Western Pennsylvania visit

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78wkndr
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Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by 78wkndr » Fri Jun 23, 2017 6:10 pm

Took me a while to post but....

It was an excellent first visit by Colin to my 78 tintop westy this past Saturday.
I can't say enough about what a great resource Colin is to the air-cooled VW community.

Back story-
I've owned this bus for 20 years and have been working on its second major “refresh” for…...well…...a while.
End back story.

The day started with some routine re-indexing of the distributor drive gear because my wonky plug wire orientation offended Colin's sensibilities.
Bentley procedures now relevant...cool. :thumbleft:

My brain still aches a bit from some of the theoretical portions of the lesson, but I think I'll recover and I know I will be better for it.

I often work on the bus in a self imposed vacuum, so having the maestro present was a bit intimidating and jostling to my fragile psyche at first but I think I recovered. :cyclopsani:

I bet the 3 extra cups of coffee I had while listening to my 11 year old son Max's regular pronouncements of "Dad, the bus guy is X minutes late, is he gonna come?" may have contributed some brain scatter. :flower:

I could (will) go into more detail about procedures tackled and lessons learned, but I digress…

At some point later in the day Colin asked if any of my kids showed interest in working on the bus. I think I responded with something like “A little, I'm working on them."
To which he said (gross paraphrasation) "Have them ride on your lap and steer the bus....to lure them into the hideous air-cooled vw vortex."

So on Sunday my five-year-old daughter Lila got her first bus driving lesson.
Great Fun.

Then I moved onto the boys who are 9 and 11.


I ....they're entirely too big to ride on my lap (11-year-old goes about 5' 6"/150….(why yes, I agree, a lap drive would look bad) so I decided its time for them both to learn to drive the bus for real.

Naturally they loved it and did drive and….
…unknowing wife and clutch both survived.
I actually have a brief imovie of the episode that I’ll share later.

Saturday and Sunday were both great days.
Thanks
……………


Is it cliche to say that because of Colin's visit my bus is running better than it ever has?

-Dan
-78wkndr-
1978 westfalia tintop bus 2.0 FI

TrollFromDownBelow
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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Fri Jun 23, 2017 9:00 pm

Cute story!
1976 VW Bus aka tripod
FI ...not leaky, and not so noisy...and she runs awesome!
hambone wrote: There are those out there with no other aim but to bunch panties. It's like arguing with a pretzel.
::troll2::

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Amskeptic
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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:05 am

78wkndr wrote:
Fri Jun 23, 2017 6:10 pm
Took me a while to post but....

It was an excellent first visit by Colin to my 78 tintop westy this past Saturday.
I can't say enough about what a great resource Colin is to the air-cooled VW community.

Back story-
I've owned this bus for 20 years and have been working on its second major “refresh” for…...well…...a while.
End back story.

The day started with some routine re-indexing of the distributor drive gear because my wonky plug wire orientation offended Colin's sensibilities.
Bentley procedures now relevant...cool. :thumbleft:

My brain still aches a bit from some of the theoretical portions of the lesson, but I think I'll recover and I know I will be better for it.

I often work on the bus in a self imposed vacuum, so having the maestro present was a bit intimidating and jostling to my fragile psyche at first but I think I recovered. :cyclopsani:

I bet the 3 extra cups of coffee I had while listening to my 11 year old son Max's regular pronouncements of "Dad, the bus guy is X minutes late, is he gonna come?" may have contributed some brain scatter. :flower:

I could (will) go into more detail about procedures tackled and lessons learned, but I digress…

At some point later in the day Colin asked if any of my kids showed interest in working on the bus. I think I responded with something like “A little, I'm working on them."
To which he said (gross paraphrasation) "Have them ride on your lap and steer the bus....to lure them into the hideous air-cooled vw vortex."

So on Sunday my five-year-old daughter Lila got her first bus driving lesson.
Great Fun.

Then I moved onto the boys who are 9 and 11.


I ....they're entirely too big to ride on my lap (11-year-old goes about 5' 6"/150….(why yes, I agree, a lap drive would look bad) so I decided its time for them both to learn to drive the bus for real.

Naturally they loved it and did drive and….
…unknowing wife and clutch both survived.
I actually have a brief imovie of the episode that I’ll share later.

Saturday and Sunday were both great days.
Thanks
……………


Is it cliche to say that because of Colin's visit my bus is running better than it ever has?

-Dan

Dan! That is excellent that you waded right on in and infected your kids with unforgettable memories within the week of the suggestion. Usually I get a vague, "yeah sure sounds great let me ask my wife I don't know maybe we're sort of busy they have school you know I'm not sure about the clutch . . . " Good for you.
Colin

(p.s, do we get to see the movie here? :happy1: )
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

78wkndr
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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by 78wkndr » Sat Jun 24, 2017 6:02 am

When attempting to attach movie the site says .mov is an invalid extension, any advice?
-dan
-78wkndr-
1978 westfalia tintop bus 2.0 FI

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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by 78wkndr » Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:07 pm

-78wkndr-
1978 westfalia tintop bus 2.0 FI

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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jul 22, 2017 8:57 am

78wkndr wrote:
Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:07 pm
New for '17 bus drivers
<youtube>
"CONTENT WARNING: This video is private".
Well exCUSE USSSSSSSS. (can you make it "public"?)
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

78wkndr
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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by 78wkndr » Wed Jul 26, 2017 6:19 am

Well hell, I didn't have any trouble viewing it...
Publicized now.

On another note, just completed a 500 mile camping trip in the northern Maryland/ Pennsylvania laurel highlands area.
The bus was well loaded with humanity and gear and handled beautifully.
IMG_3592.JPG
Other than on a few looooooong hills, maintaining highway speeds wasn't problem.

On a sad note, I foolishly placed my recently lubricated (per Colin's suggestion) OG gas cap on the rain gutter after filling the tank.... :pale:
...gone....

Dan
-78wkndr-
1978 westfalia tintop bus 2.0 FI

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zabo
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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by zabo » Wed Jul 26, 2017 12:08 pm

nice!! - except for the gas cap
60 beetle
78 bus

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asiab3
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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by asiab3 » Wed Jul 26, 2017 12:25 pm

That was some fine composure you kept at the end.

"...yep we stalled..."

I applaud your poise. :)

Robbie

(Put the gas cap on the nozzle holster so you can't replace the nozzle without grabbing your cap back!)
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

78wkndr
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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by 78wkndr » Wed Jul 26, 2017 2:54 pm

Good idea putting it on the pump holster.

I knew the gutter placement was gonna punish me eventually. Didn't stop doing it though :scratch:

Sorry about the sideways pic but apparently I'm having some difficulty posting photos too.
-78wkndr-
1978 westfalia tintop bus 2.0 FI

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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by 78wkndr » Tue Aug 01, 2017 6:45 pm

Coupla nights ago we were headed home in the dark and the bus died.

Lights out, engine dead, nuthin.
Was dark, busy highway blah blah.
Hazards on, nuthin for a couple of seconds...then they came on.
Is good!
Coasted into a parking lot about 1500 feet away...
Is good!
Smelly plasticy burny smell...
Is good?
Maybe no.
Brief exam in dark lot.... not much to see... but was not thorough at all....

Bus starts.
"Youths!! Get back in bus us pronto. We go!"

Home.

Anywho...
Long and fun-ish (for me) way to say alternator harness toast.
Seems its 40ish year old brittle self done got pinched under injectorfuelrailareaish during ham fisted engine seal reinstall.

Soooo...need new one.
1. Bus depot: indefinite back order.
2. I have another brittle as hell 40 year old spare but...nah.
3. Rebuild myself....meh....not in the mood right now....plus a real lack of time.

Anybody know of any other vendors of new ones?
Thanks dan
-78wkndr-
1978 westfalia tintop bus 2.0 FI

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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:35 pm

78wkndr wrote:
Tue Aug 01, 2017 6:45 pm
Coupla nights ago we were headed home in the dark and the bus died.

Lights out, engine dead, nuthin.
Was dark, busy highway blah blah.
Hazards on, nuthin for a couple of seconds...then they came on.
Is good!
Coasted into a parking lot about 1500 feet away...
Is good!
Smelly plasticy burny smell...
Is good?
Maybe no.
Brief exam in dark lot.... not much to see... but was not thorough at all....

Bus starts.
"Youths!! Get back in bus us pronto. We go!"

Home.

Anywho...
Long and fun-ish (for me) way to say alternator harness toast.
Seems its 40ish year old brittle self done got pinched under injectorfuelrailareaish during ham fisted engine seal reinstall.

Soooo...need new one.
1. Bus depot: indefinite back order.
2. I have another brittle as hell 40 year old spare but...nah.
3. Rebuild myself....meh....not in the mood right now....plus a real lack of time.

Anybody know of any other vendors of new ones?
Thanks dan

Excellent little movie clip. These cars are actually good teachers with their docile manners.

Alternator harness?
"Yep. We stalled."
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: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by 78wkndr » Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:35 pm

This isn't necessarily the right place to post this but...

Bus isn't running well at all.

History...
I just had my alternator rebuilt by a local shop.

I originally thought the wire shorted because of a pinch/rub situation but the rebuilder said a nut had fallen off internally and shorted the positive to the alternator housing. This resulted in the hot wire to the starter melting very, very thoroughly.

Old school alternator rebuild guy was appalled at the shitty quality of the rebuilt alternator I presented him so he rebuilt it properly with parts from it, a second alternator I had, and new parts as needed.

Somewhat unrelated but...but it cost about $140 to rebuild it but I happily paid a bit more to have somebody who seemed to give a damn do the work.

Ultimately I purchased a new alternator wiring harness through bus depot. Took a while because they were out of stock.

I installed the rebuilt alternator and the new harness.

Full disclosure-I decided to connect the big red pos. wire directly to the battery instead of to starter because it seemed more direct.

When Colin was here he really got the bus dialed in.
Probably 1200-ish miles logged since.

Since the alternator blow up the bus has been running progressively worse and is now unable to run/ idle at all.....maybe 100 miles

As of now it will start and run briefly but then it dies.

Start again, run a bit, then won't idle.

Giving it a bit of throttle will help it run for a bit but then it dies.
I checked vacumn hoses and they're intact as before.
Will soon replace my s-boot because right before Colin's visit I realized it was cracked and temporarily and effectivly repaired it with black silicon.


I was surprised the voltage regulator survived the alternator's toasting but alt. light is off and battery is charging.

The alternator issue and the progression towards a no run situation may not be related but I dunno.

I've got more testing to do but any input is welcome.
Thanks
Attachments
IMG_4527.JPG
-78wkndr-
1978 westfalia tintop bus 2.0 FI

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Amskeptic
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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Sep 04, 2017 9:07 am

78wkndr wrote:
Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:35 pm
A) I decided to connect the big red pos. wire directly to the battery instead of to starter because it seemed more direct.

B) bus unable to run/ idle at all.....
Giving it a bit of throttle will help it run for a bit but then it dies.

Input is welcome.
Thanks

a) Put the alternator charge wire on the starter solenoid post, pronto.

battery cable
alternator wire
big red/white wire
heater blower red wire
nut

The reason VW did that is because the alternator can charge the battery at its leisure, but when you are driving, it is the responsible agent for running the lights, wipers, everything up front, via the big red/white wire. Making the alternator run the consumers through the battery cable to the starter solenoid post and then up front is a resistance path up with which your VW shall not put.

b) Get child out to driver's seat and impress upon said child that he/she is to obey your every command. Remove black cap from AFM. Have child start engine with the key, no accelerator pedal tomfoolery. YOU provide air via throttle cable/lever as necessary, but we are more interested in asking the engine if it has a mixture problem. The AFM wiper will tell you. Once engine fires and coughs into life, gently nudge the wiper COUNTER-clockwise maybe an 1/8th maybe a quarter inch, and see if the engine likes it. If it does, it adds impetus to a vacuum leak. You can remove the rubber wye for the brake booster and decel valve. Block the nipple on the intake plenum and the wye. See if the engine runs better. If it does, inspect the entire brake booster line for a damaged or frayed/split hose.

Try to finesse a nice idle from your wiper ministrations and let is know in what direction and by how much you had to move the wiper in order for the engine to run.
Please report back.
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

78wkndr
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Re: Western Pennsylvania visit

Post by 78wkndr » Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:18 am

Ok.

Will move charging wire back to starter.

I capped the booster Y port yesterday and there was no change.

We just did as advised with afm and appears Moving the Wiper arm about 3/16 counterclockwise is what it needs to idle happily.

Vacuum leak more impetused.

I have now removed the s-boot and it doesn't seem to have any significant cracks but it's a little tricky to tell with the silicon repair so when the new one comes I'll see see if that solves the problem.

Thanks for the clear and concise direction Colin
-78wkndr-
1978 westfalia tintop bus 2.0 FI

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