Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Sep 03, 2015 8:04 am

Such a little brown cow, this Chloe, bravely fielding the barrage of trucks and wind and rain and hills, mile after mile, I can't even look at the exhaust valves any more. I wouldn't know what to say, "uh thanks?"

But first. I was in Denver just four days ago, it seems like last year already. Darren needed to know if he should keep his '76 Westy that he bought, then sold, then bought again. Clearly, he has attachment like I did when I gratefully bought back the Road Warrior from the guy I sold it to.

But this time, we had to cast an apprising cold unbiased stern eye on the ol' bus. There was this pretty "new" thing sitting next to it, a healthy fine-driving new 1979 bus that went through its paces like a thoroughbred. Then we replaced pushrod tube seals, adjusted the valves, and took out the engine on the old '76. Everything was going fine until we did a splendid end-play adjustment to rope in the .013" down to a tidy .0045". Here's Darren, when we had hope:

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Unfortunately, the engine locked up as we tightened the flywheel. Unfortunately, the flywheel moved just like Belle Plaine's and Jivermo's engines. Unfortunately, this old engine with 200,000 miles on the lower end has the ol' wallowed out dowel and loose #1 thrust main bearing. Unfortunately, we were running out of time as we reapplied an additional .002" end play so that the real end play was a minimal .0025" plus .004" bearing movement in the case. We slapped that old engine back into the bus, and Darren gets to figure out the next step from here. I say "fix it, cherish it, don't DISAPPOINT YOUR YOUNG DAUGHTER," but reality has its dictates, too.

Yeah, so then I drove across the country, which I must say, I did not like. I do not like to rush across the country. All of those beautiful explorations, those leisurely little road side projects NO! Drive! and drive and drive. Good-bye, Denver (good-bye, you despicable I-25 corridor):

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Good-bye, you lovely western setting sun as I hunker down for a serious night of driving:

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Good-bye, Wyoming road:

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I had to amuse myself on the interstate with occasional photographs, this one in Kansas:

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The dreadful Atlantic moisture found me in a field in eastern Kansas, dew (eww!) was all over everything and had made the front of Chloe a moist mash of bugs, and, as of this writing, has not let up. Drove and drove, Kansas, Missouri (visited my good good friend in Saint Louis for an impromptu breakfast the day after he too became an empty nester), Illinois, Indiana, hour after hour of complaint-free 3,500 rpm.
And here is a lovely Ohio landscape, in the humid morning:

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God knows that I am losing my tolerance for civilization scrum, and I-70 is the very picture of civilization scrum, trucks and trucks and trucks and if they ain't semis in a big hurry, they are bellowing Dodge Ram turbo-diesels in a big hurry, and I ask, where are YOU going in such a hurry, I am driving across the country and must be there September 4th. Here is Columbus OH in the rainy morning commute:

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Pennsylvania, I chose to bail off the interstate and cross each and every Allegheny continental plate crash, throngs of trucks even on little roads through little burgs:

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Up another Pennsylvania Allegheny mountain pass at 35 mph in 3rd, exhaust valves still hanging in there:

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Here along a ridge on US 22 into Altoona PA in the afternoon between rain showers:

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Explain this town on your every phone order . . .

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Poor Chloe, no rest. 22 mpg,1,690 miles, top CHT 385*, brake drums intact, must run, and please you later appointments, get your lists and deposits in.
Colin388MilesToGo
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 Greetings From New York

Post by Boxcar » Thu Sep 03, 2015 8:44 am

What he said up there.
"LIKE".(IAC webmonger please install this button)

Um rgds humidity. Dew point. That east coast stuff..

It aint so out west?

Eric.minding a farm,painting engine tin,mendham nj.
1975 003 Auto Westy L90D

repair!!!!aug2015
Jan/16 Bumped mixture a few notches richer. finally developing HP.


1.8L/LJet/Pertron DVDA+PertronixCompufire 42/36Ham Heads/AA 93mm pistons/barrels.Porsc.Swiv.Adjusters/CromoSteel pushrds/ Web 9550Cam/55cc chmbr.,035 squish,8.6:1CR/German Supply VWCanadaReman Rods/Schadek 26mmPump/vdo dualOP8/10#low sender/Quart Deep Sump
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by wcfvw69 » Thu Sep 03, 2015 1:52 pm

Oh how I simply love these "greetings" posts. To see the wide open country side (when you escape the metro bliss). It's so inspiring to me, to see your 45 year old VW be so sympathetic and compliant in being reliable as each mile passes below. It's so tiring reading on the Samba or other VW sites about how these old VW's can't be trusted for long road trips (pick the excuse). These only reinforces the truth. That a careful mechanical overhaul along with copious amounts of PM servicing will make these old cars as reliable as anything sold today. Well, that's my belief anyway and I'm sticking to it.
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:23 am

New York. This post is titled " . . . Greetings From New York", and I never got to the "New York" part of it.

Here's a bit of the Pennsylvania part of it:

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State College with that horrendous golden calf monument to football in my rear view mirror:

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Looking up a glacially carved valley in the Finger Lakes region of New York:

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So, I blasted the Itinerary schedule and up-ended people's schedules because I had to get back to the place I have called "home" for the past several years, a house I have known since I was a pup of 29 years old. This place was restored from appalling wreckage by Ramona, the mom of my oldest friend, the woman I first met as a wonderstruck ten year old at the A&P parking lot. I love Ramona, and I love her daughter, and I love this house. We had to have a Selling The House party, where all who helped to restore it were invited. I made it across the country with three hours to spare, so I washed dishes and helped to set the buffet:

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There's Chloe the next morning, resting from the cross-country banzai:

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Taking in my last morning ever in that house. We did a fine job of cleaning up after the party:

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This house has a great energy, one of my lifetime's Safe Houses, and it is the Magnum Opus of Ramona's prodigious creative energy:

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Good-bye, house:

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Here is a photograph I took of a photograph on the refrigerator, Ramona visiting Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt:

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With a pain in my heart, I had to leave for upstate on a beautiful day:

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I love New York, the silhouettes of trees on ridges, the silos under the sun, the pastoral landscapes:

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This is I-390 south of Rochester on my way to the storage barn to visit the Lincoln and the Mercedes and the most annoyed little Squareback that refused to start . . .

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Here is the road well west of Rochester leading to the storage barn to visit the Lincoln and the Mercedes and the most annoyed little Squareback that refused to start:

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And here is the Mercedes that started up within a second, and the Squareback that refused to start . . . .

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. . . and I must get to work, here in rainy Scarborough Maine.
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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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Sep 13, 2015 7:55 am

First up at the storage unit was the 1978 Mercedes 4509SEL. Folded the car cover and stuck on the negative battery terminal. Checked oil, coolant, p/s & atf, pumped up the right front tire (tires are all Michelin MXV build date May 1995), and listened to the engine fire up within one second. Painful.

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Wiped down the interior and carpeting of a light coating of fuzzy mold, this is so not good.

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This is proper German Mercedes instrumentation before all this new frou-frou:

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Hit the road and brushed off the rust on the disks with a few progressive stops, then hammered the accelerator and exercised this poor cooped-up beast:

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Here is November 1, 2001 at 117,000 miles:

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Here is September 6, 2015 at 122,860 miles:

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Got the brakes good and hot, got the engine good and hot, worked the kick-down, suspension, wheel bearings, windows, sunroof, even the climate control damper doors, and this car was begging me to go on a road trip:

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But, back into the barn it was led. Damn.

Folded up the car cover on the Lincoln, rather like wrestling the sail on a schooner, air pressures and all fluids were fine, punched the negative terminal on the battery, gave the electric pump a few seconds, pumped the accelerator pedal six times, cranked for three seconds, three more pumps, engine burst into that low diesel locomotive thunder as the crankshaft spun up onto its hydrodynamic oil film:

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Amazingly, the vacuum system was intact, popped the remote trunk release BECAUSE I COULD, ran the central locking circuit, and shooshed down the driveway to the approving stares of the guys trying to get the boat secured to its trailer. Accelerated to 15 mph! then tested the single circuit drum brakes, because that is what you do with single circuit drum brakes on a 5,200 lb 1962 Lincoln Continental. No rusty sounds, no pulsing, just brakes. Hammered the accelerator, felt that cast iron V-8 twist the car up on the left side, first shift at 20 mph, second shift at 45, and we're doing 60 pretty quick for a 53 year-old car:

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This car also deserves, it deserves a road trip at 9-10 mpg. Maybe it should tow the piano to Atlanta . . .

The Squareback, I saved for last because it was the most reliable and easy. Ha.
First, it would not start. Then it would not roll. Too dark to find my way around the engine in the barn, I had to shove it against rusted brake disks or frozen calipers or whatever. I kept losing traction with my abysmal New Balance walking shoes that have had their soles re-glued too many times now. After terrible exertions and slips and swears, the Squareback was close enough to the doorway to allow me to see the engine. Why won't you start, you little pig?
(to be cont)
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 Greetings From New York

Post by Randy in Maine » Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:53 am

That Lincoln needs to go to someone who will drive it. You need to think about its feelings.

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79 VW Bus

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by asiab3 » Mon Sep 14, 2015 1:00 pm

There is something "familiar" in these cars. I don't know how to say it automotively, but I met my 21-year-old cousin for the first time this weekend, and it feels like this picture looks.
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You WILL notify the readership if you ever plan on liquidating the fleet, right???

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by SlowLane » Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:53 pm

asiab3 wrote: I met my 21-year-old cousin for the first time this weekend, and it feels like this picture looks.
My, how ... prurient.
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by asiab3 » Mon Sep 14, 2015 6:51 pm

SlowLane wrote:
asiab3 wrote: I met my 21-year-old cousin for the first time this weekend, and it feels like this picture looks.
My, how ... prurient.
Oh my. I did NOT see the image that way! Uhh, well I'll be sure to clarify this if he comes reading here… We mostly just talked about the 44-net-horsepower air-cooled engine, and sour mash whisky. I'll be sure to examine photographs of German automobiles more closely for (un)intended metaphor from now on! :study:
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Sep 15, 2015 5:10 am

SlowLane wrote:
asiab3 wrote: I met my 21-year-old cousin for the first time this weekend, and it feels like this picture looks.
My, how ... prurient.
Not at all. How lovely. The opening of respective access for the intermingling of electrical charges and some high octane juice to help it all go.
Prurient is as prurient does, that's what my mama always told me . . . F.G.
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 Greetings From New York

Post by SlowLane » Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:23 pm

Apologies, Robbie, just my filthy mind at work.
Soooooo, did the Squareback eventually cooperate?
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by asiab3 » Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:54 pm

SlowLane wrote:Apologies, Robbie, just my filthy mind at work.
I thought so... :drunken:
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:36 pm

SlowLane wrote: Soooooo, did the Squareback eventually cooperate?
The Squareback has put me on notice that it is extremely irritated at sitting around all year for one lousy 15 mile drive or whatever. I had to be understanding. The scary thing was that I could smell mouse pee on the engine. I was afraid that they may have eaten through the fuel injection harness up in the fender well and made a mousy nest in there. I had to go through diligent diagnostic channels, however, so I started with filing breaker points and spark plug electrodes and distributor rotor end and cap terminals. Checked for spark by opening points with a small screwdriver, zap/zap/zap/zap, all good there. Cranked engine and it was just dead, no nothing. I could feel myself getting as hopeless and resistant as any of my customers overwhelmed by my breezy technical jargon, here I was, and it was all staring at me like an unsolveable puzzle. Where to next? I didn't have a D-Jet manual, as importantly, I did not have the will or the interest to go wading in. So I attempted to start it below what I knew was the threshold of the battery voltage required to keep the ECU processing. I just ran that battery down with the dumb hope that it might fire. Then I poured gas down the manifold sensor hose. I know I got spark, I got gas, I got starter, it HAS to start.
I got two or three kicks then it played deaddeaddead. Pulled the plugs again. Wet as hell. Too much gas down the manifold sensor. Dried the plugs, spun the engine to clear the cylinders. Reinstalled the plugs. Cranked it over with the Mercedes battery and alternator keeping the voltage above the ECU shut-off threshold. Got lost with fears of crossing up the spark plug wires, then thought I had botched the locations of the wires in the cap. This is exactly what the novice mechanic does when he gets lost > ergo, I am a novice mechanic once more, I cannot keep the plan intact, I cannot cross off items that have passed muster, I cannot think clearly, I am looking at foreign wires and parts with no sense of their place in the whole and this car will not start . . .
Colin

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 Greetings From New York

Post by hambone » Tue Sep 15, 2015 8:23 pm

http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From New York

Post by hippiewannabe » Wed Sep 16, 2015 8:01 pm

How old is the gas in these poor cars?
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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