Sanchius and Tuna ride again...

[sanchius]

It's been a bit and with the Westy now running well, I've been spending time tending to some of the other vehicles in the fleet that I thought I'd share.

First, I wanted to finish a story I started here a page or two earlier, The death and resurrection of "Blue", a 2002 Volvo XC70.

Before we discovered Westys, our kids grew up with Volvos.
Our first family Volvo was a tidy '74 142 sedan, then a very fast silver Turbo Wagon.
Our daughter's first car was a jet black 83 245 Turbo Wagon and she liked to say, "It has room for one cute boy and 2 spares!"

A few years ago, we passed on to her our 2002 XC70, which she immediately fell in love with.
When fitted with its very aggressive set of Hakkapeliitta studded snow tires, it's almost unstoppable in winter.
She named it "Blue" and it was perfect for her commute, camping and mountain adventures around Colorado.

Earlier this fall, "Blue" was totaled by a high-speed deer strike out on the sage flats south of Salida, CO.
Our term for roadside deer is "Sandbags on stilts". And they are just about that smart, too.
On the upside, it didn't come through the windshield, no one was injured and everyone but the deer and the vehicle is OK.
A friend with a fire/rescue captain husband who has responded to hundreds of vehicle wrecks told me that after seeing these pictures, he simply said, "I've never had to pull a body out of a Volvo."

I've put dashcams in all my cars because young inattentive/texting drivers keep running into & totaling them and then lying about it, and just a month before her birthday present was a dashcam for Blue

To see the dash-cam video of how fast this happened, either click on or open in a new window the image below or try this link... Volvo Deer Strike (You may have to enable pop-up windows for flickr.com).

[Caution - not for the sensitive - contains screams, a loud 4-letter utterance, and the tumbling aftermath of a high-energy deer impact]

The fact the deer was just in front of the reflective sign made it much harder to initially discern.
And her boyfriend earned major dad points for his immediate gold-star response.

We had it towed to a repair shop near home, where it was officially declared totaled.
It was in such good shape otherwise that, with the encouragement of Abscate here, we decided to buy it back from the insurance company and make a run at resurrecting it ourselves.

It required about $500 in replacement parts: hood, radiator+intercooler+AC condensor, grill, bumper cover, head & fog lights, power steering pump & line, radiator support, etc

And a lot of measuring, hammering and restraightening in the passengers front corner.

We were fortunate that there were many donor XC70s in the yards and almost everything was bolt-on replaceable.
But the fact that there are subtle differences in some of the parts, like the PS pump, did cost us some time.

After about 5 days worth of parts hunting in the boneyards and hard restoration work in the garage, Blue is back on the road!
The hood color match is very close, but not exact. That's easy to fix once a matching XC70 shows up in the yards.
We even upgraded her to the $$$ late model HID lamps.

Needless to say, our daughter is over the moon.

She did call a few nights later, "Dad, Blue just died on me. It starts fine, but when I put it in gear it just dies."

"OK, let me see what I can find. But since I'm back in Nevada, you and your brother will need to fix this."

I google various Volvo sites for the symptoms, possible causes and solutions to suggest to them...
- Might be a locked up torque converter, did the trans fluid get contaminated somehow with the deer hit?
- Unclean MAF or throttle sensor?
- Did a sensor connection/wire get damaged or missed reconnecting?
- Big vacuum leak somewhere?
Hopefully it's whatever is cheapest/easiest to fix.

This is a solid, well-maintained vehicle, so I'm not too worried.
I amazoned them a cheap but well reviewed OBDII reader to get more data.

Son called the next night. He has found the problem.
We missed tightening a hose clamp and one of the turbo hoses popped off the intercooler.

Really BIG vacuum leak. The upside is that this is a 2-minute, 0$, fix.

Whew, I love the easy ones...

===

We keep an old Audi Cabriolet as a back up car for when one of the other vehicles is off the road or in the shop or for out-of-town guests to use.
It is extremely reliable, too cheap to sell and just plain fun to run around in with the top down.
So we try to keep it up in good shape.

It's always nice when an Audi Cabriolet shows up in the local pull-n-pay so I can pick up the inevitable little needed parts that I'm too cheap frugal to pay retail for. It's a bit like a treasure hunt for grown-ups.

So when one popped up the other day, I paid it a visit to grab a spare set of ultrarare Cab tail lights to have on the shelf for the next time it gets rear-ended.

To my delight, it was low mileage example with a pristine interior that color matched ours.

I immediately grabbed the unique-to-Cabs rear & fog lights, the window and convertible top switches, and some trim pieces that I was missing.

Then I pulled the beautiful front bucket seats and the rear seat-back to replace our Cab's aging sun and desert-dried seats, which were now sporting some tears & seam splits and had become a bit of an embarrassment.

For some reason, the new passenger seat rear supports were about 0.25 inches too wide to fit the tracks in my Cab.

I used my new garage toy to quickly set that right.

It was a bit of work, but both Mrs S and I are very happy with the results.

==

I did have a relaxing evening slowly and carefully resetting the valve clearances on the Westy after running the 1.25 ratio rockers for awhile.

Recently I added a Vintagespeed exhaust Y pipe, along with Marco's injectors and 1.25 ratio rockers, to my '86 2WD Westy (2.1L WBX, no AC, manual steering, regulation catalytic converter). Although I have no numbers to back me up, my van now feels much stronger, with quicker acceleration and better mid-range power. I now spend as much time in the fast as the slow lane (aka "The Vanagon Lane") and I don't feel like the rolling roadblock that I did before. While it is no 240hp Subie 3.3L, I feel these three bolt-on items have definitely improved my 2.1L WBX's performance and my Vanagon driving satisfaction.

Once I find a late model D or X suffix digifant ECU for cheap (I have two early, no suffix, ECUs), I plan to try out the torque chip.

Unless it's the Westy I'm working on, Tuna is banned from the garage for her own safety, so this is her usual hang-out.

And while she wasn't amused by this, I thought it was funny.

Finally, I was in the rare books section of the university library researching some of the original archeological studies of the nearby petroglyph sites and came across this image of what could be Grandpa and Grandma S in their early Westy if they had ever made it west of the Hudson River.

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[Abscate]

Woof woof from Husky Maddie in upstate NY..

Did you confirm that colour code for me? 444?

Headed to the big Volvo boneyard later this December
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.ssS!

[E1]

[coqcitywesty]

I get it - We just sold our 2004 XC70 after 5 years of ownership - likely the most functional, comfortable highway cruiser I have owned. I outfitted it with some ‘R’ suspension parts including sway bar and a GROM Bluetooth unit which just added to the joy of driving it. We once drove it from Sacramento to Vancouver in one shot and upon arrival, was no worse for wear - I liken it to sitting on a lazy boy with a steering wheel in front of it. My only reason for selling was the wife wanted something smaller (it was her driver), so we got her a 2011 C70 to complement my S40. Yes, I love my Westy, but also swear by my Volvo collection.
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1991 Westfalia EJ251, 1972 Volvo 1800 ES

[jimf909]

What a great post: videos, screams, repairs, bonus finds at the scrapyard and the descent of dogs into the mixed results of domestication. A good Sunday evening read. Thanks.

Full-size Volvo's do seem to be one of the most comfortable cars ever made. The only front seats that I've found to be equally comfortable are GTI seats.
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- Jim

[sanchius]

I am going to have to get a better phone. My cell phone pictures from our previous outing on the last warm November day before the snow arrived, where Tuna, Mrs S and I attempted to reach the 1964 crash site of a Lockheed Constellation high up on Genoa Peak outside of Minden NV, were so bad that they were unusable here.

With the first of our holiday guests starting to arrive, we did some initial reconnoitering of fun sites to visit with the full clan.

First we hit some of the Truckee River truss bridges we'd been to before.

The trains coming down the river run fast and quiet.
We were out on the lower trestle checking out the beautiful ice on the river rocks below when we heard a loud train horn just upriver.
We hustled off the bridge and onto the nearby rocks just in time to get a face full of the California Zephyr whistling by.

We drove further up some high-gradient tracks on the Tahoe-Pyramid Lake trail until it became too icy and dangerous to continue.

Then we headed east downriver, through Reno/Sparks, to find the Court of Antiquity petroglyph site just a mile outside of town along I-80.

I'm glad we had left Tuna at home as the path wandered through thickets of tough desert brambles and caltrop burrs that we called Devil's Thorns as the painful spikes got everywhere in our socks and boots.

Along the way, we were revisited by the California Zephyr, headed east out of Reno towards Denver (Click on the picture for the video)

20191217_161835 Amtrak

Thousands of people drive by every day, just 100 yards away, without ever knowing it is there.
Once very impressive, the river-side site was very degraded and full of trash, we'll return with garbage bags on our next visit.

Since we are not trained archeologists, we were free to make up our own interpretation of the petroglyphs.
This one we called "The Squid".

And this one "Rain", "Lizard" and "Falling Man" from left to right.

When we got home, our very fierce husky was very glad to see us and forgave us for leaving her at home by demanded belly rubs.

This is all anyone needs to know about Huskies, except that they are also very stubborn.

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[E1]

Just noticed the deer video.

Wow, and lucky it didn't come in. Whew.

Glad she's okay and that you fixed the car. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
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‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[sanchius]

Our errands the other day took us by the Tractor Supply store, which is alway fun to visit for all the unexpected farm stuff they carry.
Tuna quickly found her favorite section of the store.

Errands done, we headed out a nearby track to try to locate a dryland/hilltop petroglyph site called Crowsnest.
There are plenty of online descriptions of the site and I have a general idea where it might be.
But there is no exact location info anywhere I can find. https://www.nvrockart.org/pages/Crows_nest.html

We searched a couple outcroppings on the hillside behind the bus, but came up dry.

One big rock on the other side of the valley seemed promising, but the only thing there was modern graffiti.
I suppose if it was easy, it wouldn't be worth doing. In any case, we had a beautiful morning's walk out in the wilds.

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[Jeffrey Lee]

[Abscate]

Maddie the Husky Mix has approved the latest posts in this series

Woof, poof goes the Husky Glitter
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[sanchius]

As the holidays wind down and our guests slowly depart, we had lots of fun, but also ran into some trouble...

Fun stuff first, we made several snowshoeing trips up to the abandoned UP train tunnels on nearby Donner Pass.

The whole group revisited the Court of Antiquity site for a closer look.

With all the thorns and stickers there, Tunes was sporting her doggy booties to protect her pads.
If you want a laugh, find some videos of dogs wearing these for the first time and trying to walk while getting all four legs off the ground at the same time. Tunes was just like them at first.

At the site, as we looked around, we saw hundreds of pictures that we hadn't seen on the first quick trip.
I don't know what the big image is, but I really like the simplicity of the mini scorp figure in the upper left hand corner.

Our 4 big garbage bags were no match for all the modern trash there, but, fueled by anger, we did our best to clean up the center of the ancient site.

The big event was loading up the Westy for our annual expedition to the mountains for our Christmas tree.
I had picked up the $10 Forest Service cut permit back around Thanksgiving.

As we motored up the Mount Rose highway, trouble struck: loss of power and a very loud metallic engine knock/hammer.

Here's a video of the knock (click the picture) and a separate thread on the problem.

Uh-oh. We pulled over and assessed the situation while two of the party Lyft'd back to the house to pick up a backup van and a tow vehicle.

We left the Westy and tow vehicle at the bottom and went the rest of the way up the mountain in the backup van.
Snowshoeing up the mountainside, we found a perfect tree 100 yards from where we took last year's tree.

Like last year, Tunes enjoyed the outing.

Like last year, she was absolutely worthless on the retrieve, the mice in the holes being much more interesting.

But we had lots of fun on the mountain and the long tow back was uneventful...

This year we got smart and put the lights on the top of the tree before standing it up.

Like last year, Tuna was no help decorating the tree, she is either full on or full off.

And, like last year, it came out great.

Happy Holidays and a great New Year to all!

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[SyncroBouree]

What a lovely holiday share. The hikes to the train tunnels and petroglyphs are intriguing Good on you for your care-taking of the site.

Sorry for the WBX tribulation that befell you--it appears from all the smiles that the positive spirit of the activities overcame the interuption. I hadn't run into that situation so have nothing better than what has been offered already.

Tuna is beautiful and quite the character I see.

Happy New Year -- Good health and high spirits to all!
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--Liam
1990 Vanagon GL Syncro Westy VW1.8T Triple-Knobber
1975 911S Widened Turbo/RSR Hybrid
1979 Harley Lowrider -- Donated to a good home
1969 Ford Bronco Half-Cab 351W, Toploader, Dana 44 FE, Detroit Locker, Duffy’s Suspension – wish I still had it
1962 GMC 3/4T Fleetside, V6<-Chevy 409 w/factory headers, Camper/Tow Rig – ditto

[Abscate]

Tuna coming up on 7 years now?

Woof.
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.ssS!

[sanchius]

Yes, Luna turns seven next April.
This is her in her early days when she was no bigger than a boot.

I had a chance to look into the engine noise yesterday and it doesn't look good (repair discussion thread here).

To check the collapsed lifter theory, I ordered replacement lifters and collapsible lifter tubes for cylinders #1 and #2.
They arrived promptly and it was a simple matter to remove the old with a long magnet...

...and very satisfying to install the new.

The collapsible lifter tubes from Bus Depot are an impressive bit of kit.
The old #2 exhaust lifter was definitely expired, I could easily depress the core with my finger and the others were weak.

However, once everything was all back together with the new lifters, the hammering was still there and, if anything, seemed worse than before.
I'm going to try a couple more things, but I'm growing less optimistic that it's not something with the #2 con-rod, which will require a complete tear-down.

Ugh, it looks like I'm going to be back off the road for awhile...

All back together, but definitely not fixed.
Note the Husky hair on cyl #1, that stuff floats everywhere, though I don't suspect it has anything to do with this issue.

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[E1]

Thanks for cleaning up the glyph site. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

The tall plant by the "scorp figure" is corn. You see this on a lot of glyphs in Utah for one, but curiously, have yet to see it on any pictographs.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[sanchius]

I finally had time to dig into the hammering noise this weekend

I removed the new lifters, disassembled and primed them as per 10c and Christopher Schimke's excellent tutorial, and reinstalled them.
I've never had to do this before so this is new territory for me.
Since the lifters were already full of oil when I disassembled them, I wasn't surprised when the hammering sound was still there when I restarted the engine.

Well, maybe it was the something with the 1.25 ratio rockers I had recently installed.
I pulled the plugs and rotated the engine by hand, with my other hand touching the 4 rocker arms.
Nothing felt or sounded out of place as they went through their cycles.
I cranked the engine with the fuel pump relay also removed and no hammering sound.
I pulled the new rocker set, swapped the stock rockers back in and restarted the engine,
Nope, no change, it's still hammering.

OK, I'm out of ideas externally, maybe it's a broken/dropped valve seat.
Time to take things up a level and pull the head.
It turns out to be stunningly easy and about an hour later I extract the head expecting to see something visibly wrong.
But, nada, everything looks normal and well seated

So, the only thing I can think at this point is that it's a failed #2 rod bolt and my concluding that it was the valve train hammering was a red herring.

The Westy is well north of 144K miles and we were pulling a steep mountain grade at altitude at full throttle with 5 adults and a husky on board when this all started.

Or maybe I just shouldn't have painted the intakes red.

Either way, this has got to come out... again... ugh... More down time...

Since 95% of the threads here are about repairs, I had hoped this thread would mainly be about adventures on the road in the Westy.
However, maybe it's time to change the thread name to "Sanchius and Tuna wrench again..."

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[4Gears4Tires]

I wonder if it's possible to pull the oil drain plug and insert a boroscope to check out if there is anything damaged that is easily visible.

Can you rotate the crank and see if the #2 cylinder does not quite reach TDC?
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[Abscate]

Can y0u ease out #2 con rod with the engine in place and inspect?

Haven’t done a wasser boxer myself.
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[sanchius]

[sanchius]

I finally made some time to extract the engine to start the teardown to see if the WBX is rebuildable or if there's a Subi in my future.

rbambrick astutely noted that the lack of carbon buildup in the #2 head surface in the pic above indicates that the piston was kissing the head there, pointing to a stretched rod bolt. However, I would have expected to get a low oil pressure buzzer. Strange.

Dropping the WBX solo with a floor jack and the HF engine support bar was safe, uneventful, and took about 3 hours working slowly. All the anti-seize I applied everywhere the last time I had it out really payed off.

I was about to pull the trigger on a new engine stand when one showed up locally for $10 the day before I needed it. I always love a bargain. With no ceiling hardpoint or engine crane, it took some ingenuity to get the engine up on the stand solo. But I know better than to try to deadlift something like that.

I've never cracked a WBX case before, so this will be fun.

Fortunately the weather is very mild, which makes it easy to work on it without having to run garage heaters.

The WBX isn't the only thing in for repair.
Tunes picked up a bad sticker in her front leg on a recent outing that she couldn't stop licking.
So she's stuck in the dreaded cone of shame until the wound heals.

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