My massive wordy post here just got wiped out by a stupid button. Now I have to do it all over again, but the battery is low. Damn fool too many buttons. No back space could save it.
So, Portland OR, thank you for that lovely heat wave with sunny days. As you suffered, I exulted. Such a gorgeous and gritty city, beautifully lit at night, a little bit edgy on the freeways, hard-scrabble neighborhoods, hard-working classic cars still doing daily duty, like this 1972 Datsun 510 wagon:
I went down to Eugene first, to see dingo and skindaddio and DJEep. Well, I got to see dingo at least, and he introduced me to a kindred BMW/VW spirit by the name of Evan, whose Vanagon Carat Digifant was giving him some caniptions. This guy is 33 years old with six kids. Drove back up to Portland after doing a transaxle/engine oil change (the fourth oil change of the Itinerary, already) here in this abandoned warehouse:
Caught Hambone at home, collared him into a beer on the back patio. It is good to drink beer with Hambone. His daughter is now what, twelve years old already? I met her when she was three. A joy to see her personhood take form, we went out for pizza. Erin shows up, bam, the New Yorker in me pulls out the New Yorker in her and we yackityyakky.
My first official Portland appointment was Rusty Sub. He took pains to declare himself a beginner at this VW wrenching. He is going to do fine, smart and funny guy. We put him to work adjusting the valves, cleaning and gapping the points, checking the dwell, adjusting the timing, and finally contorting our fingers to adjust the backwards centermount carburetor on his 1972 bus. We had visitors. Gypsie! who offered me some good insights into my deteriorating infrastructure as he evolves towards a new profession in the healing arts, IFBwax! who updated me on his used-to-be sprites, growing right up out from under us, Stuartfrickefoose from Seattle (Stuart The Destroyer, as he is known, destroyed the vintage cap to my select 2011 stock Sherwin Williams L90D spray paint) who was present in the name of adventure. Had a day of tune-up and exhaust leak eradication with Stuart guiding my addled self back to the house from our trip to the auto parts store. Sure, I left at 10:00PM to go find a campsite, he left to
go back to Seattle so he could go to work the next morning . . . . youth. It was excellent to meet you Stuart and Rusty Sub.
The next day was LuckyLab but first! vistacruzer. I have known vistacruzer for years, but never quite got him, until this year. I got to visit him at home, you see. He is an artist! and his patio is filled with his sculpture, and his workshop below is filled with artistic strivings in the Volkswagen realm, and his house is all about the restless artistic quest. I wish I had photographed the custom dashboard on his 1970 bus, so aviation, so Porsche 911, yet so hand-crafted. You should have seen the beer bottle cap knobs across the dashboard. See? Art! Engages the creative process in the observer. I have been working on what beer brands are most suitable for which knob.
Corona . . . headlights - think "coronas, light around the sun during an eclipse"
Dos Equis . . . wipers - think "dos means two and equis would be crosses, like across the windshield"
Heineken . . . emergency flashers - think "heiny, protect your rear"
you figure out the rest . . .
I was there to help set endplay and replace the main seal/o-ring on his mule 1600 engine, and we tackled the valve train geometry on the DTM Type 4 performance engine whose name I cannot remember, but it was there on the cooling tins. Just about late, I skedaddled over to the LuckyLab to hang out with ruckman101 and Cheryle and kubelwagen & fam, Hambone was there, I got to meet Marya70westy, and I got to see MentalQtip, and after I had cut myself off, I was offered a round by Bill, who else was there? Left the LuckyLab a bit tipsy, but found a quick campsite down on some road near the Columbia.
Arrived at misszora's house a bit hung over, yes, I did, but we got to work under the watchful eye of our supervisor:
Green fingernails and pink wiring labels. What other career gives you this wonderful whimsical moment from a customer who has grown into a friend and a fine mechanic and heck, a first-class fabricator of a light-festooned desert-certified self-propelled cupcake, I kid you not :
There is work to do, stared the supervisor:
We did tune-up ministrations, a test drive to determine that the bucking and hesitation complaint had been addressed, and a patented "steal the headrest escutcheon" impromptu front shift rod bushing replacement on misszora:
This little Dharma Bug is a fine fine car. We fitted an ill-fitting intake manifold to the engine back there on the stand under the now-stable canopy/garage (ask misszora about the wind thing something about "blowing papers right out of the house"):
That was it for the Portland OR calls. Picked up some real paint from Bob's Paint Land, visited pj The Councilman in Battle Ground (and discovered with great relief that the candya$$ red Westy is still safely tucked in the garage) we drank vanilla steeped vodka or was it gin? Veered off the Columbia Gorge east of Troutdale in mid-afternoon because my brakes were pulsing. Found a mixed shade parking area along the railroad tracks in the 100* heat. Disassembled the left front brakes. Shoes look FINE after 62,000 miles! As a matter of fact, pj was there when I put these shoes on the car on October 6th, 2011 at 89,000 miles:
Here's why the brakes were pulsing . . . the extreme heat and serious mountain braking and long highway hauls had allowed some of the grease to push out of the inner seal:
Sanded the shoes, sanded the drum, packed the bearings with a little fresh grease, cleaned the seals and reduced the grease charge in the hub, . . . :
. . . . adjusted the wheel bearings, adjusted the brakes, made
very sure to put caulk on the speedometer cable end because I am desert-dust-bound over the next thousand miles:
Got back on the prettiest section of Interstate 84 in the country towards the Hood River call,
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Some pictures up the gorge, I hope I have not double posted:
Vehicular Homeostasis, right here: