Sanchius and Tuna ride again...

[sanchius]

I pulled the slider latch again and cleaned up the dodgy looking lower rear latch hook. It helped some, but I'm not done.
The slider door still popped open, though it was quite a bit further down the road than before. I'm getting closer.

I knocked off another project. Out with the old...

...and in with the new special delivery from T3Technique.
The HD endlink made a difference I could really feel improving the side-to-side stability.

On the off-road portion of the test drive we came across a herd of wild horses...

...which Tuna is always fascinated with.

Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch the big freight train and the bald eagles that we also came across.
The big lead sorrel was unusually friendly.

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The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
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[Abscate]

Hoof, said the Husky.....
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.ssS!

[iliketowalk]

Awesome thread, beautiful van...

Just curious -- the ticking lifter, did the oil change take care of it, or was it something else? Thanks!
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1986 Weekender "Birch"

[sanchius]

[Abscate]

If you had ten more Huskies you dont need the Jeep

woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof
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.ssS!

[sanchius]

I knocked off a few small projects off this weekend.

I got tired of unsuccessfully modifying the hooks on my original slider latch (right) to try to get it to stay latched and just installed the latch I pulled from the junk yard with the new GoWesty springs (left). This worked, no more spontaneous slider pop-opens. I don't know what the function of the tab on the left latch might be, if any. It also bothers me that I don't see why the original latch kept failing, but not so much that I want to mess with it anymore.

I didn't want to worry about carrying the spare inside the bus anymore, even if it is strapped down, so it was time to reinstall the spare & clamshell. After reading about joetiger's seized clamshell pivot, I liberally applied anti seize to the pivots. I have a modified clamshell to accommodate larger tires, but I still use a floor jack to get it up into place.

Then I gave the bus a quick bath and met Mrs S down at the Reno Microbrews and Buses gathering to catch up on the latest local happenings.

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The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
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[GenXer]

Journey is a great group but you have to be a member or super fan to paint your bus with their logo.

I hadn’t checked I to this thread in a while. Glad you guys are still riding along.

[sanchius]

We had some free time this afternoon.

So we drove until we ran out of road, then climbed off-road for a bit more and hung out with the wild horses for awhile.

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

Tunes and I joined the air-cooled crowd for the Carson City Kombi drive up to Virginia City this morning.

There were lots of pretty splits, many bugs & bajas, a couple Vanagons, but no bays...

It's always good to see Das Wiener Wagon out...

The patina+custom paint contingent was well represented

The back of the same...

With work to do at home, we split off early, but stopped to take a pic going down the Geiger Grade overlook with the Galena Creek cathedral arch bridge in the far background. Seconds later a pack of Reno Kombis came roaring by on their way up to meet the Carson City Crowd.

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The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
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[dobryan]

Glad to see Tuna getting some time behind the wheel. How is he doing? License soon?
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 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

[Jake de Villiers]

[sanchius]

[sanchius]

It's nice to be driving rather than wrenching these days.
Last week Das Wiener Wagon joined us at the Reno Bus Pilots gathering.

Earlier we had gone hiking and bridge hunting on some back roads near the Cal/Neva border that parallel the UP track to California.

This weekend, the kids are out and we went snowshoeing at a popular spot up in the Sierras.

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[sanchius]

Last fall I tried visiting the Moon Rocks formation just north of town, but found it overrun with hundreds of other fun-seekers on the warm, sunny, 3-day state holiday weekend. I fled, but vowed to visit it later on a cold and rainy day. With the (vaccinated) kids out visiting for spring break, and it being a cold and rainy day, it was time to head out into the BLM lands to revisit the Moon Rocks. The dirt road in to the site was miles of 30mph max washboard.

But the formation didn't disappoint. The area was deserted and we were free to drive around the sandy trails and explore the different rocks.

We did managed to stick the van hard at the bottom of this little hill when we got off-angle with insufficient articulation and one of the rear wheels lifted off the ground. We piled rocks under the high wheel and were able to successfully rock it out. I clearly need to install a LSD if I'm going to continue doing this.

The rocks were lots of fun to scramble up, even Tuna made it to the top of all the spires.

We pulled out just as the next band of snow was rolling in.

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[sanchius]

Something's not right. Time to go in and see what's going on.

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[Saturn]

[Schnippzle]

[sanchius]

Apologies, we've been in mourning, stunned by the unexpected loss of two close brilliant awesome friends within days of each other, and have had to put things on hold for a bit.

Yup, bad news, it looks like my first attempt at rebuilding a WBX was not a success.
Cracking the case showed #3 rod bearing to be toast and the #3 crank journal scored.

Pushing to get back on the road, I had taken some short-cuts I shouldn't have.
I had used the oil pump out of my old engine and fiddled with some of the tolerances getting it to clear the new 2252 camshaft bolts.
I also had forgotten to check the clearances of the reassembled rod bearings.
The end result is that this rebuild never had good hot oil pressure with the thinner break-in oil and this is the humbling outcome.

A new HD oil pump and replacement crank should be here this weekend. so I can start anew.

This time I will be taking it slower and being more systematic, doing more measuring, plasti-gauging, and test fitting, rather than assuming everything will all just work together well when reassembled.

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[coqcitywesty]

Well, it's not the African Queen, but this just popped up on BaT - thought you might find it interesting:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1942-autocar-m3a1-half-track/
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1991 Westfalia EJ251, 1972 Volvo 1800 ES

[sanchius]

Thanks for the BAT link, we're watching to see what it goes for.

Speaking of the Queen, we are planning to display and drive her at the Findlay Ohio Military Vehicle show, May 14-17, 2021.
At this point we have a prime mover lined up and a green light to check her out of the Air Force Museum for the weekend.
I'm planning to be there, so if you are in the NW Ohio area and find big heavy things painted green interesting, do stop by.

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