The rounder we go....

... the faster we get.

Its been a busy week for the dog days of Summer:
The band started up again after taking 9 months off. That ate up my Monday night.
I broke out the grill and hosted my folks on Tuesday.
Wednesday, I got my other TDI's timing belt replaced (on my '00 Jetta). We had long design conversations about the bus that will influence what we do over the next few weeks.
Friday, I went partying (great party, Ed), Saturday I went canoeing all day, Saturday night I celebrated my mom's 75th birthday and Sunday I spent the day moving a shed, and cleaning a 20' x 30' area of junk. Yes, I still hurt.

Basically, I had no time to do bus stuff, so it was kind of a "break". Today, I'll cover the design discussions.

Mount Brackets
Justin reminded me what my original design was: use the timing-belt bracket with a stock TDI mount, then retrofit a dogbone mount on the driver's side to handle the engine twist during acceleration. It was during this conversation that I realized how far from that plan we had wandered with a small decision here and a small decision there. I found a guy on TDIClub who was selling his just-rebushed stock dog bone mount. He had the work done, and then switched to a performance one. His loss = my gain. I hope to have it in-hand by next weekend so we can integrate it.

Vacuum sucking
The vacuum lines on my Jetta are just about toast. Since I have to replace all the lines on the bus engine, it seems like this is the best next thing to tackle. I suppose I'll order close to 20' of vacuum line and do the Jetta. Then, with that knowledge in-hand, I'll do the bus engine. Remember, the bus engine doesn't have the same visual cues that the Jetta engine does when you look at a Bentley.
We talked about the vacuum pump, and both regretted the tossing-out of the old broken vacuum pump I had on the engine when I received it. I could have used the engine-side half of that pump with a simple plate and been able to sell the good pump. I may have to sacrifice the good pump to make a good block-off plate. Bummer. Last, there was the brief discussion about a belt-driven pump versus an electric aftermarket pump. We both felt the aftermarket would be less expensive (at least in terms of hours spent), and potentially more reliable than a belt driven pump. I'll be ordering one once the next paycheck clears.

This week, I'll be going throguh the garage looking for the vacuum line I bought a couple of years ago. If I can't find it, I'll be ordering more (yeay). If it turns up, I'll replace the lines in the Jetta, taking note of what I'm doing, so I can repeat it with the bus. Maybe I shuold reverse that order so if I ghoof it up, its on the engine that isn't depended upon. Anyway, there's always filing the hole and the engine cover. More when something happens...