2011 Results Just In

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jimbear
Getting Hooked!
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by jimbear » Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:01 am

Thanks again and looking forward to a spring visit!
'74 Hardtop Westy
Pretty much stock engine setup

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ruckman101
Lord God King Bwana
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by ruckman101 » Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:11 am

The biggest value from a visit by Colin isn't necessarily the repairs that get done that day, it's the infusion of enthusiasm he instills into you for these vehicles and the task of lovingly maintaining them ourselves. Thank you Colin.


neal
The slipper has no teeth.

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Amskeptic
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:14 pm

Runamuck Bus wrote:I had to be 'one of the positives' - wedged in, last minute, along the way and no time was wasted on an itinerary write-up! Maybe the visits on holidays don't qualify.
I think it was that I was tripping down the stairs all spring ever since I was informed that I was to attend Cindy's graduation in mid-May. Now, paste the below photos and gives us your account of our day.
I ... still got the t-shirt!
:flower:

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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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Amskeptic
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:22 pm

ruckman101 wrote:The biggest value from a visit by Colin isn't necessarily the repairs that get done that day, it's the infusion of enthusiasm he instills into you for these vehicles and the task of lovingly maintaining them ourselves. Thank you Colin.


neal
You are welcome. It is nice to love the very essence of your work.

I am also finally finding an outline to the purpose of this Itinerant Air-Cooled business. It never was a stupid slogan like "higher quality and lower prices!" but "You are the best mechanic for your VW" I mean that more than ever.

I want to reach more people near the beginning of their ownership experience so I can set them straight sooner.
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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glasseye
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by glasseye » Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:01 am

Amskeptic wrote: "You are the best mechanic for your VW"
This should be a t-shirt.

It's also the unspoken motto on my Sprinter list. If only we had a Colin... We do, sorta. But he's not itinerant. He's stationary and he lives on the other side of the continent. :scratch:
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

steve74baywin
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by steve74baywin » Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:29 am

Amskeptic wrote: "You are the best mechanic for your VW" I mean that more than ever.

I want to reach more people near the beginning of their ownership experience so I can set them straight sooner.
Colin
I wonder how we can help this happen? More newbie VW owners learning about you??

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zabo
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by zabo » Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:14 pm

steve74baywin wrote:
Amskeptic wrote: "You are the best mechanic for your VW" I mean that more than ever.

I want to reach more people near the beginning of their ownership experience so I can set them straight sooner.
Colin
I wonder how we can help this happen? More newbie VW owners learning about you??

well obviously Colin needs to start buying up tons of bay windows so he can sell them with the supplemental "IAC education" package.
60 beetle
78 bus

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sped372
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by sped372 » Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:22 pm

Maybe there should be an optional "enhanced experience" package. You drive out to some predetermined gravel road or abandoned building someplace to meet Colin and proceed to fix your vehicle there. He does it all the time, what could possibly go wrong? :blackeye:
1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

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airkooledchris
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by airkooledchris » Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:59 pm

sped372 wrote:Maybe there should be an optional "enhanced experience" package. You drive out to some predetermined gravel road or abandoned building someplace to meet Colin and proceed to fix your vehicle there. He does it all the time, what could possibly go wrong? :blackeye:
I love this. Sure, when I have all the resources of my manuals and message boards, as well as the patience to await for parts to arrive from across the country - I COULD do anything.

But what about when im away from home, when your typically at your least prepared?

For those of us that live way out of the way, taking up part of the distance needed to arrive at the destination would also help increase visit profits/logistics.

Then again, knowing that's the kind of visit you'd be doing, you'd cheat. Or I would anyway. "sure, I always carry this many spare parts/tools with me when I travel!"

:tongue:
1979 California Transporter

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Amskeptic
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:25 pm

airkooledchris wrote:
sped372 wrote:Maybe there should be an optional "enhanced experience" package. You drive out to some predetermined gravel road or abandoned building someplace to meet Colin and proceed to fix your vehicle there. He does it all the time, what could possibly go wrong? :blackeye:
I love this. Sure, when I have all the resources of my manuals and message boards, as well as the patience to await for parts to arrive from across the country - I COULD do anything.

But what about when im away from home, when your typically at your least prepared?
Least Prepared = Most Improvisational.

I have half a mind to offer a new service.
Give me your car for the summer and I will return it 20,000 miles later in better shape than it ever was. You also, by the way, pay a $1,000.00 retainer against parts procured.
Then, I get to share the depreciation load over more vehicles than just mine which are soon going to catch up with me under the expenses of tires and resetting the engine wear clock on the BobD and tires and transmissions and engines for the TBRRD.
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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Runamuck Bus
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by Runamuck Bus » Fri Dec 09, 2011 6:04 pm

Here is my long overdue account of the Memorial Day visit, prompted by my comment in the 'Results' thread. I see I took some pictures, but I'll be darned if I can find them!

Here is the rest of the story...

I tried to clean the shift lever before Colin arrived. It was caked in grease and dirty; that would never do. I must have done a good job, because when I got back to the garage, I noticed that the pin and spring combination was missing from the ball at the base of the shifter. I looked for it up until the time that Colin arrived. I explained my ‘new’ dilemma and assured him that I had a spare and would send my son up to the shed to search for it, just as soon as he came home from all night partying.
We had coffee and conversation, of course. I explained that this was a ‘low pressure’ visit; it was, after all, a holiday. My goal was to R&R the front beam. Mine had failed PA State inspection for ball joints and had two small rust holes near the base of the shock towers. I had a clean, painted replacement from a ‘former’ parts bus that had tie rods and steering damper replaced.

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My bus is parked on a grass pad across the street from my house, having lost the garage to the ’92 VW Cabriolet (wife’s’ car). Just the same, the garage is too low to lift the bus for frontend work. The makeshift work area was sufficient. Colin began the day by removing the trap from the laundry room deep sink in search of the pin and spring – no luck. Colin reassembled the trap; there was no charge for plumbing.
Most of the removal work had been done; I think the clutch cable was the only line still running through the old beam. The project proceeded at an even pace throughout the day, interspersed with conversation and sufficient amount of good natured ribbing. The most difficult part of the job was aligning the ‘new’ beam back in place. A skillful balancing act on dueling scissor jacks made the lift easier; a few grunts are required to set the bolts in place. This was also a fine time to break-in the new torque wrench – Colin demonstrated the ‘click’ for my reassurance.

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The son finally arrived with ex-girlfriend in tow. After the introductions, I displayed the parts in questions, mapped the shed storage area to him and provided the main instruction – DON’T LOOSE THE PIN AND SPRING. While he was away searching, Colin had fun dissecting the aspiring Social Psychologist (Kaylee) and reducing her mentors to Carny Wisecracks. If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger. Dr. McGinty (her assumed name) is doing well now practicing somewhere in the New England States.
Brad (son) found the part. The front end was re-assembled. Brakes were bled up to the point where I ran out of fluid (don’t do that on an Itinerant visit). The sun was setting; we stopped just before the Shift Lever was reinstalled – I was certain that I could handle that.

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Cleanup ensued; food, conversation, summary and final payment followed. Another great visit came to a close and despite offers of lodging (in ‘Gibsonville’ and Camp Runamuck), Colin sped off into the twilight. I rested and reflected. I the final minutes of my day, I navigated, barefoot, to the laundry. I giggled when I felt that hard steel under foot. Smiling, I picked up the clean Pin and Spring and secured then in a plastic bag.

The old beam was given, free, to a LEAKOIL’er seeking front end parts. The shifter is still not back in place, the brakes are not completely bled. The bus is covered for the winter and the hope again is for next year.
Endeavor to Persevere.
'72 Weekender

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Amskeptic
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Dec 10, 2011 1:33 pm

Runamuck Bus wrote:Here is my long overdue account of the shifter is still not back in place, the brakes are not completely bled.
You are bad. Bad. We SHALL drive that car next time or so help me God we will be working through to the sunrise ... ask whc03grady. He'll tell you.

After the Runamuck shifter pin appointment, I headed towards Ohio and enjoyed traipsing around abandoned vehicle's, like Runamuck's bus .... Here, I was marvelling at how actually small this V8 engine was in relation to the truck surrounding it.

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After I had settled in to the driver's seat, the bees told me to leave. I did.

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Saw this school in plain sight of a big bad nuclear plant:

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"First Energy" then we'll see about the children, our future.
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I never did actually *know* how cooling towers were cooling nuclear power plant cores, but apparently, they run sheets of water down these walls and let natural convection pull the heat off the walls, or sumpin'
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Parked between this pair of junky Ford Mustangs. I owned a '65 289 Mustang in 1988 for about a year. Great sounding engine, fun to get on it, but really shoddy assembly:
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For example: front coil springs were above the suspension arms.

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They relied on the front stamped steel wheel wells to hold it all together. They didn't. Spring towers with 289s were known for collapsing inward on hard bumps. I had an aftermarket cross brace on mine.

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This view does not give me confidence:

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Ran into *another* First Energy Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio:

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You can't see the guy in the dark blue Chevolet Malibu.
He greeted me with "you can't take pictures."
"But I just did."

Image
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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ruckman101
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by ruckman101 » Sat Dec 10, 2011 2:10 pm

Homeland Security boys be knocking on your slider window some morn now. "Ya got a Qu'ran in there pal?"

I had to do some fast talking to get permission to video inside one of the Columbia River damns.


neal
The slipper has no teeth.

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jonyem
Getting Hooked!
Location: Sequim, Washington
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by jonyem » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:24 pm

Amskeptic wrote: I have half a mind to offer a new service.
Give me your car for the summer and I will return it 20,000 miles later in better shape than it ever was. You also, by the way, pay a $1,000.00 retainer against parts procured.
Then, I get to share the depreciation load over more vehicles than just mine which are soon going to catch up with me under the expenses of tires and resetting the engine wear clock on the BobD and tires and transmissions and engines for the TBRRD.
Colin
I find this idea interesting and very tempting.
Late 1973 ASI/Riviera conversion.

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satchmo
Old School!
Location: Crosby, MN
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Re: 2011 Results Just In

Post by satchmo » Sun Dec 11, 2011 6:19 pm

jonyem wrote:
Amskeptic wrote: I have half a mind to offer a new service.
Give me your car for the summer and I will return it 20,000 miles later in better shape than it ever was. You also, by the way, pay a $1,000.00 retainer against parts procured.
Then, I get to share the depreciation load over more vehicles than just mine which are soon going to catch up with me under the expenses of tires and resetting the engine wear clock on the BobD and tires and transmissions and engines for the TBRRD.
Colin
I find this idea interesting and very tempting.
Me too. There is a piece of crap bus down the street I'm sure I could acquire for less $1000. Then give the bus and another $1000 to Colin for his next tour of the US of A, and get the bus back at the end of the tour all fixed up, Colin Style. Someone should have thought of this sooner....

Tim (where do I sign up?)
By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First, by reflection, which is noblest;
second, by immitation, which is easiest;
and third, by experience, which is bitterest. -Confucius

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