heat placed, intercooler displaced

My time availability hasn't meaningfully improved since the last post. Somewhere I heard that the US is most productive (in GDP terms?) between Labor Day and Christmas. I can say that work has been distracting, but it wouldn't be fair to say that was the cause. Anyway, I have found a few hours here and there to get banging on the bus. I'll cover the highlights.

Heater Core Placed
After looking at putting the heater core inside the bus in a few locations, and trying to fit it under the floor of the cab, I have placed it in the alternate battery spot (under the spare wheel well). This location is already a little busy, with the intercooler and air filter as well as a bunch of wiring. So, this wasn't easy to get going. It still needs to be mounted. When I was working on the intercooler placement last Summer (or the Summer before..) I cut a section of tin out of the left side. To get the heater working in that space, I needed to cut the rest out of the way. The coolant lines will run from the left side of the engine, under the spare wheel well and along the body, curling back towards the right to the heater core. For a core, I'm using an old Vanagon rear-heater unit with a snorkel attached to it. The snorkel is still getting firmed up, but the mock-up worked well. Anyway, the snorkel will connect to a 4" diameter insulated flex-pipe that runs under the bus (over the axle) around the radiator to the original air line at the middle/front. Switching the fans and controlling the flow of coolant into the heater still needs to be devised.

Intercooler Displacement
Fitting the heater demonstrated that the intercooler was just in the wrong spot. As it was, getting in and out of the engine compartment on the left side was virtually impossible with it placed where it was. I found myself removing it frequently to do pretty much anything on the left side. Since the turbo an the intake are on the left side, the intercooler will stay on that side, but I'll be dropping it lower, down into the slipstream and rotating it flatter so access is much easier. Ultimately, it will operate much like the radiator does - with a puller fan placed underneath it.

Air Filter hassles
Another challenge on the left side is getting the air cleaner space to do its thing. I had something pulled together "well enough", but it wasn't game-ready. I'll need a 45* bend (another part to buy) to stitch into the set up, as the stock flex-tube is just too long to be effective. This became more obvious as the coolant lines and the flexi-hose for the heated air were introduced. Once the 45* bend arrives (still to be ordered), I'll be able to finish this off much more cleanly.

Exhaust Reroute
With the move of the heater into the engine compartment, and, more importantly, the insulated flexi-hose, the route of the exhaust has to move. The route from the turbo has been unchanged from stock, so it ran straight to the left out behind the rear tire. That was not ideal anyway, when we think about the "fresh" air we would want entering the heat system, or an open window when sitting at a red light. I was assuming I would need a custom run anyway, and now there's no question. The exhaust will route straight down, instead, and curve back to the rear along the bottom edge of the engine block. I will mock-up something so I can account for it while placing the intercooler. I don't want either the intercooler nor the engine to pick up heat from the exhaust as it passes. This will get interesting.

As you can see, things are getting more challenging, but I'm glad I'm finding these issues now rather than after a Summer of camping fun while winterizing. I'm going to focus on finishing the heat and the air filter completed first. Once they are done, I'll work on the exhaust and intercooler at the same time. I didn't mention that I did get the temperature sensor replaced, but with the different systems opened up, I can't test the engine. My plans for a holiday-season test flight may have to be pushed out. We'll see. Thanks for following along, and I'll post some pictures of this stuff when I'm on my other computer.

Baby Steps

Well, I haven't been able to get any real traction lately. I have made a couple of minor improvements, but I haven't had the engine running, and work has been very taxing.

Blue Thermometer
I have identified the missing plug for the coolant bottle. It turns out I was a little over-aggressive when I cut the harness apart and I cut that sensor out with a bunch of things I didn't need. I was able to find the brown/white ground wire and the red/purple send wire in the mass of clipped wires. I extended these two around the front side of the engine compartment to the overflow bottle, and its hooked up. Unfortunately, I am still getting a flashing blue thermometer signal on the dashpod. I tested the continuity of the bottle sensor wires all the way to the dashpod, and they are strong, so that sensor is not the problem.
After investigating this symptom a little bit on TDIClub, it appears that the ECU thinks this means there isn't any coolant or its too cold to start the engine, so it won't let me. This tells me the problem is in the coolant sensor, the wiring for that sensor or engine harness again. If time allows, I'll remove and re-seat the sensor to see if that does the trick.

Fuel Priming
In my post earlier this month (Won't Get Fueled Again) I mentioned that I had another one-way valve coming. I have added it into the mix and the fuel system seems to retain its prime now. I have tested with the MityVac, and I can get a solid flow of fuel even after it has sat for a week. The resolution: one-way valve between the tank and the fuel filter on both the supply and return sides, only allowing fuel (or air) flow in the correct direction.

Registration
In a swift move of optimism, I registered the bus. I haven't put the stickers on the tags, but I'll now be able to legally test drive it. Though a very minor thing, it feels like a diamond on the project plan - a big milestone. The possibility of actually driving it seems more real when the DMV says its legal.


That's all I have for now. Work has been very busy, and soccer season is just finishing up. When we reset our clocks next weekend, finding daylight for working on this project will be isolated to weekend days. To accommodate this, I'll be doing as many inside chores as possible during the week, to free that time. Hopefully, I'll still be able to keep some traction on this. I believe, once I have the blue light resolved, I will be able to consistently start the engine. Then, its getting the heat (read:defrost) working, getting Justin over to set the injector timing, and planning some short test drives. Thanks for following along, and for your positive words and ideas along the way.

Dew Tour: Las Vegas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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