Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2002 10:17:53 -0700
Reply-To: Matthew Pollard <poll7356@UIDAHO.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Matthew Pollard <poll7356@UIDAHO.EDU>
Subject: A Tiico Success!!!!! (fwd)
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
well guys, i'm back to my office after a 1800 miles, a week on the road
and an engine install. My tiico syncro ran pretty good. I have a clank up
front that i can't find. Sort of a bell sounding rattle. Weird. Nothing is
loose i can find. Oh well, i just wait till something falls off... just
kidding.
i have about 10^3 emails so this one is going to be brief:
the install went very smooth thanks to the competent and helpful
installers that were helping. In retrospect it feels like i didn't do that
much! The tiico conversion is MUCH easier the second time around! I have
not heard anything from julianna besides a new muffler cost her about
200$.
A zillion photos were taken and they'll be posted in time i suppose.
barn raising this weekend. email me for details.
Cheers
matthew
86 syncro westy tiico
Matthew Pollard "Racing with the wind and flirting with death
Dept. Of Chemistry So have a cup of coffee and catch your breath"
University of Idaho
www.uidaho.edu/~poll7356
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 01:40:14 -0700
From: Julianna Thoennes <mumbrue@attbi.com>
To: WetWesties <wetwesties@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [WetWesties] A Tiico Success!!!!!
Ok, here goes!
On Friday morning we managed to start around 11:30am, and Kathleen,
Matthew and I worked on getting things prepared for the engine
installation. Dave the Mac tool man was there to observe and offer any
support if he could. Brian came by for a short time early on, then had to
get back to work. Around 4:00pm Mark showed up! Scott, the lurker from
Sweet Home came by for a while to visit, and see how things were going.
He could only stay for a short while though. Then we started to get down
and dirty, well... we were already pretty dirty by that point. Brian came
back after work, and got down to business too. By early evening, we were
ready to lift the engine into place, but the dipstick kept getting in the
way. We were all tired, and we needed more manpower, and lifts, and
taller jacks to help. Poor Brian, he had the whole left side of the
engine, and was basically doing crunches over there with it. We quit
somewhere around 8:30.
Saturday morning arrived, and we got started right at 10:00am (when the
shop opened) My brother Steve, Matthew and Kraig Slack (from Eugene) were
there when I arrived, and David Jaffe and Brian T. showed up soon
afterwards. Both Brian and Kraig had brought lifts, and Brian also
brought more jacks. After Mark finished up on his dig, he showed up to
help again too. These guys were the core group, and they worked
feverishly, and with total joy. It was amazing to me how well these guys
worked together and without stepping on each others toes. Kraig worked
under the van almost the whole time. He kept getting spatted on with
power steering and coolant. In the face several times! Yuck! He was our
comic relief too! : ) It took some time to get the engine lined up with
the transmission, and this time it was the alternator that was the main
culprate in the way. Matthew also had to take off the other engine mount
for more manouvering. After getting it lined up, it was quite a wonderful
site to see it just slip right in, and somebody yelled for the bolts to
get it set. Somewhere in there we went across the street to have lunch.
Snarky's owner called in the chef just for us! After a great lunch, and
beer (iced tea for me), the rest of the day was spent attaching coolant
hoses, fuel lines, wires, power steering, the compressor for the air
conditioning, and welding the muffler (which was a total loss by the way)
Mark made everything pretty, and tied everything up with zip ties. Oh,
Tom also had to weld the brackets to the frame for the engine mounts.
Apparently this is a weak spot, and has been known to twist if not welded.
(Tom is also VW fan, and ownes 2 bugs and a sand rail) I know I am not
covering all this technical stuff all that well. I will have to leave that
to Matthew, if he is willing. I had to run to the store several times for
things forgotten, or missing, and to pick up some stuff for the BBQ.
Ty and Janelle showed up with the twins (so cute!), but didn't end up
staying for too long. They left great brownies for the dessert though!
Thank you! Steve Johnson showed up to see how it was going, and then
Susan and her son drive in with a tag-along named Greg from Arizona. He
was driving a 68 baywindow bus that had seen better days, but was
faithfully taking him on his journey to Crater Lake. Steve fired up the
BBQ and cooked for us all. We all ate well, then got back to business.
Susan was showing me how her new pocketmail worked, and then Matthew told
me to go back to the store to get cheap coolant (I had purchased Autobaun
previously, but the Tiico doen't have the problem with differant metals)
and distilled water. So off I went again, with Susan for company this
time.
By the time we got back, my Van was moved to the entrance of the shop.
In with the coolant, and Matthew told me it was time, time to turn the key
for the first time. I turned the key, and it whirred for a second, but I
didn't know if I was going to have to shut it off right away, so I didn't
push it. Matthew tells me to just turn it over!!!!! The Rastafalia
started right up, and roared to life!!!!!!!! Such a beautiful noise.
Matthew feverishly dumped in coolant and reved the engine. They bleed the
system, and then have me turn it off. The time had came for the maiden
run, the test run. Seven of us piled in to the Rastfalia, and we headed
off toward Lebanon. Matthew sat in the back with his laptop, and his
interface that he made to test the engine. When we returned, I had driven
17.7 miles on the new engine. We found that the timing was off a little,
and the new Tach I had installed in the dash, was 10% off. (I will be
looking for another) It had just turned midnight, and the work was pretty
much done.
Steve Johnson, Matthew, Susan, Jeff (Susans son) and Kraig all spend the
night in their vans and buses in the parking lot. I take my brother home,
he is soooo tired, as am I. It is about 2:00 when we leave. (My knees
are still killing me!)
The next morning I arrive at 10:00 to find that Kraig, Susan and Jeff have
already left. We were waiting for Tom to come back, so he could do some
more welding on the muffler, but he never showed. Thankfully Steve shows
up to let us in, and Matthew tops off the coolant, and resets the timing.
The Tiico is running smooth, and both Matthew and my brother think that
there should not be any major problems with it. The installation job was
perfect, and Matthew brought with him all the knowledge of the other Tiico
owners, and their difficulties, so we could improve on all things that
have gone wrong in the past. Unfortunately, the muffler is so rusty and
broken that it is too risky to take it out on the road again. Apparently
it came close to falling off as we exited the parking lot the night
before. So tonight it sits in the garage, waiting for its day in the sun.
Steve's Muffler is one building away from Pro Audio, so the Rastafalia
will be making an appearance over there for a new muffler this week. It
is hard to wait, but soon I will be driving my baby again.
I plan on slowly journeying down for the Westfalia Acres camp out in a
couple of weeks, so hopefully some of those we missed for the install, and
the barbeque, will be there to show off to. : ) Hopefully pictures will
be available soon!
For those who worked so dillegently on my van, I can't say thank you
enough times. It doesn't quite reach how I feel about you all. It really
is an amazing thing to have you all show up to install a new engine in the
Rastafalia. All of you have built up some great kharma, and I must say
that am blessed to have such good friends.
Matthew, you really are a great person!!!!! Without you, I am sure we
would still be out there, trying to follow those darn directions. LOL
Thank you for taking the time to drive all this way for me, and my lovely
Vanagon. It was a lot of work, and we couldn't have done it without you.
Big Hugs to you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Julianna
90 VW Vanagon Westfalia (The Rastafalia)
76 VW Automatic Bay Westfalia (Pea Pod)
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