Overview of "Colin meets DoubleNickle"
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:35 am
I don't have any photographic evidence that this meeting actually took place, but with my head still spinning three days later, I can assure you it really did...
Last Sunday (the 9th) Colin drove up at exactly 8:00am - our pre-arranged time - having ventured out to wine country to assist in the ongoing resurrection of our '75 Rivi -
After dispensing with the usual formalities we retired to the kitchen for fresh brewed coffee and a session with pad and pencil for background info and a "teaching moment". I quickly came to understand that I was in the presence of an Air Cooled VW Zen Master. "Zen and the Art of Motorclycle Maintenance" came to life in my kitchen. While it would have been quite easy for Colin to make me feel like a complete dumb ass - he used great restraint (I think he liked the coffee) and used his natural teacher/student repoir to break subject matter down to simple concepts that even I could understand. A classic photo here would be me with the deer in the headlights stare and the WTF look just before impact. I think if we have the opportunity to get to know each other better - the gloves will come off and I will have to remind him more often that I am a Horticulurist, not a mechanic!
Our first order of business after a quick look at the bus was a new to me Dual vacuum distributor/pertronix install which as Murphy's law dictates didn't go too well. Turns out the vacuum can was good - unfortuneately the centrifugal advance was not. After spending about 30 minutes monkey fartin' around with that, we put the old 009 back in and continued on with the task at hand - which was getting the bus running well enough to take it on the road. A few vacuum leaks tracked down, an S boot inspection and preventative repair, point gap checked, timing done, Air flow meter tampered with (along with more teaching moments) and it was time to break for lunch. The wife made a farm fresh egg Fritatta with garden vegies, sausage, tomoto's, ground cherries and fresh herb bread (and more coffee for Colin) - thinking that he probably lives on cigs, diet coke, beef jerky and an occasional meal while on the road - my wife wanted to treat him to something hardy....
Then - the bus hit the road. For the first time since bringing it home we actually had it going down the road at 55mph! An appropriate photo here would be Colin's feet hanging over the back seat with his head in the engine compartment while I'm driving down the road while he micro adjusts the airflow.... "thumbs up for better - thumbs down for worse"
Much hosing around with trying to get rid of that pesky misfire.... checking things over - tracking down why the brake booster didn't work (one way valve in the vacuum line installed backwards) Doh! MUCH lamenting over the frankenstien wiring that's been done in the past and what to do about that....Another road test - telling me there's a bearing noise coming from the front passenger wheel that I can't hear (still can't), testing coil, rotor etc, discovering back up lights didn't work (tail light assemblies crumbling) another road test, more mumbling about the wiring, a sad lament about the engine being sort of tired and should have more power (Get a compression test done!) and it was past time for Colin to leave.... I think I only made him an hour and half late for his dinner engagement.... Sorry about that! (Not really, I would have gladly kept going!)
When we had said our goodbye's and he had driven off toward the Portland rain, I sat in the bus and tried to make sense of what had just transpired over the last 9+ hours. 3 good IPA's later and a long written list of notes and things to do - a clean up of the shop and the day was complete. I feel a bit like a sponge that soaked up information and over the past 3 days wrung myself out and am ready to go again.
I am a smarter person for the experience. I have a fairly good prioritized list of what needs to be done - I have a bus that starts and drives - I believe I made a new friend - it was a good day.
55
Last Sunday (the 9th) Colin drove up at exactly 8:00am - our pre-arranged time - having ventured out to wine country to assist in the ongoing resurrection of our '75 Rivi -
After dispensing with the usual formalities we retired to the kitchen for fresh brewed coffee and a session with pad and pencil for background info and a "teaching moment". I quickly came to understand that I was in the presence of an Air Cooled VW Zen Master. "Zen and the Art of Motorclycle Maintenance" came to life in my kitchen. While it would have been quite easy for Colin to make me feel like a complete dumb ass - he used great restraint (I think he liked the coffee) and used his natural teacher/student repoir to break subject matter down to simple concepts that even I could understand. A classic photo here would be me with the deer in the headlights stare and the WTF look just before impact. I think if we have the opportunity to get to know each other better - the gloves will come off and I will have to remind him more often that I am a Horticulurist, not a mechanic!
Our first order of business after a quick look at the bus was a new to me Dual vacuum distributor/pertronix install which as Murphy's law dictates didn't go too well. Turns out the vacuum can was good - unfortuneately the centrifugal advance was not. After spending about 30 minutes monkey fartin' around with that, we put the old 009 back in and continued on with the task at hand - which was getting the bus running well enough to take it on the road. A few vacuum leaks tracked down, an S boot inspection and preventative repair, point gap checked, timing done, Air flow meter tampered with (along with more teaching moments) and it was time to break for lunch. The wife made a farm fresh egg Fritatta with garden vegies, sausage, tomoto's, ground cherries and fresh herb bread (and more coffee for Colin) - thinking that he probably lives on cigs, diet coke, beef jerky and an occasional meal while on the road - my wife wanted to treat him to something hardy....
Then - the bus hit the road. For the first time since bringing it home we actually had it going down the road at 55mph! An appropriate photo here would be Colin's feet hanging over the back seat with his head in the engine compartment while I'm driving down the road while he micro adjusts the airflow.... "thumbs up for better - thumbs down for worse"
Much hosing around with trying to get rid of that pesky misfire.... checking things over - tracking down why the brake booster didn't work (one way valve in the vacuum line installed backwards) Doh! MUCH lamenting over the frankenstien wiring that's been done in the past and what to do about that....Another road test - telling me there's a bearing noise coming from the front passenger wheel that I can't hear (still can't), testing coil, rotor etc, discovering back up lights didn't work (tail light assemblies crumbling) another road test, more mumbling about the wiring, a sad lament about the engine being sort of tired and should have more power (Get a compression test done!) and it was past time for Colin to leave.... I think I only made him an hour and half late for his dinner engagement.... Sorry about that! (Not really, I would have gladly kept going!)
When we had said our goodbye's and he had driven off toward the Portland rain, I sat in the bus and tried to make sense of what had just transpired over the last 9+ hours. 3 good IPA's later and a long written list of notes and things to do - a clean up of the shop and the day was complete. I feel a bit like a sponge that soaked up information and over the past 3 days wrung myself out and am ready to go again.
I am a smarter person for the experience. I have a fairly good prioritized list of what needs to be done - I have a bus that starts and drives - I believe I made a new friend - it was a good day.
55