Winston: Chock, Full of Nuts

[msinabottle]

I did want to thank those folks who mentioned how much they enjoyed my VERBOSE posts about my time at the jobs site with Winston. Things have been less exciting for the last two weeks.

After Winston's tremendous performance in getting down the muddy hill, I shifted my camp site to a spot considerably lower, down where the fire road comes into this particular camp ground. During the storm, a white van had slid into the ditch and blocked the fire road, but with that hauled out, I can drive Winston forward and out to the loop road. Vehicles travel 1/4 their distance in reverse, and have 1/2 their accidents going backwards. I like going forward, if I can.

The new site looks deceptively level, but Winston leans to his 'kitchen' side noticeably in it, and tilts back a bit. If I hadn't been so exhausted last week, I'd have done a more thorough job with the mattock and the shovel I brought up in hope of fixing that. I shouldn't have to move TOO much dirt, but I was so worn out from the rest of my week that I merely enlarged the 'divot' into which I nestle Winston's front end, which helped a bit, I suppose, but not enough. I also didn't like the creaks and groans Winston made as I moved about in him, even with the emergency brake on and the transmission in gear.

Today I went to Harbor Freight and bought two of these:

http://www.harborfreight.com/solid-rubber-wheel-chock-96479.html

I'm wondering now if I should put them behind his front wheels or his rear wheels. I hope to level the spot quite a bit more this weekend, but I'd value your suggestions about where to chock him.

It was HOT, last weekend. I cracked the rear hatch, cranked the jalousies, and still roasted over night--then it rained and got almost as cold as it had the first horrible week and I buttoned the van tightly up, which allowed my clothes to dry and a good night's sleep in the lower berth. I've quit my usual habit of heating frozen burritos in Winston's little microwave--it took 10 minutes that cold weekend to get them hot enough, and that's too much juice at a time. I have had success with the unfrozen 'Top Shelf' entrees and some 'Yake Soba' noodle packs that require a cup of water and about 5 minutes in the Half-Pint to cook.

I've been rigging my meals, also, a bit more toward either no electric power or propane, eating a lovely bowl of soup my girlfriend had made for me, and salami, cheese and crackers for lunch. I've also got canned chili, lovely in the cold, and some of the less-horrid varieties of canned pasta. I was glad to find a container of Jordan Almonds at Wal-Mart, it gets HOT in Winston on a 90+ day, and chocolate, I don't think, would do well in that. I kept my last container of the almonds in Winston for a year and the last ones tasted as good as the first.

The LED-retrofitted Coleman tent light does a good job of keeping Winston's interior lit up on the tent lifting bar. I have all my built-in lights, I've just been stretching my auxiliary battery a bit given the cold and wet. I found a pair of spirit levels at Wal-Mart, I hope to use them as I try to get Winston's parking more level. Last week I very foolishly forgot my bagels, so I had no toast for breakfast. My digestion has been bad enough so that I've been eating Minute Rice, which the little stove does a fine job of preparing. I can't say that the weather stripping drastically improved the performance of the Dometic, but I haven't got a really good fridge thermometer to do a strict study. I think I'll blast out Winston's vents and combustion chamber with compressed air, the Dometic is still lighting harder than it used to.

Not quite zipping the sleeping bag has helped on the hot nights, I could just sleep outside of the thing, I've done that--with no climate control, you're always looking for the right combination of what you can affect. One resolute mosquito worked her way through a gap in my magnetic mosquito screen as I read in the reversed passenger's seat. She then recoiled from my coating of Off, and died moments thereafter. I feel no guilt.



It's a matter of getting the things on just right. I did do an inspection of Winston's engine last week, all seemed well except for a bubble in the pressure tank, the result, I think, of the heater control valve repair. He's not running hot at all, but I topped off that and the overflow tank on general principles.

So--digging to flatten where I've been parking him, chocking front or back depending on wise advice or my instincts--the front of the parking site is more level--and fussing and worrying. Also enjoying the nice little sheltered parlor and comfortable bed waiting for me at the end of what has been some very hard weekend work.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[DAIZEE]

There you are again! Again enjoyed. oooooh you have a micro and a Half Pint!!! I'm jealous Is your microwave 12V? Keep writing.
_________________
'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

[dobryan]

Rob,

Glad you are continuing to enjoy Winston.

All the best.

Dave O
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2010 Subaru EJ25 (Vanaru) and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[msinabottle]

The Half-Pint is AC--'Winston Gets Wired' is one of my very few stickies. The good part of my lack of presence in the sticky board is that I get to spend a lot of time watching the new generation re-invent the wheel. Oh, well. Thank you both for your kind words and wishes.

Now,

DOES ANYBODY WANT TO MAKE A SUGGESTION ABOUT WHICH SET OF WHEELS TO CHOCK?



Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[1621]

[Timwhy]

I'm sure it would depend on which wheels are on leveling ramps too.

When my vans' rear wheels are on the ramps I usually put my chock
on the front wheel and more particular, the side of the wheel that is opposite
the slope of the ramps.
_________________
'15 Audi A3 Quattro
'09 VW Tiguan (dead)
'87 VW Westy
'91 Tin Top
'90 Cabby
What the Westy wants the Westy GETS


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=Timwhy&show_results=summary

http://www.youtube.com/user/TIMWHY2?feature=mhee

[scott eickstaedt]

I too would chock the rear wheels the fronts I would think always have a small amount of sideways play.

[msinabottle]

It looks as if it's the rears. I also received a kindly admonition to drive a stake behind the chocks themselves from a reader of the post. Good enough, thank you all for your views.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[PDXWesty]

I usually try to park on pretty level ground when sleeping. Why in the world would you ever need to chock the wheels?
_________________
89 Westy 2.1 Auto

[msinabottle]

The spot is what I could get, and although it's fairly level, there's a hill right behind it, and I'm a believer in overkill where safety is concerned.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[dobryan]

[trihartsfield]

Ok I am sure someone has asked this before but being new I was curious as to what kind of work you do that you are staying in your Westie?

[msinabottle]

What kind of work am I doing?

If I told you, I'd have to kill you. Or at least risk getting fired.



It's just very demanding and requires heavy clothing.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[levi]

[levi]

[msinabottle]

This weather is beginning to get annoying...

Last week, thank Heaven, was rather more restful than the three weeks before it, and I wasn't a wreck when I packed up my mattock and spade and drove up to the camp site yet again. There hadn't been any serious rain so far last weekend, but... Getting ahead of the story.

I parked Winston off to the side, so I could work on leveling the indent on the hillside where I'd parked him last time. It's a bit off-putting the first time the emergency brake DOESN'T hold, but it held on the 2nd try, I may take him down to Blazer for a once-over, although he seems as good as ever he was on the flat. I did the 'back-up, brake' routine several times coming home last weekend. That's harder, in a manual. Got the fridge lit a bit more easily, I took the air compressor and blew a lot of air through the Dometic's drain line last.

I wish I'd marked where exactly his wheels lay in that 'notch' last week, I did this week and started using the mattock and pick to break loose the dirt in the higher sections and shovel it out with the spade. I was much less tired, and moved quite a bit of dirt, and used that to fill in the eroded ruts on the road below the spot. As I took each shovelful down, I stomped down the dirt I'd already deposited in the hope of the dirt not washing away if it did rain. It did... But I'm getting ahead of the story.

At any rate, I moved a lot of dirt, and then slid Winston into the spot, he settled into place quite strongly, so much so that his bumper smacked into the edge of the notch and mashed his front license plate a bit. I checked the level--still not there, so I'll have to do the routine again next week, but it was better. I went around and put the Chinese chocks into place, they seemed quite firm.

That night--somehow I've managed the difficult feat of both roasting and freezing simultaneously. A powerful thunderstorm moved in about 4 in the morning, making me rise, close Winston's tent flap, then close Winston's skylight, then partly close a jalousie, and go from sleeping on top of my 40 degree sleeping bag to under it--which finally allowed me to sleep. It's really quite true that jalousies admit the air but exclude the rain, the air was just freezing the parts of me that weren't sweating profusely.

I had remembered the bagels! There was ice in the bag! The bagels were mush! I was aggravated as I tried to air-dry them! But otherwise everything was working well. I had filled Winston's water tank four weeks before, and the water still tasted perfectly fine, although I drained the tank coming back this time. The Dometic seems to be working well enough, although the Blue Ice I stick into him on Friday is almost entirely liquid by Sunday evening. My beautiful and gracious girl friend had made me some Scottish sausage, I'd thought to have it for lunch, but, just the luck, it had slid into the ice tray notch and frozen! Great, the Dometic DOES have the power to freeze something, but only when I don't want it to.



Thawed the sausage and had it for dinner wrapped in tortillas, exquisite. Saturday's weather wasn't too ghastly, and the hillside dried quickly enough under about 90 degree heat--the weather was such that you felt just fine half the time, and felt that you were coming down with heat stroke the other half of the time.

I passed Saturday evening listening to other people having fun at a party to which I had not been invited--I was told the oversight had been regretted--and reading by the light of my passenger's side LED array. Mosquitoes somehow got in and took a grisly revenge that night for my assassination of last week's mosquito. I suspect a popped snap on the rear mosquito net, which I had up under my hatch extender.

I was bitten on everything that stuck out from first the 40 degree sleeping bag, then the 'Summer' sleeping bag I keep in the overhead compartment. It's essentially a blanket with a zipper around the edge, but I managed to sleep, bites and all, in that, finally. I'd used both screens and mosquito repellent, too. The little bi*ches must have been starving... I hope they got it in what followed... But I'm getting a LITTLE ahead of the story.

Woke up to a lowering and cooling gray sky, and something made me strike the rear hatch, the tent, and my mosquito screens on the front window and do a bit of additional readying of Winston for a hasty departure. Weather report called for 'showers,' HA!

Under hard and unrewarding conditions, the weather got worse and worse until at about 3 it broke--hard. Rain, more rain, BUCKETS of rain, and... then...

That is NOT my hand! I took shelter for myself and worried quite a bit about Winston and what I would find when my shift ended and I could get back up to him. The noise was so bad I stayed under the firmer structures and covered my ears while the hail crashed down, more falling down than hitting hard, for a fact. The storm, bad as it was, finally moved out after around an hour, and the day ended and Winston was...

Fine. As far as I can tell, quite fine. As I said, when you're religious you don't feel guilty about praying in a crisis, but GAD, the weather this year... But he seemed to have come through unscathed.

I got out of my work clothes and listened to the rumble of approaching thunder and decided to get out while the getting was good in the interval between storms. The dirt had dried somewhat, but it was still nearly as muddy as it had been that first horrible week. I lost my bet with myself because I'd remembered to remove the chocks before setting out, although the spade and mattock I'd stashed under Winston were covered with dirt and mud from the rain.

I hurriedly munched two breakfast burritos my dear lady had made for me while I finished preparations for sea, and as it started to rain again Winston obediently started and grimly pushed himself back out into the mud... The friendly and pleasant owners of the '85 Westy next door helped me back out with distance warnings. Winston's front wheels slipped in the mud when I braked, but he kept going, and slid out onto the main road out of the camp site.

I had to pick up my paycheck as the next big storm bore down, and after delays on the one-lane road, pulled into an office parking lot. One nice thing about the relative narrowness of a Vanagon, you can squeak by on the shoulder more often than the modern Vanhemoths can. The sky was positively black as I grabbed my check and ran back to Winston, who killed as I backed him out into the mud of the parking lot.



You know, he wouldn't have, if I hadn't left the emergency brake on. Oh, right, I was getting extra traction! Yeah, that's it!



He might have needed it, for a fact, I noticed that the treads on the Agilis tires were full of sandy mud as I boarded him for the last leg of the run. I admit to being by that time more than a little fatigued and frazzled.

The ride home was a re-run of that first horrible week--dark, low clouds, strong winds, driving rain, and a calmly determined '84 Vanagon Westfalia ignoring truck-trains, hills, cross winds, darkness and poor visibility as he forged our way home. The storm stayed right on us the whole way, and it was something of a shock to see:

1)Winston doing over 75 MPH uphill at just a bit over 4,000 RPM.
2)Winston passing other cars who were having more trouble than he was.
3)Winston holding his own in the lane while the winds drove other cars from side to side in a quite distracting fashion.

The noise was quite terrifying when I was between tracks on the CD full of '80's German Rock I had going. To 'Da Da Da' I got him home and into the garage in the short gap before the storm arrived and the winds howled and the rain poured down as the storms moved slowly off to clobber Eastern Colorado. The Agilis had cleaned themselves off when I checked them over.

What jolly fun!



And I am very tired. But, gad--what a Van.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[VwMomofthree]

Please keep writing I love to hear about your adventures...Also what about some Mountain House backpacking food? It only takes hot water to reconstitute and tastes pretty good too!

[msinabottle]

Well, another week, not without its moments of terror and uncertainty. Thanks to those who've appreciated the past accounts of my adventures with Winston.

I've been worried... Wondering if Winston is dragging his rear drums, although I've done the 'back and stop' thing and he seems to be rolling just fine at his usual speeds, with plenty of brakes when I need them. I've had to pull up the emergency brake an extra notch to stop him, but it IS on a hill where I'm camping, and he stops just fine on the flat where he always has. He also rolls as well as ever in neutral.

Setting out last Friday for this week at the job site, I almost aborted! Things felt wrong once I got him out onto the main roads. He was fairly low on gas, although not at the critical level, with 217.4 on the trip meter. Just as I was starting up a series of hills leading south, he seemed to gag, hesitate, and lose power. Oh, swell.



I started thinking about heading right back home and working him over, maybe coming up Saturday morning. I worried it might be the fuel enrichment switch, that had, for a fact, come disconnected right after I bought him, but the symptoms weren't the same. That time, he just hadn't sped up, this time, he seemed fuel-starved and started struggling to get up hills he usually glides over.

I currently have two theories, one a favorite. The fading theory is dirty gas--I buy pretty cheap stuff, but name brand, on which he's always run fairly well. I put Marvel Mystery Oil in the gas and haven't been cleaning the injectors since I figure the MMO will take care of that. So he could just have dirty injectors. I had planned, for a fact, to put some decent gas into him, but my station for that was closed. I might put a container of Tekron, Sea Foam, or BG-44K in him just for that eventuality. There would go my savings on the cheap gas!

I think my second theory, concocted after some browsing now, may be more accurate. Winston did this before, with a quite dirty fuel filter, for a fact, when I was a bit late on the shifting during a storm when I couldn't hear the engine. I revved him pretty high before I remembered to shift. I'm not sure I didn't do just the same thing this time around. It's conceivable I kicked in the rev limiter in the old DigiJet ECU. He struggled up the final hill, I pulled him into the gas station, and put 10 gallons of gas and four ounces of MMO into him.

Another problem manifested itself then. I'd noticed the 'overflow tube' coming off the filler neck had worked loose again--I tried holding it back in place with a shrink-fit fuel-grade bit of tubing, I'd added a small hose clamp after that had worked loose, but that leaked, and when I looked down (I shouldn't have topped off), it looked like fuel was coming out of the hoses going to the overflow tank hoses nearest the fill cap. They look to be original, braided covers, unclamped. Okay, THAT will all have to be fixed.

I am open for suggestions as to HOW to best do it. I figured that he'd burn a couple of gallons on this run, which would hopefully end the rain of gas and the remarks from the old gaffer filling up next to me. If I am going to be messing around the tank, I'd like it empty-ish, which is certainly isn't now.

At any rate, after a stop in a parking lot to feel Winston's brake drums, they were warm, but no warmer than his front rotors, I decided to take him, the new gas, the new MMO and my anxieties out on the road at highway speed and see how he did... He did... flawlessly. Didn't give me a moment's trouble, ran like his usual self, although I kept wondering if he was in my anxiety. Purred like a German Kitten all the way to the job site, and climbed, in first and second, the steep rutted road leading to my new camping spot.

I did kill him once when I made the turn into camp and ran him into a eroded pit that's popped up with all the rain at the side of the road. I went back later and cleared away some branches that nudge you over toward the pit when you make the turn.

At any rate, he pulled himself through the pit, up over the ruts, and off to the side of his usual parking spot while I employed mattock and spade yet again to level him. I got it pretty close, this time, according to my level. I still need to lower the passenger's side of the 'notch,' it's only taken me 5 weeks to get this close to getting it right. Some of that 'Westy Lean' is from the water tank, which I filled again. I took the dirt from my excavations and filled the ruts nearest to Winston, and chocked him again. I noted that when I put him in neutral, gravity took him right out of the spot, so I might to some more leveling and digging on the front end of the 'notch.'

Couldn't get the fridge to light until I lit a stove burner, then, effortlessly. We had rain, but he took that well, we had HEAT, vive le jalousies, I actually slept well both nights but a good chunk of that came from utter physical exhaustion. Two mosquito bites, but I spent time outdoors and had washed my hands right after putting on the spray. Sunday morning my pleasant neighbors in the '85 Beige Westy knocked on my door--they'd run out of propane halfway through frying an egg. I cheerfully let them finish it on Winston's familiar little stove and urged them to get the propane fitting mod I describe at VERBOSE length here:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=353952

Had more of my beautiful girlfriend's Scots sausage and breakfast burritos, and Winston gave me not even a hint of trouble down the hill in darkness, the Hellas lighting up the Western Hemisphere, then on the highway in yet ANOTHER driving thunderstorm. Those are getting old. Traffic was spectacular, the work they're supposed to have finished by 19:00 on C-470 was still going on at 21:00, with the result being a line of cars on the opposite side of the highway going on for MILES, and a single lane with fun, sudden stops in the rain, on my side.

Winston got through all of that and my usual clumsy efforts to back him into the garage without a single problem that wasn't clearly MY fault. I think I'll still dump the can of Tekron into him, I haven't done that since I started adding the MMO, and I'll research the fuel tank lines and figure out what to do. Helpful comments and advice remain very welcome.

And I am very tired.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[DAIZEE]

I'm sort of getting confused with your stories, which I really like. They seem to be about getting Winston level and then the next thing you are have brekkie and then you are going home. I'm not asking what you do but how often are you camping and how often are you home? Like how many days at a stretch do you live out of Winston? Just confused.
_________________
'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

[msinabottle]

I'm actually working out a large company site at the edge of forest land, I stay in Winston usually two nights, sometimes three. During the week I work at home and recover from the weekends. I only need to be out at the site during the earlier summer months.

All clear?

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."