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-

4-Wheeled Friends to NewOldHouse

On it's surface, one would not think moving some cars from one house to another, especially when the move is less than 500 feet would warrant an entire post. Well, let's remember that Murphy's Law is always present and these are cars which have not moved maybe for months, maybe since last Summer.

Site Preparation

during site prep

Before I could move any more cars, I needed to set up a place for them to land, even temporarily. NewOldHouse doesn't really have a driveway other than a small concrete pad in front of the attached garage. A single car can fit on the pad, but if that car is any larger than a compact, the old-skool flip-up garage door would not open. Earlier in this NewOldHouse odyssey, ToyoTruck got stuck behind the house while we were spreading wood chips. So, absent a hard surface, and having a significant mud bog practically everywhere else, determining a viable spot posed it's own challenge.

Boo and I decided we would ignore the mud for a moment and consider where, ideally, the cars would sit. To reduce the tendency for the vehicles to sink into the ground, I measured, leveled and placed 4 larger patio blocks where the tires would go. Under the patio blocks, I added a thin layer of sand to reduce the risk of the block breaking. Last, to protect the underside of the older vehicles (Hapy, the 1972 VW camperbus, and Oliver, the 1978 MGB) I laid a tarp on the ground. This should reduce the moisture-effect which increases underside rust when you park on dirt.

To side-step the mud, we waited until we had a couple of dry days and moved the vehicles once it was clear that the ground was dry. And so the adventure begins.

GoRo Goes

rare March sunny day

I started with the car I thought would be the most troublesome: GoRo, the 2009 Audi A4. GoRo had a rough winter, like the rest of us. After one of the overnight freezes, the outer handle for the driver door broke. So, to get in, you need to either get in the passenger side and reach over or open the rear driver-side door and reach through. Either way, it is annoying, but workable. A couple of weeks later, the hood latch broke. Fortunately, it happened after it unlatched, but one should not drive with the hood unlatched for safety reasons and we don't want to latch the hood because then it's stuck closed. So, GoRo has sat for a couple of months waiting to get repair-attention around the move. While it sat, the battery ran down. I hooked up a trickle charger overnight the night before and then it started up the morning we wanted to move it. I moved GoRo into the street-adjacent spot next to the wood-chip driveway so once it is fixed it can easily come and go without interrupting the driveway flow. Our old friend Courtney, of MobilePDX, will be fixing the hood release and driver door latch so GoRo can be put back into regular service. I could do it, but I do not have the hours in the day to get it done remotely soon.

Hapy not Happy

flatbed again

The last time I drove Hapy, it was to Pizzario, a small wood-fired pizza place in downtown Hillsboro, to sit-in on a Wednesday-night jam. That was 2-November. If I remember correctly, he started and ran great, but inside was really cold. I contracted CoViD19 that night, so my memory of how he started is kind of fuzzy. Anyway, he had been sitting with a trickle charger on his battery so 4-1/2 months after he was last driven I expected him to start right up and we would have a heroic drive to NewOldHouse. Maybe we'd take a victory lap or pickup something to eat while we were savoring our success. Nope. Instead, his starter made a horrible loud grinding noise. I concluded that the starter failed, and the little gear in the starter was not protruding all the way into the bellhousing and therefore failing to mesh with the teeth on the flywheel. I was immediately reminded of when we moved into this/existing/old house from the rental next door, and ended up selling 2Dot0 because moving it was just one too many things to manage. Obviously, we are not selling Hapy. Instead, I got AAA to put him on a flatbed for the 500 foot move. The driver was a champ and did his best to get Hapy close to his prepared spot, but overhead wires limited him. So, with a come-along and 15+ meters of chain, our friend John and I moved Hapy into place. I may try hitting the starter with a hammer a couple of times to see if that re-enables the starter, but I vaguely remember some after-run from the starter last Summer indicating that it was starting to die. More than likely, I bought a lower-grade starter as the replacement, and it just failed prematurely as cheap parts do. Even if the hammer-trick works, it would just be delaying the inevitable and he is in a good spot to replace the starter, so now that I've typed all that, I bought a replacement, higher quality, starter and will swap it in.

Oliver Shifts

almost there

I have struggled with the idea of parking a convertible outside. After losing 4 canopies to wind and snow this winter, I felt my considerable fear was warranted. I moved forward with it for 2 reasons. First, I have no choice. We need to get out of the old house and the garage at NewOldHouse is full of kitchen cabinets. So, there is no room inside. Second, we have a neighbor around the corner who has parked his brand new Mazda Miata MX5 in his driveway all winter. His car is fine and arguably worth considerably more, at least in terms of replacement cost.

Similar to Hapy, Oliver has been on a trickle charger all winter, so I figured his battery was good and he would start up. At some point during the few days prior, someone had unplugged the trickle charger and his battery was completely flat when I went to move him. I put him on another charger, and put gas into his tank. The charger did not resolve his battery, and I had to replace it before turning the key wouldn't immediately flatten the battery. I got a group 24 Duralast battery from Autozone and learned that the old battery was actually a group 35. A group 35 is smaller. I figured the PO probably did that for easier install, but I have read that the group 35 does not have the same pop at start. I'm not sure that's actually true, but it is usually best to install the correct group battery for your car regardless of what the interweb experts say. Anyway, with the battery replaced and some gas in the tank, starting was still not immediate. The fuel I put in the tank needed to get pushed by the fuel pump up to the carb, and fill the bowl. I worked the butterfly at the carb to get some atomized fuel into the intake and with a billow of smoke he started up.

in place

I drove Oliver over the NewOldHouse, wishing his registration was updated so I could take a longer spin. He drove well with no noticeable exhaust, shifting easily. His throttle responded right away, implying the carb-leaning adjustments I did last summer to eliminate the bog worked. Perhaps he is ready for another run at Oregon DEQ. Since he still has a leak under the windscreen and the rains have not yet left for the summer, that run has to wait. I parked Oliver next to Zed, behind the house. All 4 of his tires are on patio blocks set on top of a tarp. I covered him with a "Gold Shield 5L" cover from CarCover.com to keep him dry.

The picture on the right was taken before I put the cover on, obviously, but you can see the tarp on the ground and the patio blocks. Now that the cover is on, it drops down almost all the way to the ground so the tarp and blocks are mostly not visible. Since he was moved and covered, we have had rain (because, of course, it's western Oregon) and the cover has kept Oliver dry and the cover did not appear to even look wet while it was raining. I'm not sure how that works.

That's it for today. While the effort to move these three was in some cases significant, and they all need some kind of repair, I am thrilled to have them home. Thanks, as always, for following along-

Zed Moves

I have been doing all kinds of things to get NewOldHouse ready for us to move. The exterior is painted. The interior is almost ready for paint after many more days of caulking and masking. Because we knew the end of the dry days were almost upon us, I took a couple days off work so Boo and I could get after some outside stuff. Today's post covers that.

Back to Back Chicken Shacks

Zed's new home

That's right. This property has two 8' x 12' locking sheds right next to each other that the prior owners were using as chicken shacks. The one closer to the house looked to be in better shape, while it's Furthur (see what I did there?) twin has a failing roof. We decided that we would clear them of chicken scat, hay and whatever else we found and then determine what to do with them. After a few minutes of working on the better-shape shed with a respirator and a shovel, it was clear that it was salvage-able, and had not had any rodent activity (no rat scat). I got the nasty out first with a shovel, then with a rake, then a broom and finally with a high-pressure hose. Once cleared, I sprayed it with house-wash and rinsed it down. The front-most section of flooring will need a replacement sheet of plywood/chipboard, but the rest of the shed will work, and serve as my car-parts/tool shed until a more permanent shop can be constructed.

The other shed did not see as much progress. The roof and the entire floor will need to be replaced. Still, that's a couple hundred dollars of plywood (plus some roofing material that we happen to have lying around) to repair a shed that would cost, like, 5K(US$) new. It will hold garden implements and supplies, and can do that even with a rotted floor... until we can get some time to repair it. Eventually, the lawn tractor will even get parked in there. I will return to the scat-removal and clean-up of the FurthurShed after we move. The repairs will probably wait until next year. But, to help protect it for one more year, Boo and I stapled thick, large black garbage bags (flat) over the holes in the roof. Now, that sounds pretty ShadeTree, and it absolutely is. Still, after a couple relatively heavy rains since, the inside of that shack is dry, so the wood that is not rotted will not get worse before we can get out there next year and repair them right.

Zed in Motion

man-hunt on

With the sheds ready to be pressed into service, we cleared the area where the 2 carports were assembled, around the back of the house. The grass was cut down to the dirt, all of the little weedy shrubs were cut down, and then the car ports were set in place: as tight to the house as they could go without bumping into the siding. Last, we laid out a tarp to act as a vapor barrier between the earth and Zed's underside. We were ready to move Zed. Before I started working on how to tow him, I thought I could try to drive him. Sure, he has no interior, no glass, no side mirrors, no tail lights, a 4-year-expired registration, it's raining, it's garbage day and there is an active man-hunt in the neighborhood by Beaverton's finest. Still, it's worth trying; worst case, I have to tow him. Regardless of outcome, it would be a funny story.

Long ago, I had drained Zed of gas by loosening the fuel line in the engine compartment and firing up the fuel pump, pumping the fuel into a gas can that I then used to fill the lawn mower. I had not tried to start Zed again. Knowing this day was coming, I had charged his battery and then disconnected the negative terminal (saving the charge). After confirming the battery was full (12.5V), I poured a fresh gallon of gas into his tank, hooked up the negative cable to the battery, flipped the ignition and fuel pump switches and tuned the key. BahRoom... he fired right up. Now, even though I had pumped the fuel out, there remained some old gas remnants in the lines or the injectors were kinda fouled. Regardless, Zed ran rough, and did not want to idle. I babied him along until he settled down and idled. Cool. So he runs. I took the next step and tried to back him up, but he wouldn't budge. I felt like his brakes were rusted on. I tried to high-rev reverse to break the brakes free, but that didn't work. I suspected the rear brakes were rusted tight from sitting motionless for a couple of years.

the "nicer" shack, before

Undeterred, I chocked his front wheels. I raised the passenger side rear wheel by the axle with my trolley-jack and removed the wheel. I shot rust buster onto the brake shoes (which looked pretty much worn to nothing anyway) and then hit the caliper with a framing hammer, sometimes using a flattened chisel on the pad, to loosen the rust-hold. After a few cycles, I could see that the brake shoe no longer held to the rotor. So, I slapped the wheel back on, lowered the jack. I repeated this on the driver side... all while keeping my head on a swivel for the police escapee (hence, no pictures). Satisfied, I pulled the wheel chocks. I topped off the brake fluid to make sure the front calipers would have the most capability of stopping us, since the rears were now covered in oil.

Feeling confident, I put my red plastic toolbox on the floor for a make-shift seat to try to drive Zed again. I bungie-corded the driver door shut, and fired him up. He started a little rough again, but settled into an idle quickly. I popped him into reverse and Zed started to back up. I navigated around the shrub on the corner of the parking spot and then down my not-quite-straight driveway by looking through the passenger-side tail light hole. It being garbage day, I had to wait for the truck to clear out of the cul-de-sac, but that let the engine idle a little more, working more of that bad gas out and good gas in.

the "nicer" shack, after

The brakes took some pumping to get to a full stop, but I figured it was mid-day during a work-week and I was driving about a block-and-a-half, so the risk was low. I got the rest of the way out of the driveway, put Zed into first, and puttered down the street, stopped at the sign on the corner, and turned onto the more highly-used street to the NewOldHouse. I could see cop cars down the street both behind me and in front of me (picture above shows cops 2 doors down from our new house), but no cops between me and the NewOldHouse. I went for it. I puttered to the house, straight down the drive and around the back. It took a 3-point turn, but Zed now sits on top of a grey tarp, underneath a carport, ready for me to revisit once we're moved (shown in the top picture).

I think that's about it for today. Boo and I are finding that with each potential challenge presented by this house, it always looks worse than it really is. From the chicken shacks to the interior plaster, once things get cleaned, the condition underneath is not nearly as bad as it looked. I continue to get more excited about what this new home, and a potential new shop, could mean.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Hapy Cab Gets Quiet

In my last post about noise containment, I posted about getting the main living area floor noise controlled with Heat Wave Jute and MLV. Before that, I posted about the application of the constrained layered dampener (CLD) on the ceiling and easily-accessed exposed steel (See Noise Control Update). There has been a lot of foundational work and many posts leading up to this next step. I removed the drop ceiling. I ran the rough electrical for the luxury items like accessory plugs, dome lights, etc (See Ceiling Wiring Rough In). I found and resolved holes from the old Westfalia pop-top. I removed the old shelf, designed and installed a new one (See New Cab Shelf). So finally, today, I will focus on getting the cab area practically noise controlled.

 

Cab Floor Prep

cab floor, nose quieted

Many years ago, I applied something CLD-like to the floor of the cab after addressing the rust with naval jelly and rust encapsulator (see Rust Never Sleeps). That post was so long ago, it pre-dated my now-common efforts to identify the products I am using, but I am fairly sure it was B-Quiet. Regardless, the stuff available in 2007 may not be as effective as the stuff available now. I suspect the old B-Quiet has since been reformulated to have more Butyl and less asphalt. So, I started working on removing that old stuff. It did not want to let go, and in some cases it left a sticky mess behind. I found that I was most effective at removing it when I cut 2" squares into the foil topper and removed a square at a time. For the spots where tacky goop remained, simple scraping worked a little, running the grinder was ineffective, and multiple passes of Goof-Off was moderately effective. After multiple rounds with Goof-Off, scraping was much more effective, and I was able to get most of the asphalt-y sticky off the floor. Still, the effort to remove that old stuff took most of a weekend.

With the old stuff gone I discovered that I needed to address rust in the floor again. Long ago, I abandoned Naval Jelly to get rid of rust, believing that it just is not as effective as the converters currently on the market. Perhaps, it was user error, but I followed the instructions. Anyway, this floor had been worked on with the Naval Jelly before I changed and it showed. I like Eastwood stuff, after trying and abandoning others. It is a simple spray-on product that I then spread around with a gloved hand to make sure it gets everywhere. It dries with a thin shell that could be painted on top of, but Eastwood recommends their encapsulator (of course) on top. I thought about adding another layer of paint, but decided it was unnecessary and left the floor "top coated" with the black Rust Encapsulator.

Cab Floor Noise Contain

Once the cab floor was rust treated, I applied some fresh CLD. Even the Noico was an improvement on what was there before. Before I started, the floor still had a fairly noticeable "ting" when smacked with the roller. Perhaps part of the reason the B-Quiet was not as effective was because it was trying to adhere to rust, not to steel and converted rust. Similar to the cab ceiling, I did the larger panels with the ResoNix, and did a few smaller areas with some leftover Noico. I had not previously applied anything to the walk-through, but that got CLD this time.

I used the rubber mat as a template for the next 2 layers: Heat Wave Jute and the Mass Loaded Vinyl (MLV). I under-sized the front edge so the kick panel/card that runs along that leading edge can seat against the floor later. Then, I did the walk-though floor with Heat Wave and MLV, following its basic rectangle shape.

 

Cab Doors Contained

door Mega Zorbe'd

The amount of prep work needed in the doors was not as extreme as the floor, but there were some needed steps. There was some surface rust down along the bottom and in the spots where the different metal bits intersect. After the rust was addressed and some Rustoleum was applied, it was ready to go. The steel also had some of that B-Quiet, but it seemed much more effective in the door than it was on the floor. I only removed the pieces that came off easily. Oddly, the passenger door stuff came off with little effort and the driver side stuff would not budge. So, the driver door was pretty much left alone (just CLD'd one section) and the passenger door got a full replacement treatment. Thinking about how much material I have on-hand, and how small an area I needed to solve, I used the Noico. While I test-tapped each door, I noticed both doors had a rattle that I traced to loose fasteners on the window mechanisms and door latches. A couple of passes of tighten-loosen-tighten eliminated those rattles.

 

Unlike the floor, I used Mega Zorbe in the doors. This stuff is so easy to work with. It is self-adhesive, so you figure out exactly what size you need, cut it, test fit it and when you're ready, you peel the paper off the back and stick it on. Of course, clean the surface really well first. The self-sticky is super-sticky, so I suggest the first time you play with it you apply it in areas which won't be seen until you get the hang of it. I got the 1/2" thick Zorbe, and it easily fit against the outer door skin without impacting the action of the window. If I have material left at the end of this project, I may apply some to the side of the door card that fits into the door cavity for more sound absorption. 

 

Nose Noise Contain

original Styrofoam

Most of the metal on the inside of the nose is inaccessible or at least very hard to get to. The pedals make getting to that lower section difficult, but not as difficult as the area behind the dash, especially on the driver side. Accordingly, I did not get very complete coverage of the inside of the nose with CLD. Before I could start, the bus originally delivered with some foam stuff glued to the lower section (below the mid-point). This stuff looks like old Styrofoam cooler material, and made a mess similar to a broken cooler with those little white dots everywhere. It was very thin, so I doubt it did much. Once removed, shop-vac'd and surface-cleaned, I used ResoNix, hoping to maximize the vibration deadening from covering such a small percentage of the total surface. I removed the windshield washer bottle and successfully fit a full one-foot-square sheet of ResoNix on the nose in that area. I cut a second square, fitting material up behind the glove box and onto the big metal airbox on the passenger side. On the driver side, access was even more limited. I was unable to fit a full uncut square directly in front of the pedals, but I was able to get a pair of rectangles applied there. I consumed the rest of that sheet plus another, getting coverage above the running light (beside the headlight) as well as onto the airbox. It is hard to know how much those sections will help, but I used the higher quality ResoNix, so maybe it will matter. Because of the foil topper, I figured putting CLD anywhere near the fuse-box would be a bad idea, so the whole upper left side is CLD-free.

I had originally intended to use the Jute inside the nose, but I changed my mind after wrestling CLD in there. First, the Jute needs adhesive to stick. Second, it is stiffer than the Mega-Zorbe. Third, the foil on the Jute is electrically conductive, so, like the CLD, we do not want it near the fuse box or electric controls. So, while we would have probably appreciated the temperature management of the Jute, there is no way I could have constructed a thermal wall in there. This is all about absorbing sound, and inside the nose can't be seen nor felt. So, I used and will continue to harvest for use, trimmings from other applications of the Mega-Zorbe and patch-work my way to sound control on the driver side. On the passenger side, I was able to place a single sheet of Mega Zorbe in pieces. The driver side was very difficult to get to, and handling the super-sticky self-adhere was not working out too well. I was able to get some larger cuts (maybe 4 inches by 8 inches) along the lower section, but that was about it. As I generate trimmings around the rest of the bus, I will return to the nose to add more.

Cab Ceiling

Mega Zorb'd ceiling

After all the efforts in previous postings, from the rough-in electrical to the mounting of the luggage tub and the shelf, I was finally ready to do the cab ceiling. Recall that the drop ceiling has been removed, the old shelf came down, and the original 1972 Westfalia supporting superstructure was removed. I used a combination of ResoNix and Noico for vibration control, thinking that an extra pound was worth minimizing the noise closest to my head. Similar to the doors, I used the Mega Zorbe on the ceiling. I covered the ceiling from lip to lip, front edge to the cross support. Simply sitting in the seat with that single layer of 1/2" foam was incredibly quiet just sitting in the driveway with the engine off. It is quieter inside the bus than outside. If I utter words, they are simply gobbled up by the noise control material in a more pronounced way than a gentle wind takes your words outside. I had originally planned for a second layer, and still may before applying a true headliner, but it will not be because I need more sound taken out of the air. It will depend more by how to contour the ceiling and remaining steel so the transitions are smooth. I will sit with it as-is for a little while, as I do other areas, to see how I feel about it. I may get some basic automotive foam if I need to add something. I don't have the headliner material yet anyway. Seriously, this bus is getting crazy quiet.

Under the Seats

view of the under-seats

Moving on to the seats, I used the Heat Wave and MLV combination again. Consider the little compartments along the inner edge of the seats. These compartments accepted 6-inch wide, 26-inch long Heat Wave on the floor. Against the wheel wells, another 26-inch long 5-inch tall stretch of Jute was set. Then, I got to thinking about the MLV. Consider, the access is very limited and the side of the wheel well is vertical. Simply brushing or spraying on contact adhesive was not viable. I cut 2 sheets of MLV for each compartment, with a combined overall average length of 25 inches each (d-side shorter, p-side longer), but 12 inches wide. Dealing with a half-length, I rolled it up and stuffed it through the access hole, unrolling the 12-inch width in place. So, the bottom edge is against the inner edge where it meets the floor, and the MLV runs up along the side of the wheel well with the top edge roughly against the ceiling. I set the second sheet in similarly, and with an overlap, the compartments are covered.... mostly. The driver-side compartment has the brake reservoir and tubing, so I was not able to get as deep. Hence, the shorter length of MLV. Still, I knew this was not going to be 100% sealed/covered. This is about as good as I could have expected without putting MLV around the outside of the entire seat pedestal, but that would have intruded into the limited walk-through space, for what I think would be little improvement. I accept that the MLV may not stay in place long-term. Since there will be a card on the walk-through side, I can access it and check up on it periodically. Being honest, I probably won't. If I have left over MLV, maybe I will figure out a way to put it inside the walk-thru card. We'll see.

Other than the little compartment, the under-seat space was controlled rather simply. I put one piece of both Heat Wave and MLV under each seat, running from the outer edge of the little compartment (under the seats) to the door's edge. To fit, I cut a channel around the outer seat runner. I thought about lifting the seats, but decided that having an additional 1/2" of squishy lift was not desirable; having some noise travel through the rails was an acceptable tradeoff. After the seat compartment efforts, we are no longer looking at 95% containment anyway. Between the inner seat rail and the inner edge, I set another section of Heat Wave, covering up the remaining bits of steel. This final section was not rectangular since the seat pedestal is not exactly square, but it rests above the little compartment, so MLV was unnecessary. The Heat Wave, however, will allow the carpet to lay flat.

Wrap It Up

Once installed, I taped all of the MLV bits together. Why? Audiophiles suggest that the MLV works best when it hasn't any breaks in it. I know there are breaks under the seat rails and inside the little compartment, so the tape may not be as effective. Still, the metaphor I have read is that the seams are like slightly cracked windows in your house, letting in the noise of your neighbor mowing their lawn. If the window is completely closed the noise is much more contained. So, having lots of open seams is like lots of cracked windows, versus a couple around the seat rails. Since I have not been taking noise measurements along the way, I cannot say whether the patchwork MLV will help meaningfully more than just the CLD and Heat Wave. The sound experts swear by this stuff though.

At this point, I have the floor completely noise contained, from rear hatch to the front nose. We have CLD to contain the vibration, Heat Wave to absorb some of the sound that makes it through and MLV to block most of whatever remains. Since most of the noise comes from the engine, drivetrain and wheels, the work to date should have addressed most of the problem. I am continuing down the noise elimination path, though. I will be applying Mega Zorbe onto the rear ceiling, adding some deadener between the 2 rear ceilings, and solving for the slider and mid-bus driver-side wall. I feel that I have turned an important corner, however.

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

Hapy Seating (Part 2)

When the nice weather (read:camping weather) got behind us, I pulled Hapy off the road to swap out the seats. That was before we got a puppy and my wife changed jobs. I have been doing bus-related things when the rare opportunity presented itself, of course, but these seats just were not getting my attention. I have finally gotten these seats installed. So, today, I will wrap this up.

Out With The Old

Sprinter seats

Recall, we removed GratefulEd's donor seats and stowed them safely in my garage. They will go back to him as soon as these new seats are confirmed viable. The stock passenger seat is held in by a hook-loop between the seatback and the steel partition, and a pair of C-shaped mounts that point up. The seat was designed to remove quickly so you can access the tire jack usually stored beneath. You lift up on the front of the seat, folding it slightly, the hook on the rear slides out of the loop, allowing the seat to be lifted straight up. Pretty clever. The driver seat rides on 2 slides, and is held in place with a more modern toothed rail concept. Like a modern seat, the adjuster unlocks by lifting on a bar under the driver's right leg and then the seat can move front to back. If the bar is lifted and the seat is slid all the way forward, it slides right off the channels. Easy-peasy.

With the stock-ish seats out, we can consider the install of the new seats. In the 2016 Sprinter, these seats are mounted with M10 grade 10.9 (or grade 8 in SAE measures) bolts/nuts. Unable to source these at the local Ace, I had to patronize the Home Despot for fasteners. Moments like this I miss Orchards; their fastener department was massive, well stocked, clearly marked and there was room for multiple shoppers. Anyway, I mentioned in the last post that the "C" mounts for the passenger seat blocked a clean mock up of the new seat on that side. On Hapy, the inner mount was held on with 2 small (10mm head) bolts. The outer mount was welded on (presumably by a PO). So, I removed that one with my angle grinder, a hacksaw and a hammer/chisel. I generally do not like cutting original parts off the bus, but I am fairly sure the outer hook was supposed to be bolted in like the inner hook was, and a prior owner performed a repair or "improvement". I'm going with repair. The loop on the partition is held on with 2 more 10mm bolts. All of these parts dropped into a zip-lock baggie to be misplaced for the foreseeable future in my disaster of a garage. I'm not kidding; I have already lost track of this baggie.

While We're Here

Three of the most dangerous words when it comes to projects are "while we're here". Still, there are times when it makes sense to do something while you are there and things are exposed. For example, you need to remove the air cleaner to get to your spark plugs, so you replace the filter during the out-then-in. That didn't really increase the scope, and you were touching it anyway. In this case, I have very little interest in removing these seats again once they are in, but I know they will be out and back in again. Resisting the urge to do more, there are a few things worth doing while your seats are out. After pulling out the old passenger seat mounts, I spent a little time improving that seat pedestal. I cleaned up all the dust, debris and spent horsehair. I hit some surface rust with rust converter and then topped that with some spray paint. I do not have carpet yet, and I don't want to put the old pedestal wrap carpet (basically trunk carpet) back on. So, yeah, these seats will be coming back out for a carpet install. I hope to install that carpet before Summer travels begin, but it could just as easily happen years from now, which is why I did the rust-treat and paint.

 

Measure, Template, Mark, Repeat

templating

To determine the correct placement of the holes, I started with an 18" x 18" square cardboard template. This matches the length of the seat rails and the distance between their outer edges. I held this template against the bottom of the driver seat, and marked where the mount holes needed to be. Once bored out, the template was ready. I set the driver seat in place and to mark where the front of the seat rails needed to be. Hmm.. the new seat's seat rails are longer than the original. They are so much longer, in fact, that they hang off the front of the pedestal by about an inch so I re-drew the front holes on the cardboard template for the front mounts. The next available hole rearward is about 2 inches back. This places the new hole squarely within the pedestal. Since the seat location is not as clear from the front of the rails (due to the drop in the front before the end of the rail) as the rear of the rails, I marked the pedestal along the rear edges of the rails for the template to align to. After removing the seat, I aligned the template with these marks and then marked where the holes needed to be. 

I test fit and marked where I thought the holes should go and then measured for straightness. And then repeated that cycle until I had the planned seat mounts square. Before boring the holes, it is worth considering that 2 of these holes will pass through the wheel tub into the area where the tires are. Accordingly, getting bolts that are not too long is very important. I got 25mm long (M10 grade 10.9) bolts so they are long enough to pass through the rails, and the steel tubs without protruding very far into the wheel well. While there is enough thread on the bolt in the wheel well for the nut to bite, they are short enough that the tire could not possibly touch it. The passenger-side rear bolt, actually, just has enough thread on it for the nut to fully engage, with no part of the bolt protruding through. The pair of inside bolts, on the other hand, remain inside the seat pedestal. These nuts are hard to reach, but there is plenty of meat on the bolts for the nuts to grab onto. Once I have carpet installed, it will be quite difficult to get a socket on them. I will need to form a flap with the carpet so I can get in there.

 

One thing I found interesting while doing this: the stock driver seat is not square. The front edge angles slightly towards the center of the bus, so as you slide the seat forward, the seat slightly shifts towards the center. I did not duplicate this, but it is interesting.

 

Drillin'

My drill bits have not improved since the rear anti-sway bar install (See Handling the Handling - Rear Anti Roll Bar), so I slowly drilled the holes into the seat pedestals. I had intended to tap the holes so the bolts would thread into the seat pedestal before they were nutted from below. This plan was set aside when I considered how far under the seat the front bolts would be and how hard it would be to wrench them down. So, instead, I bored three them all the way out so the bolt would drop through the holes instead. I did tap the outer rear hole. Once all four holes were drilled out on the passenger side, I set the template in place and set the bolts through. They lined up perfectly. Sweetness.

both seats in. pardon the trash

With the holes for the passenger seat drilled out, I pretty much duplicated the hole locations for the driver side. On the driver side, I chose to drill straight through the original seat rails. I keyed off of an existing hole in the rear outer seat rail, since the template was almost there. The outer holes simply align with the template. This decision prevented some alignment issues, and also set the holes in spots where the original seat rail would not get damaged, and could still be used. This allows for a future decision to put original seats back in, and it provided a couple of additional layers of original German steel, adding to the strength of the overall install. I drilled out the 4 holes in the same stair-step method of drilling out the center hole with a super-tiny bit and bore it out wider with progressively larger bits until it's big enough for the bolt to drop through.

Driver Pedestal

Similar to the passenger pedestal, the driver pedestal got a clean-up, rust treatment and paint. Unlike the passenger side, however, the rust was more prevalent. I think the leak from that old plastic hose from the remote brake reservoir to the master cylinder caused it. So, I included some Eastwood Rust Encapsulator in the treatment. I got completely under the pedestal as well as the mount holes I had just drilled out.

 

Mount Up

With the holes drilled out, it was just a matter of patience getting the bolts in and tightened down. Since the front bolts are buried inside the seat rails, I started with them. I tipped the seat back a touch and wiggled the bolts into the runners so the bolts hung down. I set the seat in place, letting the front bolts fall into their holes. I figured these were harder to solve for than the rears, since I could slide the seat forward to get to those bolts. I lifted up on the seat adjuster and slid the seat forward enough to be able to directly manipulate the rear bolts. The inner rear bolt dropped through easily, and I was able to thread the rear outer bolt into the tapped hole. Once snugged, I threaded on the nut and tightened it down. Then, I set the nut onto the inner rear bolt and slid the seat back. The 2 front bolts were difficult to address with a wrench because the upper slider did not slide past them when the seat was most rear-ward. I was able to hold them in place with a bladed screw-driver while tightening the nuts from below, however. I accept that this means they may not be torqued down as much as any of us would like, but that's how it goes sometimes. Also, I omitted washers from the inner bolts, simply because I didn't have many.

Left Undone

The rear bolts on the driver side encountered some issues that I will need to address. The inner bolt hole intersected with a support rib, so a nut currently cannot fully seat. I need to get in there and trim the rib back. The driver-side outer bolt hole encountered a contour within the wheel well, preventing the nut from setting. This will be easier to resolve: bfh (big fn' hammer) to flatten the contour. I will solve these when I do the noise control steps since I will need to remove the driver seat anyway. I will include washers and will get the fasteners torqued down then too.

Test

At this point, both seats were in. So, Boo and I took a test drive. In our driveway. Without starting the engine. Okay, the test consisted of the two of us simply sitting in the seats, listening to the radio enjoying the new front speaker set up (See Returning to Hapy Sounds Part 1 and Part 2) and imagining the first camping trip. We will have a real test when Hapy is back on the road. I have moved Hapy around the driveway with the new seat. It is firm and supportive, but high. I can't tell yet if it's bad, it's just different. My feet can easily push the pedals all the way to the floor, so there is no safety issue. I will just have to get used to the higher viewpoint.

Tuukka's garage seat

As you can see from that last picture, I have started applying some noise control in the form of vibration deadening material onto the cab ceiling (some ResoNix, plus some leftover Noico). Of course, I am already asking myself whether I should remove those seat partitions, even without adding swivels, so the seats can recline farther. It seems like there is always something to do "next time". Perhaps the most important thing at this point is that I can return the old seats to GratefulEd. Tuukka, the dog, will very much miss them as they have been his go-to spot while hanging out with me in the garage.

 

My last 2 posts prior to this one contained a great deal of idea-mulling. As I just mentioned, I have started some efforts in the noise reduction space and will continue as time allows. Between clearing the spots where it will go in the bus and the careful application of it (lots of measuring and test fitting for the layers above the CLD), there's a lot of time spent which does not translate very well into posts. Still, I have a few other little things I have going on, so I will wrap those up around the noise-contain work so I don't go too many weeks without posting anything.

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

Love on the Bus

Short post today, describing a day spent just doing little things on the bus in the middle of festival season.

Oil
When we got back from 4Peaks, we had a small electrical issue, that was solved in all of 5 minutes with a replacement 8amp fuse. With that quick satisfaction of a minor issue, I wanted more. Since we had driven through the desert and I wasn't really sure when I last changed his oil, I did that. Changing the oil on this engine is so easy. 15mm drain plug loosens easily and sits less than 2 inches above the drain pan, so there's virtually no mess. I remove the fill cap so it drains faster. While the last drips are coming out, I remove and replace the oil filter. This can get messy, but I have found that pulling the filter straight up with one hand while the other, wrapped in a single-use plastic grocery bag, grabs the bottom, you can contain all of the oil. This works best if you raise the filter and let it drip into the holder for a minute before you grab with the other hand. Replace both the upper and lower o-rings. You should have gotten both with the filter, unless you went super cheap, and why would you go cheap on an oil filter?

Rust

floor, when first uncovered

While hanging out in the camp zone with GratefulEd, we talked buses of course, and the topic of rust came up. He usually does some level of rust search-and-destroy every other year. Based on that model, I'm due. So, I removed the lot couch and the foam mats off the floor in the middle of the bus, and attacked the surface rust I found there. Years ago, I had cleaned up rust here after removing some il-planned noise absorption matting. The matting did not stick well, and trapped more moisture than noise. So, this time, I cleaned, sanded and re-cleaned the floor. I applied 2 coats of rust converter on the entire floor. Once cured, I applied rubberized undercoating. This should remove the threat of rust from above. This leaves the threat of rust from below, however, and this model of bus has the 2 welded-in belly pans. So, I will need to get creative in solving for that. Then, of course, there is the radiator under the center section. I will need to lower it to get after the rust potential there, but that will need to wait until October, when camping/festival season is over. I walked the bus a little bit, making note of where there was a wisp of rust either as a stain or as a bubble under the paint. There is quite a bit to look at, but none of it really terrible. It's just in lots of spots. More opportunity to love on Hapy while not taking him off the road.

Noise

after rust converter and undercoating

With the foam off the floor, I could really hear the echo coming off the steel floor. Rapping on floor with my knuckle was like knocking on the sidewall of a steel shed (clang-clang-clang). Yikes, that's just awful. No wonder my ears rang after the drive home from 4Peaks. So, I grabbed the 80mm Noico that I used on Oliver, the '78 MGB, and cut thin strips to set in the little ribs in the floor. Once all of the rib-divots had Noico applied and worked in with the roller tool, I placed 3 larger sheets down on top above the center section (effectively over the radiator). I figured the fans could be creating more vibration so having a little extra there couldn't hurt. Once rolled snug with the roller tool, I tested with my knuckles again. The clang-clang-clang wasn't as pronounced, but these sheets are not designed to lessen that kind of noise; they are designed to muffle vibrations. So, the real test is when the fans turn on and the engine is running at 2800 rpm. Noise reduction folks have said that only 25-50% of a surface area needs to be covered with these vibration things to have a noticeable impact. I covered over 50%, so, in theory, this should make a difference. Resigned to seeing how it felt when I next drove, I put the foam back down and the lot couch back in. There was no visible evidence that I had done anything, but it seemed like Hapy was sitting taller, like he was Hapy he got some love. Yes, I know that sounds silly.

When I was done with the oil, I remembered that I had an engine cover for the TDI engine in Flash that I took off years ago. I don't remember why I took it off, nor why I left it off, but there it was leaning against the wall on top of my shop bench. I think I had planned to use it in Hapy for years, but figured I needed to cut it to fit, so I just left it there. Well, today I was just puttering anyway, so I gave it a test fit. Wouldn't you know, it slipped right on. Now, the bracket which holds the vacuum ball had the cover mount cut off, so I can only hold it in place with 2 bolts (and I only had one). After pawing through a box of random fasteners, I found a M6 bolt that was 30mm long. Perfect. So, now the engine has a cover. Since I don't look at it hardly ever, the cover shouldn't be an access issue, but it should contain a little bit of the noise. We'll see.

That's really all I have today. I'm working on a new piece of furniture for when-camped, but it is still in the design stage. Until then, more shows and camping awaits!

Hammered Rims (part 1)

After many months of looking at Hapy under a big gray cover, I finally got to play with him a little bit. So, today's post is a triumphant return to posting about the bus. It got long, so it's been split into multiple posts.

Where Were We?

rear left tire

3 years ago, I replaced the 14-inch stock steel rims. The tires had not been replaced in 10 years, so they had become dangerous, and I did not want to get another set of tiny tires. Instead, I got a set of 16-inch rims for $200 from a Vanagon guy out the Portland Eastside. These are "aluminum" which I put in quotes because they aren't pure aluminum; they wouldn't be strong enough if they were pure aluminum. They are an alloy. Does that matter? Well, sort of. Pure aluminum wouldn't rust to my steel hubs. The alloys within the not-pure rims allows for that possibility. Enter today's fun. I wanted to check the brakes, knowing that the system needed a fluid refresh, the rear cylinders needed to be replaced and all of the other components needed a looking at.

Wheel Stuck
With brakes in mind, I cracked the torque on the passenger side rear wheel and got Hapy up on a jack stand. I loosened the nuts and grabbed the tire... it wouldn't budge. Hmm.. I tried a few leverage ideas. No luck. So, I tried some internet ideas that didn't work even after I shot the snot out of the mating points with PB Blaster and the Lucas Oil alternative (Tool Box Buddy).

Have the nuts loosely threaded onto the studs and....
1) swiftly drop the bus off a jack
In theory, this would "pop" the rust seal. This didn't work. It sounded dangerous in the first place, honestly, and I would not encourage this. Best case, the wheel comes free. Worst case, the wheel comes free and bends or defaces a stud. Then what?

2) rock the bus (your car) back and forth
This assumes that the bus/car is back on the ground with the nuts loosened. The idea is, you rock the car/bus side-to-side, not front to back. This didn't work, but I liked it better than roughly dropping the bus from a height.

3) drive the bus forward and back, slamming on the brakes
This idea had some controversy on the net. There were those pointing out that you should never drive around without your lug nuts tight. Having helped another person who had a wheel fall off when the nuts hadn't been tightened, I understand the fear. I tried it anyway. It didn't work.

4) drive the bus around in a figure 8 pattern
Like number 3 above, this has the same controversy. After this didn't work, I combined numbers 3 and 4 together, but that also didn't work.

5) drive the bus off curbs
Doesn't this feel like we're just getting into more and more dangerous ideas? What's next, drive the bus off a loading dock? Yeah, I drove it off the curb anyway, albeit slowly, like under 10mph. This didn't work either.

Hammering
So, then I started looking at even more aggressive ideas. Again, nuts loosely on so the rim doesn't completely fall off and start rolling away on you...

6) while holding a block of wood against the inside of the rim (you're under the car now), whack it with a 4# sledge hammer
I started with my hand way choked up on the handle so it was almost touching the hammerhead. It made no difference. I moved further and further out on the handle, and rotated the wheel so I made contact all the way around. No difference. By the end of this effort, I was holding the sledge at the end of the handle, using a full arm swing as I struck the rubber tire (wood got totally smashed anyway and I needed both hands to swing hammer). It was a great workout, and I could see the entire rim shudder, but it wouldn't give.

Since this seemed like the most probable option, I then started a daily routine of spraying with a penetrant (PB Blaster, LucasOil Tool Box Buddy) and then hammering. Meanwhile, I started looking at options for how I could cut the rims off, recognizing that I would need new rims and tires afterwards (so, signing up for $1000US of unplanned cost). Plus new rotors and drums, pads and shoes for another three hundred, now that they are all coated in oil. Neat.

Lets Get Crazy
7) wrecking bar
I tried putting a wrecking bar (looks like an old man's cane, but it's super strong steel) behind the rim, with the 90* bend against the drum. By pressing against the end of the bar, there's considerable leverage. Just pulling or pushing on the bar didn't work. Then, I tried hammering on the end of the bar with the 4# sledge. That didn't work either, but the way it bounced off the rim, it told me that was a bad idea. I could have hurt myself or the bus from the recoil. So, dear reader: don't hammer the bar.

8) put a tire jack between the frame and the rim
Yes, this sounds crazy, but I tried it anyway, after a week of daily application of penetrating oil. This didn't work either. Nor did more hammering, changing to a different penetrating oil (Kano Labs' Kroil)... gasp. pant pant pant.

9) trucker chain and a gear puller

This time, I grabbed some trucker's chain. If you haven't used or seen these, its about 20' long, super thick and has a hook on each end so you can make a loop and have it hook on itself. I used this chain with a come-along to move Hapy around the yard 10 years ago mid-engine swap at the old homestead. Anyway, I took this chain and weaved it around the mags: under over under over. Once pulled tight, I hooked it up so it was a closed loop. I used this chain as a grab-point for my 3-arm gear puller as you can see in the picture above. These pullers are supposed to be pretty strong, so I figured with some steady pull pressure, maybe the wheel would pop. Nope. Instead, I broke the gear puller. You can see one of the bolts sheared off in the picture here, circled in red.

Delayed Maintenance
The more I looked at ways to get after the rims, the more I realized how much delayed maintenance lay beyond them. I haven't ever serviced the wheel bearings. Yeah, that's really bad. I know the wheel cylinders for the rear brakes need replacing. The brake fluid is crazy old. The whole underside needs a lube job. Regardless of how this resolves for the rims, I have quite a bit of work ahead and camping season starts in like a month! Feeling the pressure, I switched gears again.

Give Up and Hire Someone
10) hire a mobile mechanic
I called up the MobilePDX guys. Courtney and company have pulled me out of a few jams with various cars. From removing the stripped lower control arm bolts on Flash to the no-start problem on the A4, they have been great. Courtney arrived with a massive sledge-hammer and set to working on the front passenger-side rim (protected with a thick piece of wood). After a few swings, he could tell that it wasn't going to happen. While the ring of the hammer-on-rim persisted in the air like a church bell, he advised I take it to a tire shop who have better tools and do this kind of thing every day.

11) tire shop

I decided that I wasn't enthusiastic about these rims anyway. They are 16", which for some cars would be small, but on the bus they look a little too matchbox-car-ish, especially the rear wheel. At least to me. More importantly, they are 7" (or maybe 7.5") wide so the footprint is fairly wide. This creates more stability, but also rolling resistance. The biggest issue is trying to turn the steering wheel when the bus isn't moving. That creates considerable pressure on a 50 year old worm/peg style steering box.

So, I bought a new set of 15" rims that are 6" wide that should fit, based on my calculations. Again, a bus rim needs to be 5x112 bolt pattern with a center bore of at least 67mm (new set has a centerbore of 73mm). The stock offset (ET) is 39, so the new rims need to be in that ballpark. These new ones are ET35, so with the increased width, these will fit in the wheel wells. Assuming everything goes as expected, I'll have them mount highway tires onto the rims, since we don't really go off road in this bus, and the highway tread should be quieter than an aggressive off-road tread would have been. If there's room, I may introduce a spacer between the rim and drum/rotor so future removal isn't nearly this much of a pain-in-the-ass. All this depends on the tire shop getting these rims off.

Once I get back from the tire shop with new shoes (and spacer decision made), I'll post a follow up. At this point, I am on the calendar at the local Firestone (no more Les Schwab for me) for next weekend. Thanks, as always for following along.

New Seat, What a Treat - Headrests

This is the final installment of the seat reupholstering effort. I have stripped down, sanded, rust-treated and painted the original seat frames (in Part 1). Onto those frames, I have installed the seat webbing (Part 3), new hard-backs (Part 2), foams and covers (Parts 2 and 3). The seats have been installed back into the little car, with head rests, but I have not yet talked about that upholstery effort for those. I will cover that today.

Headrest Extraction

First, you need to separate the headrest from the seat. Obviously, but it's not that easy. With a convertible, moisture gets everywhere. In the Pacific Northwest, moisture gets everywhere. Add those together, and moisture truly gets everywhere. Even into the headrest tube, and enough of it to rust through chrome. My driver seat was easy, but I had to resort to these more drastic measures for the passenger seat: with the top down and the seat still bolted to the floor, stand behind the seat, place one hand on either side and lift as hard as you can. If you are lucky, it will come flying out, bang against the ceiling and not hit you in the head on the way down. If you are unlucky, you may just hurt your back, and the head rest is still stuck. Seriously, these buggers can be that stubborn. Use your best judgement, but it needs to come out to do the seats at all, so if you cannot get it free, forget about recovering your seats.

Old Cover Off
Once in hand, look at the underside of the headrest. There is a plastic strip that runs along the bottom which is held on with 2 Phillips head screws. Mine were really rusty (so I ultimately replaced them) so I needed to take care coaxing them out. If you keep yours, it may be worth soaking them in vinegar to get them rust-free Set the plastic strip aside for cleaning with dish soap and grab a thin slotted screw driver and a pair of needle-nose pliers. The plastic strip covers up staples which hold the cover on. With the screwdriver, work the staples free enough for you to grab with the needle-nose pliers and then pull the staples out. If you are not concerned about the old cover, you can tear the cover off and pull the staples afterwards. I prefer to not destroy things, but everyone is different.

With the staples out, the cover is only holding on through friction. Pull the cover and the foam off of the head rest stem. Do this whether you are reusing the foam or not. If it is original foam, I strongly encourage replacing it, though it can be hard to locate for some cars. I found the MGB headrest foams at Mirror Trim in the UK, and while the cost is a little high, it was worth not having the old foam disintegrate while installing.

Repair and Rust Treat
In my case, there was rust on the square metal head rest "head" as well as down near the bottom of the chrome post. The wood into which the staples were driven was shattered in the driver-side headrest (passenger side wood was in great shape). So, there was some repair and rust treatment needed. First, I taped off the top 3 inches of the chrome post with painters tape. This part of the post on both headrests was in decent shape, and I was opposed to painting them. Once taped, I sanded the "head" thoroughly and scuffed the rust off the chrome below the taped off section. I felt this chrome would not be seen, but needed to be clean for the head rest to work better. Then, I shot the "head" with some gloss-black Rustoleum and removed the tape. The wood strips in the driver head rest needed to be replaced, so I took one piece that was still intact and used it as a pattern. From my woodpile I found a strip of cabinet edging that was the right height and width, and cut two pieces to length. Before I started re-assembling, I cleaned the plastic strips with dish soap and found 4 Phillips head wood screws which would fit through the holes, sit flush once installed and were about the same length as the originals. I used "size 6" thickness, 3/4 inch long wood screws.

Re-Assemble

The headrest foam and cover are not uniform. Both are side specific (front and rear). The nicely tailored edge is on the edge from the front while the un-hemmed edge runs from the rear, and under the front, hemmed edge. The foam is thicker in the front than the rear, but that part is a little more obvious. Similar to stuffing a pillow into a pillowcase, stuff the foam into the cover, making sure that the corners are in the corners and the edges align with the edges. The foam is way bigger than the cover, so I used my thighs, arms, and abdomen to get the foam into the cover. Then, it was a considerable finger exercise to get everything aligned. Once set, though, you will see a slot in the foam for the "head" of the headrest to slide into. With the glossy paint, it slides right in. On the passenger head rest, I found I spent more time fiddling with the head rest post to get it at a depth I liked, but you may not have that issue, as I did not with the driver side. Shrug,

Staple and Screw
Before you grab your staple gun, I suggest that you take your nice and clean plastic strips and test fit them. Similar to the foams, the strips are not mirror-images, the rear side is thicker, but the distance from the post to the screw hole is the same on either side. So, consider where the screws will go, and then plan your staples. Remove the plastic strip, pull the rear flap forward, and under the front (hemmed) flap and hold it in place with your finger. I held it in place where the screw hole was so I would not lose track of it while stapling. Check that you are centering over the wood and place at least 1 staple on either side of the screw hole. There were 2 per side originally, so I did the same, making sure that the amount of stretch across the headrest was uniform as I did. There is a lot to keep track of in order to make it look good and lots of ways you can lose focus so it looks bad. Just do not staple until you are sure.

Once the staples are in, the hard part is over. Slide the plastic strip back into place and screw it to the "head" with rust-free screws. If you ever wanted one of those seat belt keepers (like these in the picture), now would be the time to install them. I do not like losing my seat belt, reaching around for it nor having it bang against the car when I take it off. These little plastic keepers really help, though getting access to a parcel stowed behind the seat is not as easy.

Re-Install
This should be straightforward. In my case, the seat foams were manufactured without holes for the head rests. Perhaps the seat foams were developed to span many years, including years without head rests. Regardless, If you did all-new foams like I did, you will need to find the rectangular hole with your fingers and cut the foam. Take care as you align the cover, the foam and the head rest post. Do not simply grab the chrome lip on the seat cover and push/pull. The chrome lip will easily separate from the cover if you do that. Once you find alignment, trim what little foam you need to and slide the head rest into the seat. I took an extra minute and applied some PB-Blaster brand white lithium grease to the post so it would move more freely in the future. I also applied this grease to the cleaned-to-the-steel seat rails and workings so the seat would slide forward and aft more easily. These little final touches really made a difference in the usability and perception of the seats once you were sitting down in them. I highly recommend taking the extra few minutes to apply the lithium grease.

So that's it. Over the course of about 2 days per seat, they are completely renewed. New foams, new webbing, new covers from top to bottom. The headrests are more functional, the seats tilt and move more freely. Most importantly, they are comfortable. Now that they are installed, I will either finish the wiring of the seat heat, put some effort into the amplifier for the speaker box or carpet the trunk. I will see how I feel when I get to the garage.

Thanks, as always, for following along.