Getting ready for the long haul

[joemama]

I was up in Big Bear this last weekend, and checked out the show and shine part of the event. Saw your buggy there. Pretty impressive set up. I stuck around for a little while, in case I saw you come back to your buggy, I could say hi. Hope you had a great trip!

[clonebug]

[Luftwagen 2180]

I like looking at them because every buggy is an example of the Owners personal preference and intended use

Amen! I was at a car show a few years back and a guy had a really interesting wrap on the underside of his hood on a Vette. I asked him what the story of the wrap was and his reply was that "It's a Vette, you can't really do anything to it". Over the years since I've noticed customized Vette's and realized he was right. I guess a Bus fits with a Buggy, everyone is different, and cool in it's own way.

[joemama]

Big Bear was an awesome display of originality. Although my buggy didn't make it, it was really fun to see others interpretations. I never get tired of it.

[clonebug]

Winter has reared it's ugly head and the Buggy has been parked since late October. We've had a different weather pattern this year with a wet spring and a late summer with 80 degrees F. all the way through the middle of October....then bam!!!! We went to heavy rains and two weeks later a Cold North Eastern with freezing winds and light snow.
No acclimation whatsoever for this old body!!!!!!

I've installed an IAC valve for cold starts and have been working on programming that. My cold start this morning has worked out quite well.
I can hit the start button and it fires with no input of throttle and will idle at around 850 rpm from dead cold. It does not stall and keeps running. I need to increase the cold idle slightly but so far I'm happy with this last start sequence.

Here is a pic of the IAC valve I adapted to fit on my custom intake. There isn't a lot of room to put any accessories the way it is so everything is tight and a compromise to make it work.

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[oprn]

Interesting! I have been wondering how the aftermarket EFI systems handle a cold start as there is no accelerator pump to fall back on. Is yours a progressive system that gradually removes the extra fuel as the engine temperature rises or is to just a one step thing? I have suspected that everyone just over fuel on the lower end like they do with dual carbs and no chokes for the warm up but maybe that is not the case.

VW had this covered effectively way back in '68.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[clonebug]

[oprn]

I like it!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[clonebug]

I've been working on my cold start and I have it starting and idling through warm up with hands off.
It's too cold and wet to drive it so I've just been doing lots of tests to get it where I want.
You only get one cold start a day so it is a little time consuming to get it right. You also only want to make one small change at a time to log the results which will allow you to see the difference each change does.
On "Cold Start 016" I got it starting pretty nice now....good enough to pull the body for my Winter Upgrade 2022 to start.
I'll pull the body in the next couple weeks and figure out what I want to "upgrade" this winter......

I've worn out a set of tires both front and back and I also need to reupholster my seats.
PRP does not sell a replacement covering for their seat unless I send them back to their factory which is not going to happen. I'll find a local upholstery shop to make new ones.
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[oprn]

[clonebug]

I have the buggy running with 75 miles on it for the season. Tested it on Tuesday evening and took it to work Wednesday and Thursday and then the weather went to crap again.

IAC valve is working well. It starts without any throttle input to idle at 1300 rpm and then slowly tapers to 900 rpm based on time and temperature of the engine head.

Installed a Brake switch and wired it into my PMU16 so it activates as soon as I move the pedal the slightest amount. It flashes 4 times and then goes steady. All that is programmable in the PMU16.

Next is a new 0-150 psi Oil pressure switch.....It's also displayed on the ADU5 dash.

I also added another IAT sensor to monitor my cooling air temps coming off the heads. It can be logged through Tunerstudio and I also made a gauge on my ADU5 Digital dash so I can watch it real time if wanted.

I've reinstalled my stock heads due to guide issues with the DRD heads. Those heads have been nothing but a thorn in my side and I'm done with them.

And last but not least.....I found a formula from Andy Whittle that allows me to monitor, log and display altitude. I can log it on TS and I'll create a gauge on one of the 7 pages that my dash allows. It uses the 2nd baro sensor for real time barometer readings without having to cycle the key on and off to get a new reading. This is a great feature on an ECU if you travel long distances and climb lots of mountain passes like we do to go any distance from home.
It's not actual above sea level altitude but pressure altitude based on barometer readings.
Right now it displays 32 ft ASL when i actually live at about 108 Ft. ASL. I'll do a little more research to see if that is correct based on pressure or if I need to tweak the formula a bit to get it closer.
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[oprn]

Nice!

The switch on the gas peddle if for... arming the system? Or...
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[clonebug]

[oprn]

Ok, I thought it looked like it was attached to the gas peddle.
_________________
We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[clonebug]

[clonebug]

Built a new bracket to hold a second Deutcsh HD20 31 pin connector.
I'll run all my PMU wires through it to get rid of the multiple 6 and 8 pin connectors I'm using now.
It should clean up the wiring a little bit.

Buggy season is now upon us....it was almost 90 degrees out today!!! I'll be putting the miles on with this kind of weather.

I have 300 miles on so far in almost 2 weeks so it's averaging 150 miles a week although the first week was still wet and I didn't drive it every day. Now with the weather warm....or even hot.....it will get plenty of miles put on.
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[clonebug]

Got over 1000 miles on the buggy so far this season and it's running nice.
I did check my valves a week ago and two were slightly loose and two were slightly tight. Looks like everything is going good in the engine department.

Heading up to Canada tomorrow to meet up with about 20 other Buggies for a cruise to Cultus Lake and then have a barbeque and BS session.
Covid put a damper on going to Canada since winter of 2019 so it will be a first in over 3 years that we will cross the border.
Our Passports have expired but we do have Enhanced Driver's licenses so hopefully we don't get hassled going over the border.
Weather calls for low 70's so it should be fun.
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[oprn]

Pictures please!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[clonebug]

Pics as requested.....

A local cruise to Cultus Lake on the back roads with a nice lunch once we got there.

Meeting at Abottsford Airport.....

Stopped in Yarrow, B.C. for pics.....

Off to a house on the lake for a B.S. session......

Beautiful view of the lake....

Then a short drive to the Hosts house for some food and more conversation.....all in all a great day.
We had to head straight home due to weather moving in so we missed the Ice Cream stop.....
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[clonebug]

Since we aren't going to Big Bear this year.....the following will have to do.....

We had a 5 day weekend for Fourth of July so we had a pretty busy schedule of playing.

Went on a whale watching tour.
Went to our favorite brewery...
WEnt out to the Bay for sunshine and people watching....
And yesterday we decided to take a 360 mile round trip to Winthrop, Wa. for lunch....
Stopped at Diablo Lake......

Drove all the way to Winthrop to find out most all the restaurants were closed due to "supply issues".....
So we drove 360 miles to have a Polish Dog cooked in a microwave......oh well...it was a beautiful day, the buggy ran great and we got 29.46 mpg on the trip at 50-70 mph while climbing two passes as high as 5400 plus ft ASL.
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