Oliver Fuel Fun

Boo had to work on Easter, so I had a Sunday to work with. Knowing others around the neighborhood were celebrating Easter with their families, I wanted to keep my noise and smoke to a minimum. So, I started slow, throwing Oliver onto a charger and then doing inside stuff. By 11, I was mowing the front lawn with the electric mower. With hand tools, I fixed the gates to the fence by lowering the little swivel wheels and re-setting the patio block they set on. Now, the gates sit mostly level and mostly vertical. By 2PM, most of the family gatherings were breaking up, so I felt I could make engine noises and such. So, I headed out to the shop. Engine noises. Ha. Such optimism.

 

No Start

fuel works

I am sure this comes as no surprise, but my first attempt to start Oliver was not successful. I really didn't expect it to, tho. I had a little over a gallon of gas in a jug that I poured into the tank, but I noticed that the fuel pump noise never lessened. So, as I walked to the rear of the car, I expected there would be no fuel in the filter. And there wasn't. The series of things the fuel needs to pass through before arriving at the pump is: fuel level sender / pick up tube -> flexible fuel line -> clear plastic fuel filter -> flexible fuel line -> fuel pump. From there, it travels, at pressure, thru another flexible line, through a short section of 90* hard line, more flexible line and then to the hard line that runs along the frame to the engine compartment. That's a lot of junctions. I started at the pump, testing with a MityVac vacuum pump, working my way back towards the tank. In retrospect, it would have been smarter to work my way forward from the tank all the way to the carb. Lesson learned.

 

Fuel Shower

upper one is bad

One of the short hoses was bad, but there was nothing visibly wrong with it. The picture on the right here is of those 2 lines. The top one cannot hold vacuum; the lower one can. This serves as a great reminder for those driving gravity-fed fuel system'd vehicles like the old VW bus. Fuel lines fail, sometimes not that long after you've installed it and sometimes you can't tell from looking at them. For a gravity feed system, you discover the leak after you've filled your tank, and it gushes onto the ground it you're lucky. Onto your hot exhaust if you're not.

 

While looking for the cause, I cracked the fuel level sender on the tank to confirm that I had enough fuel. I did. Once the one short line was replaced, I went up front, turned the key and started looking for another leak. I did not have to look very far. Immediately forward of the fuel pump, I had fuel going everywhere, running down the rear differential.

 

I concluded that it was another short hose, but noticed that the combination of short hose, weird 90* hard line, longer hose made little sense. I think I did that when I installed the fuel pump because the outlet of the new fuel pump was not clocked the same as the original and I didn't want a kink in the hose. If I remember correctly, I had already cut that longer hose, and solved the wrong problem. Or solved the right problem the wrong way. I think, that 90* bend was from the original system to go from the sender to the pump, and in this installation, I have a clear plastic fuel filter serving that function. Regardless, I corrected this time with a longer hose that runs from the pump to the long hard line. The longer hose was long enough to have a gentle arc, preventing a pinch in the line I was probably trying to avoid with the weird combo of parts. In the bottom picture, you can see that I have a small fuse for the fuel pump. This was not there stock, but I felt that with so many things living on the switched circuit, having a fuse around the fuel pump was probably a good idea.

 

Still No Start 

fuel pump

With the rear end lines set, I turned the key again, and the fuel pump quieted down after a few seconds. I looked under the car and no puddle was forming. There was not a drip at all. I went to the engine compartment, and there were no leaks there either. So, I tried to start it. No love. By now, it was approaching 5PM, and I had to get dinner started. But first, I wanted to know if the hard line was blocked or if there was fuel at the inlet on the carb. I removed the fuel line and gasoline dribbled out. Win. We have fuel at the carb. I put everything back together. Before heading inside, I checked the lights and hazards to give myself a little "well that works" energy before calling it a day.

 

Wrap Up

That's as far as I got on Sunday. After the random home-repairs, I had left myself more than enough time, had Oliver actually started, to give him a deep cleaning. That still needs doing, but first I need for him to run. I rebuilt the carb a couple of years ago, and the engine ran with it on there, so I don't think the issue is fueling, but it still could be. I will start with the spark plugs next time, and confirm I have spark. It is absolutely possible that something worked free during the move into the shop. If that does not bring me the start I am seeking then I will re-examine the carb. Maybe some gas residue became a thin varnish holding the bowl float, or is clogging a jet or something. 

 

That's all for now. Thanks, as always, for following along- 

Returning to Oliver

The last week or so has been busy with lots of not-car stuff. We have had our young niece over a bunch while her mom had surgery on her wrist, and a bunch of social events. Of course, with the return of spring comes the return of recurring yardwork as well. So, I have not had the dedicated time for wrenching that I always seem to think will be available. I was able to get out to the shop for a few hours on Sunday, though. I focused on Oliver, the 1978 MGB, letting Hapy ('72 VW microbus) sit until Justin has his time with the injection pump in April. The rate at which the price of diesel fuel is climbing (passed $6US/gal around the corner), I may find that it costs more to fill his tank than to pay Justin for his time. That's totally upside-down. Anyway, back to wrenchin.

 

Voltage Gauge

remember Oliver?

I installed a Smith voltage gauge into Oliver where the original analog clock used to sit. The clock didn't really work very well, and it ate voltage from the battery when I let him sit for too long. This made the clock less accurate, leading me to pull the positive cable off the battery while not in use. This led to the clock being completely worthless. So, I pulled it out and swapped in the voltage gauge. It seemed like a valuable bit of info to have, but I had wired it into the "purple" or always-hot circuit. Like the clock, the voltage gauge slowly drained the battery down, albeit not as quickly. So, again, I pulled the positive cable while not driving. I changed that on Sunday.

 

Bearing in mind that any entry back into working on cars may not seem like a big deal to regular wrenchers, but I have really not done much car stuff in over a year. So, any steps taken are a big deal. Removing the gauge was simply unwinding the knurled nut holding the rear support and the gauge flopped forward out of the dash. I removed and taped-off the "purple" wire and started seeking a viable switched "green"source to tap into. Switched is available at a few spots, but I decided to run a dedicated line from the fuse box instead. I could say I did that to remove variables or variability in the voltage signal. The truth is that Oliver is parked so close to the side wall of the shop that getting in and under the dash was virtually impossible. I was not going to just start grabbing an unplugging things.

 

Smith voltage gauge

Running another wire is simple enough. I started at the gauge and worked my way behind the dash, center console, and glove box to the firewall pass-thru. From the pass through within the engine compartment, the bundle of wires run along the left fender to the fuse box. I tied the new wire into the existing green bundle and tested continuity with the multi-meter. Success! I installed the gauge, hooked up the battery and tested by turning the ignition to "run". The voltmeter slowly crept up and I could hear the fuel pump banging away. I recall that it used to get quieter with fuel in the pump. Satisfied, I turned off the key and looked for any other parasitic drain on the battery. The wires in the engine compartment need some containment. I am not liking the scattered multi-colored angel-hair look in the picture below right.

 

Battery Drain?

technicolor angel hair pasta wiring

Testing for a parasitic drain on your battery ought to be relatively straight-forward. Disconnect one cable. Set your multi-meter to test for Amps and then place one probe on the battery post and the other on the cable end. All 0's? Switch to milli-amps and try again. According to the internets, if the drain is less than 50mA, it is not enough to drain your battery. I got 0mA, which, honestly, I do not believe. I tested it multiple times, and even after cleaning the cable and the battery post, I still got 0mA. So, I checked voltage across the 2 posts (12.08V) and left the cables attached. I figured if the voltage drops overnight then my battery-drain test will be proven faulty. I have since tested the voltage the last 2 days. The battery loses 0.02V overnight, which I think I can attribute to the stereo. Regardless, I will need to add a float charger.

 

Red Rollie

new lock, locked

I have this old red Kennedy tool cabinet we call "Red Rollie". It houses a bunch of tools, and for most the nearly 20 years that I've owned it, the lock didn't work. Well, I didn't have a key for it. We got the cabinet at an estate sale without the key. Anyway, some tools were stolen from my next door neighbor's yard a few months ago, so that changed our vector regarding the shop. We were perfectly fine using it without doors, but I can't leave entire tool cabinets unlocked if thieves have found our quiet little neighborhood. While I think the theft next door was an inside job (they run a construction business out of their home), one can never be too sure. So, I found a lock that fits this old Kennedy cabinet (Kennedy 80403 High Security Tubular Lock), and replaced it.

 

Replacing one of these locks is actually easier than on newer cabinets. The lock is held on with a U-shaped tang that slides off to the side. The hard part is you can't see anything. With my fingers I was able to determine which direction the tang needed to slide to be removed (facing the cabinet, slide right), and then set a stubby slotted screw-driver against the lip of the tang. It only took one well-leveraged push to get the tang removed and the lock to pop out. To install, orient the lock so the little inner divot on the outside facing part of the lock where the key goes in is facing down (unlocked). Set the lock into the hole with one hand while guiding the locking rod into the rectangular hole on the back of the lock. Then, push the U-shaped tang in place to hold it.

 

Red Rollie

This worked great, and effectively locked the top 2 drawers. The 3rd drawer down, however, had been bent where the little hook pokes out the back. To remedy, I got a framing hammer and a 1/2" ratchet extension and beat on it until it was more-or-less flush with the rest of the rear of the drawer. For years I wondered why that drawer always set deeper into the cabinet than the others. Now I knew. Once the drawer had been persuaded, the drawer fronts lined up and that 3rd drawer locked as well.

 

Wrap

That's how I spent my Sunday afternoon. The shop still needs the 2 largest doors, but my tools are secure, and I am really starting to get comfortable in there. For example, there was a period of time while working on Oliver that the skies opened up and it started pouring rain. I never felt it. In fact, I could only hear it hitting the trees. The insulation on this shop stops the sound of rain on the steel roof. I absolutely did not expect that.

 

That's it for today. Next week is Easter, so I may not get out to the shop for much. I hope to put a little gas into Oliver and at least back him out to where I can give him a deep cleaning. 

The Ghost of GoRo

I have been coming off of an illness, having been sick for almost a month. Yeah, whatever that thing is going around got me good. In the meantime, we have gotten some headway on the shop doors and I got to start thinking about what's next on Oliver to get him on the road for the Summer. Today, though, is a cautionary tale about selling a car, no matter who you sell it to.

 

What's GoRo

GoRo

I'll back up a little bit first. Back in June of 2023, in my "Small Fence, Big Difference" post (link here) I mentioned in passing that we had sold GoRo, our 2009 Audi A4 to a guy down the street. We told him multiple times prior to closing the sale that he really did not want the car, that there were weird issues with the transmission, interior plastic bits were breaking off and that it was a generally crappy car. He would not heed our concerns, saying it was for his daughter, he could get the mechanicals fixed up fine, etc. There was still a couple of months left on the existing registration, and he was going to have to drive it to his mechanic, and then over to Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to get registered. So, Boo with her ever generous heart, let him take the car with the tags on it. We went inside and recorded the sale with the state of Oregon immediately.

 

Sales Daisy Chain

Of course, we were right. He took the car and within a couple of weeks he had sold it. But, he didn't tell us, nor did he remove the tags that we had left on there for him. In Oregon, you have a month after buying a car to change the registration. Since he hadn't had the car for a full month, he was officially in the clear, but whoever he sold it to also sold it within a few days, and we lost the handle on the ownership after that. 

 

Ticket Parade 

Why is all of this important? Within a few days after our

barn door

neighbor sold the car, we got our first of many speeding or other moving violation caught-on-camera ticket, followed by parking tickets and toll-lane charges. We got tickets from Montana, Texas, California and Colorado. In each case, we sent copies of proof that we no longer owned the car. For the tickets which came from legitimate state, county or city governments, the tickets were waived. In the case where the ticket was for not paying a toll on a "private road", the charging entity did not care that were were not the owners and could prove that we were not even in the state at the time of the violation. Instead, they sent the ticket to collections, dinging our credit. To prevent further damage to our credit, we paid that one. Most of these tickets arrived within the first 6 months after the car was sold.

 

Final Straw

This week, we got what we believe to be the final ticket. GoRo had been impounded in the City of Merced and would remain in their custody until we came down to their office and paid the bail on parking tickets. We don't care and after a while they will put the car up for auction, and it will be someone else's problem. I just hope the auction house or the City of Merced removes the license plates before handing it off to another sucker.

 

Buh Bye GoRo

barn door, inside

By the time we sold off GoRo, Boo and I pretty much hated the car. The seats were stiff like bleachers, increasing internal switches were failing, plastic bits were falling off, the transmission shifted funny, etc. It outside looked great, but wow, what a lemon of a car. The lesson here for us and for you: even if you're selling the car to your friend, remove the tags. If you are all down for the sale and want to be generous, drive over to DMV and remove the tags while your friend is getting temporary plates. Once that car leaves your possession, there is no telling what will happen to that car. You could find yourself with a big pile of tickets from uninterested parties who only want money, and are willing to hammer your credit to get it.

 

Car and Shop Stuff

I mentioned at the top that we have made headway on the doors on the shop. Recall, I have 4 openings which need closings. Over the past month, our friend Ray has built barn doors for the large opening facing west using extra siding I had added to the order for the shop so those doors could get made. It is a 10 foot wide opening, so the doors are each just over 5 feet wide. They totally look the part and glide open/shut easily. We also installed a "people door" on the north elevation or facing the farm house. This leaves a 8 foot wide doorway on the backside and the main large garage door next to the people door. I have been saving for the big door. While that doorway is a standard 16' wide, it is 10' high (just in case someone comes along with something really big, I guess). So, it is a semi-standard door.

 

On cars, I have Hapy about as ready to visit Justin as I can make him. Since he hasn't really driven since I put him back together, I really would have liked to have driven him a little more. With Diesel hitting $6/gallon around here, I all the more do not want to be driving with a fuel leak. So, his next drive will be to Justin's place.

 

voltage gauge upper right

To keep my hands busy, I have been looking at Oliver, the 1978 MGB. I couldn't get him to start when I went to move him into the shop and I didn't really look into why at the time, I just hauled him. I slid under the rear end and discovered why: I had drained all of his fuel out the last time I parked him. If I remember right, I put that fuel into the lawn tractor and the rest into Astra. Antyway, I test-fired the fuel pump with 12V directly from the battery and the fuel pump works. So, if it does not come on with the ignition key-turn, it's a wiring issue. After messing with that, I removed the voltage gauge from the dash and will be sourcing switched power for that. I had simply used the always-hot 12V for the clock I had replaced, but that runs the battery down eventually. I hope to have some time this weekend to finish the voltage gauge, put some gas in and see if I can get him to run, and idle. Then maybe I'll back him out and give him a long overdue bath and a drive-around.

 

Well, that's it for today. Keep your license plates when you sell your cars, and thanks, as always, for following along- 

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-

Oh, Nemo

Today's post covers my challenges with Nemo's electrical and computer system simply trying to get him to start, or maybe a signal on the OBD-2 port. The car-work hours that I did not want to spend sanding on Zed, I spent doing this... until this took over. Yeah, I know. I could use another hobby.

No Start

Like so many issues with these old cars, our challenges with Nemo started with him not starting. His battery had been sitting on a trickle charger all winter, but I had left his hood cracked to make room for the alligator clips, so this ultimately was self-inflicted. Love those. But, the path we took to get there was interesting. Nemo is sitting under the fabric carport blocking a garage door. Behind that garage door sits Oliver, the 1978 MGB convertible, that I would very much like to be road testing and otherwise driving around. So, enter my motivation for moving Nemo. Insert key, turn ignition to "RUN". I see some familiar idiot lights, including the battery, oil and check-engine. Turn to "START" and he rev'd but would not start. I went around to the tailpipe and could not smell gas, so I start with the assumption that it is fuel delivery.

Before I did anything else, I considered what I experienced when I turned the key to "RUN". I did not hear the fuel pump cycle. I did not hear the radiator fans kick on. So, something is not getting the "RUN" signal. So, I pull out the UltraGauge and plug it into the OBD-2 port. I get a never-ending "scanning..." message. Well, that's not good. I double-checked the UltraGauge in Hapy, and the computer linked within a few seconds. Okay, we have trouble with Nemo's diagnostic system which could prevent a start or we have multiple things going on. With this car, the latter is probably true. First, I tried to isolate the OBD-2 issue, and kill many many hours doing so.

OBD-2 Issue Diagnosis: General

The early B5 versions of the A4 had some interesting 1 or 2 year only issues. One of the oddities around 1997, when Nemo was sold, was the engineers choice to integrate the stock stereo with the "K-line": the signal processing wiring between the computer, many components and the OBD-2 plug. In these late 90's cars, it is the K-line you are subscribing to, not the more modern "CAN BUS". Okay, cool. There are many modules plugged into the K-line, but they are all in parallel. the diagnosis theory goes that when you get no signal on the K-line it is because one of the modules is faulting out, grounding the K-line. Once you can identify and remove the faulty module, you will get a signal on the K-line. You will probably get a failure code for that module, but you will at least get a signal. So, away we go, trying to figure out what modules are even on the K-line, and then isolating them.

OBD-2 Issue Diagnosis: Radio

The stock radio wiring was unceremoniously cut to pieces by the idiots at Car Toys when they installed an aftermarket stereo. Based on the wiring diagrams I have found and the commentary on the interwebs, I am not sure this car actually had that K-line-in-the-stereo thing. I did check the wires for the right color combinations, and for wires that were the correct colors for the K-line. I was unable to find them. There are, however, many wires sticking out of the hole where the radio used to be... before it was ripped off in Eugene. I intend to re-integrate an original plug before I put all this back together, but that's another day. I moved on to the next possible culprit: the climate control system.

OBD-2 Issue Diagnosis: Climate Control

found in climate
computer

The climate control system in these cars is another little computer. In some models, it is held in place with a couple brass clips. In Nemo, I had to remove the center console cover plate / face and found 2 Phillips screws holding it in. Once threaded out, the unit removes through the front. I unplugged the unit and checked the OBD-2 for a signal. Nope. I did, however, find a soda/beer can pull tab inside it (picture on the right, here, laying on the carpet after I removed it from inside the climate control computer thing). So, that was interesting. Next.

OBD-2 Issue Diagnosis: ABS (Brakes)

The fine folks on the interwebs have found that the ABS sometimes causes K-Line problems. The way to identify if it is the problem is to disconnect the plug. The ABS unit is on the driver (left) side, next to the washer bottle. You simply pull up on the silver metal tab and the plug lifts out of the socket. I found a piece of electrical tape floating around in there. Another question-mark from the prior owner. Neat. I checked the OBD-2 for a signal. Nope. I shot the socket and the plug with DeOxit and left it disconnected for the rest of my tests. I figured I might as well leave it better than it was (DeOxit, not leaving it unplugged). Next!

OBD-2 Issue Diagnosis: Dash Cluster

Moving on, we consider the dash cluster. The entire thing is held in by 2 Torx-head screws from the front, hidden behind a cover plate just above the steering wheel. Pull the cover plate, remove the screws and it pops right out. I unplugged the various cable plugs and checked the OBD-2 again. Nope. Grr... Next!!

OBD-2 Issue Diagnosis: ECU

example A4 ECU 

It seems like every system on the engine that has more than one wire into it delivers some signal to the computer. So, this seemed like the next logical step. I figured if I could get a signal after unplugging the small plug on the ECU, I would have shown that the issue is in the engine compartment and I could put everything in the cabin back together again. If the issue remains, then it could be the ECU. So, I disconnected the small plug from the ECU and we still didn't have a K-line signal. Grr...

So, I plugged the ECU, ABS and the dash cluster back in, turned the key to RUN and heard the click-snap of some relays firing, but no fuel pump nor fan spin. I could not remember if I heard the relays before, but this changed my thinking. If at least some of the relays are firing, then the ECU is telling them to. If there is a Check Engine Light, then the ECU must be at least partially working. Perhaps the K-line / OBD-2 issue is completely unrelated and this is just a simple fuel supply issue. So.. new plan: get the fuel pump to fire.

Fuel Pump Test

As is so often the case in laboratory settings, the pre-work for the experiment is where all the time is taken. Such is the case here. I started by removing the plate covering the fuel pump. This sits behind the rear seat in the trunk on the passenger (right) side, and is held in place with 3 very short Phillips screws. Once the plate is removed, you can see the top of the fuel pump. There are 2 fuel lines, one supply and one return, and a single electric plug. I found that slightly wiggling the plug allowed it to pull off the pump. YMMV. Once removed, you will see 4 pins. 2 of them are for the fuel level and 2 are for the pump. I started my tests with basic resistance and continuity-to-ground. Things seemed fine, so I shifted focus to test-firing the pump by applying 12V to the pump.

This is where the experiment set up took some time relative to the actual test execution. I ran a pair of wires from near the battery (not hooked up) back to the fuel pump. At the battery, I taped 10A fuse to the "red" wire and alligator-clipped the other side of the blade to the positive battery post. I alligator-clipped the "black" wire to the negative post. Back at the fuel pump, I applied the red and black wires to the fuel pump and it fired right up. I held the wires there a few second to demonstrate that it would not just run for a second and die. So, we have a good pump, but the pump won't fire from a relay signal. So, next we check the voltage from the relay, after we put the experiment wiring away.

Fuel Pump Relay Test

A4 Fuel Pump Relay

Back up front, I took a red wire, stuck it into the voltage-supply pin in the wiring plug at the fuel pump and tossed the other end through the cabin, over the outer edge of the driver seat. My plan was to compare the voltage sent to the pump at the pump. Since the relay only pops for a second when you turn on the ignition, I had to have my test equipment near the ignition key. I stuck my black lead against the metal fuse box mount, held the red lead against the wire I tossed through and turned the ignition to "RUN". I got 5V. I checked other spots around the fuse box and got 13V, so I started thinking that the relay was bad, dropping the voltage from 12/13V to 5V which, of course, is not enough to run the pump. So, I swapped out the relay... and the fuel pump still would not run. Great. I concluded that the 5V I read was actually the base charge for the fuel level sender and not the supply for running the pump. 

So, I checked the voltage at the supply-side of the relay: 13V. I jumpered across the relay pins, and the pump fired up. So, we're back to the ECU is not sending a signal. Fearing it is the ECU, I went looking for any other reason. I recalled that when Dot (the white 2000 VW Jetta 2.0 which broke the timing belt) failed, one of the theories for not starting was a crank position sensor. The thinking is that if the ECU doesn't know where in the revolution the crank is, it doesn't know when to fire, so it doesn't try. It is not as clear whether a failing crank sensor would prevent the fuel pump relay from getting a signal from the ECU, however. As much as I have tried to avoid it, it felt like I was sliding into just-swap-parts problem solving. At $35US for the least expensive part-to-swap (crank position sensors start closer to $60US), this can get needlessly expensive very quickly.

Crank Position Sensor (CKP)

A4 Crank Position Sensor

I have mentioned before my belief that the Audi engineers are sadists. Only someone who takes pleasure in other's pain could arrange for replacement items to be so hard to get to. Case-in-point: the crank position sensor. The crank runs the length of the block (obviously), so given a blank canvas, an engineer could potentially place a sensor anywhere along that axis. Chosen location? Directly under/behind the oil filter so you either have to remove the oil filter (forcing an oil change, which arguably is due) OR you need to perform contortions to get an Allen-head wrench in there. If you go this route, consider that the further the bolt comes out, the closer you get to the oil filter. At least there is only one fastener. These sensors have a long lead on them that plugs into the engine harness... behind the coolant bottle. In Nemo's case, this plug was fairly easy to get to. There are methods for testing the sensor, of course.

The Audi/VW sensor has 3 wires, from pin 1-3: power | signal | ground where the power and signal connect to the ECU and the ground finds its way to the chassis. To test, 12V and ground need to be supplied to the sensor plug (once disconnected from the harness) and a multimeter checking the signal wire for an AC wave signal while the engine is turning. No signal = bad sensor. Since no local shops had a CKP, I returned to sanding Bondo in Zed while I waited for the part to arrive.

Once I had the part in hand, I checked the resistance between the pins. I got 500ohms +/- between the middle pin and one of the outer pins. Using that as a baseline, I swapped out the CKP and then tested the one I had just removed. Same resistance. So, I concluded there was nothing wrong with the old one and put it in the stash of A4 spare parts (with the fuel pump relay).

ECU Swap

At this point, I had run completely out of ideas fo4r why the ECU was not sending a "go" signal to the fuel pump relay. I hit the local junkyard looking for a just-dropped-off A4 to scavenge the ECU. None of the A4's there had the right ECU, but I did get an ECU box cover: Nemo's had a good-sized hole in it where I thought water might have entered. Without another option, I hit eBarf and found an ECU with the same part number as the one as was currently in Nemo at a salvage yard on the East Coast (with a 30 day return policy!). Hopeful, I swapped out the ECU's which consisted of pulling out the big plugs in the back of the old and plugging them into the new one, since the box was still lid-less. I had some concern that energizing the ECU could fry it if the underlying condition still existed.

Still, I turned the key to "RUN" anyway... and heard the radiator fans and fuel pump cycle for a second before shutting off. This was how things used to work. So, I turned to start and he fired right up. I have concluded that my first guess was the correct one: I had left the hood open a little bit to make room for the alligator clips on the trickle charger, and with the hole in the ECU box lid, water got into the ECU and partly fried it. If I had not had the experience with the chipped ECU for Hapy when the computer semi-worked, I would not have been so quick to accept this. The Check Engine Light lit, so the A4 chat-boards all assume that means the ECU is fine. NOT TRUE. It could be partly damaged, like Nemo's.

The climate control is still in pieces, the lower dash panel is off, and the radio wiring, well, it's the same as it was: a mess. While I can move Nemo out of the way so Oliver can go for a spin, Nemo is not ready for driving around just yet. The re-assembly will wait, and I'll probably post on at least the re-wiring of the stereo plugs that the idiots at CarToys cut apart. I did, however, install the ECU box lid, complete with threading in the screws to hold it tightly shut. No more water getting in there.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

MGB - Fuel Pump 2 Step

Picking up where we left off with Oliver, the 1978 MGB, we had completed the ignition swap out and we were ready to start the engine and set the timing. Until the battery went flat.

To Start Or Not To Start

AutoZone product picture

At this point, I was ready to test-start it. Or, so I thought. Last Fall, I thought Oliver's battery was going bad. It later turned out to be the clock sucking all the juice while left sitting for weeks (see MGB Battery Monitoring). Before I learned that, however, I swapped the battery out for the battery from the donorZed. At this point in my electronic ignition install, I discovered that the donorZed battery actually was bad. I mean bad. Like, I would put it on the charger overnight and then I could put a voltmeter on it and watch it discharge down to 0. Fortunately, I had left Oliver's prior battery on the trickle-charger, because I guess I was not 100% convinced it was bad. So, I swapped his old battery back in. I turned the key, heard the fuel pump click once, and then heard nothing. In the past, I have had this happen when the fuel pressure had not let off since it was last running. Since the engine had not run since October, that was unlikely. Perhaps the inertia switch got nervous and is preventing the fuel pump? Well, then I would not have heard the one click. Still, I pushed the reset button. No change. Then, I jumpered around the inertia switch, running the wire disconnects through a 3A bladed fuse instead of the inertia switch. Same single click.

Fuel Not Pumping

what arrived

I concluded that the fuel pump, which had not been behaving consistently (sometimes just not working at start up), needed replacing. I slid under Oliver's backend and recalled that the original fuel pump had been replaced by the prior owner for what looks like a universal pump. I can't judge. Quite the contrary, I was not going to invest in a $200US+ original MG fuel pump on the assumption that the fuel pump is the problem either. So, I ordered a Spectra fuel pump from AutoZone for $48US delivered next-day-ish. This pump meets or exceeds the requirements for pressure (3.8psi) and delivery volume (18gph) for an otherwise stock MG engine. I sourced the requirements from this page on the MG Experience. The Spectra offers 2.5 to 5 pounds of pressure and 21gph, has reviews on Azn from MG owners saying they work great and even AutoZone shows these are a direct replacement for the Midget.

It is possible to over-power your carb with too much pressure, so that's one for the back of the mind while trying to diagnose what's going on with the fuel flow through combustion. I may introduce a pressure regulator, but one could argue that adding a cheap pressure regulator on top of a cheap fuel pump starts approaching the cost of a good stock-style replacement pump. While that's very true, I am not running a stock carb either. The prior owner installed a SK Racing (now known as OER) side-draft carb, which seems like a combination of the Mikuni PHH and the Weber DCOE, but this blog post has some great information about them. My knowledge of carbs is extremely limited, so I am accepting this as a learning opportunity.

Fuel Pump 2-Step

Holley Mity Mite

The pump that arrived was not as pictured. Lovely. This one was equipped with a 3/8" barb on one end and a 3/8" NPT female on the other. Into the 3/8" NPT, the consumer was expected to thread in the included mini-filter that has a 3/8" barb on the end. While I am sure a filter is needed, that one they included is tiny and virtually irreplaceable. Perhaps these pumps don't last past a fuel filter change. Since the pictures and the spec's I could see did not match, I was not going to go forward with it; I already have more than enough mysteries with the fuel system. I returned it unopened and got a Holley 12-434 Mighty Mite Electric Fuel Pump. These top-out at 4psi, push 28gph and actually ship with 5/16" hose barbs. Between the delays from CoViD and possible delays from that cargo ship that was blocking the Suez Canal for a week, the arrival of the fuel pump was not exactly immediate. Still, through the power of split-posts, it arrived in time to keep this blog active.

 

Fuel Pump Swap

The pump arrived mid-week, so I started my Saturday planning for the fuel pump swap. Over breakfast, I prepped the wires and assembled the pump and pre-filter. While the Spectra above also delivered with a filter like this, I know that Holley supports replacement pre-filters (I verified on their website). Either way, I figure I have one of those in-line clear filters just upstream of the pump, so I don't expect it to require service too terribly often. For the wire prep, I attached a male wire disconnect to the ground (black) wire and a male disconnect to the positive (red) wire.

ready for install

So, with the pump in one piece, and wire disconnects attached to the wires, I slid under the rear end of Oliver, bringing a collection of tools, a drain pan and a flashlight with me. I closed off the fuel supply from the tank with a small pair of vice-grips. I then moved from that hose forward through the fuel pump, disconnecting hoses and draining the contents into the pan. I only got as far as the pump before I didn't need to drain anymore. Clearly that old pump was not working anymore.

The MityMite is actually larger and heavier than the universal pump I had removed. So, I needed to adjust some fuel line lengths, but otherwise things just fit together. I reused the bolt hole which was holding the old pump to the front edge of the trunk, for example.Once all together, I wired the black wire to the grounding wire that was previously attached to the ground tab on the universal pump. Into the female disconnect coming from the pump, I put one blade from a 3Amp fuse. I put the other blade into the female disconnect which is ultimately wired to the inertia switch. I worked the disconnects with a pair of pliers to get the fuse to stay firmly in place. I wrapped the disconnects and the fuse with electrical tape. Last, I spooled up the extra wire and zip-tied it to the pump pre-filter so the connections would not shake loose.

Pump Test Fire

With everything as I thought it should be, I removed the vice grips and my tools from underneath. I turned the key to "RUN" and the pump fired right up. I left the key in "RUN" and checked the fuel lines for leaks. None appeared, so I concluded the pump was fine. Hoping for the best, I returned to the driver seat and tried to start the engine. Oliver would not start, but the engine would turn. That's a start. I removed a spark plug and I could smell gas on the tip, so We now have fuel and electricity. Next, we need to get electricity to the plug... at the right time.

Recall from my last post that my initial effort to find TDC were wrong, and that I needed to pull the valve cover to figure out true TDC? Well, I did that here. Still, even with true TDC found, Oliver would not start. I did figure it out, but that's my next post.

Thanks, as always, 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.