Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 12:37:12 -0500
Reply-To: Chris Smith <chris.smith@AQUILA.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Chris Smith <chris.smith@AQUILA.COM>
Subject: The tale of the 3 cyl bus
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Oh what a week,
Last Friday started a (almost) great weekend, nice long cruise from
Chicago to Upper Kettle Moraine area in Wisconsin. Traffic leaving work on
a Friday afternoon was the usual horrible mess, but once the Wisconsin
border passed by the drive got rather pleasant. A 30-40mph tail wind lent
to a very leisurely 75mph cruise north. When cruising through Milwaukee I
noticed that there didn't seem to be as much power as normal for my '82
westy, but once I was out of town she picked right back up.
Friday night was spent with good friends and great beer (2 kegs of
different New Glarus Beers.. WOW!!) around the campfire. Saturday morning
came much too early. The drive to the caravan and shop tour was
tough. The bus didn't seem to have any power, as if one of the plugs were
fouled. A quick mental note to look at it sometime Sunday, and back to
camp we went. Saturday night was even better with still more beer, more
friends, and even an audience for a recently resurrected guitar playing
stint. I know the beer was good since many folks wanted me to keep playing
:-) Sunday arrived, breakfast was cooked and we all decided to say our
goodbyes and hit the road. It was then I remembered to look into the
slight miss from the engine. To make a long diagnosis short, #4 cylinder
has no compression at all. Probably a burnt piston, but as of yet I
haven't had a chance to pull the engine. The drive south was into a head
wind equal to the tailwind on the ride north. I was shocked that it was
able to hold 60mph on most of the way home.
Near Chicago the traffic was bumper to bumper, and the bus was just not up
to the task. Deciding that it may be a good idea to try and save as much
of the engine as possible, I pulled over in the Lake Forest Oasis and
called AAA for my 65mile tow home. Since the Westy was the only running
car in the stable, I called my boss to let him know that I might not be in
for a couple of days while I got my car situation straitened out. On
monday I was forced to work on my Cherokee. New front axle u-joints and a
totally new braking system sounded easier than trying to rebuild a type
4. It took 2 days to get the jeep done, but at least I was able to make it
into work
Since driving the Jeep there have been a few things I miss:
Waiving at the rare air-cooled driver on the tollway.
Being high up enough to enjoy 1/2 of the other drivers ( a guy thing, so
shoot me)
The purr of a well tuned type 4 motor
my CD player
The general "coolness factor" of a type 2
my fridge
Oh well, I guess it beats walking.
Does anyone (still awake after reading this) know if it is easier to just
drop the motor and tranny on a type 4 Vanagon and work on the engine on the
ground still connected to the tranny or should I plan on splitting them in
the bus and just remove the engine.
Chris Smith
'74 Thing
'82 Westy
some cars that run as well
Der Busbebroken
Das Enginekaputen
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