Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Sep 27, 2014 6:57 pm

Hi.
Colin

.
.
.

All right, it has been quite a month.
My heart is so tangled from life coming at me fast.

Questions of mortality/life-span/history were triggered over and over this past month,
when I visited my fatigued step-father and my mother now in her 84th year,
when I visited Cindy and 15 yr-old daughter and "little" cousins who used to be 3 but are now 22,
when I threw out my correspondences and school books and possessions from the past forty years,
when I watched my elementary school sweetheart get married,
when I heard of Emma leaving this Earth ( I am shocked, she was chatting it up on August 13th) . . .

My spirit is not distraught, it is quiet.

Fall has arrived. I have been too cold at night:
Image

BobD's green gets upstaged by nature's palettes:
Image

Did a brief inspection of a '65 Cadillac. It was brief because the seller could not understand me when I said,
"I would like to do a dynamic compression test - it is quick and does not require pulling spark plugs."
"What are you talking about?"
"I will ground the coil wire and crank the engine and listen for any spikes in starter speed."
"I've never heard of such a stupid thing."
"Well, I could get my spark plug wrench and compression tester."
"NO, WE ARE DONE HERE, GET OUT OF HERE."
"Are you serious? I just drove three hours and you are taking offense at what I said?"
"We're done. Get out of here. People who buy my cars trust them."
"Exactly. Trust but verify. If I was checking out a car for YOU, you would be happy with my thoroughness. Well, I am working for someone else, and I want to be thorough. Now, I need to start the engine."
"I'LL START THE ENGINE, YOU WOULD JUST FLOOD IT."
So, he pumps the accelerator about ten times and floods it.
So I suggest, "put your foot to the floor and leave it there, that'll air it out, it'll catch."
He pumps the accelerator another five or so times. Stubborn. But I spy him floor the accelerator and after a good ten seconds, it catches.
I call my customer with a truncated "report" from this guys driveway. You bet I did throw my voice towards his office window . . .

Had a challenging but entertaining day with foxmon, replacing his rusted-out front beam. RandyInMaine showed up and threw himself to the task.Once we got RandyInMaine to bench press the beam up to the frame so we could stick in the frame bolts, we built it up and went for a test drive. I should have taken photographs! Man, we had greasy torsion leaves, greasy trailing arms, trick home-made special clips for the suspension snubbers, brake master cylinder bleeding, the works. But, alas, we were *too* greasy to take pictures.

Just today! I enjoyed my first warm sunny day in ages. Thus, I tore apart my starter and replaced the fuel hoses right at the tank.

The Duralast Starter Solenoid, Painted With Rustoleum Engine Enamel:
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The Seven Wires Leading To The Solenoid:
Image

Lubricating The Bendix Drive Pivot:
Image

Unravelling The Braided Motor Lead To DiElectric Grease It:
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DiElectric Greasing The New Solenoid Plunger:
Image

The Completed Solenoid Replacement With Removed Hard-Start Relay
(removed only until this solenoid begins to act up):
Image

Removing The Fuel Clamps and Cracking Loose The Hose Ends:
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New Hoses And Clamps
(not shown - the two gallons of gas in my arm pits and under my bare back against the besotted towel when the stupid hose refused to go on the supply nipple):
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The Completed Starter Solenoid Replacement Project:
Image

Drozdenko tomorrow, then dive south to Maryland and Tennessee and Georgia . . .
ColinIStillSmellLikeGasoline
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

Jivermo
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by Jivermo » Sun Sep 28, 2014 6:42 am

"Besotted"! I love your love and mastery of our language!

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Sep 28, 2014 7:09 pm

Jivermo wrote:"Besotted"! I love your love and mastery of our language!
Utterly reckless, say I.

So the new solenoid failed tonight, on a dark road in rural Connecticut. Tomorrow, back on goes the hard start relay. This solenoid appears not to be in danger of getting melted by hot start fresh voltage if it finds my electrical system too tame by Day Two on the BobD. The only nagging question is the state of my Optima SooperDooper Spiral Cell Technology battery in it's eighth year. Drozdenko measured it at 12.2 volts today, a little punk.
Little Punk
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

Jivermo
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by Jivermo » Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:36 am

Dang! I was just going to ask you for the AutoZone part number for that solenoid! So it failed that quickly? Perhaps the black paint caused it to run a little hot. Bus Depot is out of solenoids...anyone got any suggestions for a decent new one-'78 type 4 engine?

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glasseye
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by glasseye » Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:43 am

Oh! The shame! The reckless endangerment! Eight years is too long for a battery. Even a SooperDooper one. And especially one that lives in hot climates most of its working life. And especially, especially one that regularly sleeps in remote parking spots. At the very least, I'd be carrying a spare. I do in Frito.
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by weisswurst » Mon Sep 29, 2014 11:29 am

glasseye wrote:Oh! The shame! The reckless endangerment! Eight years is too long for a battery. Even a SooperDooper one. And especially one that lives in hot climates most of its working life. And especially, especially one that regularly sleeps in remote parking spots. At the very least, I'd be carrying a spare. I do in Frito.

That's my little pet peeve, I have been known to carry a small spare battery almost all the time and have even ended up loaning it out to visitors till they could go get the new one they needed and even once to a person who stalled out in front of my office so they could get the kid in their car home. Both times my battery was returned promptly after it helped them out. (and this was south Florida too!) :scratch:
Also I love a good jumpstart box and usually get one as a gift from my wife from time to time as she knows my affection for portable power... :thumbleft:
jeff
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by brandt » Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:22 pm

Image

I need to replace these two on my Red bus, 78. I kinda dread it, wish there was a valve... Age old question - What brand/type/vendors fuel hose did you use?

Colin I still have the white bus (and the burnt yellow) but replacing the gas in white bus after your visit this summer didn't solve it's hard start issue. I still have to pour a cap of gas into the plenum to get it to fire. CSV?

Great following your tour...

Brandt

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:18 am

brandt wrote:- What brand/type/vendors fuel hose did you use?
white bus hard start issue. I still have to pour a cap of gas into the plenum to get it to fire. CSV?
I use good 7mm reinforced fuel injection hose made by Choline or sumpin.

Check for power to 86 on the double relay when cranking. Note the pink circuit . . . :flower:
The pink circuit also energizes the fuel pump during cranking.

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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:23 am

glasseye wrote:Oh! The shame! The reckless endangerment! Eight years is too long for a battery. Even a SooperDooper one. And especially one that lives in hot climates most of its working life. And especially, especially one that regularly sleeps in remote parking spots. At the very least, I'd be carrying a spare. I do in Frito.
Carry a spare battery? Can't do that. Weight, you know. Additional fuel expense over the time waiting for a battery failure would pay for the new battery. I can predicticate the failure of a battery itself enough to get my butt to a store in time . . . :flower:
Colin
(and I can **push-start** my dainty little princess, unlike your big ol' lump . . . :cherry: )
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: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by glasseye » Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:10 am

Amskeptic wrote: (and I can **push-start** my dainty little princess, unlike your big ol' lump . . . :cherry: )
Maybe. Possibly even "usually". But one day, somewhere...

As for your "Additional fuel expense over the time waiting for a battery failure would pay for the new battery" argument, I say "Show me the math on that, please."

Besides, an aux battery has significant other benefits than disaster recovery.

As for push starting Frito: you got me there. Ain't gonna happen. I initiated a long discussion on this topic on my Sprinter forum and the consensus was, with an auto tranny, you can't do it. With a standard? Nobody could say. Diesels are weird. No throttle in the conventional sense.

Oh, and one more thing. Frito (that "big ol' lump") moves significantly more cargo and accommodations across the landscape using far less fuel than anything else I've ever owned. Including The Dorper. :bootyshake: Approximately 25 mpusg averaged over nearly 80k miles so far.
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by weisswurst » Wed Oct 01, 2014 5:06 pm

I can confirm that all of my "littler lump" (as you put it) diesel vanagons also cannot be push started safely with out possible damage to timing and other unknown factors I have heard. So spare battery or good jumpbox is a must have for me too.
As far as fuel savings with a base weight of 3500 before gear, interior cabinetry or passengers, one extra battery won't change anything
significant in my camp anyway... :cyclopsani:
I still love 'em all the same!
jeff
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by Jivermo » Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:28 am

I just ordered a new Echlin solenoid from NAPA. 71 bucks. We'll see how that goes.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:29 am

weisswurst wrote:I can confirm that all of my "littler lump" (as you put it) diesel vanagons also cannot be push started safely with out possible damage to timing and other unknown factors I have heard. So spare battery or good jumpbox is a must have for me too.
As far as fuel savings with a base weight of 3500 before gear, interior cabinetry or passengers, one extra battery won't change anything
significant in my camp anyway... :cyclopsani:
I still love 'em all the same!
jeff
I can jump start your diesel . . . using 4th gear and a quick clutch pedal dip after firing commences. Oh, but I can.
The *timing* does not know or care **what** is turning the crankshaft during start . . . :flower:
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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aopisa
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by aopisa » Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:08 am

Jivermo wrote:I just ordered a new Echlin solenoid from NAPA. 71 bucks. We'll see how that goes.
I ordered one of those too. Then I found out that for the same price I could get a complete Napa rebuilt starter and solenoid. It has a 3 or 5 year warranty, I can't remember which. So far so good. We'll see, since I have read about high early failure rates of non-Bosch rebuilt starters.
1977 Westy 2.0L F.I.

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate. - Chuang Tzu

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greeting

Post by weisswurst » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:41 am

Amskeptic wrote: I can jump start your diesel . . . using 4th gear and a quick clutch pedal dip after firing commences. Oh, but I can.
The *timing* does not know or care **what** is turning the crankshaft during start . . . :flower:
I accept your challenge sir! (white glove waved) :thumbleft: Come on down my new place is only a few hours from the Georgia/Florida line. Aren't you in Georgia this week? I just drove to Atlanta and back for a meeting and it was quite tolerable...
3 out of the 4 diesels are here too! One of them you haven't driven yet... :cyclopsani:
jeff
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3 out of 4.JPG
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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