Sanchius in Hoosierland

[Ahwahnee]

Props to you for being part of a solution to one of the biggest (and most complex) problems in our society.

"Hi, how ya doin' today?" is so much better than "Why don't you get a job?" or (more commonly) looking past them as if they don't exist.

Having lived half my adult life in Indiana and half in Arizona I can well imagine the challenges facing the unhoused play out differently in Lafayette vs Tucson. I do some small things to try to help but know that I (and most) could do more.

[Abscate]

Thanks for reminding me to try harder. It warmed my heart as I realized my daughter gave a $10 bill to a guy at the In/Out who looked like he needed it
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[sanchius]

It was a dark and rainy-turning-to-snowy night up on the 6th floor of the campus parking garage after a long day at work.

I hit the starter on the van, it cranked strongly, but struggled to fire and didn't catch as usual.
I hit it again, there was a quiet backfire, then it would start for 2 seconds and then quit, which it never does.

I immediately thought to myself, "That's weird, it feels like a big vacuum leak... I wonder if that backfire popped off the intake boot."

I grabbed my flashlight, went back, opened the hatch & engine cover and, sure enough, the intake boot was separated from the AMM.

I grabbed a screwdriver, put the boot back in place, resecured the boot clamp, closed the covers, got back in, hit the starter, and it purred like a kitten.

As I drove away I thought to myself, "It's sure good to know how to debug stuff like this."
And then, "I sure wish I didn't need to know how to debug stuff like this."
And then "Fix the root problem. We're not at 4400 feet elevation anymore, it's time to dial that aggressive advance back a little."

_________________
The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - In Hoosierland (2023-now)
Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
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[sanchius]

We try to support our very active neighborhood historic group with the various community building events they sponsor throughout the year.

The van provided great service putting out and taking in the 100s of lumenaria that they light up along the boulevard each Christmas eve.

(Yeah, one of these days I'll get around to fixing that big dent in the back from when the motorcycle hit me last year.)

_________________
The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - In Hoosierland (2023-now)
Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going!

[jimf909]

Luminaria in Indiana? I never knew. Back in New Mexico luminaria were a big holiday tradition and the displays in Albuquerque and Santa Fe were remarkable. For the last few years we've used gallon milk jugs with the tops cut off as containers for the candles.

Happy New Year!
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- Jim

[dobryan]

Luminaria in Maryland too.
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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

[jimf909]

I need to get out more.
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- Jim

[sanchius]

Wow, 2.5 months since my last post. I need to get out more. I didn't realize how much spending so many years in Nevada's 87.8% public lands and Colorado's 43% public lands had spoiled me. In contrast, Indiana is 95.5% privately owned, making it impossible to freely explore the way we once did.

A different strategy was needed. We joined the local land conservancy so we could get afield on their lands without upsetting any land owners.

Mrs S convening the monthly meeting of the neighborhood historic committee at our house made it a perfect evening for the loaner husky and I to scoot out the back door and hit the road via the back alley driveway just the first board members were showing up at the front door.

With the morel mushroom sighting map marching steadily northward, we headed out along the Wabash river valley to scout some potential grow spots.

Our first stop, Granville Sand Barrens, didn't have much to recommend it, being a sliver of shattered, degraded river bottom land next to a row tree farm.

Further up or maybe down the river (morel hunters are required to be mysterious about possible locations), we came across some more promising terrain on the bluffs up above the river.

With the soil temperatures currently being well below the 50°-60°F morel mushroom growing window, I didn't expect to find any morels on this trip.

But it was a nice walk through the mixed hickory / walnut woods and a good scouting trip.

We got back to the van as the sun was starting to set...

...and motored home through the lengthening shadows, arriving back just in time to chat with the last few guests as they departed.

Perfect...

_________________
The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - In Hoosierland (2023-now)
Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going!

[dobryan]

Perfect!
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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

[Kdj]

Head south! Hoosier national forest are the best public lands near by. If you haven't been,
Turkey Creek and Shades state parks are pretty close to you. Chain O, lakes recreation area is north and east great if you have a canoe or Kayak. Get there before if really warns up and the locals overun them. You definitely are not out west anymore, but there are lots of beautiful places here in Hoosier Land. Love reading you prospective on outdoors here in the Midwest as a contrast to your writings of out west. Keep it up!

[Abscate]

One of the great dichotomies of my State is that Manhattan and the Adirondack are 3.5 hours drive apart.
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[jimf909]

The public land in the west is easily the one of the biggest differences and benefits compared to the Central and East time zones. It's a factor that has kept me here after living in IL and WI. There's so much to explore staying on public land.

As for morels, we've had a few small forest fires the last two years (1,200 and 500 acres) less than 10 miles away and they've provided outstanding growing conditions for morels. We'll be harvesting them in May and June.
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- Jim

[danfromsyr]

I'd be quite happier if they were further apart

at least the Catskills act as a buffer for much of lower NYS.
and the fact that most people in Manhattan think the Tappenzee is 'up north'

[sanchius]

The Vanagon Extended Cargo Bed special edition.

When you have 16' floppy baseboard trim for the upstairs renovation to transport a couple miles and the van has 9' of cargo length.

I could have removed the passenger seat and gotten another couple feet, but an extension ladder secured fore and aft was easy, worked great, and allowed Mrs S and the guest husky to come along.

_________________
The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - In Hoosierland (2023-now)
Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going!

[jimf909]

Neato. For carrying 12' boards I've just spun the passenger seat 90 degrees, but then the passenger would need to stay home. And that wouldn't work with 16 footers anyway.
_________________
- Jim

[dobryan]

Nice!

I have taken 20' 5/4 deck boards home by laying them onto the front seat turned 90 and then hanging out the back with a red flag. 30 of them at a time strapped together. You should have seen the bugged out eyes on the guys at the lumber yard. Made it home no issues.
_________________
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

[sanchius]

Our guest husky, whom we've named "Cupcake" for her super sweet demeanor, and I spent a couple hours Sunday morning running all over town picking up supplies for some house projects.

I've really enjoyed that the van has been extremely reliable since the rebuild, always starting and running fine, even after being parked for long periods.

A half block from home, I blipped the throttle to downshift for a turn and the van shut off and wouldn't restart.

I coasted to a safe parking spot on the side of the road to figure out what was going on.

It would crank over strongly, but wouldn't ignite. The sudden and complete shutdown felt electrical in nature.

I opened up the back, connected my inductive timing light, pointed it at the drivers seat, then went up and and cranked it to check for spark. Nothing...
PROTIP: Keeping the timing light trigger zip-tied in the "on" position makes this remote operation easy.
I've had mine this way for 15 years and every time I use it, I think to myself, "That sure was a good idea."

Since I keep spares of common ignition problem items onboard, let's try some quick blind swaps.

I grabbed one of the two spare ignition switches I keep under the seat and swapped it in (~10 seconds). No joy...

I swapped in the spare computer (~1 minute). Nope...

It was a warm day, so I swapped in a spare coil (~3 minutes). Still no fire...

I popped the distributor cap to check that the rotor was rotating and the problem was evident; a burnt up rotor.

I thought I had a spare full distributor onboard, but couldn't find it. Grrrrrrrr

We were very lucky that this happened so close to home. Cupcake and I walked back to the house, found a spare rotor in one of the parts boxes, and walked back to install it.

But, to my shock, the van still didn't start. ?????

I opened the distributor cap and saw that the rotor I had just installed was now burnt up too, exactly like the first rotor. Cr*p, I just destroyed my spare and didn't have a clue what just happened.

I looked closer and figured out it looked TOO much like the original burnt rotor and there was no smell of burnt plastic. Strange.

I fished the other rotor out of my pocket and it was pristine.

In my haste and confidence that I'd found the solution, I'd installed the wrong rotor. Once I put the right rotor in, it started right up.

I didn't remember seeing burnt rotors documented on TheSamba/Vanagons, but as usual, a few minutes with advanced search turned up something similar: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9571931#9571931
My rotor was not Bosch, but had the distinctive three circles molding marks like on the dead lower rotor in this picture from the link above:

Two new Bosch rotors & caps have been ordered and when I get some time, I'll see if there's too much vertical play in the distributor shaft.

Otherwise, it's been a quiet summer aside from taking the Navy up on their invitation to go for a boat ride and see some cool gear in action.
Based on my impact metrics from 6 years ago, the tail-hook trap in the COD arriving was 1/4 as bad as getting T-boned at 50mph.
The cat shot out was worse, feeling about 1/2 as intense.
5 stars, highly recommend.

Link to full launch video

_________________
The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - In Hoosierland (2023-now)
Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going!

[DanHoug]

really interesting rotor pictures! the rotor has a 5k ohm resistor that obviously is not as robust as a solid brass link. to that end and wanting the hottest spark possible, i bridged the carbon link in my rotor with some solder to make a zero ohm rotor instead of 5k. no noticeable driving difference but i FEEL better.

but again, cool. i've never seen a rotor burn up mid-stream.
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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com

[Kdj]

Awesome video! Love seeing our tax dollar's at work. Don't always agree how they work, but that's a subject to stay away from here. Thanks for shearing.

[Abscate]

+10000 samba points for “ loaner Husky”
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