Itinerant Air-Cooled

sgkent wrote:darn. I just ordered 4 Rein boots today with the idea of repacking the CV's because they have been on and off the car so many times it would do them good to get clean. The boots on them are some 7 years old now and showing a matte finish so the rubber is starting downhill - even though they only have 5,000 miles on them. So I said to myself at work today - why not have Colin get greasy instead of me when he is here - I can add that to the list... . But after reading the story - and since I have never had a CV seize up in 400,000 miles in a T2, maybe the Lord is telling me it is still my turn to get greasy.

Wash them under the car with dish soap and water, apply some GummiFledge, run them longitudinally a few times to spread the grease in there, and they'll be fine for another 7 years and hopefully more than 5,000 miles.

The original 37 year-old BobD original CV boots are, for some mysterious reason, still supple and useable.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

SlowLane wrote:
Another modest proposal: Colin "borrows" a customer's bus (or , ahem, Vanagon) for one year's itinerary lap. Performs his usual marathon series of backwoods miracles and ultimately delivers an impeccably maintained, Amskeptic-approved-to-circle-the-country bus back to the customer at the end of it. Fee to reflect the increased value of the bus as determined by an impartial evaluator.

This idea has been broached a few times. I would like to try to execute it. It would add a new dimension to the project posts.
We would have to work out the details like what would we do if the car got t-boned -totalled in Texas?
Colin

I have a nice 7 passenger perfect interior BONE stock vanagon 1.6NA diesel that would be a perfect candidate for the "test" of that idea!
Colin did say it was his "favorite" out of the stable (probably cause it is not a westy and is the same as his other loves).
A t-bone would be sad but a risk worth taking for the payoff being a "Colin" restored bus!
Jeff wait it does need the replacement gearbox SailorKH is storing for me in California installed, that would make a good post on the Itinerary too!!

weisswurst wrote:[
I have a nice 7 passenger perfect interior BONE stock vanagon 1.6NA diesel that would be a perfect candidate for the "test" of that idea!
wait it does need the replacement gearbox , that would make a good post on the Itinerary too!!

Oh dear, I would have to catch 3rd gear *perfectly* every single time for three thousand three hundred miles?
Still, a Vanagon would be spacious . . . .
Colin

Amskeptic wrote: This idea has been broached a few times. I would like to try to execute it. It would add a new dimension to the project posts.
We would have to work out the details like what would we do if the car got t-boned -totalled in Texas?
Colin

...it might be worth the risk to have my Vana 100% "Colinized"...let's face it, your record for Texas T-bone totals is pretty clean...

miz

Whats the story of that 1.6 diesel ? were they just stalling untilt he wasserboxer was ready ? or was there some logic ?

dingo wrote:Whats the story of that 1.6 diesel ? were they just stalling untilt he wasserboxer was ready ? or was there some logic ?

Total logic. Great car, superb low-speed torque, decent fuel economy, perfect for people not in the feverish American Rush To Nowhere Important. Of course, it *was* more economical in 1980-1982 before the world's industrialization put heavy price pressures on diesel fuel.
Colin

It has been eleven days of cloudy rainy cloudy showery chilly damp rainy cloudy spattery puddley pissed-offedness. The PLAN was to finish my deferred preventative maintenance in the spotty scheduling between Tennessee and New Jersey. I had valve adjustment, heater cables, front wheel bearings, spring plate bushings, right side CV joints, headliner painting, and processing the shipment from Bus Depot and Vintage Whatevertheelectricalconnectionsupplier'snamereallyis, plus my big transaxle parts order from Long Enterprises.
But NOOooo, some huge low pressure pinwheel rain machine had to mosey on up and station itself right over Washington DC. I patiently waited for it to eventually slide away. Well, a nice cold chilly whipping cold front from Canada was supposed to do that but it brought a choo-choo train of Pacific storms all stacked up across the middle of the country, and this weather forecast is inflitrating my bones. For the remainder of May and into June, the northeast forecast calls for cloudy rainy cold. I have been yelling impolite insults at the Creator of Everything.

I did a call with Lance Haines and his gorgeous 1974 stock orange Westfalia camper, it was in the rain. We unstuck the clutch pilot bearing and did a few electrical jobs, like NOT run the heater blower fan off the right electromagnetic choke wire, oh my.

I did a call with DougB (DugB?) on his 1975 Raby-engined Now Poptop camper, and had fun showing Doug what he paid for by bringing that caged panther up to running speed a few times (5,400 rpm on his street for the edification of all of his horrified neighbors) while we tested the brakes in the rain and the damp and the drips. We also adjusted his brake push rod to be a little closer to the control valve on the new brake booster he bought. This new brake booster is grossly over-boosted and feels like a touchy old Ford station wagon.

Visited cheesehead who must not throw herself down the stairs while carrying boxes, this can cause ankle sprains.
We adjusted her fan belt on her Raby-engined camper and we waxed nostalgic. The Raby engine has joined the ranks of the Good Ol Days, and you don't get them any more, so take care of yours! We also had aesthetic reviews of our respective orange Westy interiors, god, I sounded so girly,
"I, like, LIKE the textured basket weave headliner."
"Oh no, the smooth white headliner is sooo much better."
"Well, I think the textured basket weave headliner breaks up the reflectivity."
"I don't think that is even stock."
"Oh but it is, say I really, like, like your LED light bracelet across the poptop bracket."
"You do? Yeah, isn't it cool?"
"That is so like totally cool. Hey, I want to dye my curtains."

Today I see some sun out there, and the List Of Things To Do is tripping up my mind as the myriad of chores jostle for priority. I have to do a half-day in Kirkwood PA followed by a two hour inspection of a potential purchase in some Perkasie PA before I get to appetite's house in Montclair NJ, the first real sunny day in the forecast. Then that old falling-down-the-stairs feeling will be mine to enjoy through . . . . . oh dear, August 29th.
Colin

Its interesting that I read this post about the horrifically wet weather you're enduring. I was just thinking the other day that you are not posting as many of your roadside maintenance updates (my favorites) as normal. This explains it. :)

Living in Phoenix, we all get SUPER excited at any chance of moisture. It's such a rare occurrence here in the desert. I tell Eva all the time that I want to move where there's actual weather! You know, four distinct seasons?!?! . She says I'm nuts and that her years of living in Seattle has filled her moisture bucket for life!

Every time I read or watch the news about the weather in the NW part of the USA, it helps me further understand why the SW USA's population is growing so rapidly while the NW part of the country has a negative population growth. It's like what happened after World War II. So many of the soldiers from the cold rust belt and cold NW part of the country spent time training in the beautiful S. California weather that they moved there after the war was over.

wcfvw69 wrote:Every time I read or watch the news about the weather in the NW part of the USA, it helps me further understand why the SW USA's population is growing so rapidly while the NW part of the country has a negative population growth.

We have negative population growth in the NW? Did you by chance mean "the NE part of the country"? Seattle and all of the Puget Sound area is actually in the middle of a housing crisis at the moment...more people looking for homes than are available. We actually have rents that exceed most people's mortgages.

Not berating you, just surprised to read that. I suppose it's possible that Seattle is concentrating population while the population in the region overall is shrinking.

Ronin10 wrote:

wcfvw69 wrote:Every time I read or watch the news about the weather in the NW part of the USA, it helps me further understand why the SW USA's population is growing so rapidly while the NW part of the country has a negative population growth.

We have negative population growth in the NW? Did you by chance mean "the NE part of the country"? Seattle and all of the Puget Sound area is actually in the middle of a housing crisis at the moment...more people looking for homes than are available. We actually have rents that exceed most people's mortgages.

Not berating you, just surprised to read that. I suppose it's possible that Seattle is concentrating population while the population in the region overall is shrinking.

Oh my gosh, yes, I meant N..EAST.. I don't know what was on my brain this morning.. I feel for you where you live. I was in Seattle a couple of years ago. It's beautiful up there. The Washington and Seattle politicians from the past 30+ years should be shot for falling so far behind in the infrastructure needs vs. growth. I thought LA had horrible traffic.. Wow.. Seattle was simply BRUTAL..

wcfvw69 wrote:Its interesting that I read this post about the horrifically wet weather you're enduring. I was just thinking the other day that you are not posting as many of your roadside maintenance updates (my favorites) as normal. This explains it. :)

That explains it. Is it raining today? Oh, but yes.

Did it rain yesterday? Oh but no, so I jumped out of my box like a starving rat and:

removed throttle cable entirely and shined up every pivot and greased the cable

removed clutch bowden tube from long ago Midnight Miami Reaming and replaced with some new Italian thing

rotated the tires front-to-rear and dropped tire pressures a full 5psi to handle this crumbling infrastructure as I head into the north east (noted that the tires are wearing perfectly even as the rear wheels are splayed negative under this load)

repacked the right side drive shaft's CVs

replaced my "decorative" original steering damper (absolutely ZERO resistance) with a new Sachs unit.

noted that the headliner is still sticky

discovered that I have a lot of tie rod end boots

Then it began to rain.
Colin

Then it began to rain.
Colin

Uncle Colin - tell us what happened next - please

sgkent wrote:

Then it began to rain.
Colin

Uncle Colin - tell us what happened next - please

This:

I'm here at the lake in Starlight, Pa., and it's been 12 days of rain and cold, and one decent day where I went out and got maimed by the dreaded blackflies! Trying to paint a canoe, and it's been impossible to begin! So I been drawing-see Chat.

Jivermo wrote:I'm here at the lake in Starlight, Pa., and it's been 12 days of rain and cold, and one decent day where I went out and got maimed by the dreaded blackflies! Trying to paint a canoe, and it's been impossible to begin! So I been drawing-see Chat.

It is no fair. We gentlemen require acceptable weather.
Well? Where is the acceptable weather? I shall lodge a Complaint.
Colin