Bluff, UT - July 12

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brandt
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Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by brandt » Sat Jul 13, 2013 11:10 pm

Colin came on time as usual. A significant thunderstorm the night before, the first real rain in months.

This was my second visit. I didn't take a single photo this time. Spent a fair amount of time putting back together the entire exhaust on my secondary bus, a semi rusty 78 Westfalia. On the way out the door after kitchen table talk I suggested pushing it into the garage where the tools were closer and the shade more plentiful. Colin liked the look of the sun baked gravel wasteland where the disabled bus was parked so we set up there. Time was slipping by fast. Four sunburnt hours and twenty trips back and forth to the garage later I was cursing and needed lunch/pee/water. I spent hours this spring rounding up missing parts and prepping it all fighting broken and stuck exhaust studs. Tons of time in an exhaust... But we prevailed and got it back together. Went to start it, ran like crap. For a moment we thought the gas tank outlet had clogged again when fuel pressure dropped. Not until Colin drove away that evening did I remember that I drained the tank when I replaced a few fuel lines a few months ago. Nope, it was just out of gas. With that corrected Colin got it to run fairly well and after a while the lifters quieted down and it sounded pretty smooth. Now to decide what to do with secondary bus... While I was hesitant to spend Colin's time not on the primary bus it was great to get this one back together and running after such a long break.

After that exercise we set to take care of a few odds and ends on primary bus, also a 78 Westfalia. I couldn't figure out why the engine bay was so hot then Colin reminded me we drove it to get gas for the other bus. Humm, yeah, I am smart. Neutral staging area lesson. Tracked down a cold start issue even though it was 100* out. Turns out the ground in my CSV plug is junk. And we endured the terrible try to get the beading to look nice when you reinstall the sliding door track cover (more cursing). Adjusted the doors a bit to deal with crappy seals and poor owner maintenance (me).

Colin likey drove into another massive thunderstorm on his way west. Hopefully he made it to the Goosenecks to camp or Mexican Hat Rock.

Thanks Colin for providing this service. I always learn something.

Brandt

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Amskeptic
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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jul 14, 2013 8:01 am

brandt wrote: A significant thunderstorm the night before, the first real rain in months.
Colin likely drove into another massive thunderstorm on his way west.
Brandt
It was a pleasure to visit you and your beautiful family. I am happy to see that your son shows promise of becoming a car nut.
That white bus drove awfully nicely on our test drive. I hope it is a difficult decision to part with it. You actually can't have too many air-cooled VWs.

The trouble-shooting process for your difficult cold start on the red bus was a classic instance of everything looking good until we plodded through the actual electrical paths with your ohmmeter and my test light. Only when we determined that you had 12 volts at the cold start valve during cranking, did we discover that the ground path to the thermo-time switch was open. For the readership, the plug looked fine! The wire, however, had broken inside the plastic connector under the rubber boot. Hah! This could have been a "toss the stupid fuel injection off and put on a centermount carb" moment, had it been an essential wire.

The significant thunderstorm was the culmination of a beautiful day that started up in a mountain outside of Moab (other post) UT. Here's a shot of my campsite above your house the night before

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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airkooledchris
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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by airkooledchris » Sun Jul 14, 2013 8:47 am

Amskeptic wrote:
brandt wrote: A significant thunderstorm the night before, the first real rain in months.
Colin likely drove into another massive thunderstorm on his way west.
Brandt
The significant thunderstorm was the culmination of a beautiful day that started up in a mountain outside of Moab (other post) UT. Here's a shot of my campsite above your house the night before

Image

incredible shot =D>
1979 California Transporter

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Gypsie
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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by Gypsie » Sun Jul 14, 2013 11:05 am

airkooledchris wrote: incredible shot =D>

I love the rain shadow left by a passing shower. Must've been a little breezy cause the dry area is at an angle.
So it all started when I wanted to get better gas mileage....

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Sylvester
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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by Sylvester » Mon Jul 15, 2013 9:22 am

Amskeptic wrote:
The significant thunderstorm was the culmination of a beautiful day that started up in a mountain outside of Moab (other post) UT. Here's a shot of my campsite above your house the night before

Image
[/quote]

Very beautiful!
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.

brandt
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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by brandt » Mon Aug 12, 2013 12:04 pm

Just back from a 3-4 week road trip with our two young kids. Oregon Coast the main event. Not in a bus. My visit with Colin was pretty much the day before we left. I get home the other day and can't get either bus to start...

Red bus cranks, I open the engine and see the cold start valve plug sitting there, that reminds me I need to splice in a new connector. I have fuzzy memories of the CSV needing to always work to start, even when it's hot out, two seconds or something?

Then the white bus, ran great after Colin's visit, started easy. Now cranks and nothing, and I can hear the fuel pump with just dash lights on, not cranking, don't think that's supposed to be. Fuel pressure good. Hmmm? Time to study...

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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:51 pm

brandt wrote:Just back from a 3-4 week road trip with our two young kids. Oregon Coast the main event. Not in a bus. My visit with Colin was pretty much the day before we left. I get home the other day and can't get either bus to start...

Red bus cranks, I open the engine and see the cold start valve plug sitting there, that reminds me I need to splice in a new connector. I have fuzzy memories of the CSV needing to always work to start, even when it's hot out, two seconds or something?

Then the white bus, ran great after Colin's visit, started easy. Now cranks and nothing, and I can hear the fuel pump with just dash lights on, not cranking, don't think that's supposed to be. Fuel pressure good. Hmmm? Time to study...
Start with the Basics.

After four weeks, both batteries may need charges if they sat with the cables still on. The ECU shuts it all down at just under 11 volts.
ColinInTexas
(if I was a bus, and you didn't take me to Oregon, I wouldn't start either)
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

brandt
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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by brandt » Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:52 pm

Thanks Colin.

I meant to comment on that lovely rainbow photo, too. Colin showed up at my house and told me where he had camped and about this "really great flat clay camping spot". "Do you mean slickrock?" I asked. The conversation went round and round and after a while I think Colin began to understand what slickrock is. Certainly the best to camp on.

White bus battery was disconnected while away and cranks strong, Red bus I think is just the currently disconnected CSV connector? But I'm headed out with tester...

brandt
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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by brandt » Mon Aug 12, 2013 10:10 pm

Funny how hard it is to start a bus when the green condenser wire is not connected to the coil... Found two big red wires acting as a jumper on the hot start relay, made no difference if connected. So Red bus is back on the road.

I think the slight hill I parked the white bus on makes what little gas we put in the tank not enough.

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airkooledchris
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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by airkooledchris » Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:08 am

Your photo here showed up on my Pinterest feed this morning....

Image
1979 California Transporter

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Amskeptic
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Re: Bluff, UT - July 12

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:01 am

airkooledchris wrote:Your photo here showed up on my Pinterest feed this morning....
]
That's a rad start to the morning.

I was kissing Chloe's tires "please get me out of here." after that ridiculous pelting rainstorm last night turned my oil rig campsite into a river of mud. A worker came in at about 6:30 to check the pump or something, looks over and sees my bus, just a slight shake of his head as he gets back to what he was doing. The "driveway" was almost impassable yesterday evening while still dry. This morning was aim and shoot full throttle. Other than a sideways slip slide like a small plane in a crosswind, notta problem.
I guess that was a "kick ass" start to the morning.
Colin
(please no more rain? please? I can't get this car rust-proofed with all this rain!)
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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