Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 21:21:28 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: It's back together and it runs.
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
it's like anything ..
the more you do it, the better you get at it.
you develope your own tricks...special tools ..etc.
as cars go ...vanagons are quite sweet to work on.
I could work on vanagon exhaust systems very much without an oxy-accetylene
torch now and then though.
about the poor fit with the exhaust junctions..
new aftermarket pipes ?
I don't live where rust is a servere problem ..
and guess what ......I have *never* purschased a new aftermarket vanagon
waterboxer front or rear pipe ( lots of mufflers and tail pipes, yes of
course ) ...
I just clean up and restore good original ones..
occaisonally I have one welded to repair a crack.
then I paint them with 'flame proof' brand high temp exhaust paint ..
( good up to 1,300 degrees F the can says ) ..and they stay pretty unrusted
for a pretty good while.
Not hard to touch up in place either.
( one 1.9's btw...where the two flanges meet at the forward end of the J
pipe..
it's normal to intstall two gaskets on the forward pipe there ..and only one
for the rear pipe ...seems to work a lot better that way ....'usually.' )
scott
scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "MICHAEL H" <vwdash80@YAHOO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 8:41 PM
Subject: Re: It's back together and it runs.
... ugh - possibly more sweat inducing than the mechanical wrestling match
; } ...
--- On Wed, 11/9/11, Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> From: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
> Subject: Re: It's back together and it runs.
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2011, 5:24 PM
> Thanks. The poor van has been
> parked since spring when the house roof work and then the
> motorcycle accident took me away from it. First thing
> after inspection (and the requisite joy ride, of course)
> will be an extensive and well-deserved cleaning.
>
> Stephen
>
> --- On Wed, 11/9/11, Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> From: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: It's back together and it runs.
> To: "Stephen Grisanti" <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
> Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2011, 4:33 PM
>
>
> Stephan,
>
> Somewhere around 2006 I had to pull an overheated engine
> out of my 1972 baywindow, had to tear it down only to
> discover that it was un-rebuildable (turned piston sleeve
> bearing, probably wrong term, poor memory, but it amounted
> to an engine that could not be trusted), had to purchase a
> brand-new 1600dp engine from Mexico, had to install that
> engine into my bus. That was my first, and hopefully last
> (it was quite a mess, taking up much of my tiny garage's
> space) experience doing something that ambitious.
>
> And it is beautiful thing when the engine starts and runs
> beautifully, and the vehicle is drivable again.
>
> Good job, man.
>
> -- Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> Bend, Ore.
> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a
> defunct company in
> San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>
> Sent from my kitchen.
>
> On 11/09/2011 08:19 AM, Stephen Grisanti wrote:
> > Well, that was a long month. What began as an
> exhaust replacement
> > turned into something else with a broken head bolt
> that necessitated
> > a trip to the machine shop with the left head after
> the weldng-a-nut
> > trick failed to get out the broken part. I
> reinstalled the head and
> > sundry ancillary parts on Saturday and put the exhaust
> on yesterday.
> > This morning filled with fluids and fired it up.
> >
> > Looks like I may need to adjust the valves again since
> one lifter
> > won't shut up, and I'm a little concerned about the
> seal of the
> > various exhaust junctions; the metal donuts at either
> end of the
> > J-pipe seem to be letting fumes out, and the two pipes
> going into the
> > collector do not meet it parallel at the flanges so
> something might
> > be getting out there. I'll retighten after things
> cool down and
> > check again.
> >
> > I was very concerned about bleeding the cooling system
> after all the
> > horror stories I'd read, but with the rear of the van
> up on wooden
> > ramps in an already nose-down position in the sloping
> driveway, I
> > simply removed the bleeder bolt from the radiator and
> put four tea
> > kettles of water into the reservoir and that did it.
> Topped off once
> > after it warmed up. I'll drain again and refill with
> phosphate-free
> > and distilled after flushing this stuff through for a
> few miles. I
> > did not want to leak new coolant if I messed up the
> reinstall of
> > anything. If the only thing leaking is exhaust I'm
> way ahead of the
> > game. First drive will have to be to the inspection
> station since
> > the expire date at the end of August is far behind us
> and I don't
> > want to tempt the constabulary.
> >
> > After spending a lot more time getting intimate with
> this van's
> > innards than I ever anticipated, I must say my hat is
> off to those
> > who work on 'em regularly. It was educational,
> frustrating,
> > enlightening, maddening, satisfying, occasionally
> painful, and I
> > would not want to do it every day. Now to get this
> thing inspected
> > and go camping.
> >
> > Stephen
>
| 
