Superior, WI - Trip Review and Road Repair

[sped372]

We just got back yesterday from a five day stint up north. Beautiful country. Here's a small sampler.

Throttle linkage started acting up so I bummed a smear of grease from this place on the way up:

A few hours later we had made it to Pattison Falls State Park. There's a nice section of the flowage which creates a small "lake" and swimming area:

And, of course the Big and Little Manitou Falls. The larger of the two is the biggest in WI and the fourth largest east of the Rockies:

The hike to Little Manitou was pretty cool, along a fast moving section of the river with many rapids.

Water levels were near record highs due to all the rain we've been having. We planned ahead and picked up the famed Wal-Mart canopy and it was actually pretty nice getting to sit outside during the sprinkles.

We've gotten into summer but near the great lake spring still felt like it was getting started. Plenty of early wildflowers and two nights down to 42 degrees.

After a couple days of lounging we headed to Amnicon Falls. There were many, many smaller falls along a mile or so of river. It was pretty awesome getting to climb all over the place and check them all out up close and personal. I'd definitely recommend a visit to this park just for the experience.

This entire area is situated along a fault line that caused an upheaval leading to the falls.

On our reluctant journey home we experienced a hiccup. We were about four miles north of Mellen when the bus just flat out died. Clutch in, select neutral, look for a flat spot. Oil level - good, temperature - good, fuel pump - what the?

The pivot shaft for the pump was hanging precariously out of the body, only about 1/16" was still in the casting. I'd already had to fix a loose nipple on this pump and was pretty upset that something like this would happen with only about 8,000 miles on it. The shaft was completely smooth, didn't even have circlip grooves or anything. I'm not sure what was supposed to hold it in.

I pulled the pump and we began looking for possible solutions. We ended up scavenging two snaps from the front curtain and two hose clamps from the air cleaner pre-heat hose. The snaps made nice little 'cups' over each end of the pivot shaft and the clamps snugged things down to prevent them from moving. It looked like something out of Mad Max but we didn't have much choice. As I was fiddling with it the other nipple fell out so I JB-Quick welded it in as well. What the heck.

Well it worked. We drove another 290 miles home and didn't have any other issues. I'm adding an original fuel pump to my to buy list. These aftermarket parts have me depressed. This one was from NAPA and actually looked pretty decent to me, I liked how it closely resembled the original pump and the casting seems nice.

All in all it was a great long weekend. I'll probably change the oil and adjust the valves again since we're still in the early mileage on this engine.
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1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

[drober23]

That looks like it was a great trip! The scenery is beautiful.

I hope my trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan next week is as nice... hopefully without the fuel problems though.
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DJ

'75 Westfalia, '79 Deluxe, and some others...
(more busses than sense)

In a time of chimpanzees I was a monkey

[Klaussinator]

Wow, GORGEOUS!!!

Nice bus too, good job on makin what you've got work for you!

-Klauss
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I have taken a vow of poverty. To annoy me, send money!
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the Klaussinator - `73 hardtop Bay custom-built camper

[ned]

Nice Pics of the Park. What no waves? Even a Brazilian pump in the spare parts bin is a must on any trip.

[Desertbusman]

Beautiful. Looks like you have a special thing for waterfalls.
The pivot pin deal happens from time to time. Do a Samba search for the topic. Why do you get parts from NAPA? They are a generic place with parts for a million different vehicles like the other generic FLAPS are. Not specialized with ACVW's. Any good VW specific parts house has weeded thru what the good and bad brands are. BTW I've had excellent service with the sealed non-serviceable (probably Brazilian) pumps.
That was a wild temporary fix you did. Good going.
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71 Superbug
71 Westy

[BumbleBus]

...

[cool karmann collected]

That pump looks really nasty, what brand is it? As DBM said, if you pick up one of the sealed ones, you won't go far wrong. The inlet and outlet tubes are all one piece with the top housing, so no risk of popping out and hosing the engine in fuel. Nice fix roadside fix though.

Ant

[sped372]

[GeorgeL]

[bberg65]

Planning a summer trip in the next few months and want to bring along 2 maybe 3 bikes. Please let me know about your bike rack...brand, cost, modifications, etc. Thanks, Bill

[poptop tom]

[EZ Gruv]