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MsTaboo
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2006
Posts: 4099
Location: East Kootenay, British Columbia
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 Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2023 11:29 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Took us on one of our regular trips down to Kalispell Montana for shopping.
We stay two nights so we can bring back $1600 in goods without tax.
Propex kept us nice and toasty.
On the way home we were stopped at the US / Canadian border by about 50-60 Bighorn sheep as they crossed the road.
Not a great pic, by the time I pulled over and found the camera they were starting to scatter as people stopped to take pictures. I have a bunch of nice close ups but those don't show the bus  .
This was one of three main groups. Customs is right behind us.
Oh well, here's one close up.
Fresh snow in mountains so they come down for the grass.
They are often here at this crossing but this was the largest group I've seen here.
Reminds me of the herds we used to see when I lived in Estes Park Colorado.
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Currently:
'90 Syncro Westy 3 knob w/Zetec
The information age has morphed into the age of disinformation and willful ignorance. Agnotology!
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sanchius 
Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1456
Location: IN
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16CVs
Samba Member
Joined: February 22, 2004
Posts: 4026
Location: Redwood City, California
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| Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2023 11:03 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread. |
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bobbyblack
Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015
Posts: 4353
Location: United States, Iowa
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| Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2023 12:47 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Been waiting to see it, finally !!!
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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campism
Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2007
Posts: 4494
Location: Richmond VA
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| Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2023 1:02 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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More trailer duty. A neighbor cuts down her cannas every fall and offers the crop to my bride for her compost heap so we hooked up and went to drag the stuff home to be cut up and tossed into the cage. They're like cornstalks and provide a nice bunch of green to be mixed with the brown of the shredded fall leaves, at least that's what the gardener tells me. I just move stuff.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic |
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CowardVenus15
Samba Member
Joined: August 03, 2023
Posts: 12
Location: Monterey, CA
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| Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2023 10:16 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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First trip! Took her to Yosemite. The mountains are a bit of a challenge for the air cooled motor but she made it.
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fishgo
Samba Member
Joined: June 21, 2018
Posts: 127
Location: Madison, WI
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| Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 1:48 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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| CowardVenus15 wrote: |
First trip! Took her to Yosemite. The mountains are a bit of a challenge for the air cooled motor but she made it.
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That van looks remarkably rust-free. What's the 4th hookup box behind the door for? |
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RedWingRider
Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2020
Posts: 7
Location: Tellico Plains, TN
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| Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2023 9:10 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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I brought it home last Saturday from Colorado Springs where Mountain Bus Werks had had it since April puttiing in a '98 Subaru Forester 2.5L four-banger in. I hadn't been able to find anyone who would work on the waterboxer.
For my first test drive yesterday I went from Dover up Arkansas 7 North to Ark16 and over to Ark27 and home again. It's about 90 miles. The bus pulls well up and goes down hills very well. Manual steering wasn't a problem even on the slowest switchbacks.
It's a little noisy and the motor is kinda busy because this engine's torque is well over the VW's. I'll be looking into doing something about that so I can get the mileage this engine should be able to get to.
The body seems tight, the stuff on the dash rattles as does the skylight as it loosens up. None of that is terribly objectional. I've ridden motorcycles most of my life so anything inside is pretty cushy. |
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campism
Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2007
Posts: 4494
Location: Richmond VA
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| Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2023 7:07 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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This time of year we're always on the lookout for pine tags that we can use to spread on the garden for the winter. Find a nice yard that has only pine trees in it and wait for bagging season. We have a couple of yards in the neighborhood that we monitor and this was the first to bag up.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic |
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Sodo
Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2007
Posts: 9630
Location: Western WA
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| Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2023 10:43 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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| RedWingRider wrote: |
| so I can get the mileage this engine should be able to get to. |
Do you have a Scanguage or UltraGuage to know what temp your engine is running at? If less than 190F the ECU will prescribe an over-rich mixture and use more fuel (like 14-15 mpg). There's some funny business with the coolant return to the thermostat that you have to research (a restriction). I have a Syncro Westy, and rocketbox ontop and I get 17.5mpg with my EJ25.
Here's a temporary EJ25 running temp adjuster that you can set to "195°F".
There are better ways to do this.  I'm not the guy to ask (yet) because I still have this clamp.
The engine is pushing a brick now, it's not gonna get passenger-car MPGs.
Also be sure to "up your gearbox maintenance". 2x the power suggests 4x the oil cleanliness. That gearbox is very expensive to rebuild (properly) for double the HP.
_________________
'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb |
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Sodo
Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2007
Posts: 9630
Location: Western WA
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| Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2023 10:44 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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| campism wrote: |
| pine tags that we can use to spread on the garden for the winter. |
That works well for a garden?
I always thought pine trees killed everything below (with their needles). Generally you don't see verdant growth under pine trees... (a desert).
_________________
'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb |
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campism
Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2007
Posts: 4494
Location: Richmond VA
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| Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2023 3:52 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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| Sodo wrote: |
| campism wrote: |
| pine tags that we can use to spread on the garden for the winter. |
That works well for a garden? |
My wife is the gardener and she uses pine tags and pine bark mulch interchangeably. All this stuff breaks down to enhance the soil. We also shred our copious oak leaves and compost them for use on the yard as well. I'm happy to haul stuff and keep her happy, and I let her worry about the specifics. What she does has worked for years; the yard seems to like it.
*edit*
Around here you generally find a carpet of needles and that's what kills the grass or other undergrowth. Kinda depends on which species of pine is needling.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic |
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bobbyblack
Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015
Posts: 4353
Location: United States, Iowa
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| Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2023 4:20 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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My kids mentioned yesterday that it would be really nice to go and look at some ancient sites that aren't all that far from home. We stopped to ponder a river crossing to go to an undeclared section of the Effigy Mounds National Monument, it is still privately owned, and we have not been able to contact the present owners for permission. There is a very large Bear mound that can be seen from a lidar scan. Also in the area are vast outcrops of limestone and sandstone. We climbed along several cliff tops, and followed wildlife trails (mostly deer by the look of the scats) and were able to visit a cave I had first visited 50 some years ago with my dad, and a few other times over the years between then and now. It was a very nice afternoon to spend with our little rascals'!
The only anomaly with the R1 bus was that about half way, I could no longer turn the headlights off. The switch is just stuck in the on position.
Here are a few pictures of the trip.
_________________
'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32647
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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elizer
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2016
Posts: 1471
Location: Northern Virginia
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| Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2023 1:59 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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| bobbyblack wrote: |
My kids mentioned yesterday that it would be really nice to go and look at some ancient sites that aren't all that far from home. We stopped to ponder a river crossing to go to an undeclared section of the Effigy Mounds National Monument, it is still privately owned, and we have not been able to contact the present owners for permission. There is a very large Bear mound that can be seen from a lidar scan. Also in the area are vast outcrops of limestone and sandstone. We climbed along several cliff tops, and followed wildlife trails (mostly deer by the look of the scats) and were able to visit a cave I had first visited 50 some years ago with my dad, and a few other times over the years between then and now. It was a very nice afternoon to spend with our little rascals'!
The only anomaly with the R1 bus was that about half way, I could no longer turn the headlights off. The switch is just stuck in the on position.
Here are a few pictures of the trip.
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I just came off a Unexplained marathon bender. William Shatner has me convinced those markings are done by aliens.
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91 syncro westy fas tdi |
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jlrftype7
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018
Posts: 3583
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 6:42 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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More furniture moving and unloading. More book runs to drop off Book Donations. Nothing exciting, but the slow progress to get relatives moved into our 1st floor continues... 
Luckily the weather here has been higher than normal for outside temps this time of year. So there's that.... 
So nice to have our rolling big box to do it all with. 
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto |
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bobbyblack
Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015
Posts: 4353
Location: United States, Iowa
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| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2024 6:41 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Several months of 'concerns' by my wife and kids (and a friend) seem to have indicated that we should be replacing our water heater. It has served its' sentence. So, even though it was -4F at the break of day, today seemed to be the day to go to a Big Box and get a little box containing a replacement water heater. the '87 only stumbled a couple times, mostly when I stomped on the gas pedal... Seems likely there is frozen condensation in the filter. It went away after I let it sit in the parking lot and idle back up to normal running temps. Glad to get step 1 done of the Daddy-Do-List today. Oh, and then I got a nap. All good here on the ranch.
_________________
'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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fxr
Samba Member
Joined: December 07, 2014
Posts: 2325
Location: Bay area CA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2024 8:00 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Got rid of one of those a few years ago - tankless is the way to go! No worries about corroded tanks flooding the garage or basement anymore. And no #%@$ insane pilot light.
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300 |
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bobbyblack
Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015
Posts: 4353
Location: United States, Iowa
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| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2024 8:58 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Ya, I wish it could be so here. Our water self filters through limestone/sand/limestone/sand layers that have a lot of Iron and Sulphur. I do have a gigantic filter that precipitates most of it, but I can't add salt to my faltering mix for "softened water" due to a number of medical complications here. Thus, an instant on heater would clog in just a dozen months. And then what... Anyway, I do WANT one of those
-bobby
_________________
'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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fxr
Samba Member
Joined: December 07, 2014
Posts: 2325
Location: Bay area CA
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| Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 2:38 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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| bobbyblack wrote: |
Ya, I wish it could be so here. Our water self filters through limestone/sand/limestone/sand layers that have a lot of Iron and Sulphur. I do have a gigantic filter that precipitates most of it, but I can't add salt to my faltering mix for "softened water" due to a number of medical complications here. Thus, an instant on heater would clog in just a dozen months. And then what... Anyway, I do WANT one of those
-bobby |
They're actually designed to make it easy to do a regular descale - at least ours is! Not that we've had to, our water is very neutral.
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300 |
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