Buttoned and Bowed

All those tired of reading about my inter-cooler woes raise your hand. Okay, mine was up too. I spent from 10:AM yesterday until close to 4:PM working on the inter-cooler and it is done. [pause for cheers :)]. I'll cover the different attacks I did to get it in, with the parts I had on hand. I have a health update for my MIL Marianne too.

Marianne
As you're read in earlier posts, my mother-in-law Marianne was diagnosed with cancer in November of 2008. Her son (my bro-in-law), Tom, was diagnosed with cancer at the same time and ultimately surrendered to it last Spring. Marianne has battled hers, from stage-4 to cancer-free and back to stage-4 again. Recently, she was admitted to the hospital with a pneumonia that has not been responsive to treatments. There is a general feeling around her caregivers and friends that her time is getting short, so my wife (D) flew down there today. She'll be in Las Vegas for the next 2 weeks, but she expects Marianne will pass during her visit there. The boys don't fully understand, but they were able to visit with her in October, when she was in remission and walking around. Fortunately, their last memory of Gramma will be of her walking through the buffet under Planet Hollywood, and sitting by the pool at the Hard Rock Hotel. We'll be lighting a candle for her at church tomorrow.

Re-hashing My IC History
Before I get into the solution, I'll recap some of the different things I've tried. First, I went with the original inter-cooler (IC). This has the inlet and the outlet on different ends of the unit. I cut part of the original body tin in the engine compartment to create a pocket in which the inter-cooler would sit. I fabricated some pipe, re-used the softer rubber connectors, and had a closed system. I bore a hole into the inter cooler for the pressure / temperature sensor.
Enter Heat. Once I placed the heater core, that first try at the IC needed to be changed. The front-side of the IC was now pressed up against the heater flexi-hose, effectively preventing the inter-cooler from getting cooling air. So, I removed it, and started working through alternatives. I couldn't get the stock IC to work in another position, so I bought a SAAB Blackstone IC. So started my adventures in bracket-building. This bracket adventure turned out to be a waste of time. I would advise the reader to get the hoses and everything all hooked up first and then figure out how to bracket it in-place. I bought a bunch of 2" pipe, 2.5" pipe, some elbows, connectors and hose clamps for a full-court press on this thing. Queue yesterday's efforts. I started with the SAAB Blackstone and my available hoses and pipes. I couldn't get it together. I switched back to the stock IC and couldn't get it going, so I switched back to the Blackstone.

Induction Complication Discussion
The trouble was with the space available from the turbo outlet to the IC inlet. The turbo outlet is 1.5" in diameter while the IC inlet is 2 3/8". The distance from the turbo outlet to the support bar is less than 8", so I have less than 8" to turn the air flow 90* to route on-plane with the air-stream and then another 90* to route into the IC while expanding the pipe from 1.5" to 2 3/8". Routing the IC outlet to the intake is much easier. The IC outlet is also 2 3/8", and the intake is 2" in diameter. There is considerable space (relative to the inlet side), requiring, again, 2 90* bends, but there was a foot from the intake to the engine support bar and nearly a foot from that bend to the IC outlet.

Induction Solution
First, I solved the turbo-to-inlet challenge. I cut up the original turbo outlet hose to a very short 90* bend. To the IC side of the bend, I pressed in a thin-walled 1.5" diameter pipe to act as a joiner between the 90* bend and the Silicone Intakes 1.5" to 2" reducer. This reducer was then pressed into a copper water pipe 90* 'street' bend. This bend has an expander on the end so it can fit into another 2" pipe. For my purposes, this expanded the diameter to 2 3/8" so it could mate with a straight rubber / silicone coupler at the IC.
Once the inlet was in, I held the IC in place with a bungy-cord. The intake had the stock 90* rubber connector on it, pointing straight down. The IC outlet had a straight rubber / silicone coupler on it. Into this, I pressed a 5" long 2.5" pipe. The other end of the pipe has a 2.5" 90* silicone bend. Fitted between the 2.5" 90* bend and the stock intake rubber I put a stock plastic pipe that narrows from 2.5" to 2". It fit very well, and had a few flat spots on it. Into one of the flat spots, I bored a hole for the temperature / pressure sensor. Once everything test-fit, I final-fit the connections with clamps, buttoning it down. It needs a support bracket, but I can start test starts while figuring that out.

Air Dressing
Last, I clamped the air route from the air filter to the turbo intake. This needed to be done, but not necessarily with fancy clamps. I figured for about 50 cents more per clamp, it looks nice, like putting a bow on it. Anyway, that's my adventure in inter cooling. In the end, I needed a few pieces from Silicone Intakes, and some of the stock parts. If I hadn't lost the plastic pipe which originally holds the sensor, I would only have needed connectors and bends - no pipe. Ah well.
It is already getting dark here, so my attempts to start the engine will have to wait until tomorrow. Still, being able to say I'll be trying to start it tomorrow feels pretty darn good.

Happy New Year!

pictures:
top - turbo outlet to IC inlet resolved
upper middle - stock plastic pipe with sensor installed
lower middle - IC pipes and hoses installed. (needs bracket)
bottom - the dressed air hoses from filter to turbo inlet

Dew Tour: Las Vegas

In a post this past August (Wine Tour, Dew Tour) I mentioned that my boys had won this crazy Nerf Dart Tag competition at the Dew Tour when they stopped in Portland. This past weekend was the Dew Tour Finals (coming to ESPN soon, I'm sure), and with it, the Nerf Dart Tag Nationals. Today's post will be all about that. No bus stuff; I haven't done a thing since ordering that part (which arrived when we were gone).

Lively Up Yourself
The Nerf folks pulled the whole travel itinerary together, and both Portland teams (8-12 and 13-17) flew together on both flights. This made for a common bond among the 8 players too.
The flight itself was actually very routine. My wife had checked us in on line 24 hours ahead of time, so within the Southwest Airlines scheme, we were in the lower end of the "B" group. So, the plane was about half full when we boarded. Fortunately, the teams were able to sit mostly together, and it was a typical raucous flight to Las Vegas. The Nerf folks met us at baggage, and shuttled us to the Hard Rock Hotel for our 3 day / 2 night mini-vacation. At this point, some of our group split off to see shows, while the rest of us hit the the Dew Tour for some shwag and then the pool (it was 86* and mid-afternoon). If you've never been to the pool at the Hard Rock, its kinda like Spring Break all the time. There's rock music cranking at one set of pools while a DJ is spinning beats at the main pool. Crazy time. Fortunately, the only pool that had a slide wasn't the pool with the half-dressed (drunken staggering) 20-somethings. The boys stayed near the slide, and so did I :)

Them Belly Full
After enjoying the pool, and connecting with Gramma Marianne, everyone was hungry. Marianne lives in Las Vegas and has done so for 20 years, so she was able to route us to the best buffet in town under Planet Hollywood. Incredible eats spanning many different cuisines. The desserts were amazing - I had a chocolate mousse pie, and we shared a crape. The boys ate like they hadn't seen food in days, and we actually welcomed the very long walk back to the car. That's one thing I forgot about Las Vegas - everything is so spread out, you have to walk, like 1/2 a mile from the hotel lobby, to your room. We fell asleep early-ish, hoping to boost energy for the competition on Saturday. Not all of our teammates had luck getting to sleep early, however.

I Shot the Sheriff
Saturday was competition day. First thing in the morning, I got a text from T that he had seen Shaun White walking through the hotel. We had many such encounters this weekend, and grabbed some pictures along the way. For example, we met Ryan Sheckler in the Bell-Hop line. Great guy, nice as can be and totally down to earth. The competition wasn't supposed to start until 2:30, and it started late. By the time they figured out the competition round-robin it was almost 3:30. Still, our team was in the first match, and they lost to the eventual champs (Salt Lake City) by 1 point. The boys got upset about some calls, but we parents tried to explain that if they had played their usual run-n-gun style, the points wouldn't have been close. They took that to heart the next 2 games and blew out Boston and Las Vegas. As they announced their last match, I could see the boys grow uneasy. The ref said "with this win, (our boys) go into the finals". Well, they tensed up, didn't play their style and lost by a less than 10 points. So, they were out of the competition, but they bounced back. Before the finals had even started, C went bull riding at the Matador booth and T was off getting shwag from the Verizon booth.

Exodus
Leaving the Tour grounds, the boys were a little dejected, but a dinner of pizza and soda turned them around. The following morning, we hit the pool for one last dip, and visited Las Vegas a little bit. T rode the roller coaster at the New York - New York, and C won prizes in the arcade. Then we hopped the train over to the Luxor to see the inside of the great pyramid. Time was getting tight, so we hopped a cab back to the Hard Rock, and joined the teams for the shuttle back to the airport. The other Portland team also came in third. Oh well, we all agreed that the trip was a great prize for winning the regional, and look forward to competing again next year. The final flight was delayed on the ground for 2 hours because of lightning, and we had some turbulence in-air, but otherwise, passing through McCarran Airport was a breeze for a Sunday.

I think we all agree that it was a great trip, and the boys plan to compete again next year. They can't be on the same team, as the age grouping has pushed T and the other boys into the higher age group. Still, C will figure out another trio of boys to compete with while T finds one more shooter. That's it for now. I'll post on the bus when I actually have a few minutes to work on him.

pictures:
top - The Hard Rock Guitar in front of the hotel - now my phone desktop picture :)
middle - the Nerf team enjoying their pre-contest breakfast
bottom - a huge Ozzy lithograph hanging in the Hard Rock Hotel

Graduation Graduation Party Party

Sorry I haven't posted in the last week. Lots of activity going on, but no bus updates. My wife did graduate, and the boys and I were joined by her mom (Marianne) for the ceremony. We had a big ol' BBQ to celebrate with friends and then this was the last week of school for the kids. I hope to get out of work a little early tomorrow and hammer on the bus this weekend. The weather has not meaningfully improved, so we're still stuck in the mid-Spring like weather (highs in the low 60's, clouds with rain, etc).

D Graduates
The event lasted about 2 hours, and most of that was calling the 770 or so names of the graduates. It was great seeing her cross the stage and get her certificate. Unfortunately, we were so far away all of our pictures turned out blurry. An unexpected highlight was the school stage band cranking out tunes before the ceremony started. They rocked out some Led Zeppelin songs and a few modern bands' stuff.

Party
We've had lots of celebrations this past week. First, I was taken out for a welcome to your new job lunch. I love those. It seems like most places have a big party when you leave and basically say "welcome to hell" when you start. No party, just a bunch of hassle getting a computer or whatever. With the new job, though, came a welcome lunch at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. Yummy. That was Friday, before my wife's graduation. That evening, we celebrated the graduation with a family ice cream.

Party Party
Sunday, we hosted over 65 people (including kids) to again celebrate D's graduation. I worked the grille flipping burgers and beer-soaked brats' for our friends. The weather was accommodating, staying above 60* with limited cloud-cover, and the beers were flowing. My wife and a few of the guests broke out guitars (and a flute) and sang us songs from the living room out through the bay windows. It being a school night, the party broke up to put kids to bed.

Party Party Party
Wednesday afternoon, T graduated from elementary school. The parent volunteers put together a great celebration day for the kids. They decorated the gym, created a DVD of their 7 years together at the school (tracing videos and still photos back to kindergarten), and planned a party at JJExtreme. I volunteered to chaperon, and rode the bus. Like so many adventures in my VW, the school bus broke down on the way there and we sat roadside for 30 minutes waiting for a replacement. The school bus has these auto-engage tire chains that went on and the driver couldn't get them to remove themselves. Great technology, eh? Once we got there, the kids had a ball. After about 2 hours of playing, everyone enjoyed pizza. We got everyone home safe afterwards, though the bus ride home wasn't as well behaved (albeit less, uh... interrupted) as the ride out. I guess some kids had a harder time calming down from the fun than others.

Meanwhile, I've been in near-constant meetings from day-start to day-end. I received a comment on that last post about all the meetings not being an anomaly. Becky, you're probably right. It is corporate America after all, but I really do think things will settle down. Like I said at the beginning, I hope to be cutting out of work early-ish tomorrow if all goes well, and I'll attack the remaining wiring bits. I did get the butt-splice parts in the mail, so I should be ready to roll on the primary electrical. I'm fairly sure the radiator fan circuit will fall into place as well. Just keep on keeping on, eh?

New Job, New Additions

Again, I find myself without my pictures. I'll upload a few tomorrow. Today, I'll touch on my job change, my new nephew and a little progress I slipped in around the end-of-school chaos.

New Job
I mentioned in an earlier post that I interviewed for a job. Well, I was offered and I accepted it. Its been a pretty steep adjustment curve over the last few days (started Monday), but I'm sure I'll settle-in given enough time. I've had to be on conference calls twice already this week, and I have more tonight. Eek. That pretty much kills any not-work stuff, like seeing T's lacrosse games or wrenching on the bus. I think it is just because of the transition and where certain projects are in their respective time-lines. Basically, I think it will pass.

New Addition
Out of respect for my sister-in-law, I probably didn't mention that she was preggers with her second child. Well... they are now the proud parents of a 9-pound baby boy. 9 pounds! That's more than an alternator, in fact, I think its more than my turbo. hehehe... he's adorable - perfectly round head with that peach-fuzz hair. Mom is doing very well, as are my brother and their daughter.

Pluggin Along
On the bus side, I have clowned with the wiring a little bit, but my time has been very hard to come by. I did extend the wires from the main harnesses to the pedal switches. This involved creating 2 cables of AWG18 and AWG20 wire (4 wires for brake switch, 6 for accelerator) at 15 foot lengths bound together with electrical tape every 6 inches. I ran the cable under the bus along the main channel where the clutch cable goes. There are factory holes that the cable fit through, so it never hangs more than a couple of inches below the floor, and is always above the beams. The 15 feet of cable was perfect - there is some slack in the cable, but there was enough so I could operate through the westy closet to get the wires spliced in. If you find yourself doing this, note that of the accelerator wires, 2 of them look very similar - white/gray and white/skyblue. I don't know who the genius was at VW to put near-duplicate wire colors in the same circuit, but be advised.

Failed Primary
I also started on the primary electrical stuff. This was kind of a bust. I thought that the thicker wires could be soldered together to create a better electrical connection, but even with a blowtorch I couldn't get the ends of the wires hot enough to melt the solder. I bought a bunch of "butt-splice" kits online that consist of a crimp-style splice with a shrink-wrap sleeve. They should be in-hand soon, and then I'll be able to finish off the primary circuits.

Cool Fan
This leaves the radiator fan circuit. I have decided to re-use the existing relays in case I have to revert to the original fans. I just need to define how the relays will mount and run the wire. I don't think it will be much of a job. Most of my time will be spent making the wiring look pretty, and tying in the temperature sensor on the radiator.

That's it for now. My wife graduates on Friday, and her mom is back in town for another 2 week stay. I suspect my progress will not improve during that time, and having the bus in running order for Summer camping is looking pretty unlikely. Regardless, I'll keep at it and I may be surprised.

edit: added pictures.
pictures-
top: brake switch wire bundle (aligned left to right as appears in switch plug)
middle: brake switch wire bundle with main harness wires in same L-to-R order
bottom: brake switch wires mated and taped

Mom's Day Spaghetti

Today's post will cover my mother-in-law's (MIL) arrival, a few events since then and a quick visit into the wiring. Last, I have some decisions to make about where to put / how to use the donor dash pod.

First, some of the things I ordered have started to arrive. For example, the belt for the alternator / generator arrived last week (I posted on that before), so that's now in-place. On Thursday, the battery isolator arrived. Still in-transit is the battery fuse-block. Once that appears, I should be well positioned for getting the primary electrical connected.

Marianne arrives
Saturday was a typically crazy day. T had a 9:AM lacrosse game. C was picked up by a friend for an overnight on the Oregon Coast. A new tv we had ordered (and paid for with our taxman refund) arrived and was installed. Marianne's plane arrived early (shortly after noon), and my whole family came over for a big Italian feast. It was nice to have the family over. My brothers both have little ones and my older brother has a step-daughter too, so we have about 14 in total. Marianne made her secret-recipe (her father's) meatballs, and we all ate too much. Good times.

Mom's Day
I had arranged for the boys to make cards this year, so both my wife and my MIL were greeted with cards when they awoke. Knowing my wife is up too early to try to make breakfast-in-bed, I'd prepared for a picnic lunch after church. Instead of going to a park, though, we picninc'ed in the backyard so Marianne wouldn't tire too much. C arrived after the picnic, but his bouncy energy was felt immediately. I kept the boys distracted so my wife and MIL could watch a movie undisturbed, but I was still able to get about 45 minutes looking at the wiring harness. Good thing the weather was as picture-perfect or I would have been "distracting" more interactively inside. Instead, it was just a matter of keeping all questions going through me while they played outside.

Spaghetti and Oil
I've already posted about some of the success I've enjoyed with the 2 main engine harnesses. There are still a few connectors on those harnesses that I can't trace to a purpose, but I suspect they will become clear eventually. I also noted that I had some connectors in the engine compartment for which I did not have a corresponding wired plug. Fortunately, I tagged every plug I could last November, so when I pulled out the main harness, I found the 2 I was missing: the coolant level plug and the coolant pressure plug. The trick was going to be getting these plugs into the engine compartment without having the entire trunk in there.

I started working the trunk (main harness) on Sunday with a pair of scissors and some wire cutters. Since a bunch of engine oil got on the harness during shipping, it was pretty messy, but I was still able to identify clusters of wires I didn't need and remove them. "How?" The first cluster of wires was related to the in-dash stereo components. There were plugs for the stereo and the CD changer, for example. These were not to be re-used, so I un-wired them back to the main trunk. Then, there was the AC controls, and then I started on the exterior lighting. The lighting was a little tricky because so many of the donor plugs were left unlabeled. It turned out, though, that I was able to trace many of the wires through the main trunk and out the other side to where the wiring headed to the rear of the donor vehicle was cut. That iced it.

Within 45 minutes (or maybe an hour) I had removed over 3 pounds of wire from the main harness. I know there is considerably more I can remove, like the rest of the exterior lighting, any interior lighting, window and door lock controls, etc. Once all of the accessory items are gone, I will have (a) a much cleaner harness and (b) many many feet of donor wire in all kinds of colors and thickness to extend things like the coolant level sender circuit. The next time I can get out there I hope to finish the harness clean up. If time allows, I'll start the plug extension after that.

Dash Pod Decisions
During a quiet moment, I pulled out the donor (1998 New Beetle) dash pod and sat it on the steering wheel. It doesn't look like it will fit in the original dash pod hole without some modification. I tried placing it on top of the dash, but it blocks too much view, even if I place it in the center. I looked at placing it in the center of the dash where the stereo sits, but that would take some hacking too. So, I'm now leaning towards leaving the old dash pod in place and stashing the new one under the rock-n-roll bed. This leaves an open question about the VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor). If I'm not using the NB dash pod, I don't need that speedometer to work. Since I'm not putting in cruise-control, do I need the VSS at all? Same goes for changing the fuel level sensor. I will need to do something for a tachometer, but putting the NB dash pod out of sight is a game-changer..... and it significantly reduces the amount of work I need to do to be road ready.

More next time. I welcome your input on what purpose the VSS will serve if I don't use the speedo nor the cruise control system.

Cabin Heat, flexible lines

Tonight, I'll cover some thoughts about how to heat the inside of the bus and the coolant line routing I did this afternoon. My wife took a quick week in Las Vegas, so I have an update on Marianne and Tom.

Cabin Fever
First, I thought about putting the heating unit under the main belly of the bus. I went through the trouble of reversing the heater core, and re-mounting it. But, once I got under the bus, I discovered that I couldn't put it where I wanted to as it would block 1/2 the entrance to the radiator. Oi. One more example of avoiding sliding under the bus and it costing me in wasted time.

Then, my thinking switched to putting the heater unit (rear heater unit from a vanagon) under the front belly pan. The front pan hangs over 8" below the floor of the bus, and there is sufficient space width-wise to fit the heating unit (needs 13"). Reference the picture to the right...The heater unit could sit with the square foam side pressed up against the floor. The original heater tube in this location will be removed so the air that is forced by the fan will go up through the tube into the bus cab. I had intended to connect the entry side of the fan to the original ducting. I realized that once the belly pan was re-attached with a sealing foam, I won't have to fit the ducting together. The vacuum created by the fan will be filled by the open ducting anyway. In the picture to the left, you can see a HVAC collar has been attached to the fan inlet. If necessary, I can hard-route the old ducting into the fan.

One bit to note in this picture would be the black section along the bottom of the pictures. That is from the original cowl and it forces all of the fan air through the core. If it is left off, air can easily flow around the core, and the heat would be incomplete. The opening is 4" by 9". That's almost the size of a standard floor vent (4x10), which has me questioning whether I should go with the housing-against-the-floor plan. I could get a floor register and connect a bend up to the floor. I think that would allow better flow into the cabin, and would allow me to hang the unit from the floor instead of from the front.

Regardless, I am going to suspend the work on cabin heat for now. The wish is Operable This Summer. I won't need cabin heat in July and August. I can deal with the heat after that.

Coolant Lines
I got the rubber hoses earlier this week. With the copper pipe stringing the rubber sections together, I was able to create 2 long lines. I threaded the lines, one at a time, from the engine bay, over the right-rear axle, under the rear beam to the radiator. I connected the ends to the radiator and the engine flanges, but I'm not sure it's "done". The hoses do bend and flex, but they don't seem to want to hold much of a bend. I think they are designed for a single bend that's not terribly complicated. The bend at the radiator isn't holding tight, making the hose the low-point. I'm going to add a 90* bend of copper pipe at the radiator. That will raise the hose so it is no longer the lowest point on the bus.

I am still concerned about the lack of a bleeder at the radiator high-point, but I'll worry about that later. Also, I'll abandon the cabin heat for now and button up the coolant system. For the lines that should route to/from the heater core, I'll just tie them together in the engine compartment for now.

Marianne and Tom
My wife got back from Las Vegas on Tuesday after spending the prior week helping her brother Tom and mom (Marianne) again. We learned that Tom had lost consciousness a week ago, and was going back into the hospital. My wife flew down the next day. While she was down there, she helped Tom get hospice care started, move into a new apartment, and get somewhat settled. Her mom had another CAT scan to gauge the growth of her tumors and got the results back from her biopsy - she has a multi-cell cancer that is somewhat aggressive. My wife was the emotional anchor while she was there, and really seemed to help life their spirits. It seemed very exhausting for her, though, so we're glad she's home.

I won't have time tomorrow, nor do I expect to have much time during the week next week. I had hoped to have more on the weekends in January, but that's how it goes. Anyway, the coolant system will be done soon enough. After that, I'll either be moving back to the electrical or the air induction system.

Coolant lines ordered

I've been slammed at work, and it doesn't look like its going to let up any time soon. Additionally, my wife suddenly departed for Las Vegas, so I'm single-parenting for the next week or so. So, I'm going to keep this short. In the previous post, I laid out the rubber hose lengths I need. I ordered the hose from an online vendor. I also have an update on my brother-in-law and mother-in-law. Last, some chatter about identifying when your turbo is about to fail.

Hose
After some research, I found Goodyear offers a smooth-on-the-inside corregated-on-the-outside flexible hose that holds its bends because the corregation has wire in it. Since I need to run a 90* angle off of the radiator, an offset under the beam, over the axle and under the firewall, and then another series of 90* bends to get to the engine in/outlets, flexible hose seemed the wisest choice. I could fabricate something with copper or aluminum lines that I sweat together, but I think this is a much better idea, and it will probably be lighter as well as easier to maintain. Details about the Goodyear hoses I used can be found here. In case the link fails at some point in the future, the capsule about the hoses is below.
I hope the hoses arrive before the weekend, but I'm not terribly optimistic. I bought them from coolparts.com, and they ship using UPS Ground which can be fast, but the parts are coming from Michigan (I think), so with the Winter weather it may be a while.
I need to construct the hangers anyway (at location "C" and "D") to join the different rubber lines together anyway, so I'll be doing that work this weekend. The hangers will perform 2 purposes: 1 - hold the line up against the body at the 2 key transition points and 2 - butt together 2 segments of flexible line.
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Goodyear Flexible Radiator Hose
Designed for radiator hose applications where a molded radiator hose is not available. Flexible radiator hose has a corrugated cover that easily bends to replicate the original equipment coolant hose. Flexible radiator hose maintains full flow and resists collapse with a wire insert. Hose is designed to be used with automotive coolants.
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Marianne and Tom
Tom's health took a turn for the worse in the last few days. He is now back at the VA Hospital in Las Vegas dealing with dehydration. This could just be a complication of the medications, but it could also be a harbinger of renal failure. My wife immediately dropped her classes and booked a flight down to Las Vegas. She left today. Her mom, meanwhile, has had her cancer type determined as adeno multi-cell cancer. It is a multi-cell version of lung cancer that is not as aggressive as some other types, but still aggressive. They have determined a treatment plan, though my wife will be conferring with the doctors. I haven't gotten word from my wife since she traveled to Las Vegas, so my next posting may have more details.

Turbo Fail
I've been following a thread on TDIClub about someone who had their turbo fail in such a way that the engine's cylinders were swamped with oil. Apparently, when these turbos fail, oil blows through the intake and gets into the combustion chamber. They also scream like nothing else as they are approaching their final days, but when they finally fail it blows oil. Since the diesel engine operates on a much higher pressure principle, you can imagine what happens to your bottom end when a chamber that is supposed to be filled with vapor is suddenly filled with fluid. BOOM BOOM BOOM there goes your connecting rod. It was suggested that monitoring the turbo could be done with a turbo speed sensor (Garrett makes one for about $360). I emailed with a company that build custom diesel installations that used the speed sensors and they decided that they were overly expensive and not well-tailored to the task. How do you avoid an ugly turbo failure? Check the play in your turbo during your regular maintenance (oil changes). If you're especially nervous about it, get a boost gauge.

More next time.

tucked in, and ready

Today, I'll briefly touch on where we are with the bus, and the health of the in-laws.

Hapy Hath Moved
With the help of my 11 year old son, Hapy has moved from the driveway to his designated spot alongside the garage. Saturday morning we had a fortunate break in the weather. The cold snap gave way to thaw and the rains that tracked behind the cold hadn't started yet. My son and I took that as an opportunity to get Hapy moved. I picked up a cable winch puller (aka come-along) from Harbor Freight during the week, so we had the tools. With a trucker's chain wrapped around a fencepost and then hooked back on itself as the brace-end, I hooked the cable to the nose-end tow-hook. Moving the bus about 4 feet at a time between re-configurations, we were able to creep the bus across the sidewalk, over a step and up the incline within an hour. My son sat at the wheel, holding it steady or re-directing as needed. He also helped push from behind when the cable puller seemed to be at its max. We were able to hand push the last 5 feet or so. Now, he is out of the wind and 2 steps from the garage side door. I can route heat, light and even music pretty easily. The only thing that's missing is a carport roof. Ah well. At least its level and well-draining. I hope to get drilling on the radiator mounts this week or this weekend. I have some other commitments (it is the Holiday season after all), so getting an hour or so may be difficult.

In Law Health
Unfortunately, even after a week long visit, my wife doesn't have much in new information. We can confirm that her mother has some form of lung cancer, but we don't know what kind. They will be running a scope to see what they can see next week. Marianne hasn't been very forthcoming about her condition so far, so we are skeptical that we will get straight answers from her. We figure my wife will have to go back down there, but we are't really sure when or for how long yet.
Her brother Tom, however, has been undergoing radiation treatment for the cancer they found in his spine. He is getting some kind of care review tomorrow when he should learn how effective the radiation therapy has been. I haven't heard anything about his liver (where the doctors believe the cancer started), so I'm not sure what the treatment plan is. His prognosis is not terribly good, though.

Support System
I have discovered a few things this week with my wife away.
First, I have some amazing kids. I didn't realize just how far removed I am from their daily lives and rhythms until I'm directing all the traffic. Having been deeply embedded with them this week, I have really connected with them, especially my younger son, in a way that I really hope remains and even continues to strengthen. This picture to the right was taken during a trip to the Portland Fire Boats as a part of his Cub Scout Den field trip. That red thing is a boat-mounted water cannon from 1946. The boat is still commissioned and used on large dock/pier fires.
Second, we have some pretty great friends. When we discovered that my wife had to bail out of town, our friends lined up to watch the boys for a couple of hours each afternoon. We have had meals dropped off, cards, calls of concern and more offers to help than I have managed to count. To all of these helpers and well-wishers, I offer my most sincere thanks. If I didn't taken you up on an offer, it was helpful to just hear the words that you were there, and you were thinking of how you could lighten the load.
Last, my wife is pretty great. Heading down to visit her sick mother and brother required a vat of compassion and willingness to put up with conflict that I can't really imagine. The emotional toll of visiting hospitals, and watching her mother's energy slowly drain while negotiating with doctors, forms and insurance folks must have been incredible. Fortunately, she is coming home to a clean house with the laundry done and a fridge full of food. I hope she will be able to decompress and relax before the holidaze hits and the return trip needs to be taken.

That's it for today. I'll update the post with a picture of Hapy in his new home. I didn't take any while we were working. It was still kinda cold, and I didn't want to lose my helper. The picture at the top was from before he was moved.

pictures:
top - Hapy with his coat on, before he was moved alongside the garage
bottom - 8 year old son visiting the 1946 Portland Fire Boat

rad brackets continue

There's not much to add this time. I didn't get much time on the project these last few days, but I was able ot get a little bit further on the radiator bracket. I also have an update on my son's H1N1.

Radiator Bracket I finished the last of the 4 separate brackets. It went together like its twin on the front. After that, I put a bit of square-tubing across the front. After taking some measurements, and messing around with Google Sketchup, I have a working model of the underside of the bus. From this, I can conclude that I will have about 5-1/2" above the frame rail to play with. If I don't want more than 5 inches of drop on the front end, that gives less than 9 inches (after removing the thickness of the radiator) of possible exposure to air flow. I'll be getting under the bus this weekend, time and weather permitting. I hope to first figure out what to mount the front end to. Then, I'll start considering how I'll do that. I have a few ideas....

Front End Tie-In Ideas
First, there's the obvious bar across the beams and a couple of vertical-ish bars coming from the front of the radiator up to that cross-bar. Figure I tie-in some kind of rubber bit to absorb the vibration and torque-action on the body.
Second, I could put shorter vertical-ish bars up from the rad and connect to a cross bar (or eye-loops) with a short stretch of cable. This would make the pitch variable, so I could experiment a little.

Where Go Fans?
I could put fans under the radiator in a pull configuration. This seems to be the common thinking for best cooling, but wouldn't any water that passes through the radiator potentially get into the motor? I'm thinking that any time the fans would be in that condition, they would probably be turning on with some regularity, but its still something to think about.
Maybe the fans go on top in a push configuration. Then, any road debris could bounce up and damage a fan. Of course, if the fans weren't there, that debris would have damaged the radiator, so there will have to be some kind of security screening to protect the top of the radiator anyway.

Shroud Cowl
The picture that I linked in an earlier posting didn't have any shrouding at all. I don't know where his bus lives, so maybe it doesn't get very hot. I think I want at least some cowling on the sides and rear to prevent rad-heated air to re-flow through. In both of the design options above there would be a vertical-ish riser at the front on both corners. I'd need something at the rear to tie into. I'll have to give that some thought. Maybe it would just be a matter of careful cutting and I could re-use the shroud mount point that I'm using for the brackets.

Cedar's H1N1
Well, Cedar finished his battle with the flu and was back at school today. He came bounding downstairs all dressed and ready to roll after over-sleeping for a school day. He made it to school only 30 minutes after the late bell. Thanks for your words of concern. We have no updates on Marianne or Tom. I'll post as we learn what's going on.

pictures:
top - front rad bracket before attaching to radiator. That's a 12" ruler for perspective.
top middle - view along bracket from water sensor end of radiator.
bottom middle - bracket at water temp sensor. Note the sensor maintenance is not affected.
bottom - full view of radiator with front and rear brackets attached.

small progress is better than none

As I look through the last year of postings, I seem to say something about not getting much done an awful lot. It makes me think that I have a hard time moving from "goal oriented" to "process oriented". I really do believe this project is all about the learning and the doing, and that the driving the bus part is just the dessert. At least, that's how I think about it when I'm actually doing something on it. When I haven't touched it in a week, I focus on the "I haven't done anything since...". I guess you can take the goal away as long as you're still in the process. Today's posting covers some small progress, a little planning, a Busaru update and a personal note. No pictures, but I'm having issues with my new phone.

Small Progress
I did manage to get the final bracket completed for the front of the radiator. I still have to cut the square tubing, and attach it to the bracket. Then, I'll be rolling back under the bus (please, no rain) to think about how I'll tie it into the bus. Like I said in a previous post, it should be easy to bolt in the rear end. The front end, however, doesn't have an obvious mount point. I'm hopeful a solution will come to me when I'm lying on my back under the bus.

A little planning
While I'm under the bus looking for a mount point, I need to think about the routing of coolant lines. I need to run lines from the engine bay to the radiator, and from the engine bay past the radiator to the front beam - where the cabin heater will be. Last, there's the thought of getting an air line from under the rear seat up to the cabin heater for recirculation. Now, I don't plan to put anything like that in now, but I don't want to design without that in mind. Otherwise, I may not be able to get air from there. Considering that is one of the coldest places in a VW Bus (yes, there's a story here), I'd like very much to make that my "cold air return".

Busaru
The Busaru was sold, so if you were thinking about it, you're too late. Too bad for me, the buyer also took the winter tires and the diesel heater :( I'm glad the former owner was able to get his old project to someone that would finish it out, though. Dave put a lot of time and effort into that bus. I sincerely hope he is able to work through his difficulties and find another project soon.

On a personal note
We learned this week that my wife's brother Tom has cancer. We don't know what kind, or what his treatment options are, but we appreciate your positive thoughts for him. Just a few days before that, we had learned that my wife's mother Marianne has a lump in her lung and that my wife's estranged father had passed away. Meanwhile, her neice Becky gave birth to her first boy (she has a young girl). Through all that, my wife has managed to keep her class schedule, and everything else much more together than most would have. It has really been too much to process for all of us, so I don't have a nice pearl to tie it all together with yet. It will be a few days before we know more about either Tom's or Marianne's condition or treatment options.
Update: I just learned that my younger son, Cedar, has contracted H1N1. When it rains it pours.

That's about all I have today. I should have some time early this week to get that cross bar on the radiator. Whether I have a dry opportunity with ample lighting is another question. Maybe I'll find that pearl along the way.