WALSTIB - 7

Ok, I didn't complete the story of the trip into the Gorge to see the Dead. I'll hit that in this post with a small update on the bus progress. See WALSTIB - 6 for the previous chapter.

The show the night before lasted until after Midnight, and we weren't walking throguh Shakedown Street until after 12:30AM. Even then, the place was bumpin' with vendors and concert-goers. The guy with the PA system was crankin' out a mid 70's Scarlet Begonias, and the foot traffic was kicking up a thin fog of dust. As we noticed all weekend, the vending was very light in terms of variety. It seemed like everyone was selling the same cheap glass pipes and nothing else. We couldn't find anyone selling friendship bracelets on cardboard sheets or good home-made 'dyes. Overall, it was pretty disappointing as a consumer. So, we hit the bus and had beers with our Canadian friends.

The following morning, we were greeted by the smells of breakfast instead of the yells from the Idiots of Yak. The guy a couple of cars away was whipping up pancakes and sausages with OJ for $5 a plate. We figured that was easier than going through the hassle ourselves, so we grabbed some breakfast and made coffee. By the time we finished eating, the lot was on the move. Some cars had already left and most of the remaining were packing up. We did the same and were moving by 10. The lot had only one official exit, so it was pretty jammed up, but we discovered a break in the fence that allowed us to go around the line of cars, so we were out of the lot in uunder 15 minutes. After filling the tank, and checking the oil, we hit the freeway.

We stopped at the same rest area where we met the Canadians for one last pit stop. It was just after leaving that rest area that we had our first mechanical mishap. The engine started firing inconsistently and within a few minutes stopped firing altogether. Rolling in the breakdown lane, we coasted to a stop under a mid-day sun. We quickly diagnosed the coil as bad, so we grabbed a replacement from the parts bin. I noted to Ed that the replacement coil wasn't a hi-fire coil, so we should probably think about swapping out the dizzy at the next convenient stopping point. Belle gave us the signal that we needed to do something quickly by acting up again. We weren't near any ramps, so we pulled over under an overpass. We pulled the dizzy, blocked the vacuum port on the centermount Weber (32/36 progressive) and put in the old 009. During this roadside stop, we saw many buses and vanagons pass. Many honked horns and more than a couple stopped to see if they could help. Even Washington Highway Patrol visited us. While Mike watched for out of control drivers to our rear, Ed and I took turns wrestling the dizzy in. We took the opportunity to eat lunch and then got back on our way.

Just before we crossed over the Columbia River, we stopped at Stonehenge. I didn't know the place existed, but a few other Deadheads did. We pulled up to the sound of a drum circle, and found 3 drummers playing for a couple of dancers in the center of Stonehenge. That was pretty cool. We visited the now-out-of-business visitor's store and found those elusive friendship bracelets. We bought a bunch and some other gifts and headed home.

bus update:
very little progress this week. It has been over 100*, setting record temperatures throughout the Pacific NorthWest. When I get home from work, I've been taking the kids to the pool in attempt to keep cool. So, I haven't done a thing. I'll be getting a few last items for the fuel system tonight on my way home. I should be finishing that out tomorrow or Sunday. On Sunday, Hal will be back to work on the mounts. If there is time, we will be looking into radiator placement.

pictures:
top - leaving the Gorge.
middle - Mike keeping us safe
bottom - Belle at Stonehenge

Camp cancelled, work progressed instead

The day before we were going to leave for Central Oregon, we found out that our reservations had been canceled because of "bear activity". So, while our friends (Belle's owners) tried to find another place to camp, my wife started to suffer through some kind of sinus thing. We packed for the trip, loaded the car and hoped for the best. Our friends found another spot, and called us with the details, and we shared our bad news. Thursday morning, we couldn't go; she was still sick. Friday morning, we couldn't go for the same reason, so we ended up canceling the whole trip. Our friends went, though we haven't heard from them since we called with the bad news, I'm sure they had fun. I already had the 2 days off from work, so between running for tea, making meals, yard work projects and helicoptering the kids around, I got some things done on the bus. Details follow...

Starters for starters
I took the starter to a rebuilder on the SE side (All Battery & Electric) to have the starter I was given by Justin the TDI guru. The starter tested fine, but I noted one thing: the sprocket on the starter pops out about 3/8" when 12V is applied. I thought this was especially interesting since the adapter allows the starter sprocket to mesh with the flywheel when it is not energized. This makes me think that the starter will introduce some drag on the drivetrain that is not typical. I'm going to look into making a 3/8" standoff. I think a piece of pipe for the starter and a couple of nuts on the bolts would do it. Since the starter didn't require a rebuild, I'll be returning the starter to Justin and start shopping for a starter. The rebuild was estimated at $60 to $160 depending on how "toast" it was.

tanks for nuttin
I thought I'd drop the engine, slap in the fuel tank, and get the engine back in on Friday. This would be my first attempt with the ATV jack adapter that I built. The adapter worked beautifully. I was able to set it without a great deal of guessing, and I had complete control of the engine at-pitch. Dropping and raising the engine is now very easy, and I can drop / re-install within 45 minutes by myself. Unfortunately, the engine is still much taller than the old engine, so the rear end of the bus must be raised considerably to get the engine completely free of the bus. Anyway, in order to get the tank in, I had to raise the right side with the BusDepot jack all the way to its highest setting. Once the tank was threaded in, the engine wouldn't go in because of the vacuum pump and the hot coolant exit flange (even the smaller non-US manual version).

So, I dropped the engine again. After giving it considerable thought, I've decided to remove the vacuum pump, and put a block-off plate in its place. I'll be selling the pump to pay for a Cummins electric vacuum pump. For the flange, I am not sure what to do. I had a spare and I cut it up to see how bad the clearances are. The RTV is still setting, so I'll post on that another time. I replaced the thermostat and the pipe that goes with it this morning. I figured it might be a good time to get it done.

Completely tank'd
Since I've decided to keep the original tank and figure out how to fit the engine around it, I had some tasks left. I reconnected the side vents with some fuel line and clamps. The original fuel filler vent was mostly steel, but it used a no longer available (NLA) rubber hose. So, I replaced the whole stretch with a single rubber hose. I grounded the fuel level sensor and strapped the tank down. All that's left is threading in the nipple at the bottom and tying in a "Y" for the return line.

I popped the engine back in this morning. Hal and I will attack the mounts again next Sunday. Hopefully, we'll fab a vacuum pump block-off plate. I'll look into the water flange viability before then. Not sure if I'll make any real movement this week, but I hope to get the "Y" to finish off the fuel delivery and try the flange.

Pictures (from top):
1 - the current state of the engine. No vacuum pump, no water outlet. holes stuffed with rags.

2 - engine in with tank before tank was strapped down, and before the problems were discovered.

3 - engine on the adapter. works better than expected.

4 - finger showing where the badness is with the vacuum pump.

5 - my hacked-down flange after I removed 3/4" of pipe from the mount point to the pipe. I RTV'd the parts together to see if a flange like this would work. Unless something unexpected happens, this is not the permanent solution.

starter adapter corrected, mounts again

On Sunday, Hal dropped by for another round of "let's get this bus going". He brought with him an upper starter bolt, a bunch of steel and some more ideas for mounting this engine. So, while he worked on engine brackets I worked on getting the starter mounted.

Bracketing
During the week, we talked about using a pair of Passat engine brackets to attach the sides of the block to something. Hal had performed some research and it seems the Brit's do these kinds of adaptations more than the Americans. They depend more heavily on the side mounts than on the mount surrounding the timing belt. Since the Passat and the Audi A4 mounted 4 cylinder engines longitudinally (front-to-back, not side-to-side), these models had brackets we should be able to use. Hal found a local guy on a chatboard that was selling a pair, so we connected for a purchase. I overpaid, and he denies it ($75 for the brackets, $20 for his soul), but we got what we believed to be brackets that work. It turns out that the Beetle TDI has a unique turbo that is a part of the exhaust manifold. When we consider where the turbo lives in a Beetle (close to the firewall), we conclude that this unique manifold/turbo combination was a space-savings effort. Unfortunately, it makes using the left (driver's side) bracket impossible. We will use it as a template for a flat-steel bracket, and then I'll sell the VW one. For a fair (my soul can't be bought for $20) price. The passenger side bracket doesn't fit very well either. Hal is going to work on some kind of adaptation because that side of the engine has considerable contouring and fabricating one from scratch would actually take more time, and would probably be harder.

Start and stop
Hal brought a hex-driver upper starter bolt with him. So, while he wrangled the brackets, I worked on getting the starter in. The upper bolt turned out to be about a nut-thickness too long (it wasn't a VW starter bolt, it was one he got at the hardware store), so we cut a short section off. Once I got the adapter on, we noted that the adapter wasn't sitting flush. The lower corner was hung up on the transaxle. Time to grind. I had completely cleaned the outside of the transaxle when it was dropped back at the beginning of this project. This meant that I could dab som axle grease around where the adapter was hanging and use the grease to tell me where it was binding. Simple process: dab grease, attempt to attach adapter, wiggle adapter, remove and grind down where the grease marks are, repeat. After removing about 1/4" of aluminum along one edge, the adapter settled in. I tightened it down and fed the starter in. I could feel the splines of the starter gear engaging with the flywheel as I settled it into place. I bolted down the lower bolt and feel-fed the upper bolt in after the lower was tight. Using a 17mm socket with an extension, I was able to tighten down the starter. The TDI starter will now start this bus. I have since removed that starter (as it is a rebuild candidate) and I'll be calling around today to find a good local shop to rebuild it. I don't have much confidence in those $99 specials on the 'net for a TDI starter. I'd rather spend $99 locally to get the original rebuilt.

Well, we go camping next weekend, and Hal will be taking next weekend to do other things. If the starter is ready, I'll mount that up. If not, I'll probably focus on the hole where the engine lid will eventually go. Again, I don't want to move the engine until after the mount work is done. More later...