TDI install retrospective: Fuel System

Continuing the process of back-documenting what I did to put a TDI engine into an old (1972) air-cooled VW bus. Today's post is all about the fuel system. There was very little that needed to be changed with the TDI. Most of the work was on the bus side.

Tank Preparation

Because the coolant outlet flange and the vacuum pump on the TDI hang over the top of the transmission bell-housing, the TDI cannot be installed without modifying the fuel tank. OR, you will need to change how the coolant flows (super hard to get right) and the source of vacuum. For vacuum, there are belt-driven systems and electric pumps, but the coolant exits the head right there, so there are only so many ways around that. I looked into a custom flange that would route the coolant elsewhere, and even cut up a plastic one in an attempt to make one. I was, and remain concerned about fluid dynamics and whether I would create a situation where the coolant could not escape the engine at the right speed, causing overheating. So, I cut the tank instead. Well, I had someone cut and weld it. I didn't want to blow up.

The cut is 8-sided: straight across (left-to-right) on the top and bottom, straight up-down on either side and then 4 diagonals to join the other cuts. The measurements are at the bottom of the post. Once cut, a new piece of thin steel was welded in to close it off, leaving a depression into which the vacuum pump and outlet flange could nestle. I set the depression deep enough so that my hand could reach between the coolant flange and the fuel tank, so maintenance on the flange or the coolant sensor could take place without dropping the engine. This proved very fortuitous later. Since the old fill-vent is part of the sacrificed part of the tank, be sure to have a new one added.

After a failed attempt at lining the tank myself, I had the tank stripped, steamed and lined by Mac's Radiator. I think it cost me $100US, and it was returned painted with primer. I shot it with "Tank Tone" silver.

After the fuel tank is cut, welded, cleaned, painted and lined, it can be re-installed. The fuel tank install is fairly straightforward. Put the filler hose on the tank before you try to put it in the bus, but omit the clamp. Once the tank is settled in place, strap it down and then connect the fuel level sender and connect the other end of the filler hose. Clamp both ends.

Vent and Fuel Lines

I used Viton fuel lines from the get-go so I could handle BioDiesel. I encourage you to consider the same. The early bus was not shipped with fuel injection, so there was no facility for a return line. I didn't get one installed when I had the tank cut, mostly because I wasn't 100% sure where to put it. I'm still not 100% sure where I'd want it. Instead, I used the passenger side tank vent line for returning unused fuel from the injection pump. If you are similarly converting a non-fuel-injected bus, only re-connect the left side tank vent to the old vent system.

To the bottom of the tank, a nipple is threaded into the lowest point on the tank. The original nipple is quite small. I upgraded to a wider metal pipe insert so it did not limit the fuel flow. To this, I connected a fuel line and routed it along the original fuel line path back to the engine compartment. I was unable to find any pictures of the larger metal pipe; my apologies.

The low pressure lines between the injectors should be considered. If you don't know how old they are, replace them now. I used Viton for all but the stubby on the end which for some reason wasn't available in Viton. Not that it matters, it basically acts like a plug anyway.

Filtration
When I first did the conversion, I connected a clear plastic filter to the hose leading from the tank, and routed the output from the filter to the original fuel filter. Since then, I have replaced the little clear plastic filter with one that is diesel fuel rated and replaced the original TDI filter with a Caterpillar upgrade (See Green Diesel isn't BioDiesel). The original TDI routes unspent fuel back through the filter, increasing the fuel temperature along the way. Depending on your intended use, this could be a good thing. I have routed the unspent fuel directly back to the tank instead, in hopes of keeping the engine and fuel-related parts that little bit cooler.

That's it for the fuel system. It's actually very simple: tank to fuel line to cheap plastic filter to fuel line to big filter to injection pump. The biggest deal is/was removing, cutting and re-installing the tank. It is worth noting that after the cutout, the tank still holds 15 US gallons of fuel. At 30+ miles to the gallon, that is an effective range of 450+ miles per tank.

Tank cutout measurements:
across the top (and bottom) : 9"
top-to-bottom on the left and right sides: 7"
distance from right edge to right-side vertical cut:12-1/2"

Prior related post: Preparation

Next related posts:
Physical Mounting
Vacuum System
Air, Intercooler and Exhaust
Primary Electrical
Cooling
Secondary Electrical
ECU, dashpod and Sensors

TDI install retrospective: Preparation

For those who have read this blog over the years, you will recall that I intended to put together posts about how I did the install of a TDI engine into the air-cooled bus. Now, 8+ years later, just about all of the quirks have been solved. So, I think I can actually start producing those posts.

TDI
So, you want to put a turbo-diesel into your bus. I think that's a great idea... so much so, that I did it. I enjoy 30+ miles-per-gallon, power to spare and I could burn 100% domestically created bio-diesel. So, whether you're looking for more power, better mileage, safety in case of an accident or for political / environmental reasons, putting a TDI into your bus is a super idea that will deliver on those goals. Before you break out your angle grinder and sell your old engine, you need to plan a little bit.

Cost and Payback Realities
First, some sobriety. This post contains the lion's share of the costs. They are big and almost all of them are up-front. $3500 for the engine, another $2100 for the transaxle, $400 for the adapter plate and clutch/pressure plate, and another few hundred for other bits. For most of us, this represents a significant outlay (lets say $7kUS). For some perspective, I ran some calculations in a spreadsheet. If we assume that the old engine got 14mpg and the new one gets 32mpg, how many miles would it take for this job to pay for itself? Gas prices are always moving around and when I started this project they were higher than they are now, but let's assume they are $3.30US for a US gallon. B20 has been steady at $2.99US per US gallon for a few years. So, when we smash all that together it will take 50k miles before this job pays for itself. That's a lot of festivals. When I first ran my justification, I was still making a car payment. So, I factored selling off that car into my logic, and that brought the payback down to about 20k miles, which I have not yet passed, so I guess I am still paying this project off. I liek to think that this project keeps me out of the bars, so I guess I could factor that in too. Your project; your choices.

Guideposts
When I did this conversion there were examples of Vanagon's getting swapped out, but there were no examples of an air-cooled type2 microbus getting a TDI. As a result, I did this with advice and wrenching from some online Vanagon converts and local friends, but without the benefit of someone else completing the job. I do NOT believe mine is the only operating example anymore. I'm not arrogant enough to believe that my efforts in any way influenced those other projects. This is just how I did it. Your mileage, as they say, will vary. I encourage you to look at the TDIClub, and TheSamba. Those were my 2 most fruitful forums. While they have their own personalities, they are both significantly rich in content.

Sourcing

ALH TDI on a home-made scoot

Still up for it? Okay! The first step in your planning is the acquisition of your new engine and the Bentley shop manual that corresponds to it. I went with an early-model ALH out of a 1998 VW Beetle. Any of the early ALH years would work, though the accelerator pedal on anything after the 1998 New Beetle is better than the 1998. Once you get past 2000, though, you will start encountering the interlock/immobilizer. This can be routed around with a Malone tune (See here). Depending on your goals, you may have intended on a tune anyway. I have definitely thought about it and now that the system operates as intended, I may treat Hapy to a tune one of these days. Once you get into more recent years (after 2004), the ability to use bio-diesel may become constrained. I have heard that the Pumpe Duse (PD) models are less tolerant of fuel anomalies, making B100 not-recommended for those engines. I could be mistaken, so I encourage you do your own research if you are going to use a Pumpe Duse or later model. When I did this, a 1998 engine was less than 10 years old and the PD was the "new fangled" one.

FastForward used to have a donor parts list on their website, but they don't anymore. So here is a list of things that I know I needed from the donor car. You need the...
 - fully dressed, as in all parts attached, engine with the overflow bottle (tho replacements are not too expensive) and all of the hoses, belts, etc
 - complete vacuum system, with the valves,vacuum lines and vacuum ball
 - fuel filter and fuel filter mount
 - passenger-side engine mount (I didn't need the dogbone mount, but you might)
 - dashpod and complete accelerator pedal with rheostat (cut off the pigtail leaving yourself a few inches of wire, you'll need that to wire it back up later. label well, it might be a while before you put this back together again)
 - in-car fuse-box and battery-top fuse-box
 - computer with both plugs. The smaller plug (which goes to engine management) is best uncut. The larger plug can be cut, but you must be very careful where. Any accidentally cut wire (like to the dashpod, eg) will create headaches and repairs later
 - starter. grab the pigtail that's plugged into it too
 - intercooler and all related pipes

There are pieces you can choose to include on top of this list. For example, if you are going to try to do cruise control, you will need the control arm from the cockpit, the speed sensor from the wheel and the brake sensor from the brake pedal. If you intend to use the dashpod for all gauges, you will need the speed sensor regardless. And, eventually, you will need to plan out how to get the right resistance range from your fuel level sender. I didn't do this, but I have thought about it. Do you want to try to get air conditioning running? I didn't but, if you do, you'll need that complete system (compressor/pump, hoses, the condenser on the radiator, etc) too.

I found a donor with a little over 50k miles on it with all of those accessories plus some stuff I didn't need, shipped from GA for around $3500. The price has probably come way down, but the miles have probably gone way up. You may need to rebuild or replace some expensive systems (turbo, head) so plan accordingly. If your donor engine is coming from a wrecked car, you will probably need a $80US Van Gogh bracket (available from DieselGeek) since most of the time this point in the engine block is weakened or broken in a front-end collision. You will need a $70US starter adapter so the TDI starter can fit into your bellhousing. You can find them here. I suggest getting the OEM plug unless it is in the bundle of wires from your donor as I suggested above.

Engine Preparation
Once you have the engine on hand, I strongly suggest you go through it. If you aren't an expert, employ one. I had my friend Justin, the local TDI guru, go through it and then he did a timing belt job on it. By go through it, I mean really go through it. Pull the turbo and check for play. Pull a valve looking for burn marks. Shine a light into a cylinder (or all). Pull the oil pan looking for metal bits. Unless you knew the engine before you got it. Hours spent now will save days (and possibly an engine replacement) later.

I removed the exhaust gas re-circulation (EGR) stuff, and installed a "race" pipe. These currently run for around $150US, though I'm pretty sure I paid much less than that. You can find them here.  Making changes like this are easier when the engine is on the ground versus in the bus. Depending upon your application, and emission needs, you may not be able to meet your target without the EGR. I know that with B20 my bus produces far less pollution than it did with the old engine, but threads like this one have me considering putting it back in. Since this uses coolant to reduce the temperature of the exhaust gasses re-entering your engine (or uses exhaust to heat your coolant, depending on your perspective), this could be an issue if you are concerned about keeping the engine/coolant temperatures down. Your experience may vary; the only wrong choice is the uninformed one.

At this point, I would encourage contacting Kennedy Engineering (KEP) for an adapter plate and stage 1 clutch. When I bought them, the conversion kit (included flywheel) was $400US. It could very well have doubled by now, but the Van Gogh and starter adapter are about what I paid, so who knows? I am unable to see prices on the KEP website. If you are going to go big, with new nozzles and a bigger turbo, you may want to step up to the stage 2 clutch. The clutch will be heavier than the gasser clutch regardless, so consider your left leg and the stress on your clutch cable when you choose. I have no regrets with my selection (Stage 1).

Transaxle
When I first did my conversion, I didn't have any extra scratch around to think about the transaxle. I used the stock one. The gearing, especially at higher desired speeds, is way off. After I had the bus moving for a couple of years, and finacially recovered a little bit from my divorce, I had a transaxle built by AA Transaxle in Seattle. Darryl built me a trasnaxle based on the "CM" code from a 1975 bus with a taller 4.86 ring/pinion (like the Vanagon’s have) that is good for the Diesels with taller 3rd and 4ths. Into that case, we installed 1.14 and .73 gears for 3rd and 4th respectively. At the time, the prices were $500US for the core plus $320US per gear set plus $895US for the full rebuild for a total of around $2100 including shipping.

Bus Preparation

hatch. note notch cut out of support

With a known-viable engine on your shop floor (or sitting on a cart / tire / stand / scoot / whatever), you're ready to go after the recipient. Remove the old engine and transmission as a unit. This is documented in the Bentley and the Idiot's Guide in far better detail than I could provide. I recall the significance of draining the gasoline out of the tank when I hit this point, knowing that it was the last time gasoline would be in there. You may have a similar moment of realization. Whatever your motivation, this is a special moment. Separate the engine and transmission. Remove the battery and the starter. These will join the engine in the will-sell-later pile. You won't need the voltage regulator, so that can also go into that pile. But, you will want to keep track of (read: label well) the wire that feeds power to the reverse switch as well as the power source that leads to the front of the bus from the starter. I suggest leaving the starter trigger wire with the plug on it so you can easily identify it later. Or, cut it off and label the remaining wire well.

With the engine and transmission set aside, remove the fuel tank (See Pulling the Fuel Tank). If you retain the stock TDI location for the vacuum pump and don't modify the outlet flange (I recommend both after pursuing alternative solutions), you will need to modify the fuel tank (See Fuel Tank Solved). Since you are shifting from gasoline to diesel, you will at the very least want to have your tank cleaned and lined. You may not have a firewall anymore, so you may want to consider cleaning and painting the fuel tank bay and putting some paint on the tank itself.

When I did this conversion, I cut a large access hatch from above the engine bay. You don't have to do that, but I think you'll find maintaining the engine, even checking the oil and coolant levels far easier. Whether you do or don't, you will need to cut out a short section (less than a foot) of the support that runs across the underside of that back deck. Otherwise, the intake manifold will hit it once you have the engine installed. You can see the section cut out in the picture above. I intended to stiffen it, but never got to it. I have loaded tons of stuff onto the back deck and have never stressed this "lid" to the point where I thought about it. Your bus; your choice.

TDI meet Transaxle

adapter on with studs still in

Once the TDI has the flywheel off, the adapter can be attached and the transmission connected. The adapter can only go on one way, and it goes on first. Then, the pilot bearing goes into the flywheel and it is attached to the block. Add the pressure plate and clutch. Remove all of the pins and studs from the adapter plate. Now, mate the transmission, twisting it so the output shaft slides in and then rotate the transmission to align to the holes. Then, set the pins and studs through. I tried lots of other ways, but this was the only consistent way, and I have done this multiple times. This way takes a few minutes. Leave the studs in, and you'll be at it all day.

I'll stop here for today.

Next, I'll go through the various systems and how they were solved. As the posts are produced and released, I'll return to this post and hyper-link them below, and cross-reference as best I can.

Fuel System
Physical Mounting
Vacuum System
Air, Inter-cooler and Exhaust
Primary Electrical
Cooling
Secondary Electrical
ECU, dashpod and Sensors

Adventures with Nemo

No, this isn't a post about a clown fish. Today, I'm going to cover the adventure of trying to get Nemo, T's A4, to operate correctly again.

Break Down
This story actually starts very soon after the last post about A4 ended (See A4 Puzzles). It was late Summer, and T had been living with us for a while. His car had been behaving well, but he wanted to make sure everything was tip-top before leaving for Eugene. Well, we got it running, but he broke down with a coolant leak on the way to Eugene. We knew the radiator had a small leak, and we concluded that the leak was the cause. I drop-shipped him a replacement which he installed in his garage. Unfortunately, this was not the cause of his coolant loss.
T replaced the coolant outlet flange. Twice.
He replaced a few hoses.
He swapped the coolant overflow bottle with a used one from the junk yard.
By the end, he was no longer seeing coolant puddles appear under the car, but when he would return from a drive the coolant bottle would register below "MIN". Frustrated, he had the car towed home, to Beavo. He rode with the tow truck driver and borrowed Flash while K2 and I assured him that we would find the cause and fix it.
That was in June.

Rad Patch

K2 was out of school and missing his daily shop time, so we thought he would get into fixing the A4. Well, that didn't last very long as Summer brings its own distractions and rewards. So, while he took some air, I re-assembled what K2 had started (he was preparing for a head-gasket job) and got Nemo to start again. I had forgotten that I had drop-shipped a radiator down to Eugene, so I started to disassemble the front to remove it. I discovered that one of the fasteners holding the air conditioning condenser to the radiator was a screw instead of a bolt. AND, the tip of the screw had pierced the plastic side-tank on the radiator, causing a leak. So, I started with that.
I used an old Shade Tree trick for small (read: pin) holes. Do NOT do this for a hole of any significant size because the superglue could get inside the radiator rendering it less effective or even completely ineffective. Anyway, the quick fix for tiny holes:
drain the coolant down below the small hole and make sure the area is dry.
rough it up a little bit with sandpaper or a file
apply superglue, covering the hole
dust baking soda on top of the superglue, completely covering it
once dry, blow off excess baking soda
fill system with coolant/distilled water mixture and pressure test
Yes, it actually works. Again, this is only recommended for very small holes. There are epoxy-based kits that are designed for larger holes. At some point, though, even those become ineffective and you need to replace the whole thing.

Puddles
This worked great. No more leak from the radiator. But other puddles still appeared after a spirited test drive and the coolant in the bottle read below "MIN". Well, that's familiar. In fact, it is the exact experience that T was having. At least we're back to what he was seeing, and the pin hole in the radiator was not the cause. I found the coolant dripping from the lower radiator hose, which appeared to have been replaced with one from NAPA. I replaced it again with a Continental hose, and cinched the hose clamps down nice and tight. Another spirited drive and another drip-drip-drip, landing in the same spot. I could hear a "pssss" sound, and traced it to a hose near the intake where I could see water bubbling around it. I tightened it up and then started tightening every hose I could reach. I tightened the thermostat cover as well.

Temperature Sensor

During my early test drive, I noticed that the coolant temperature gauge wasn't working. This is often diagnosed as the sensor being bad. I knew we had recently replaced it, but I replaced it anyway. That didn't fix it. While installing, I noticed that the 4-plug socket that plugged into the sensor had a frayed the brown wire. When I tested continuity between that wire and the other end of the gauge-sending side of the socket, I got continuity at the wire (which had a bare spot), but not at the socket. So, I knew the socket was bad. But, where do you find a 4-pin socket with the correct alignment grooves? On eBarf. I cut off the old plug, leaving a short length at the socket for reference and as much wire in the loom as I could. One at a time, I checked and re-checked as I connected the wires with crimp-on butt-connectors and then heat-shrink'd the connections. It plugged in easily and with the hoses tightened, it was ready to test drive. If you replace a plug like this, take care to wire it correctly or you could fry your ECU. No, I didn't, but I was full-on scared about it until I turned the ignition to run and saw the coolant temp appear on my OBD-II reader.

Leak Free

I took a familiar drive up the connector streets onto the main road, thundered down that main road, right at the major intersection, around the next main road to the connector streets on the other side of the neighborhood before returning home. This route has stop and starts, speeds up to 45mph as well as lots of turns and speed bumps. All while remaining within 1/2 mile of the house. By the time I got home, the temperature had gotten up high enough for the thermostat to open. I backed into the drive, pulled the hood latch and hopped out. I couldn't hear any "psss" noise and there was a single drip from the lower radiator hose. I figured that drip could have been residual from prior leaks, and a longer test drive was needed before I called it fixed.

Coolant Bottle Swap
I decided to replace the coolant bottle since I knew the one that was in was not exactly right. The bottle fit the mounting points, but the low-coolant-level sensor was rectangular instead of round, so the sensor wasn't plugged in. When you know you have a coolant leak, that's not a good set up. I drained enough coolant out of the old bottle so I could swap them out, but I did not fully bleed the air. Once re-filled, I got distracted, and left it filled, but un-bled.

Another Drive

The opportunity for a longer drive appeared the following weekend when T stopped by after helping his mom with some chores. He was eager to see how Nemo was progressing, so we pulled him out and took a drive, T behind the wheel. T was thrilled to feel the big turbo spin up (PO upgraded it) and hug the turns (PO upgraded suspension too). By the time we got home, we had been running at normal temperatures for probably 10 minutes. When we got home, we both realized that we couldn't smell coolant, and I mean not at all. Not a whiff. All prior drives had at least a small smell, so this was a really good sign. We popped the hood and saw that the coolant bottle was down to just above MIN. Recognizing this could have been because I failed to bleed the air, we figured we would wait until it was cool again before checking. We also discovered that the tail lights were not illuminating with the headlights. I'll need to fix that before T takes the car back to Eugene.

Bad News
So, I seized upon an opportunity to drive Nemo when I had to take a run to Tualatin. That's a 20+ minute drive with a mix of highways and surface streets, so it would be a good test. When I arrived at my destination, the coolant bottle was pretty much empty. I let the car cool down and then added some water, and drove back home. When I got home, the bottle, again, was nearly empty. I wanted to prove that the system wasn't leaking. So, I grabbed my MityVac. When I removed the overflow bottle cap to refill the water, I could distinctly smell exhaust as the pressure released. I was starting to conclude that the head gasket or head were allowing water into the exhaust. To confirm there were no other leaks, I removed one of the hoses from the bottle, plugged where the hose came from and applied 14psi of pressure to the cooling system. Over the course of several minutes, the pressure would drop by 1/2 psi, and no coolant was appearing anywhere. More reason to believe the coolant is traveling into the combustion chamber. So, my next task, which I will document separately, will be to remove the head, have it tested and then replace the head gasket.

This is a big job. Just for context, I got a quote from a mobile mechanic I've never used, and he came back with $1250US. Seeing that the quote is more than we could get if we sold the car if it didn't have this problem, we're doing it ourselves. Well, myself. I really would rather not spend my autumn working on the A4. I would rather combine efforts with C and dedicate ourselves to the Zed (1979 280ZX), completing the sand-down and possibly spraying primer before the temperatures get too cold to paint. Oh well.

It has been unseasonably cold for more than 3 weeks (10F* / 6*C or more below average), so the window for spraying primer may have closed and it may make the Nemo work a little less fun. Regardless, I probably will not have much time to get back to Hapy until dead-of-winter. I may delay the electrical re-do I had in mind and focus instead on recovering the front seats, since I can do that indoors where its warm and dry. We'll see how I feel and how the weather behaves when the time presents itself.

Thanks, as always, for following along.

The Dog Days 333 (Part 2)

Continuing the story of the 333-mile loop we did in mid-August. In part 1, I explained the plan, and the longest leg of the trip, from home to just south of Florence. Today, I'll cover the journey from Florence to Newport, happenings at Newport and then the journey through Lincoln City and home again.

Florence

googleImage

I left off the last post with our departure from Honeyman State Park. We had a great time there, but it was approaching lunch time for most, and we had one rider who had skipped breakfast, so food was at the front of our minds. When we entered Florence on our way in a few nights earlier, we spotted a Dairy Queen, so we had a fail-safe. I wanted to see if there were better offerings before suffering the Brazier. Our patience was rewarded with an A and W car hop on the north end of Florence. We were fortunate to arrive just after someone else had left, so we could pull into a car-hop spot. I didn't think these things were still around, but not only is the place still standing, they still bring food out to you at your car on big platters that you can hang on your window. I wasn't sure that was a good idea with a nearly 50 year old bus, so we used the tray as a table inside it instead. They served the classic A/W root beer in heavy freezer-cold glass mugs, and the food arrived slightly wrapped in paper. Maybe it was because we hadn't eaten planned food in a week (no grocery store stops means you make up meals based on what you have, not from a plan) or maybe it was because we had worked a bit to get there, but those burgers and fries tasted fantastic. As we sat, we could better see just how busy they were. Inside the restaurant, there were no open tables and the line ran back to the door. Around the parking lot, there were no open spots, and there were motorists queued for the next open car-hop spot.

From Florence to Newport

looking South
Northward is just as amazing

Now fed, we could embark on the US-101 north to Newport. I hadn't driven this stretch of the US-101 in many years, but as much as other areas of Oregon have radically changed, this area is relatively static. The coastline is peppered with public beaches, but for the most part, the waterline is unreachable. The cliffs are too steep, or the terrain too rough for a road. Or, a path could be put in, but there's no place on the 101 to put a parking lot. As a result, there are long stretches of untouched coastline to enjoy out the window.

With all of the recreational vehicles on the road with us, there was little pressure to drive too terribly fast, making the drive all the more pleasant. The road is curvy, so even if the road had been empty, Hapy tips a little bit on corners anyway, so I wouldn't have been driving much faster than the current speed of traffic allowed. Hapy was running great. His temperatures would pop above 185*F for a quick second and then drop back down to 185*F as we climbed inclines or had to slow way down. Overall, though, his temperature issues of the past were quickly moving further into the back of my mind, as the scenery increasingly took over the front.

park, as it appears in googleImages

As I mentioned in the last post, we rented a house in Newport. Well, my sister Em did. We had her text the address to C, my navigator, so he could get us there. He had us take a left off of US-101 after we crossed the bay bridge into Newport and then he became confused. He asked me to pull over real quick and he asked a pedestrian "is there a skate park around here?". Hilarious. But, there was, and he had almost gotten us there. We were a block and a half away from it. We parked in front, nose pointing at the concrete bowls, and C jumped out, board in hand. K2 opened the slider, but remained on the lot couch while I wandered over to check it out.

Newport

725 NW High Street, Newport

This skate park looked like a combination of planned park and random construction. A few words from the older cat hanging out brought clarity: the city built it, and then the skaters added to it. For materials, they used whatever they could find plus concrete. Patio blocks? Check. Concrete slabs? Check. So.. that begs the followup question: how were the transitions? Well... you needed to plan for them. C worked the park, and while he did a car-load of locals arrived. Apparently, this was a super-hot day for Newport, so the locals would do a run and then pant in the limited shade. They all had an interesting style where they would look uncomfortable on their board, but then pop an amazing trick or fly out of the bowl and land it.. just to look unstable again after they had landed the trick and rolled a few feet. Maybe it was all of the home-made transitions. Regardless, I pulled up the address for the house, and it was about a half-mile away. We were early anyway, so C got his skate on. Once he was pouring sweat and ready to roll, we pointed south and within 10 minutes we were sitting across the street from the rental.

The rental was an odd, albeit large, 4 story house. The first floor was a separate apartment, but it was part of our rental. The upper 3 floors were, in order from bottom-to-top: more bedrooms with a bathroom, the main living space and a full-floor master bedroom. There was no yard, but there was a grassy park across the street with a big playground in it. It was perfect for the cousins, but no yard meant no tent for C and K2. Arrangements were resolved, and shifted each night as who was able to stay the night changed each day. Boo and I got a bed for one night, but honestly, we prefer Hapy so we stayed in the bus the other nights, and were grateful for it.

The family reunion was great. Boo and I had seen everyone within the last few years, but many family members hadn't seen each other in a very long time. For example, K2 had never met Chris, Rebecca's husband, and C hadn't seen him for close to 10 years. Lives get busy, and travel isn't the highest priority when there are colleges to pay for. Regardless, it was great to have that time, all in one place, for a few days so we could really re-connect.

Newport to Lincoln City

near Yachats

When it came time to leave, the plan was for the smaller, or more distant traveling families to pack and split, leaving the final walk-through for those who simply couldn't move fast. Boo and I were that last group, transporting the grandparents and teens. The plan didn't really work out that way, though, and we had all of the families all packing and leaving at about the same time. This made for a little extra chaos, but it also provided a little extra time to see each other. Ultimately, we were out by the appointed time, and the families went their separate ways... with Boo, K2 and the grandparents in K'Lack and me in Hapy with C, we headed north towards Lincoln City with hopes that this time Moe's wouldn't have a long line.

The drive to Lincoln City was as eventful as the drive from Florence to Newport. Hapy's temperatures stayed very level, he had plenty of power and the traffic didn't push faster than around 55mph anyway. We took the left to get to Moe's and could tell from the parking lot that things weren't looking very good. It was past noon, but still close enough to lunch time, even on a Wednesday, to create a crowd at Moe's. I found a spot near the door and C jumped out to find out how long the wait was... 40 minutes for a seating. Boo quick-conferred with the grandparents and we all decided to go to the McMenamin's Lighthouse Pub instead. Of course, McMenamin's isn't exactly known for fast service, but I figured that with the time to seat and then get food, we were still ahead versus Moe's.

Lincoln City no-start
After lunch, Hapy's now-typical 'starts the first time' didn't happen. I turned the key and nothing. I wiggled some wires behind the ignition switch and I could get the system to flip to "run", but "start" was still a no-go. Neat. With Boo, the grandparents, C and K2 watching, I simply pushed in the clutch, let off the brake, and roll-started by popping into reverse. Within a few seconds, I dropped into that 1200 rpm limp mode. Fun. I just puttered to an incline and roll-started him again. With concern about Hapy's limp mode issues and inability to start, we headed back to the US-101. He didn't drop into limp mode again, nor did we stop the engine again until we got home.

Homing

4!

We made one stop after Lincoln City. There was a pressing need for road-bev's and a restroom so at the north end of Dundee, we stopped at the Chevron. I stayed with Hapy as he idled and C dashed into the store for a couple drinks for us. Other than the no-start in Lincoln City, Hapy continued to run like a champ. It was a hot day, and he was staying nice and cool. He continued to have plenty of power as well, and he demonstrated both on the long uphill between Newburg and Sherwood. I described this climb, and it's significance in my recent post (See Now Water COOLed), but I'll stress it again. This is the ultimate test ground for the success of the cooling system. Hapy has struggled up this hill on the way home every time we've driven it. Part of that is because of the length and height of the incline, but part too is because by this point, he has run for multiple hours and is already plenty hot before we start. This time, though, his temperature peaked at 194*F as we took the hill in 4th gear. Boo and I parted ways in Sherwood. I took Roy Rogers into Beaverton and she continued on 99W into Portland to drop off the folks. Roy Rogers has gotten very built up now, making this less and less of a quality cut-through. I may need to work the maps for something more interesting for next festival season.

Anyway.... 4 successful round trips, To celebrate, here's a clip from Sesame Street back when the painter was still part of the show. Yeah, showing my age here a little bit, but I liked this guy, back when the Count was spooky, the parents didn't know about Mr. Snuffalupagus, etc. Once they started PC-ifying all that stuff, they took some of the special with it. Anyway, 4 successful 300+ mile trips, totaling over 1200 miles without the support of a towing company nor AAA. Hazah!

By the way, the starter no-op was solved once I emptied the back of the bus and disconnected / reconnected the wires going into the TDI ignition switch. Something shook loose on the drive. Another argument to spend time this winter getting after the electrical: solving the 1200rpm issue with the accelerator pedal, the occasional issues with the engine not starting and maybe even organizing some of that wiring in the tire well. Nah... that's crazy talk :)

That's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along-

The Dog Days 333 (Part 1)

2 weeks after the Newberry Event, we had a family trip planned. With the fuel and cooling issues presumably solved, we embarked on a 333? mile loop through Eugene, Florence, Newport and Lincoln City. Gmaps thinks it was 333 miles; so, we'll assume that's correct and that should explain the title. Anyway, today's post covers that late summer run, or should I say, the first half of it. As usual, I'll mask the names of minors with a single letter and the * when I mention speed or distance refers to my inaccurate speedometer (See the "Clock Turns" section within the 4Peaks 2019 - Road Report).

The Plan
Maybe I should start with some context. I have 2 sisters; neither live in Oregon. Both were coming to visit, though, so the greater family saw opportunity for something big. My brother Rob and his wife started the fun with a 3-day weekend (Fri-Sun) camping reservation at Honeyman State Park. Rob's wife Kirst camped there many times as a kid, so this was a throw-back for her. They reserved a bunch of sites all backed up on one another for whichever family units among family and friends wanted to join. My younger sister Em, her husband Sun and her two kids (I and K3) were in, as were we. The rest of the spots filled with Rob and Kirst's kids' (A and N) friends' families. Once we had our spot assigned, I reserved the night before so we could arrive whenever we wanted to after 4PM on Thursday.

Following 3 (or 4) days of coastal camping, the families moseyed up the coast to a rented house in Newport. We would be joined by T, my parents, my brother Eric with his 2 daughters (K4 and K5 - yes we have that many kids whose name starts with K) and my sister Rebecca with her husband Chris. All in, we would peak at around 17 people for one night to celebrate Dad's birthday, but I'll get to the Newport stuff in another post.

Drive at Night

This trip starts like so many: at night. Boo and I worked our regular jobs on departure day, so we weren't really getting things going until Hapy Hour, 530PM local time. We had loosely packed Hapy the days and nights before, and most of the regular gear had been left in there from the Newberry run. We added the washtubs forgotten on that trip, as well as clothing bags, sleeping bags, an extra tent for the boys (K2 and C were joining us) and a pair of large foam mats for the boys to use to cushion their sleep. We had been delaying a grocery store trip, and still hadn't gotten around to it, so we just went through the cupboards and fridge, grabbing anything and everything that looked edible, tossing it into one of the three coolers (one cold, one not-so-cold and one for beverages). I had hoped to leave by 10:PM, and we were pulling out of the driveway, caravan-style (Boo driving the JettaWagon named K'Lack with K2, and me driving Hapy w/C) around 9.

Privacy Screen for Honeyman

By 9:PM on a Thursday, the streets and highways in suburban Portland are fairly empty. We filled fuel tanks and got ice at the corner store before heading to the highway. The evening air was cool, and Hapy hummed along, seeming to enjoy the deserted highway. Unlike our last trip down OR217 / I-5 for Newberry (See Newberry 2019 - Getting There), there were no crowds, no crawling traffic through Wilsonville. Quite the contrary, we were able to run at over 60mph* and cleared the greater Portland area easily. As we passed the Wilsonville exit, Boo called from the lead car, recommending road-snax. We pulled off at the Aurora truck stop, Hapy's temperature rarely getting above 185*F (peaked at 188*F for a moment as we pulled off the Interstate). We split Popeye's Chicken and a plastic-sealed chef's salad. With some form of energy drink in everyone's hand, we set back out to the freeway, this time with Hapy leading.

It is interesting how 15 years of driving the bus without music tends to continue even after a nice stereo is installed. Almost the entire drive to and from Newberry was without music, choosing to listen to Hapy's engine and just think. Now, on this trip, C and I talked without the radio on. C and I haven't really seen each other much over the last few years, so having him on this trip, sitting beside me for all of the driving meant a lot to me. Based on the fact that he didn't have ear buds in, I think the same could be said for him. To be fair, C started living with us nearly full time shortly after school let out in June, so, while we hadn't seen him much before that, we have been treated (and I mean that genuinely) to sharing a home with him for a few months now.

Honeyman SP map

We passed through some clouds at road-level south of Albany and through the interchange in Eugene from I-5 thru OR-569 to OR-126, adding damp to the windscreen. I call it "clouds at road-level" because it wasn't actually raining, and it wasn't fog. I believe it was actually clouds down to the earth. It was quite surreal, especially alone on the freeway passing through nowhere land mid-Willamette valley farm country. OR-126 had a short delay due to some flagger-protected construction, but even the ensuing drive through the coast range was an easy run for Hapy. The route only had a handful of short inclines, with most of the driving being downhill. Still, Hapy's temperature didn't get above 190*F as we cleared the range and hit the coastline in Florence. We turned south on US-101 and within minutes, we were pulling into Honeyman State Park and backing into our (reserved) campsite. It was now 2:AM.

Honeyman State Park

above us, only sky

That first night was actually one of the most efficient load-in efforts I can remember with 2 kids. We started with setting up the the 10x10 EZ-up canopy over the large thick-topped picnic table. Then, Boo and K2 set up the massive tent for the boys while C and I unloaded the bus onto the picnic table, under the canopy. We unloaded just enough for Boo and I to get into the rock-n-roll bed (so we could sleep), making sure everything was under cover in case of rain or heavy dew.

I was the first one up a few hours later that morning, so I cleared out some space on the table, set up the stove and made french-press coffee. I puttered around, coffee in one hand, some piece of gear in the other, slowly making our space work until Boo awoke. Between us, we set up the rest of the space: bus canopy, new area rug, the kitchen, even a drying line and hammock between a pair of nearby trees.

Hammock'd Boo

I had visited Honeyman State Park many years earlier with Hapy and the boys, but they were much younger then. I rooted around the blog for a post about that trip, but didn't find one. Odd, I know some of the first pictures I took while driving Hapy were on that trip. Perhaps that trip pre-dated the blog and it's in my old paper log. Anyway, Honeyman is on the northern-most edge of a, maybe, 50 mile long section of the Oregon Coast that is covered in massive sand dunes. By massive, I mean like upwards of 100 feet high and they run from the water's edge at least a mile or more inland. This is an ATV'ers paradise, and on my last visit to Honeyman, that was very clear. The sound of ATV's being cleaned, tuned, ridden and repaired echoed through the campground then. Not this time, though. New rules prohibit all ATV activity inside the campground. One unique upside to Honeyman I had completely forgotten about was the complete lack of wind. Yes, there's a spot on the Oregon Coast where there isn't wind; it is blocked by those massive sand dunes. You would think that no wind means lots of insects (like the Carolina outer banks), but that's not the case. Still, virtually no biting bugs. Love Oregon.

There were other upgrades. For example, the park rents out sandboards for sliding on the dunes. Boo and K2 tried it, and had a fun time of it. Unlike snowboarding, though, there were no lifts so the better the run, the longer the subsequent climb back up. When we visited before, the park rented paddleboats for use on the freshwater lake. Those were still available, but now there were 1 and 2-person kayaks available as well. Boo and I tried a 2-person while K2 took another.

C, N and K3 playing

C has been spending most of his free time working on skate-boarding. So, while he didn't try the sandboards or kayaks, he did find the tarmac'd roads in the park suitable for skating. He even found a small spot where the pavement was pushed up by a tree-trunk, forming a small ramp so he could bang some aerial trick-work. In each of the 3 days he would put in at least five 20-minute sweat-producing sessions working his board. When he wasn't doing that, he was playing with the camp kid cousins who have evolved from make-believe to throwing a football. Everyone grows up, I guess. K3 and N would come over as soon as they saw C arise from his tent asking him to play football. C never said "no", but at least once gave them a "gimme a few minutes". Seeing that he was barely vertical, and only awake for a couple of minutes, that was quite a civil response. Even then, he would be playing with them within 10 minutes. He just needed his morning Yerba Mate.

Two weeks earlier it was the new moon, so this weekend was the full moon. Boo and I took full advantage and took a moonlit walk on the dunes. The white sand glowed, illuminating everything into a semi-daylight. If you looked away from the moon and the sand long enough, you could see thousands of stars as well.

Pack Out
Our visit ended too soon, though. Just as we were getting comfortable with the camp set up, the location of the flush-bathrooms and showers and the beautiful surroundings, it was Sunday, and our reservations concluded. Boo got up extra early, and grabbed a few things that we wouldn't need in Newport, but were not actively in use... like the hibachi and the empty cooler, and took off for Portland to pick up "the folks" to take them to Newport. I watched her go, and then started slowly breaking camp.

By the time C and K2 awoke, everything was taken down and stowed except their tent, their things inside it, the coolers of food and a few odds and ends. I encouraged them to grab something to eat and then pack up, and that was met with varied enthusiasm. Their things found their way into the bus, and the tent was packed away, but K2 had decided not to eat, and after some activity, he was unable to participate any longer because of that choice. We parked him in the bus next to the coolers and packed around him until it was time for our farewells.

I'll cut the story here and pick up next week with the trip to Newport, happenings there, and the drive back home. Thanks, as always, for following along-