic of tile, who woulda knew?).

After a truncated test drive "Don, I do not want to drive with that sound", we launched into an investigation of the rear wheel bearing and suspension adjustment, bravely pulling wrenches and sockets and air hoses and solvents and sandpaper and actual talcum powder in a can (that was a good garage-find that Don would just cooly claim was part of his special chaos retrieval system). It was warm and humid. I placed a pan under the brake line I had to remove. The pan was to "catch" the fluid so it would not spread all over the driveway. The pan was kicked over by yours truly so the fluid could have a chance to spread all over the driveway. Brake fluid on my drop towel, sticky humidity, tools willy-nilly, undercarriage crap galore shaken loose by the air tools, what more can we add? I'll tell you. Add a balky dowel pin in the backing plate anchor that Don once again had to drill out (expertly like his exhaust stud of a couple years ago) and put brake fluid soaked drill shavings all up your shirt that already has been assaulted by grease and rust plus sweat and now, the garnishment, the piece d' resistance, Mosquito Bites!

Image

Don sent me on my way after a seriously appreciated 11:00PM dinner, and I drove to the other call to find another butt-sag concerned Michigan bus pilot. "Is my butt too low?" "Of course not sweetie, that's the way God made you." "No, my bus! Is my bus too low in the back?"

VW specifically made the bus and every other rear-engined air-cooled car of theirs sit higher in the front. If you want to see if the car is correctly sprung, put two people in the front seats and you should have a level sill. The issue with not seeing out of the rear view mirror in a bus can be attributed to the safety regulations that no longer allowed the rear view mirror to hang as low as it used to in the '69 and earlier buses.

What a lucky break for me, my second rear suspension adjustment in as many days had air tools AGAIN! and we needed them too, those rear suspension bolts and nuts were rusted and annoyed at being disturbed.
For fun, TrollFromDownBelow and I decided to repack the left side CV joints and replace the differential side cover oil seal. That removed seal looked like a psychotic chainsaw massacre. Sorry.

Image

A brief ode to a surprising car, this wagon was clearly loved at some point, and it has an attitude, the last of the biiiig American V8 (LT1 Corvette engine too!) rear-wheel drive Chevy Caprice-derived Vista Cruiser station wagons with rear air brakes just n case (oh all right they are just vent wings, but still), this car belongs to a friend of Troll's.

Image

On my way to Indiana to restore PoptopTom's bus to Mobile Status. Wish us well. He NEEDS to drive a VW around! NOW!
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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vwlover77
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Post by vwlover77 » Sat May 29, 2010 10:25 am

I guess my saggy Bus butt questions were a good forecast of things to come as you headed further west. And, you even met with another Don! At least my Bus really IS saggy, if only on the driver's side!

Safe travels! (I gotta head northwest and meet this Michigan crew sometime. Better yet, come to a LEAKOIL event, guys!)
Don

---------------------------
78 Westy
71 Super Beetle Convertible Autostick

"When we let our compassion go, we let go of whatever claim we have to the divine." - Bruce Springsteen

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by Sylvester » Sat May 29, 2010 10:53 am

Amskeptic wrote:If you remember from 2008:
Image
Looks like a Peter Aschwanden picture to me.

Image
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue, I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace. Where never lark, or even eagle flew. And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod, The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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Hippie
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Post by Hippie » Sat May 29, 2010 4:10 pm

^^^ I love that picture. :drunken:

Well, my butt is not really dragging, but I know I need new bushings. Got the bushings. I need to pick up talcum powder?

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by midatlanticys » Sat May 29, 2010 10:13 pm

Amskeptic wrote:. . . . On my way to Indiana to restore PoptopTom's bus to Mobile Status. Wish us well. He NEEDS to drive a VW around! NOW!
Colin
Excellent!! =D> =D> Good luck and well wishes!! :cheers: :cheers:
"The sad thing about governments is that in every single case, government formed by the people eventually becomes so large it begins to prey upon the people who created it.” -- B. Hoover

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by Hippie » Sun May 30, 2010 5:31 am

Amskeptic wrote:

Image

On my way to Indiana to restore PoptopTom's bus to Mobile Status. Wish us well. He NEEDS to drive a VW around! NOW!
Colin
Ya. That classic, American, rear-wheel-drive, oversized grocery getter is kind of cool. I'd roll it.

TrollFromDownBelow
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Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Wed Jun 02, 2010 3:54 pm

That classic American Iron has found a new home - Tony sold it this past weekend.

As for Colin's visit, We did raise the rear 1 degree, as it was a wee bit out of spec. Was glad to get that seal replaced ... now I feel I can drive it just about anywhere ... but alas ... it is temporary storage for all the tools in my garage until I get my fiance's garage situated where I can unload.

Colin also found that my brake adjusters were frozen (I had just unfrozen and lubed with lithium grease less than 2 yrs ago). I got a lecture from Colin about how Lithium grease doesn't do well to repell water :flower: . He unfroze, and adjusted my brakes.

Fortunately, he also remembered we (make that I) forgot to put in the little circular cover that goes inside the seal that covers the circlip for the transaxle seal...that would have been a bad hair day.

All in all, a productive 10 hours :cheers:
1976 VW Bus aka tripod
FI ...not leaky, and not so noisy...and she runs awesome!
hambone wrote: There are those out there with no other aim but to bunch panties. It's like arguing with a pretzel.
::troll2::

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hippiewannabe
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by hippiewannabe » Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:21 pm

Finally back in town and able to take a test drive. Having to replace the lunched axle cost the chance to do other more fun projects, but the main goals of replacing the broken rear hub housing and fixing the noise were accomplished.

Amskeptic wrote:Man, what a sensitive bunch of pansies here in Michigan. That's right. Every single customer in Michigan was all worried about the appearance of their butts. And since they are all easily over 40 years old, IF NOT 50 EVEN, how was I going to point out that . . . well, butts do finally succumb to gravity and they spread like aluvial plain deltas, and they creep like glaciers. But no. These Michiganers demanded a little lift.

So, for the legions of readers right here, please note:

Do not ever assume that your butt is sagging until you load up the front with two hefty heifers. Once so loaded, place a bubble protractor or spirit scale on the sliding door sill. If it is level, your butt is fine, really, you look just as pert as can be.
:flower:
I assure you aesthetics had nothing to do with my desire for a height adjustment; there are dents in the muffler from hitting rocks off-road, and I need the clearance. I was winning Colin over to get me above stock when he showed me where the Bentley says Camp-mobiles belong at 20 degrees, so the 23 degree setting that is stock for a passenger van is actually a big stretch.

There is 9-3/4" under the transaxle, so I have room to go up. Now that I know the procedure, I may scootch it up a bit more, since I should get in there and replace those old bushings anyway.

I'm kicking myself for not taking good "before" pictures. Here are a few old ones:

Image

Image

Here are the "afters":

Image


Image

Image

I think I was out-maneuvered, but it sits pretty well, and is definitely a bit higher than it was.

Amskeptic wrote: See, Don daringly defies entropy with a cavalier sweep of his arm and a risque "it's here somewhere". It must be said, however, that I actually saw his garage floor this year (it is a mosaic of tile, who woulda knew?).
My house was a model for the subdivision way back when, and the garage was the sales office. Previous owners, sheesh.
Amskeptic wrote: After a truncated test drive "Don, I do not want to drive with that sound"..
Happy to report all bad noises are gone (really Colin, it was "wup-wup-wup", not "grind-crunch-squeal"; that never happened before your test drive).

Amskeptic wrote:..we launched into an investigation of the rear wheel bearing and suspension adjustment, bravely pulling wrenches and sockets and air hoses and solvents and sandpaper and actual talcum powder in a can (that was a good garage-find that Don would just cooly claim was part of his special chaos retrieval system).
The talc was just a lucky find, but I think I should get some props for coming up with an M8 x 1.25 bolt “with 4 or 5 more threads than this one”
Amskeptic wrote:. It was warm and humid. I placed a pan under the brake line I had to remove. The pan was to "catch" the fluid so it would not spread all over the driveway. The pan was kicked over by yours truly so the fluid could have a chance to spread all over the driveway. Brake fluid on my drop towel, sticky humidity, tools willy-nilly, undercarriage crap galore shaken loose by the air tools, what more can we add?
I carefully drained the brake fluid in to a little container when I bled the brakes, and then kicked it over as I was finishing the job. I think it would be more efficient to just let it dump directly on the driveway, thereby eliminating the unnecessary step of collecting it first.

Amskeptic wrote:. What a lucky break for me, my second rear suspension adjustment in as many days had air tools AGAIN!
Air tools are great, I find I can bugger things up in half the time.


Thanks Colin, another job well done.

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dtrumbo
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Post by dtrumbo » Thu Jun 03, 2010 5:31 am

Did Colin steal your hubcaps? That scoundrel! :joker:
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

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Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:06 pm

Was reading IAC write ups from years past ...and came across this...
Amskeptic wrote:You are correct! And what does our contestant win, Bob?

We have . . . a gorgeously mangled real metal chrome headlamp trim ring from the Road Warrior Itself!! now you, too, can have a piece of the Road Warrior action! ....
Which reminded me, I have a framed vw hubcap from my original bus when I was in college. My dad had the frame made as a christmas present one year...has extra special meaning since he passed last year. It now resides proudly in my new garage.

Which reminds me... Mr. Colin... are you still thinking of meandering through the midwest this fall? i might be able to swing a half day...
1976 VW Bus aka tripod
FI ...not leaky, and not so noisy...and she runs awesome!
hambone wrote: There are those out there with no other aim but to bunch panties. It's like arguing with a pretzel.
::troll2::

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Fri Sep 17, 2010 10:03 am

TrollFromDownBelow wrote:Was reading IAC write ups from years past ...and came across this...
Amskeptic wrote:You are correct! And what does our contestant win, Bob?

We have . . . a gorgeously mangled real metal chrome headlamp trim ring from the Road Warrior Itself!! now you, too, can have a piece of the Road Warrior action! ....
Which reminded me, I have a framed vw hubcap from my original bus when I was in college. My dad had the frame made as a christmas present one year...has extra special meaning since he passed last year. It now resides proudly in my new garage.

Which reminds me... Mr. Colin... are you still thinking of meandering through the midwest this fall? i might be able to swing a half day...
We have some yes-no-yes-no-yes-definitely-no-sorry calls floating about, but if you can tell me what you'd like to deal with, and promise me decent daytime temperatures, we can assess . . .
Colin
(I have the Road Warrior's front emblem in the tool box)
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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poptop tom
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Post by poptop tom » Fri Sep 17, 2010 11:54 am

I may do a half day. Early, mid or late Oct.? Early to mid Oct. would be my preference, if I get a preference!
Mr. Blotto wrote, "Boy - thanks for the offer, but a month in poptop tom's world means 5 years"

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:34 pm

If I can effieciently line people up with promises (I had five cancellations in a row!), I will see if these half-day visits can make financial sense. I do not have a problem with half days, I just need them to be done deals.
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

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