Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2012 18:23:44 -0700
Reply-To: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: What did you do for your Vanagon this week?
In-Reply-To: <CAEuQn0bkBoFAAfrP6qVyeg-+24dcQ_=vwhmu2RoW+2tjso=UVg@mail.gmail.com>
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Well, over the last two weeks, I
Pulled the Vitrifrigo refrigerator and re-programmed it to allow the aux
battery to go a little lower before shutting down. Discovered why its
interior light doesn't go on (bad 12V power supply at provided
terminals) and bypassed them. Wrote Vitrifrigo customer service about
this and, as usual, got no answer.
Yanked the useless (to me) city water inlet and installed a 120-V inlet
that I bought last year and modified to accept a pair of Anderson
Powerpole connectors which are now wired to the solar controller so the
van now has water, 120-V, and solar inlets on the side; up until now the
solar panel connectors were on wires and I dropped them outta the
driver's door. Did not look very finished, now it's extra-cool.
Changed the two front tires because the driver's side tire was getting
worn down and installed a pair of my older Cooper tires; will be taking
the van in next week to have alignment inspect to see what the dickens
is causing all this wear. One should get, I reckon, more than 10,000
miles from a set of front tires.
Installed new spark plugs (NGK BP6ET) and triggered a whole swarm of
controversy here over whether they are smart to use or not; then sparked
a whole discussion on The Samba about the same thing. Some of our
smartest guys give good reason to avoid them, others have used them on
many, many engines and love them. Liking the extra pep, I decided to
split the difference and retard the timing a wee bit to soften their
blows. Retarded it too much at first and the van was very sluggish off
idle, subtracted one degree and it felt fine so my idle timing is at
about 7 degrees ATDC.
Washed the entire engine compartment. Previously: everything was brown;
now: all the colors of the rainbow.
Received from Mark Drillock a second ECU to bring as a spare (I'm trying
to eliminate an annoying high temperature/steep grade engine shutdown
thing) and tested the ECU and it works just fine. Also, removed the
little square pre-pump fuel filter and refreshed the post-pump one in
case the problem is due to some kind of restriction.
Tested fuel pressure and fuel delivery. Now I have nearly a quart of
gasoline in a glass bottle to admire.
Ground down the hooks on my Hi-Lift "Lift Mate" so they'll fit in the
holes in the Vanagon wheels. Worked on the Hi-Lift jack (bought from Al
Knoll and older than he) to make it work smoother. Rattle-canned the
Hi-Lift with tractor red so it looks purty.
This is not really "working on the Vanagon" per se but since the Hi-Lift
is also my rear bumper ("Road Warrior"!) it counts, I figure.
Practiced using the Hi-lift. That thing will kill ya if you don't know
how it works. Even if you do, it's dangerous.
Found out why the dash vent on the passenger side wasn't delivering air:
stupid duct fell off the stupid vent.
Have been trying to recondition my Trojan 130 amp-hour aux battery which
I'm pretty certain I broke last winter by letting it discharge down to 7
volts. Under a test load, it gave 50 amp/hours; after equalization, it
gave 65 amp/hours. I am not impressed. Now I'm in research mode: gave it
a full charge overnight and am letting is sit for 24 hours then will
check open-circuit voltage and compare with specific gravity to see if
they agree (temperature corrected). If things look wrong will try more
equalization to see if I can break up more sulfur crystals and make it
good again.
Never thought about washing the seat belts, but they don't retract so
good so I figure I'll give it a try!
<Expecting a slew of comments, he ducks>
--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.
On 08/28/2012 05:30 PM, Roland wrote:
> Washed the driver's side seat belt. Easy job. Simply pulled it out of the
> reel all the way, clamped it so it wouldn't retract. Then placed a bucket
> of warm soapy water on the little shelf next to the seat, dumped it all in,
> squeeze repeatedly like you are washing a rag, then rinse with clean
> water. No need to unbolt anything, the middle part of the seat belt is the
> problem, not the ends.
>
> Nice and soft and flexible once again. It actually retracts now when I let
> it go.
>
> Roland
