Hapy Turns 50

Quick post to commemorate Hapy the wonderbus turning 50 years old. Totally unrelated, but a fascinating video, here is a company in the UK looking at building an internal combustion engine that runs on hydrogen. Cool stuff. On to the celebration...

How 50?

I guess we start where I did with every person who asked "how do you know his exact birthdate?". I refer you to this post where I deciphered the manufacturing codes aka M-codes. Basically, every VW of this vintage has the planned manufacturing date imprinted on the plate. So, based on week number and day number, you can determine your vehicle's manufacturing date. Hapy has been in the family for less than half of his life, though.

When I received him, his engine had been replaced, but the interior, exterior, wiring, and everything else was 100% original. Consider "original" does not always mean "good". There was mold in the upholstery, the seats were shot, the pop-top bellows were dry-rotten and torn. But, I made use of him, in his original condition, even trying to return many of the systems to spec. Ultimately, though, safety concerns for my then-young kids started me down the trail I have documented here.

First, it was the sink/icebox unit blocking the handle to the sliding door. I considered the "what if" of getting into an accident that renders me unconscious while my kids are trapped in the back, unable to open the slider because their arm's aren't long enough to reach around the sink. So, that got pulled, and down the rabbit hole I went.

Park Play

To celebrate Hapy, and honestly any excuse to celebrate this year is a fairly good one, we reserved 5 camping spots in nearby LL Stub Stewart State Park. Our long time friends GratefulEd, lovely wife Dawn, and Belle joined us, as did my brother Eric, who rented a Eurovan from Road Trip Oregon for the special occasion with his 2 daughters (K4 and K5). Many other friends and family were on-hand on Saturday for the big party and many of them stayed overnight. We also had arranged a duo to play some jazz and old country in one of the reserved campsites in the center of the reserved spots. Unfortunately, the park rangers shut the duo down before they completed the jazz portion of their set. So, they completed their performance sans-amplification. Undeterred, Boo rolled out a stack of subs, a couple of coolers of bev's and a couple trays of VW-emblazoned cupcakes for a singing of Hapy Birthday. Yes, yes we did.

One of our gests had set up cornhole, another had set up badminton and Eric set up croquet. So, we played yard games while the acoustic duo played. It was the hottest day of the weekend, so impromptu shade was set up. When the official music completed, many of the day-trippers, and our official musicians, headed home. Those who remained shifted from the "venue" campsite to Hapy's front door for some (also mostly acoustic) jamming. For this, we were joined by friends from the Hillsboro bluegrass scene (some pictured, some not). We played until we were shut down by the park rangers again (silence expected at 10:PM), but not before our neighbors had joined us, demonstrating again that we all need a little more joy, and few things bring joy like live music and a small crowd laughing. After we stopped playing, we continued to visit (read: drink) for a while, and we broke up by midnight.

Everyone other than Boo, Hapy and me left the next day. Boo had rented some electric-assist bikes so we took a ride that afternoon after everyone left. There is a paved trail from Manning to Vernonia that passes right through the state park, and we explored a small section of it. That evening, we gazed at the stars through a borrowed telescope. With the lack of white noise from the city lights and no visible moon, there are just so many stars to see. We pointed the telescope first at single noticeable stars, but found it much more interesting to point it at a relatively uninteresting area of space and then see how many stars appeared. We both caught a shooting star through the lens that way, while also noting that in an otherwise uninteresting area of space there are still hundreds of stars visible through a non-commercial tri-pod'd telescope.

There and Back

No trip in Hapy is complete without a review of how well the bus handled. The drive out was late afternoon on a Thursday. Traffic wanted to go faster than Hapy did. Hapy still did well, driving into an on-angle headwind. The handling was much better after the shock-absorber adjustment, though the increased speed and headwind caused his engine temps to run a little high (topped at 198*F). We did not experience meaningful engine stumbling in either direction, nor did we throw a code. So, I think that much of the stumble was some bad fuel or a partially clogged clean filter (which I replaced after 4Peaks) or both. I will still be looking into other causes. The trip back was even better than the drive out. Whatever wind there was, it must have been at least partially behind us. Hapy's temperature rarely ticked above 186*F, and he was happily cruising at 55-60mph*. I had the stereo blasting an old Jerry Garcia Band bootleg, my elbow resting on the open window, and we just cruised with one hand on the wheel. The merge from 47 onto US26 was effortless with the bigger nozzles and chipped computer allowing Hapy to scoot into traffic. Honestly, it was the easiest drive home I can remember.

*: I use the asterisk here because Boo was following in a chase car, and was able to tell me just how fast I was going when... and when Hapy's speedo says "50" I am going 55. When his speedo says "55", I am going 62. So, the speedo is definitely at least 10% off, showing 10% slower than I really am. This is consistent with the odometer checks I have done along the freeway, showing the odometer is closer to .8 of a mile when the mile marker says a full mile. Since my mpg has been getting calculated without this extra math, the mpg is even more impressive. I have been getting just shy of 30mpg with the odometer reading at least 10% low. So, I'm really getting 33mpg or better.... in a bus that's loaded for camping 95% of the time.

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

Throw-back to embedded picture captions like I used to do:

top - meadow between the Dairy Creek campgrounds

next from top - (L-to-R) Stevan on Mandolin, Rose (standing) on fiddle, Rodney (back turned) on guitar, Joe (standing) on guitar, Dawn (seated can only see top of her head/hat), Mo (standing), me (back turned) on bass, Ed (back turned) on guitar. Joey (mostly obscured by Ed)

next from bottom - Ed and Belle in full-fest-form

bottom - Boo on the bike trail

And, here are some other pictures:

(L-to-R) Rose, Boo, Joe, Mo
and me (back-turned)

Boo and I sharing
the lot couch

LL Stub Stewart camping

(L-to-R) Rodney, Stevan, Joey,
Joe, Boo (back turned),
Mo (obscured) and
me (back turned)

Handling the Handling (Shock Adjustment)

In my post about the drive to and from 4Peaks in August (See 4Peaks 2021 - Road Report), I mentioned the impact of the wind on the handling of the bus. Today's post covers my initial attempt to address it. I say "initial" because I have not 100% confirmed this is the end-all solution to the issue.

Identify Causes

It makes sense to start with what the possible causes could be for the wind to have such a dramatic, and newly so dramatic, impact. I have thought about this quite a bit, mostly while driving Hapy, and I have come to the conclusion that the root cause is one of 2 things.

My first thought is around a change I made to the bus. Back in Spring, I added a tow hitch. No big deal there, with regards to wind, but I think it looks really good (See Bus Tow Hitch). Starting with the trip to Leisureland I added one of those carrier platform things from Harbor Freight that go into the square trailer hitch thing. I also got the zippered bag that fits it and refer to the pair as "the Boot". I don't put much in the Boot, but it creates lots of room inside the bus... and it creates this little .6m (2 foot) high by .5m deep waggy-tail sticking out the back. I thought, with the loaf-of-bread broadside, that this addition would not have an impact. I could be wrong. If that is the cause, I would still like to keep using it so I need to improve the handling to compensate.

My next thought is around the adjustable Koni oil-filled shocks I installed years ago. I was part of the first group purchase that triggered Koni to start manufacturing them again. I didn't write that for kudos, rather to illustrate how long I have had them. That purchase was, like, 15 years ago. I didn't do anything with them other than pull them out of the box and install them. Now, so many years later, I realize that out-of-the-box they are set at their softest setting (face-palm). That setting might be great for an unloaded bus tooling around town, and when the shocks were new, maybe they even had a little stiffness in them as they broke in. Well, it's been many years and while I haven't driven Hapy around much (less than 20k miles total since I bought Hapy almost 20 years ago), the last few years would have definitely gotten them past the break-in period if he wasn't past it already. With all the camping gear, plus the Boot, I am asking much more of those shocks than when I used an empty Hapy to get to/from work back when I first installed them.

So, I figured I can start with stiffening the shocks.

Adjust Shocks

Koni 80-series shock

The 80-series Koni shocks were designed to be easily adjusted. Of course, I neglected to do anything with them after install. After doing some reading, I have found others with a similar vintage bus and similar need: better handling when loaded for camping. The consensus is to stiffen the ride. The lack of consensus is by how much. Because of the extra tail created by the Boot, I did a full turn in the rear and a 1/2 turn in the front. I expect, that with the heavy duty 7/8" anti-roll (sway) bar in the front, even the 1/2 turn is more than I need, but I would rather feel the bumps a little more and have the bus hold steady than the alternative. Shout out to RAtwell for his page on these shocks. It's an older page, and hasn't been updated in a while, but there is some great, still relevant, information in there.

Adjustment is relatively simple. The videos from Koni show the shocks uninstalled, and some of the verbiage seems to say opposing things. I don't want to remove the shock entirely from the bus to adjust them anyway, and I don't think anyone else does either. So, I did it like this:

Rear's first. With the bus on the ground, just crack both the top and bottom bolts enough to remove any torque (19mm). It may be too difficult to get to the top one, and it may not be 100% necessary. I didn't loosen the top bolt on the driver side, and it wasn't an issue. Regardless, completely remove the bolt from the bottom. Notice that there is a nut on the other side (wheel side) that requires a 17mm wrench while you work the ratchet from the inside. With both hands, push the lower end of the shock (you have them installed with the thicker section on top like the picture above/right, right?) up into the upper section. When you are just about bottomed out, start rotating the end of the shock you're holding a little bit. You are looking for a click to tell you that the adjuster has engaged. When you feel that click, you are ready to adjust ad you can completely bottom out the shock (but do it gently). I did not feel the click on all 4 shocks, but once fully compressed, I could only rotate the shock 2 full turns, so some (older) models may not have that satisfying click.

original image
from RAtwell.com

From below, rotating it clockwise will stiffen the rebound of the shock. Rotating it anti-clockwise will soften the rebound. That is the only adjustment you can make on these red 80-series oil-filled adjustable Koni shocks. You should be able to get 2 full turns from most soft to most stiff. Consider that you do not have to adjust in 1/2 turn increments. So, you can really dial in your rebound, if you have the time. Once you have the setting where you want it, let the shock out a little bit to release the adjuster. Now, you can orient the bolt hole with the lower mounting hole. Slide the bolt through, finger-on the nut and torque it down.  Re-torque the top bolt, if you loosened it. Repeat on the other side to the same degree of rebound (same degree of turn from most-soft or most-firm). The rears should match each other and the fronts should match each other, but the fronts and rears do not need to be the same. Still, I would encourage you to keep them within the same ballpark. I mean, 100% soft fronts and 100% stiff rears could make for some unpredictable handling performance.

 

The front shocks mount a little differently. The lower mount is a stud that is part of the wheel assembly. So, I loosened the nut to release any pressure, and then removed the upper bolt instead. Unlike my rear's, the nut behind the upper mount point is 19mm. Otherwise, the process is the same (free one end, compress, adjust, de-compress, align, re-bolt).

Once I made the adjustment, I had a new challenge of finding a way to test whether it helped. I live a few miles from the nearest freeway, and if I'm not loaded for camping the test isn't really valid anyway. So, I delayed the loaded-for-camping, freeway test. I did execute the mostly-empty around-town test, though. Around town, the ride is definitely stiffer. I can feel more bumps, but the steering feels about the same. The true test, however, is loading the bus for a weekend of camping and hitting a freeway.

Hapy Birthday

pic from Bend: note
the Boot in the back

My first opportunity to perform a freeway loaded-for-camping test was for the celebration of Hapy's 50th birthday, the weekend of 3-September. I will post on that later, but suffice to say, we had fun. The drive to and from our destination was a perfect test. We hosted multiple camp sites at LL Stub Stewart State Park, which is about 40 minutes west of the greater Portland metro area, between Manning and Vernonia. Access is from Oregon state route 47, by way of US-26. US-26 pre-dates the interstate system, but it is a multi-lane highway that passes through the open farm country between the western suburbs and the coast mountain range. A perfect test. There was definitely a wind, and I could see the greenery bending to it and feel it pushing on Hapy, but he held the road. I needed both hands on the wheel, but it was not the white-knuckle experience I had on I-5 nor US-26 east of Mount Hood on the 4Peaks return. I could not tell what angle the wind was coming from, but it was partially head-on, pushing Hapy's temperature up. Still, the handling was much better. Boo drove a chase car and reported that Hapy did not appear from behind to be all over the road. The return drive was even easier (tailwind on-angle), so I think, at least for now, the suspension can handle the road. I hope for another run down to Eugene or Liesureland before the very end of the decent weather, for one more test, on the road that started it all (I-5) to prove the suspension before winter.

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

4Peaks 2021 Music Report

I would have collapsed my thoughts on the music into my prior post about the festival itself, but it got super-long. So, here's the music "review".

Stages

The small stage was smaller than prior years. It wasn't even really a stage as much as a 10x10 canopy set up next to the main stage, but behind the bicycle barriers. Unless you were way up front, you could not really see. In prior years, the small stage was set up inside a large tent, so folks had a place in the shade. No public shade this year.

The main stage, however, was a fancied-up semi-trailer flatbed. It was probably the same stage they had used in prior years. In 2019, 4Peaks commissioned artist Ryan Kerrigan to create the side tapestries, and they were reused. We talked with Ryan a bit and he figures they will probably use them for years. The backdrop was the familiar sheer with the 4Peaks logo in the center. The main speakers for the main stage ran along the bottom of the stage, pushing some solid mix all weekend.

In the past, I would describe the band's sound and then explain whether I would go see them again. This usually takes the form of "I would stay at my bar if they showed up" or something like that. To abbreviate the post, because it got really long, I will shorten those statements into a number 1-5:

1 - if (artist) arrived to perform at a place I was all set up for the night, I would leave

2 - if (artist) showed up to play, I would pay my bill and prepare to leave to monitor improvement

3 - if (artist) showed up, that's fine, but I'm not looking for them

4 - I will pay attention to when they are playing in town and go if I can

5 - I will look for this artist, add them to my instagram and jambase feeds, etc

Thursday

The music started late afternoon on Thursday, leveraging only the small stage. 

Blackstrap Bluegrass - basic bluegrass from Bend with pitchy vocals. 3

Scott Pemberton Band

Maxwell Friedman Group - great, solid R&B with hat-tips to jazz. Covered Herby Hancock and nailed it. Definitely work seeing Max Friedman with his group or sitting in with another group. We've seen him sit in with lots of artists over the years and while he is only 17, his growth has been incredible. 5

Elektrapod - wow. simply wow. Max Friedman sat in on keyboards and his solo's were just incredible. I think even he got swept up into it, getting lost in the groove and just pounding us. They introduced their new vocalist (Sara Clark) and she was just amazing, taking them to another level. This closer was our festival highlight, and, obviously, we would see Elektrapod again. 5

Friday

Friday and Saturday, the music shifted from main stage to small stage back to main stage, starting on the main stage. Boo concluded that the started on the main stage Friday morning so they could work out the kinks and set the levels with the first band so the rest of the day went smoothly. Since the alternative would have been to work out the kinks during the second act of the day, her logic seems pretty solid.

Stillhouse Junkies - first band on the main stage, and they were good. Solid fiddle, versatile, playing lots of uncommon songs in a bluegrass style. For example, they closed their set with "Heat of the Moment" by Asia. We heard this band while cleaning up morning dishes. 3

Fair Trade Boogie Band - really really good local Bend product that absolutely did not sound like they had only been working together for months. This band started what I called "the day of the bassman" where practically every band had a bass player who laid down grooves, forcing hips to dance. 4

Scott Pemberton Band - these guys were on my want to see live list. They were slotted in the early afternoon, so the bowl was pretty empty when they started. It wasn't by the time they were done. These guys rocked. They rocked hard. Great guitar and bass work. Scott doesn't use a guitar strap for what looks like a Gibson (read: heavy guitar) so he can wield it like a traditional guitar or lay it down on a bench and play it like a dulcimer or slide/steel guitar. I had high expectations for these guys and they delivered. 4

Western Centuries - Country mostly, and sorry-to-say, kind of forgettable. Fairly good, but nothing jumped out as special. We were getting lunch at the bus while they played, so it could have just been bad timing. 2

TK and the Holy
Know-Nothings

TK and the Holy Know-Nothings - Like Scott Pemberton, these guys were on my see-them-live list and high-expectations list. They were basically the happy-hour act, so the crowd was fairly sizeable. Boo and I found a spot where we were surrounded by abandoned low-back chairs so we were CoViD-safe, yet we were straight-on the stage. These guys are pro's, and should be touring beyond the Pacific Northwest. The lyrics tell stories, and are delivered with passion. The musicians are all multi-instrumentalists, providing whatever instrument the song calls for, even if that means the lead guitarist plays bass while the bassist and keyboardist create a horn section. These guys are so good, they are an absolute must-see and I will definitely follow them. 5

Ron Artiss II - Mellow R&B / blues with some tasty guitar that reminded me of Robert Cray. Boo and I were walking the perimeter of the festival during this set, so we didn't hear much of it with any focus. 3

Hot Buttered Rum - The Friday night closer, these guys were a mashup of Greensky Bluegrass and Little Feat. They are very skilled musicians, and the zydeco rhythms against traditional bluegrass instrumentation was really fun.... and complicated. 3

Saturday

Saturday, the music shifted from main to side to main stages again, starting with Stephanie Anne Johnson and the Hidogs on the main stage.

Stephanie Anne Johnson and the Hidogs - 3-piece including the vocalist (Stephanie) playing rhythm guitar, which meant any instrumental solo's were on the bass. He nailed it, though. Stephanie has a great voice that is clear and powerful through her range. She writes their material, so it is catered to her. The songs are short, but have good stories within them. Given the right lead guitarist, this group could be amazing; they are already really good. 4

Band of Comerados - these guys played at the unofficial GoWesty stage in 2019, and we watched the video filming from about 20 feet away. While the instrumentation might imply bluegrass, they are not a bluegrass band. They are more of a singer-songwriter vibe with finger-picking solos. 3

Sweet Lilies - there were nice harmonies, when they happened. Unfortunately, this group was all over the place genre-wise, doing rap tunes (Insane in the Membrane cover?), but not doing them terribly well. Other than odd rap covers, they mixed in slow ballads. They are either changing musical direction or just confused. As an audience member, I was the latter. 1

Todd Sheaffer - One of the original members of Rail Road Earth, there were some expectations about how he would appear on a bill that just had his name on it. He did not pull a Jerry Garcia and appear with a band. Instead, he played a series of slow, mellow songs on an acoustic guitar. He's good, but he put us all to sleep. Maybe it was the mid-afternoon sun, but I think it was the music. 2

Proxima Parada

Proxima Parada - From San Luis Obispo, these guys are all about the vibe. They lay down a pretty good groove, and create this mid-CA coast mellow that reminded me of My Morning Jacket. They got a little metaphysical odd, doing a long experimental space jam about "resilience" and another about "vulnerability". I think if they focused on the love-groovy they started with, they would have been the surprise of the festival as Stacy expected them to be. 2

Coral Creek String Band - Did you guess bluegrass from the name? Winner, but they were more country (no banjo nor mandolin). They did a version of Pink Floyd's "Breathe" that was pretty amazing. 3

New Monsoon - This was the final band on my wanna-see-them-live list for 4Peaks, and they were the last band to play the main stage. Unfortunately, New Monsoon was on everyone's wanna-see-them-live list, so the concert bowl was packed. Boo and I got as far as the space between 2 vendors and realized there was nowhere that was 2 meters from others. So, we listened in the greenspace between the venue and the camping. These guys were as good as billed. Definitely professionals laying down some classic jam-band vibe with some Rail Road Earth jammy bluegrass mixed in. They closed their set with a cover of The Who's Eminence Front that was really really good. 4

That's it for the "mini" 4Peaks Music Festival reports. We had a great time. We got more rest than folks really should get at a music festival, but that's how we fest... we don't call them "restivals" for nothing. Anyway, thanks, as always, for following along. I realize that my taste in music is just that and there are other audience members who have vastly different feelings about some of these artists. That's great, and that is what makes 4Peaks so right. There really is something in the performance music space for most people there.

As always, thanks for following along, and more next time-