Hapy not Spittin Fuel

I managed to get Hapy, the 1972 TDI-powered microbus, over to Justin to get the injection pump re-sealed this weekend. Today's post covers that adventure as well as a quick trip thru a K'Lack (2004 VW Jetta Wagon) issue.

 

Getting There

head seal complete

It has been 2 years since Hapy really went much of anywhere. Most of that time, he sat waiting for attention either in an unknown, but unstartable state or in pieces. Once I had him re-assembled with a new flywheel/ring gear and had a test drive, the original reason for him to have starting problems re-appeared: Injection Pump losing prime. I was able to prime the pump with a MityVac and then crack the injectors to get him running. And, in that way I took him on a short test drive, found some issues with the lights, etc. There remained many other issues, but at least I could get him running, stopping and had my lights so I could drive him an hour and 20 minutes to Justin's shop.

 

The night before our start-of-day appointment, I got Hapy out of the back and filled with B-20 biodiesel ($6.40/gal. same as dinoDiesel. Thanks, Trump). That morning, I filled up with coffee and hit the road. Most of the drive from West Beaverton to Justin's shop is on back country roads with few other drivers on an early Saturday morning and even fewer traffic lights. It was in the 50's (F low-teens C) and clear, making the drive very pleasant. At some point after I fixed the rear speakers, the stereo lost access to 12V so I drove in silence, a familiar scene for Hapy. The road was so easy, the thermostat never opened. I had the cabin heat on, so I may have been pulling just enough heat off the engine to keep the thermostat closed. Based on the UltraGauge, the engine temp was hovering around 180*F so running "cold". When I pulled into town off the country roads, I had a few cases of not finding 2nd gear. I noted that for followup later. When I arrived, Justin and I hung out for a bit before getting started. He has so many interesting projects all going at once, you have to absorb it all. I mean, who puts a TDI in an Audi TT while also putting one into a Rabbit pickup? Love that! The way he scraps discards and re-uses them for the basis of tools is pretty awesome too. He's even teaching himself TIG welding. Small crush, maybe. Okay, fine. He does do some impressive stuff.

 

Injection Pump (IP) Reseal

hammer mod perfecting IQ

Justin had encouraged me to get the seal kit from Cascade German, since they are local-to-Oregon, when we first set the apointment. I had already purchased the deluxe kit from DieselGeek. I didn't understand the difference. These 2 kits definitely vary in their intended purpose, so they have some meaningful differences. The Cascade German version is actually less expensive, but it includes all of the little seals usually replaced when a legit shop does the re-seal. The DieselGeek kit has far fewer seals (just the 2 on top and the head-to-base seal) and it is designed for the home-mechanic to re-seal the pump in their garage without removing the pump from the vehicle. The DieselGeek deluxe kit is more expensive because it includes specialty bits a car owner probably does not have, but are needed for the job. This differentiation is important and your case may lead you to the larger kit even if you do not intend to replace much more than the 3 included in the DieselGeek deluxe.

 

Once Justin discovered the gap, we made-do with the smaller kit. Justin replaced the top 2 seals first and then moved onto the head-to-base seal. Rather than use the included "retraction limiting bolt" and try to fit the new head seal over the top of it, the head was removed, and I held the guts of the pump in-place while Justin cleaned all the surfaces and installed the new seal onto the head. Once installed, he hooked up the VagCom and hammer-mod'd (link to Hammer Mod thread on TDIClub) the injection quantity (IQ). Justin was aiming for 6.0 mg/stk because the engine was cold (54*C).

 

The engine bay was pretty dirty, so lots of time was spent getting the IP clean before we began as well as afterwards when the whole engine got a cleaning. After it dried off a bit, we let the engine idle and we looked for leaks. None found. Justin did ask about how the starter was mating to the flywheel. It does sound loud, like it may not be meshing quite right. I'll need to remove and reinstall the starter and the starter adapter to see if I can get things to sit right. The original adapter and starter that I put in just worked for years. I would expect the new-also-stock starter would fit the same. Since this is a new adapter, that is actually designed for the application, versus one I dremel'd to fit, I would think it would fit better. It's a puzzler, but one I will consider carefully as I remove/reinstall (R&R) the starter to get it to hit the ring gear more cleanly.

 

Getting Home

If there is anything we have learned over the years about Hapy, its that he loves going places and really does not like going home. How many times have I left home and the road trip to 4 Peaks or some camping spot went great and the drive home was either very challenging or partially performed by a flatbed? Too many. This trip was no different. At first, Hapy ran great. The engine was responsive and stayed cool. Somewhere around McMinnville a charged air pipe popped off, leaving me running naturally aspirated the rest of the drive home. This served as yet another reminder to never leave home with Hapy without some tools. While the turbo is great for the overall power-band, its absence is really noticeable when trying to leave the line and get up to traffic speed. Now that it was about noon on an absolutely stunner of a day, the roads were busy where they had been empty a few hours before.

 

By the time I was approaching the Dundee Bypass, I was having increasing difficulty finding 1st and 2nd gear. Sometimes, one or the other would be right there. Other times, it was a "can't find it, grind it" experience. This persisted all the way home, forcing me to sometimes leave a stop line in 3rd. When you add in the no-turbo, I had some dissatisfied fellow travelers around me. I did get home, however, and I drove Hapy all the way into the shop so I can chase these issues.

K'Lack

After having something to eat, I switched over to K'Lack, the 2004 TDI Jetta Wagon with a BEW motor. It had been throwing a crank position sensor error, lighting up the check engine light (CEL), preventing it from passing smog. I had ordered a replacement from Cascade on Thursday, and it was in the morning mail on Saturday when I got home from Justin's. The removal/replacement of these is not complicated (remove bolt, unplug from harness, install is reverse), but getting to the sensor and the weird bolt head complicate things. The sensor sits right behind the oil filter on the front, when the engine installed transverse like normal. The bolt head is a 9mm 12-point. Half of my sockets are 6-point and the other half are 12's, designed, I think, for easier application onto hex bolts. In this weird case, that socket set perfectly onto the 12-point bolt head. With the right socket, short extension and ratchet the bolt comes out fairly easily. The plug end is fitted into a metal tang, but otherwise once unplugged, the whole thing can just get dropped through the gaps onto the ground.

 

To install, I plugged it in first and then covered the sensor with a rubber glove to lower it past the engine ick and then below the car. Could I have cleaned the engine bay before starting? Yes. But then I would have been lying in mud since the car was on my front lawn, not back in the shop and I didn't want to lay in a puddle. At this point, I found having another person to be your eyes is very helpful. I got under the car, un-gloved and suspended sensor in hand and had Boo tell me east-west, up down until I was able to send the sensor into the hole. By doing it in this order, the sensor wanted to be oriented such that the bolt holes lined up naturally. I sent the bolt thru, tightened with the socket/ratchet combo and I was done. Since I cleared the code we need to run a few cycles until it is ready to smog.

 

For the legal-minded, Oregon cops are interested in registration violations after years of looking the other way post-CoViD. K'Lack got a registration-violation ticket while legally parked in downtown Portland. Drivers beware.

 

Hapy Wrenching

Feeling confident, I switched back to Hapy, and re-connected the charged air hose. As I suspected, it was one of the rubber-to-metal bits. I cleaned both the outside of the metal pipe and the inside of the rubber with brake cleaner so they were more apt to stay together and then tightened the clamp down.

 

I next wanted to chase why the lower gears were sporadically missing. I checked the front of the transaxle to see if it was out of position at all. Nope. Right before Boo and I bought this house, I bought a Gene Berg shifter. The new-at-that-time seats were higher than stock, moving the approximately-stock-length Scat gear shift further away. The Gene Berg shifter is a few inches longer, so I figured there would be less leaning. I had not gotten to installing it before the house was bought and life took a turn. Anyway, at this point I looked at the Scat shifter I had installed, probably over 15 years ago and slid the vinyl boot up the shifter. The plastic bits on either side of the shifter appeared to be allowing more play than I remembered. Hmm. Then, I looked at the rest of that mechanism. It was very rusty, especially the foot that rests on the floor. I shot the bolts with Kroil and after waiting a couple of minutes, removed them with a 13mm spanner/socket combination.

 

rust under shifter

The floor under the shifter had meaningful rust to match the rust on the shifter foot. I don't know how much play was created by the plastic bits, nor how much may have been introduced by the rust. I do recall, however, that the Scat shifter instructions did not account for adjusting the placement of the shifter front/back nor left/right. When looking at the foot profile, it looks very much like it is designed to sit squarely in the oval without any adjustment at all. I don't know if this was a terribly good design, but I will be installing the Gene Berg shifter which does allow for adjusting. I cleaned up the rust dust, shot the floor and the shift-rod end with brake cleaner and got everything as clean as I could. Then, I painted the area with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulater (the new stuff is even better than the original) and called it a day. I still need to treat from below. I shot the picture on the right here as I was almost done applying the paint.

 

Wrap

Well, that's where we stand right now. I have been in and out of the shop a few times since Saturday and there is not a single drop of fuel on the floor under Hapy. So, we can close the book on the IP leak. I intend to complete the shifter swap and then R&R the starter next. I hope that will be the end of both issues, but I suspect there will be more to do than that. Then, of course, there are all the other things like a fuel level gauge, the radio, and the diesel heater just off the top of my head. There are many incomplete items on Hapy. Now that I have a mostly-inside (one doorway remains), concrete floor'd space to work, my desire to work on these cars has really kicked into a new level.

 

Thanks, as always, for following along and more next time-

Fixing Hapy Furnace (part 2)

Picking up where I left off the last post, Hapy has an operational furnace again.

Fuel Pump Swap

As I mentioned in my last post, the fuel pump which originally delivered with the heater/furnace would not work when I tried to bring things back to life. I splurged and bought a more expensive "quiet" model for $50US rather than another standard pump for $20US. I figured quieter or not, the more expensive pump may have better parts in it, and it may last longer whether it is quieter or not. Or it was just a marketing gimmick and I got took. Let's chalk it up to the cost of an experiment.

The old fuel line path was relatively simple. The "hard" (clear but firm plastic) lines that delivered with the furnace had short (50mm / 2-inch) stretches of fuel hose between them and the pump. The pump was suspended from a cross beam by the included rubber mount held in place by a single sheet metal screw. After a few turns with a screwdriver, the pump was on the ground. A few more and the fuel lines were removed from it. The supply fuel line started dripping fuel after a few seconds, so I caught it with a pan. The line on the pressurized side was completely empty, so no drips. I simply reversed the removal: added the rubber mount from the supply end of the pump, added the supply fuel line, suspended the pump from the cross beam and then added the pressurized-side line.

Prime and Fire Up

The Afterburner has a control page where you can direct only the fuel pump to fire up. This allows you to get fuel all the way to the furnace without the glow plug turning on (drawing the battery and maybe burning out the glow plug). I had not connected the pressure line to the furnace, but I wanted to clear the lines of any bad fuel, so I moved the pan under the dangling hardline and triggered the Afterburner to prime. Within a minute of the prime starting, fuel started spurting out the end of the line. It took longer than I expected it to, but perhaps that is an indication of how little fuel these units actually consume. Once the fuel leaving the pressure line looked like the fuel supplied at a filling station, I stopped the prime function and connected the hardline to the fuel hose dangling from the furnace.

While the pump was slightly larger than the original, it did not seem much quieter during the prime. Of course, I hadn't heard it pump in a couple of years, and memory is a funny thing. I do recall that when the furnace was running, I could hear the tick-tick-tick of the fuel pump over the whoosh of the furnace. With this in mind, I set the furnace to start. I did not want to consider the experiment with the new thicker, dedicated wiring yet, so I left the battery tender hooked up. At no point did the battery fall below 13.5V so either the tender was working hard, or the new wiring is a hit.

Regardless, the glow plug got lit, the fan started spinning and after 2 or 3 minutes the furnace ignited. This felt like a considerably longer period of time than before. Perhaps the priming was incomplete and I needed to prime again after connecting the hose to the furnace. Perhaps it took time to ignite simply because it had been so long. Once it ignited, a huge plume of smoke poured out of the little muffler. There was virtually no wind, so the cloud grew and sat slowly obscuring first the rear end of the bus and slowly 2/3 of the bus before a light breeze broke it up. After a few minutes, the cloud dissipated and the exhaust emission was reduced to nothing. All that remained was a light smokey haze inside the bus. I regret not taking a picture of that.

Noise Observations

While the temperature inside the bus slowly crept up from 55*F (13*C), I noted the noises. I could only hear the fuel pump ticking inside the cabinet where the furnace is located and even then, only when I stuck my head into the cabinet. I think the pressurized line is transmitting it. I stuck my head into the rock-n-roll cabinet above the spot where pump is actually installed and could not hear it. Maybe this new pump is quieter. Then, I moved outside where in the past I could clearly hear the pump from several feet away, even from the passenger-door side. I could not hear it, but I could hear the furnace whoosh. Of course, my muffler-ing of the furnace is different this time, having removed the second small rectangular muffler and the motorbike muffler. Perhaps the pump is no quieter, but the furnace is that much louder. To determine if the muffler configuration is a variable, I decided I will conduct another test at a different time, after re-attaching the other muffler bits. I had thought about bringing them along for while-parked use, and maybe I will need to, out of respect for our festival-going neighbors. In the past, I took decibel readings, but they were for while the furnace held a temperature, not during temp catch-up (full blast).

I will continue to experiment with noise readings and post if I find any readings are different than they were 4 years ago. I expect that once I put the extra rectangular and motorbike mufflers on, the readings will be what they were before. The only real mystery to me is whether the fuel pump can be heard over it. At this point, though, the pump seems significantly quieter.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Fixing Hapy Furnace (part 1)

Having finally arrived at a place where we have some heat while we're moving, I felt motivated to fix the heat for when we are standing still. Today's post covers most of the saga of getting a Chinese diesel heater operational again. Spoiler alert: the heater isn't running by the end of this post.

Brief History

Back in the early days of CoViD, I installed one of those Chinese diesel parking heaters into Hapy (See Parking Heater 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Final for deep detail). While I was able to run it a few times, I found that the heater pulled the voltage way down on whichever battery was connected to it. I tried to solve by providing multiple batteries to source from: one to start, one to run, but switching from battery to battery seemed like a bad practice. I had other priorities, so I just let the furnace sit unused. When I did the sound deadening effort and the luxury electrical re-wire, I dismantled the cabinet which housed the furnace so I could get sound deadener underneath it and electrical cables through it. This meant dismantling part of the furnace too. Later, when the band wanted to use Hapy for the album cover, I removed the furnace exhaust so it would not appear in pictures. So, I had a furnace without an exhaust, and would draw way too much juice.

Electrical

Over time, and with more learning about electrical stuff, I have concluded that the wire used to convey electricity but perhaps more importantly the wire for a ground were far too thin. It was due to these thin wires that the voltage would drop so badly as the furnace attempted to compensate. Wires which would have been barely up to the job had the battery been sitting right on top of the heater will definitely NOT be up to the task once you move the battery a few feet away. This is exacerbated by running the ground to the body of the bus instead of back to the battery. The ground location should not matter as much, but I'm citing it as a participant cause anyway. So, addressing the electrical came first after removing the furnace from the bus.

A small harness of wires leaves the furnace body and enters a black plug (see picture on the right). The harness that ships with the furnace includes a pigtail that clicks into the furnace black plug. To my eye, the red and black wires in the pigtail are not nearly as thick as the wires leaving the furnace. This probably saved the manufacturer a few pennies, but the amp draw issue starts right there (and in my case got worse). So, I cut the main power and main ground wires from the furnace black plug and put male/female wire ends on them (12V/ground respectively). I made them different so I couldn't accidentally plug it in backwards. I then prepped a thick 2-wire black/red cable with matching wire ends, and routed it over to the luxury battery. At the battery end, I added a ring terminal for the ground and added a 20Amp fuse into the positive side before adding a ring terminal on that end. I left things detached as I switched to preparing for the exhaust.

Exhaust

From under the bus, it was clear that I had not made the hole(s) large enough for the exhaust, intake and fuel to be easily maintained. Quite the contrary, I had installed it such that once it was all together, it would have to all come apart to fix anything. Frowny-face. So, I started by cutting a 4-inch square hole into the lower belly pan. Many buses do not have these, but I got lucky. Anyway, with the hole cut I could see where the furnace sat, and noticed that the exhaust was getting pinched by the too-small hole in the floor as the exhaust left the furnace. So, I went topside and expanded the upper hole both in the floor of the cabinet and the steel floor of the bus. With the larger hole, the exhaust easily fits and things could be maintained from below. Still, I did what I could on the furnace itself before lowering it in: Connect a 6" long stretch of fuel line, attach a small circle of window screen to the intake (so bugs and pebbles don't get in) and then attach maybe a foot of heat-wrapped exhaust. I set the furnace in place and attached a small subset of the muffler arrangement I had used before: just one rectangular muffler. I may bring the expanded muffler set up for use when we are in tighter camping spots (like festivals), so we can bolt-on some extra quiet. I mounted the muffler to the underside of the frame rail, with the outlet pointing rearward and slightly away from center (picture on the right).

A keen eye can see some fresh Rustoleum primer + paint above the muffler where I discovered some rust had eaten all the way through the body. When I was working on the other stuff I ground the metal down, removing the rust, but exposing the holes. Sadness. That rust traces back to when this bus had a small vent window directly above this spot. That vent window was badly leaking and the rust had already been forming to the point of marring the paint when I bought this bus over 20 years ago. I eliminated the vent window in 2015 (See Calling "glass") with a window I purchased from BusBoys in Redding, CA in 2009. Some things move slower than others.

Fuel

I shifted over to fueling at this point. The fuel line that had been between the included "hard" line and the furnace had breeched, probably when I did the sound deadening. The fuel in the line looked dark, so I dropped the line into an empty pail, and figured I would prime the fuel system, and purge the bad fuel at the same time. Unfortunately, the fuel pump is no longer functional, so I am waiting on a replacement to finish this job.

Afterburner

Back when I first did this job, I bought an Afterburner from the guy who hand builds them in Australia. Apparently, there are people building knock-offs, eating into his business, since they basically have cloned his work. So, if you are looking at getting the much nicer controller for your parking heater, please connect with Mr. Jones in Australia and get the real deal. Anyway, with the Afterburner, I tried to prime the fuel system, but the fuel pump wouldn't respond. When I unplugged the pump, I got a code; I concluded the wiring to the pump was good but pump was bad. So I ordered a new, supposedly quieter, one. We'll see. While I was clowning around with the Afterburner, I got it onto my home network, downloaded the newest firmware and wandered around the new-to-me website that the Afterburner hosts. It's really cool. I am looking forward to triggering the furnace to warm the bus from inside. For reference, here is a link to the user manual.

This is as far as I've gotten. I am waiting for a new fuel pump to arrive. I need to purge the old lines of nasty fuel, and install that new pump. I expect there will be other discoveries, and I need to rebuild the cabinet innards. There's always opportunities to improve things. Anyway, thanks, as always, for following along-

Hapy Noises - Part 2

Today's post continues the thinking-through-my-fingers on noise containment in Hapy, the 1972 camper microbus powered by a turbo diesel engine from a 1998 VW Beetle. This time, we look at the layers of noise control which appear on top of the vibration dampener I mentioned in part 1 (See Hapy Noises - Part 1). Then, I cover some decibel collection I did so we have a starting point for measuring success or failure of the various layers.

Sound Absorb

Second Skin Heat Wave (Jute)

With the Constrained Layered Dampener (CLD) chosen, I wanted to add noise absorption stuff as well. In my research, I arrived at 5 different product types that could help. There are plenty of other choices, but I think by combining these, I will achieve my noise control goal. These act differently and have different strengths, so some are better in different locations and some are best used together.

Jute Thermal - absorbs sound, but is really more for temperature containment. This is similar to old-skool car insulation, but it is lightweight, and actually does absorb some noise. I intend to put this (HeatWave) over the engine compartment, under the rock-n-roll bed (on the floor) through the main cabin, under the front seats and to the front kick panels. It will act as a 3/8" thick carpet pad while keeping road noise and heat down. The Heat Wave product is designed to resist mold, etc, so even here in the rainy Pacific North West, it is safe for use. Of course, getting it soaking wet is not advised, so some thought about where it should be placed is suggested.

Second Skin MLV

MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl) - blocks the transfer of airborne sound. Some products have integrated foam to absorb sound as well. These sheets are heavy for their size, and folks have expressed difficulty in getting them to hang vertically (like on a wall) or horizontally (on a ceiling, eg) permanently. I intend to use this stuff (Luxury Liner) from tailgate to toe-kick: under the seats, the rock-n-roll bed and the entire floor on top of the jute. By having the jute layer in-between, the MLV is more effective. The audio guys use this stuff behind their door cards too, but I'm not sure I'll have the money nor patience for that. The luxury liner is 1/8" thick, so, anywhere this goes on top of the Jute, the carpet will effectively have 1/2" of pad, which would be a little thick anywhere people are walking around, but the MLV will effectively stiffen the underfoot feel. It won't feel like you're walking on a 1/2" cloud. Using it under the seats will be fine, provided it doesn't interfere with the operation of the seat. This stuff is super important for noise containment; the audio experts / competitors swear by this stuff. I am toying with the idea of creating a "box" of this stuff inside the engine compartment to really cut down on the transfer of the engine-din. I'm not sure how that would all work. Again, thinking thru fingers.

Second Skin Mega Zorbe

Acoustic Foam - There are literally hundreds of different acoustical foam in all kinds of contents, shapes and sizes. Most are not all-weather-safe, and some are rather thick, so the options for smaller spaces where water or humidity might appear reduce that list from hundreds down to tens. That's still a big list. I plan to use this stuff (Mega Zorbe) in the doors, walls and in the ceilings. Of the materials, this is the most expensive, but it may be the most effective in dropping the overall noise. It is 1/2" thick, so anywhere it goes it could make it's presence known, so I can't use it on the door cards, for example, but it can go into every body cavity. There is definitely 1/2" between the wood drop ceiling and the steel, so even after that wood is removed, we would not lose headroom by adding the Mega Zorbe to the ceiling. Omitting the wood drop ceiling removes a sound reflecting surface I would otherwise need to deal with as well.

Open Cell Foam - I will be putting something on the door cards. I may use an open-cell foam product. Second Skin doesn't offer anything, but that's because there really isn't a product that will meaningfully absorb sound that's less than 1/2" thick (aside from the jute) and they are in the sound control business. I want something that will soften-to-touch and maybe reduce some of the sound reflection. For that, any old thin foam would do, because pretty much any soft surface that's, like, 1/8" thick will reduce the sound reflection. Or so they tell me. I will probably order something from McMaster-Carr (like this) or foam by-the-yard (like this) from FoamMart unless I can find something from an automotive fabric place. Regardless, any time we use open-cell foam, it is best to put a moisture barrier material between the foam and fabric (like this) to protect the foam from moisture as well as protect the fabric from rubbing against the foam. I haven't decided if/how I will address the hard cabinet sides. They might get the foam/fabric treatment just like the cards.

Closed-Cell Foam  - Similar to the open-cell foam in terms of flexibility and possible uses, but closed-cell foam is not permeable, so water can't get into it, damaging it. Closed-cell foams are usually stiffer and do not absorb sound as well. I may use closed-cell foam for the door cards instead of open-cell, if I can find something that acts like an open-cell, but is water-resistant (like this Volara or this Ensolite). There are closed-cell products designed for placement between your plastic bits and the steel. I had thought about getting some for between the cards and the body. I still may, but the rough cost of this effort is already a bit nutty and I can always do that later. For now, whatever foam I put on the door cards (under whatever fabric I put on there) may simply wrap around to the backside. Hopefully, that will contain the card-to-body rattle. Of course, I may just omit foam and fabric on the cards if money and time are not available.

 

Noise (dB) Level Tooling

Before we do any of this great stuff, I want to know where we are starting, so we can measure and celebrate the gains. My sitting-in-seat frame of reference for noise: I needed to run my stereo at 25 or above to be able to hear it at all over the noise of driving down the highway on the way back from Hapy's birthday (See Hapy Turns 50). I had the volume at 30 for loud-enough-to-sing-along (but not entirely taking over) volume. That is not at all scientific. So, in the Fall of 2021, I set aside the new driver seat install, took Hapy for a spin with the old seat and recorded these values for future comparison. My "tooling" was a free iPhone application called "Decibel Meter". I chose it because the free version allowed me to save many recordings, complete with graphs, for looking back upon. I was also able to email myself 5 minutes worth of detailed data. None of the other apps which also have a reasonable scale for the dB provide those features for free. I tried a few apps I won't name which had completely inaccurate dB readings. I used "Decibel X" as my control for comparing other apps. Decibel X is great, and very accurate, but you can't record more than 1 session, nor share anything without a hefty fee. I would have used it for my tests, but I would have needed another person in the bus, watching the meter, writing things down. That's silly.

I thought about buying a measuring tool for better sampling. I decided that I was already uneasy about investing a considerable amount into solving the problem, and chose not to spend more on a measuring device. Having better calibrated results, and more accurate frequency levels would have been great. The issue is that a decent point-in-time tool (Extech 407730) is at least $80US. An OSHA-qualified tool (REED Instruments R8050) is closer to $200US without data logging, while a fully functional tool (like Extech 407750, or REED Instruments R8080) can be over $300US. Plus, you need an additional device to periodically calibrate the instrument (for another $100US or more). I'm sure these devices are better than my free iPhone app, but I need that cabbage to cancel the noise first. Having said all that, if this sound control thing is a fun project, I may get a good tool so I can better measure before and after on future car projects. The trick will be finding one that is reasonably priced, accurate, can be easily re-calibrated and has a logging function so I can collect 30+ minutes of data without having to write things down as we go.

Noise (dB) Level Tests

For the test, I idled in the front driveway, and then took our usual route to the highway (OR217) from home, and drove a loop (OR217 - US26 - Murray Blvd) back home. This got multiple samples of idling, around town and byways. I only got one real highway sample, but I think it was long enough. I got up over 65mph for a short stretch, long enough to collect a sample.

Decibels from that long test are below. One important observation throughout all of the tests: the dominant frequency of the noise appeared at the very bottom of the spectrum. This could be a reflection of the tool not reading frequency well, or my noise problem is 95% below 100Hz. Some comparisons on my couch between the 2 apps indicated that Decibel Meter reads Hz low when compared to Decibel X. Neat. I chose to ignore the Hz, and accept that I can only really measure overall dB. On to the dB readings! In all cases, the value moved around within a range as well as had an overall peak:

dB test as a graphic

Sitting at idle (900 RPM): 60dB

Around town (less than 40mph): 65dB +/- 5dB. 75dB peak

On the byways (above 40 but under 55): 65dB +/- 10dB

Highway speeds: 70dB +/- 10db, 83dB peak

Over the course of the 30 minute test, noise was consistently between the mid 60's to mid-70's with spikes up into the mid-80's.

For fun, I compared against Boo's 2009 Audi A4 (GoRo) on my old standard test-drive loop, and then ran Hapy on that same test loop. This loop does not include a highway, but it does include idling, a residential street and a 4-lane "by-way". The Audi ran from the upper 40's to the lower 60's. Hapy on the same loop was in the low 60's up into the lower 70's, topping at 75dB.

Noise (dB) Level Test Thoughts

In simple comparison, GoRo was in the lower 50's most of the time and Hapy was 10dB louder or more. "10" seems like a small number, but I consider these 2 things: First, the range for both vehicles remained within about a 10dB span with Hapy's quietest/lowest readings starting at the loudest/highest for GoRo. Second, a modern refrigerator or a moderate rain is 50dB and hearing damage starts at 85dB, so a 10dB difference in this range is actually huge. I think it is kind of like 10* difference in Celsius: 23*C (73*F for US folks reference), is totally comfortable, like a conversational 60dB. But 33*C (91*F) is intrusive-hot, like a running vacuum cleaner 70dB. Another 10*C (43C or almost 110*F) is quite uncomfortable in practically all climates, like listening to a whistling kettle (80dB) for an extended period of time would be. For some real-life decibel level references, I found this link to be especially fruitful. Last, I think it is worth noting that the highway was much louder. My usual shift point is around 3200 RPM, and I cruised the freeway around there as well. So, maybe the noise gets much louder above 3k RPM -OR- the increased speed leads to more noise (wind or tire). I can't know for sure without more tests, but I think resolving the highway noise will be my biggest challenge. It would be the greatest reward for longer trips, if I can solve it.

EDIT: I added the image just above  on the right on 2022-Mar-29. I sourced it from a research paper about the dominant frequencies produced by a 3-cylinder diesel engine. While this may not be an exact match for a 4-cylinder TDI, I think we can draw sufficient parallels to lead us to focus on frequencies above 250Hz, but especially around 1k. Based on the material sheets for the items described above, all of these should make a meaningful impact on containing the noise.

That's it for today. I have more planning to do, and things to purchase. If all goes as I hope, the noise control efforts will start soon. My goal is for Hapy's entire noise range to drop by at least 5dB on the test loop and for the mid-80's highway peaks to drop by at least 10dB.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Hapy Noises - Part 1

Today, I share my thinking around how to reduce the din when driving Hapy. He's a 50 year old bus. He runs a turbo-diesel engine. How quiet do we want to be? Or should I say how quietly do you want to spend? Or, maybe, how quiet do I really think this can get? I am actually taking this on, slowly, over the course of the winter and spring with hopes of a more comfortable drive experience when camping season really open up. For now, I will just put my think into words because what's a car person to do when s/he can't work on their cars? Thinks about them. Like so many posts, this got really long. So, I split this up. Today's post will cover controlling the resonation effect with constrained layered dampener material.

Before I begin, Hapy Groundhogs Day. Regardless of what the critter in PA does, it will always be 6 more weeks before the Spring Equinox. Here in the Pacific NW, it will rain until then. With expectations set, let's go.

Constrained Layered what?

Other places do a better job of explaining this. For our purposes, a Constrained Layered Dampener (CLD) reduces vibration by transferring that vibration into heat, which then dissipates. These materials have 3 basic components: the adhere layer, the butyl layer and a foil layer. The adhere layer is obvious: it is the super-sticky that gets the CLD to stick to the metal that vibrates. The foil layer is also sort of obvious: this is the top layer that you see when it's done. The butyl layer is the key: this is the science part that accepts the vibration from the adhere side and the vibration-resistance from the foil side. The butyl does the work of trying to get the vibration to stay put by equalizing between the two layers. The better the quality of the butyl layer, the more effective it will be per square inch. Again, there are better explanations out there, but that is a basic high-level summary.

Noico / FatMat / Hushmat / Kilmat

When I did the work on Oliver (1978 MGB), I used the Noico noise deadener stuff sold via Azn. I had read around the web that it was pretty good stuff, but when you are reading about what amateurs did on forums, it quickly becomes an echo chamber. Many forums dedicated to home-wrenching have posts that ask about one or more of the products listed above. Since most folks only ever use one on that one car, and aren't doing it professionally, the general consensus on Noico is "it's good". For the most part, the testing I have seen put all of these (Noico, FatMat, Hushmat, Kilmat, etc) in the same mediocre category. They sorta work, but you need a lot of it for it to get anything out of it.

Slamming Amazon side-bar.... Azn is excellent at hyping a mediocre product; this happened with Noico. We, as consumers, are led to believe that the marketplace will decide, and if people give positive reviews of something, it's probably fairly good. This works for products or services with which we all are somewhat familiar. Want advice on a TV or a phone? The market will weed out the garbage eventually. The issue is created when someone buys an inferior product about which they know little in a product market about which they also know little. Their experience goes from sucky before it arrived to perceived slightly-less-sucky. So, they think the product is fantastic, because they think life got better. What they may not realize is that they really did not make their life that much better, if at all, for the money they spent. They invested a small amount of money (like $2 per square foot for Noico) and a bunch of time, and when the noise in their car seemed reduced, they figured it was the product. Maybe it was. Maybe it was simply from removing the panels, cleaning a bunch and putting them back on. Most likely, the reduction was not as great as it could have been had they used a genuinely good product. The misperception is then influenced by the amplification of the echo chamber and the desire to not be taken advantage of, so a belief that the product was good is formed. And, the feedback loop continues.

In the convertible, I didn't know any better and, frankly, it doesn't really matter. It is a convertible running a carburetor and an aftermarket header; it will be loud when driving around. That's actually part of the fun: put your foot in it and it goes "waaah!". I put the Noico in the doors and now they have a nice "chunk" noise when they close. Same goes for the trunk. I think the overall din from the drive train is lessened because of the full-floor (both cabin and trunk) install I did plus the liquid rubber liner, the insulation and thick carpet. Exactly how much the Noico helped is unclear. For Hapy, I have way more noise control opportunity. It is not a convertible, and there may be 4 times as much steel panel to resonate-control. I had put something on some of the panels years ago (like the old brown bread, delivered in a roll, smelled bad), so it is not completely bare. I don't think that stuff was terribly effective, but it was what was available 15 years ago.

DynaMat, Second Skin and ResoNix

For learning about quality, viable noise control, I hit the car audio forums. I figured that if they were using something that helped them win car stereo competitions, it would probably do a good enough job lowering the noise in Hapy from incredible racket to tolerable. At least, they would know which lower-price options were actually worth using. In my research, I also engaged with Second Skin audio, and will use their stuff above the CLD (constrained layered dampener), which I will detail in another post. For vibration noise control, though, I am using ResoNix CLD. This stuff is super expensive, compared to Noico, but only a few cents per square foot more than the Second Skin stuff. DynaMat usually appears at the bottom of this higher-quality group, by the way. Based on the testing evidence on the ResoNix site and in the audio forums, the ResoNix stuff is really next-level. In the end, I will need to apply far less material than Noico, which means less work and less weight, while enjoying better vibration noise containment.

Install How

Install for any of these products is simple: clean the area to practically food-grade clean, measure and cut to fit with scissors, pull the backing paper and press it in place. Then, with an installation roller, roll around on the foil to get any air bubbles out and to ensure a quality adhere. Don't damage the foil; I can't emphasize that enough. Also, if the surface isn't clean, the product will not adhere as well, defeating the purpose. The amount of CLD you use is directly related to the product you are using, though the larger the uncut piece of CLD you use the better it will work. Meaning, if you use a bunch of small pieces over a section of metal, it will be far less effective as compared to one single piece. The strength of the CLD effectiveness comes from the foil topper preventing the panel from moving. This forces the vibration energy to change shape into heat energy as the Butyl tries to adhere to the metal yet retain it's shape as defined by the foil topper. If the sheets are tiny or if there are tears in it, there is less constraining, so more room for the metal to move, and much less of the vibration is converted to heat energy.

I found 2 different types of rollers on the market. The one in the image below has a completely smooth roller for foil-contact. While it may lose traction on super-smooth foil, it will probably not accidentally tear the foil. I say "may" and "probably" because I bought the other kind that has ridges running across the roller surface. That kind of roller can tear the foil, but it definitely does not slip. Ask me how I know :) Buyer beware, and if you get the same kind I did, mind you don't get too zealous with it or you may apply splits into the foil.

Coverage

Something like Noico will require nearly 100% coverage to get anywhere near the same amount of dampening as 25% of something high end. Under-apply and the vibration noise may just lower in frequency, not the full resonance so the vibration does not actually get resolved. So, you will think it's better, but you just lowered the note. If you watch car shows on Speed/Velocity/MotorTrend, you will see that those guys cover 100% of the interior and trunk (though they never broadcast the application. No sparks = bored producers). If you have the money, and haven't a worry about weight, I imagine doing the entire car, covering every square inch like that, provides maximum vibration reduction. There are diminishing returns though. Some small areas hardly vibrate / amplify car noise at all because they are small or have multiple connection points and can be skipped. The key to maximizing your product application / minimizing cost is to focus on the large flat sections first. Whether material should be multi-layered is a frequent question. The common understanding, demonstrated with some testing, is that layering product is money and cost ineffective without much return. That doesn't stop folks from doing it. Your project, your choice. I would suggest what the high-end manufacturers say: if you are willing to buy multiple layers of less expensive stuff, why not buy the good stuff for the same price and far less work/weight?

When I apply CLD, I can't help but tap on the area with the roller handle before and after I apply it so I can hear the difference. Before, it sounds tinny, after, it has more bass. Is this a reflection of what the vibration effect will be? Oh, heck no; I just can't help doing it. It feels like you're doing something. The only real tell is after you're done and you go for a drive. With Hapy's diesel engine running, we will get a fairly good idea without actually getting out on the road. My hope is that after I have finished, driving Hapy will no longer feel like you're operating a diesel generator inside an old leaky steel shed during a wind storm.... like it does now.

Liquid Deadener

One last thing on deadening: there are liquids that deaden too. These fall under the Liquid Applied Sound Deadener (LASD) umbrella. Second Skin sells "Spectrum" (see here), but there are others, like LizardSkin, dBSkin and QuietCoat. Since these products target the same thing as the CLD does, I thought I would mention it here. Based on the studies and the science of the CLD, I am not convinced the liquid works as well. The product websites don't specifically say how effective they are in decibel reduction terms, but for hard to reach spots where getting a sheet of CLD is not practical -OR- for exterior areas like the under body or wheel wells, this may be better than nothing. Or, this could just be fancy marketing of what amounts to liquid asphalt painted onto your car, reducing noise like a cheaper CLD does simply by being a thick coating. For the coverage, the liquids are much more expensive per square too. Still, I am going to try Lizard Skin in the spots I can't reasonably get to with CLD (wheel wells) because I want to try it out. I may hit between the belly pans and the floor, since I can't get in there with anything other than an undercoating nozzle. If it does little for the noise, but it helps retard the rust, it would still be worth doing, IMHO.

Next time, I get into different materials for subsequent layers, as well as some decibel readings for a "before" image to compare against after I add some of this stuff. Thanks, as always, for following along-

Flash Departs

Quick post today. Unrelated to the usual car stuff, my older son, T, reported to the fire line this morning, starting his forest fire-fighting season almost a month earlier this year than last. Currently, the Bootleg fire on the Oregon-California border is 0% contained, has doubled in size over the last 48 hours, and threatens the main electricity transmission lines from Oregon power suppliers to California power consumers. That is just one of 8 fires south of Eugene, where he deploys. I feel both pride and concern for his well-being, knowing that he will be among the hundreds of fire fighters dedicated to containing the threat this summer. On to cars...

Zed Update

I do continue the body work on Zed, but there is little to highlight about it that I haven't already mentioned. My last post was about re-shooting the high-build primer. Since then, I sanded the shell and all of the various body parts with 320-grit. Once completed, I shop-vacuum'd all of the dust and then felt for wobbles for more another round of body filler. This time, I tried something a little different that I hadn't read online: chalk. I took a bar of chalk the kids used to use on the sidewalks and slide the flat edge along the body panels. Wherever the chalk would disappear, there was a small dent or crease/scratch that I had not found before. After going over all of the body panels, I found a couple dozen small imperfections. Considering how much I've worked on this car, I had hoped for better. Still, I persist. I expect I will get these fixed in a few Bondo cycles (read: until I'm satisfied) and then I will set up for urethane primer to seal everything. The body kit has still not arrived, so this saga has still a few chapters left in it.

When a Friend Asks for Help

The highlight around the Zed bodywork was the unexpected departure of Flash, my 2001 TDI Jetta. Since the pandemic started, Flash hasn't really seen much use. I work from home now (driving much less), and with the now mostly-operable fleet, he hasn't seen much action, sitting still while I go for spins in the bus or Nemo or Boo's new-to-her 2009 A4. A few weeks ago, Boo and I were at a family event. Our niece and significant other were detailing a hit-and-run incident they were subjected to, resulting in their commuter car getting totaled. Their other "car" is a big diesel truck needed for their construction business. While it is a great truck, the mileage sucks and it is a poor match for longer drives or A-to-B runs that do not include hauling stuff. So, Boo and I offered up Flash to them. They are familiar with and like diesels. They have a project VW Beetle, so understand VW's. In preparation, I re-installed the Panzer-plate (5 17mm bolts) that I had removed when I was planning to install it onto K'Lack, which is also on long-term loan / rent-to-buy to a family member. Turned out, K'Lack rides higher than Flash, and our niece's place has rougher roads, so Flash is the right place for the plate, since I only had one.

You Help Them

They were recently local, visiting in their big hauler pickup truck, and dropped by to collect Flash with a U-Haul flatbed car-hauler. Flash could absolutely have made the drive to their place, but they like riding together, and have the ability to tow, so why not? In classic Flash form, he pulled onto the trailer without incident. Because of the low front bumper, we needed to remove it so it would not get hung-up on the front of the trailer when Flash was backed off. There are 4 Torx bolts that hold it on at the nose, and, if your car is all in one piece, there are a few screws from the wheel wells. The front bumper cover went into the bed of the pickup, and we inched Flash forward the last little bit. The U-Haul flatbed car-hauler have straps to cinch the front wheels down, and they secured Flash into place. With the ramps set back into their respective slots, Flash was ready for his next adventure. He arrived at his new home without incident.

Actual ownership is blurry; this is a try-before exercise. Also, Flash will need to have his timing belt replaced in the next few months so he will be visiting our friend Justin before the rains return. Net-net, Flash is not completely gone, but it sure felt like it when I watched him trailer away.

The Zed body work continues, but it is not terribly photogenic nor are there any really new learnings coming from it. It is just a lot of hours of work. Accordingly, posts will continue to be sporadic until I shoot the urethane primer and get into the base color or the body kit shows up. Thanks, as always, for following along. 

Hapy Heat Circle-Back

Brief post this week. I've been tearing down the electrical in the bus, and it's really not that photogenic. I'm not really sure how to post about it since it really is very boring from a read-all-about-it perspective. It does, however, take an incredible amount of time. I have spent probably 10 hours just slowly working through the circuits, figuring out what's what and then cutting and labeling things so I can put it all back together, but cleaner. So, while I figure out how to not bore people to tears, here's a quick update on the furnace.

Hapy outside townhouse
before Champoeg trip

As I post this, I am realizing that it was 10 years ago that my first marriage dissolved and, perhaps correspondingly, the TDI transplant really got legs. How time flies. Over the course of this next year, I will be hitting other 10-year milestones: getting my townhouse apartment (See Hey Strangers), that first camping trip with the boys to Champoeg State Park (See One Small Step for Van) in the TDI-powered bus, and meeting Boo (See Football, Friends and Further). Funny how 10 years later, we are still making improvements on Hapy, I am still fiddling with the TDI electrical and his exterior doesn't look much better. Where were we? Oh yeah, furnace fun.

 

Yeah Yeah, Follow the Manufacturer's Instructions

It's been a few months since I did the parking heater / camping heater install. As directed by the manufacturer, I have been turning the heater on and letting it run through it's cycles about every 6 weeks since. My last runs have been these last 2 weekends. 2 weeks ago, it was super cold (low 40*F's or ~5*C), so I thought it would be interesting to see how the heater sorted itself out. The heater had the interior of the bus genuinely warm in about 10 minutes.

 

Can't Leave Well Enough Alone

I thought I would experiment with the fuel pump frequency at the low end of the maintain cycle. This is the speed at which the heater would run when you achieved the target temperature. I figured that even at the recommended 1.3, the noise coming through could be disruptive when you're sleeping in the middle of nowhere. So, why not see if it can go super slow? So, I set it to 1, which is below the manufacturer's recommended low. I left the bus alone for a while to see if it could arrive at stasis. When I returned about an hour later, the inside of the bus was kind of exhausty-smelling. Yuck. I shut things down, and thought about whether I had an exhaust leak. I had not had that smell before, so either I hadn't run the tests long enough before, or maybe that manufacturer setting was related.

Not a Leak, Just a Bad Idea

Fast forward a week, and I'm ready to test again. This time, the temperature is just above freezing. I turned on the heater, using the built-in Afterburner WiFi, from my living room. This is so cool. So, I'm in my living room, and simply connect to the WiFi and go to 192.168.4.1 on a browser and bam, there's the controls for the heater. Tap on the thermostat image and a popup asks if you want to start the heater. Once that process started, I changed the fuel pump low setting back to 1.3. After about an hour, I checked the Afterburner browser on my phone. The heater was maintaining 68*F (20*C), and was in a maintain cycle running the fuel pump at 1.3. So, I put on my shoes and coat and went out to Hapy. No exhaust smell, just the smell of warm metal from the furnace. Of course it was totally comfy.

 

I now conclude that when you go below their recommendation, the heater still works, but I think the fan speed is somehow involved in the force at which the exhaust is expelled. Continuing this thought, since the fuel pump was set so low, the fan ran super slow, and the exhaust fumes built up inside the bus. Neat.

So, that's it for today. Basically, if you were wondering if you can run the heater at a setting below the manufacturer's recommendation, that answer is "yes", but the risk is not just premature wear. The greater, or at least more immediate, risk is that exhaust may not properly vent, so you could create an unsafe condition inside your bus. Thanks for following along-

Parking Heater - Final

In March, I posted a series about installing one of those inexpensive Chinese Diesel Heaters into Hapy, the TDI-powered microbus (See Parking Heater 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). I have completed the little things that I had left undone, so today's post takes a break from the oil temperature and pressure stuff and wraps up the heater.

Power Switch

I had left off with a power switch wired between the main (drive) battery and the heater. It was dangling around in the cabinet behind the old refrigerator-turned-cabinet. I added a wire to the luxury battery housed under the rock-n-roll bed through the fuse box I have controlling circuits to that battery. I also bored a hole into the wood support I have in that rear cabinet holding the old westy battery maintenance panel. I don't really use that panel, mostly because I haven't finished wiring up shore power to charge the luxury battery. Anyway, I punched a 5/8" hole through and fed the switch through, nutting it down. It looks fairly finished now; it just needs a label.

Cabinet a Cabinet Again

floor back in.

The heater sits on the floor of the old refer cabinet. I only need about 7 inches of clearance, but I gave it 8-1/2 so I could add a layer of insulation later. At the 8-1/2 inch point, I attached 2 wood supports running along the front and rear walls. On top of these, I put a thin run of foam to reduce any noise or rattling, and then settled a rectangular board for a cabinet floor. In the future, I will probably attach some kind of insulation to the bottom of that floor. For now, it is just a bare piece of wood.

The smaller cabinet can still hold quite a bit of stuff. I re-stowed the zombie-apocalypse Red Cross first aid duffel, some paper products, and a few other fairly important yet random things (playing cards and a cribbage board, for example).

Afterburner

Afterburner installed

Afterburner unpacked

The Australian guy (Ray Jones) who makes the Afterburner appears relatively unaffected by the CoVid-19 lockdown, so he was able to process my order and sent it to me. Bear in mind, he is a one-man operation, so the waiting list can be rather long. I let the package sit for a few days in quarantine (on concrete garage floor) before digging into it. The included install instructions are easy to follow, and all of the parts are easy to identify. I had it installed, complete with wire routing and final wall mounting in a couple of hours. I have only scratched the surface of what this thing can do, but I am very impressed with it so far. In my opinion, the white case and grey buttons looks great. Like so many other improvements, this shows me how much I can raise the aesthetic simply by adding carpeting to the wall cards. All of the scratches in the picture on the right, here, highlights how overdue this is.

Afterburner operating

Okay, today's post was a little light, but all combined, those short passages took me hours to complete. More important, the heater is complete. Once I have the Afterburner figured out, I'll be able to pre-heat the bus in the winter time, have the heater turn on based on a schedule, shut off based on temperature, etc. Basically, it will have the same capabilities as a home thermostat... but in a 50 year old VW bus. This heater install was originally so we could get warm during the summer solstice music festival in Bend (4Peaks) which would have been next month had the CoViD pandemic not happened. Assuming everything is back to normal in June 2021, we will use it there. Maybe, just maybe, next winter I will be able to achieve my old dream of taking Hapy to the mountains for some fun in the snow.... now that we have a way to get the cabin warm. Hmm.. maybe I need to figure out how to add a defroster first.

Thanks again for following along. More next time-

Parking Heater (Part 5)

How this concept took more posts to cover than the rebuilding of the front end of the MGB, I don't know. But, here we are, a fifth post about it. Wow. Let's start with re-capping what the prior 4 posts have covered.
Part 1 - why I'm doing this and what's in the box. Also some early, uninformed ideas about needed upgrades
Part 2 - planning, ripping up the old refer cabinet, placing the fuel line and fuel pump
Part 3 - planning a heat register, connecting the fuel line to the heater, sourcing the power and then an air filter boondoggle.
Part 4 - connecting the exhaust, installing the heater unit, completing the fuel system, completing the electrical and the heat register

So, what's left? Routing the exhaust, the inbound combustion air and running some tests.

Exhaust Wrap'd

fuel pump gets vertical

Until now, the exhaust has simply flopped on the ground. Obviously, that is not a viable long-term solution. So, after watching some interesting video footage of various muffler styles (courtesy of John McK), I made some decisions. JohnMcK stressed that the intake and exhaust must be left as open and clear as possible for long-term health of your heater. It was this advice that had me abandon any muffler wadding. He was also confirming what Hal said. JohnMcK was the source of the info to orient the pump as vertical as possible as well (see picture to see how mine is now oriented). I was going to conduct a bunch of noise experiments, but JohnMcK already did that for us. I encourage you to watch his videos; he is super-dedicated to these things.

So, post JohnMcK love-fest, I decided to use 2 of those little thought-they-were-garbage "muffler"s. Based on JohnMcK's findings, they each drop the dB by about 10% and when placed in series that continues (so 60dB drops to 54 which then drops to around 50). I had already acquired a flow-thru motorbike muffler, and John tested one of them also. They didn't seem as impressive as they looked, but I intend to use one anyway, since it will help to hide the others.

only shiny things in sight

The "muffler"s need to hang vertically because they each have a drain to let out moisture and/or unspent fuel. Unfortunately, they are hard to hide, especially since they are shiny and there's practically nothing shiny on this bus. The underside is particularly NOT shiny, so these "muffler"s will be very visible. Consider that the heater exhaust exits the bus a foot or so forward of the rear driver-side wheel, fairly close to the outer edge/lip along the side. Because of the short distance between the exit point and the wheel well, in order to route sound muffling, the pipe needs to run forward and then turn back on itself (exhaust must point rear and down or the air-flow from driving will create back-pressure). JohnMcK stresses the importance of having no more than 270* of bend in your exhaust or you may create too much back-pressure. So, this gets interesting. I planned the locations of the "muffler"s and pre-drilled holes in the belly pan to hold the "muffler" hangers. They are about 6 inches inboard of the outer lip.

wider context view

As the pipe leaves the bus, it turns 90* towards the front. I cut it off at that point with a hacksaw, cutting the heat sleeve with scissors first. With the help of a stainless steel reducer (3/4" to 1" with the 3/4 inch inside the cut pipe), I mated the cut-off pipe to 2 "mufflers" in series, connected by a cylinder of HVAC flashing held in place with pipe clamps. Yes, that sounds hinky, but it is actually quite solid. To the end of the second muffler, I slid on the clean end of the included exhaust pipe I had just cut off over the "muffler" end, leaving the ragged cut end free. I added more heat sleeve and another clamp at the "muffler". I then turned the pipe into a "J" so it faced more towards the rear and stopped to test, and to get noise readings. The pictures here paint a better picture than my prose.

Inbound Combustion Air
Apparently, these heaters don't need an air cleaner. I find that very hard to believe. Still, going with it, I decided to remove the air hose from the intake side of the heater, using the large cavity between the floor and the belly pan to act like an insulator against really bad stuff getting in there. I was having fit issues anyway, and this removed the thing that was in the way. I will be attaching a bit of window-screen to the intake, but for testing purposes, it currently has no filter. That's how JohnMcK does it without a filter, so I'll not argue. As it is, there are a few spots where air could get in, but only one 1" diameter opening so the route to the inside of the heater would require some form of intelligence to get there.

Testing

motorbike muffler added

With the exhaust completed enough for testing, I fired up the heater and let it run. I checked dB levels (reads as "quiet house" within a few feet of the exhaust, bouncing around 55dB) and wandered around for a sense of sound impact. I am unable to hear the fuel pump at all outside of 15 feet (5 meters) away. The sound of the heater running disappears into outside noise after another few feet. Within the bus, the pump cannot be heard over the sound of the fan except at the lowest setting. I let it run for about an hour and the temperature inside the bus climbed from 12C (about 54*F) to 20C (68*F), while at the 3 pulse-per-second setting, around the mid-point. I kept getting in and getting out, leaving the slider open sometimes, etc, so this is not scientific. Still, since the bus had not been over 60*F since last Summer, I consider a nearly 15*F increase a fairly significant feat. It will be interesting to see how effective it is when I really just let it be. One thing worth noting: the exhaust has no smell. None, and no smoke either. I cupped my hands at the exhaust outlet and breathed it in just to see if I could get any smell. Nope. That's efficient.

My last test was to fire up the engine of the bus to confirm that I did not interrupt the fuel supply to the engine. Obviously, that's kind of important and arguably could have been done sooner. Honestly, I wasn't sure he would fire up, but he did on the first try. Good boy, Hapy. I drove around the cul-de-sac but he dropped into that 1200RPM can't-read-the-throttle mode, so I parked him again. Looks like he's trying to tell me that the next thing needs to be resolving his electrical.

Well, I think that's enough talk of the Parking Heater. It really isn't completely done. I did the install of the motorbike muffler with exhaust hangers to help make the exhaust look nicer. It does end up a little quieter, now in the low 50's at the boost or high-power setting rather than low 50's at mid-power, so that's good. You can see how it appears in the picture to the side here. Not sure it actually looks that much better, but the cut off pipe looked pretty janky. I will be installing a false-floor in the cabinet so it can be used as a cabinet again. I will be attaching the power selector switch to the bus as well as running a power line from the luxury battery. I intend to put some kind of heat insulation on the register to retain heat, and might add some air baffles to direct the air flow a little. I don't think any of those warrant a 6th post, though. Then again, one or more might appear on their own if I have nothing else going on, or they become more involved than I thought. Oh, one last thing: I found a guy who makes an after-market thermostat/controller for these things, called Afterburner. I intend to experiment with one of those, if I can get my hands on one.

Thanks, as always, for following along. If you have more questions about these heaters, I fully endorse JohnMcK's videos. They are incredibly informative.