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DanHoug Samba Member
Joined: December 05, 2016 Posts: 4717 Location: Bemidji, MN
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:38 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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"Kirby - Blow that half track."
"Blow it?!!!" _________________ -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 |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2021 8:49 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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sanchius wrote: |
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. |
Friends, this leaves far too much unsaid.
Please forgive me that the following lacks any useful Vanagon technical content, but as I view this group to be an extended family, I consider this too important not to post...
Mrs S and I are in shock and mourning from the recent unexpected and far-too-early loss of two brilliant awesome close friends of ours within days of each other.
As young colleagues together we scienced hard, wrestling with highly abstract concepts, exploring deep time and the far future, using the fastest supercomputers on the planet.
Together we traveled the globe, researching our highly inter-connected world, both in glittering mega-cities and in struggling, yet vibrant, developing countries.
Together we convened conferences, published papers, pushed boundaries, built communities, formed companies, launched massive ventures, won international awards.
All to make the world a better place.
As our careers progressed, we inevitably took different trajectories, doing different things, in far distant places, each living their own very full life.
But we would never fail to instantly reconnect whenever our paths crossed at some annual conference, review panel, or science meeting.
I was stunned to learn from the widow of the friend I so greatly admired for his deep wisdom, his shining brilliance, his warm compassion, that he considered me his BEST friend.
I was instantly gutted. I never knew. He never told me. Consumed with my own life and dynamic circle of wonderful family and friends, I was completely oblivious to this.
A Titan in his field, out of respect for the stratospheric intellectual level at which he existed, I had never risked crossing that emotional line one holds between just friends and BEST friends with him.
And now that he is gone, I am left feeling so deeply saddened by the opportunity I missed to connect with an amazing person at a much deeper level that would have enriched us both immeasurably.
All I can say is that if you have people in your life whom you respect, whom you love, whom consider your best friend, please reach out to them and be sure they know.
Take the risk to make the connection, to break the boundary, as all too soon there will come a time when this is no longer possible.
I know I will be doing so.
Onward!, as you so often exclaimed, my dear friend Peter... (Picture & memorial Kudoboard here) _________________ The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going! |
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Jake de Villiers Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2007 Posts: 5911 Location: Tsawwassen, BC
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2021 9:52 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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sanchius wrote: |
sanchius wrote: |
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. |
Friends, this leaves far too much unsaid.
Please forgive me that the following lacks any useful Vanagon technical content, but as I view this group to be an extended family, I consider this too important not to post...
Mrs S and I are in shock and mourning from the recent unexpected and far-too-early loss of two brilliant awesome close friends of ours within days of each other.
As young colleagues together we scienced hard, wrestling with highly abstract concepts, exploring deep time and the far future, using the fastest supercomputers on the planet.
Together we traveled the globe, researching our highly inter-connected world, both in glittering mega-cities and in struggling, yet vibrant, developing countries.
Together we convened conferences, published papers, pushed boundaries, built communities, formed companies, launched massive ventures, won international awards.
All to make the world a better place.
As our careers progressed, we inevitably took different trajectories, doing different things, in far distant places, each living their own very full life.
But we would never fail to instantly reconnect whenever our paths crossed at some annual conference, review panel, or science meeting.
I was stunned to learn from the widow of the friend I so greatly admired for his deep wisdom, his shining brilliance, his warm compassion, that he considered me his BEST friend.
I was instantly gutted. I never knew. He never told me. Consumed with my own life and dynamic circle of wonderful family and friends, I was completely oblivious to this.
A Titan in his field, out of respect for the stratospheric intellectual level at which he existed, I had never risked crossing that emotional line one holds between just friends and BEST friends with him.
And now that he is gone, I am left feeling so deeply saddened by the opportunity I missed to connect with an amazing person at a much deeper level that would have enriched us both immeasurably.
All I can say is that if you have people in your life whom you respect, whom you love, whom consider your best friend, please reach out to them and be sure they know.
Take the risk to make the connection, to break the boundary, as all too soon there will come a time when this is no longer possible.
I know I will be doing so.
Onward!, as you so often exclaimed, my dear friend Peter... (Picture & memorial Kudoboard here) |
Thanks for sharing that with us, Sanchius. It sounds as though Mr. Fox's early demise was a profound loss not only to you who knew him well, but to the rest of us whose lives his work impacted.]
As I've grown older and lost people important to me, I've become more aware of the startlingly short time we have to spend with those we love and have consequently tried to make sure that those people knew just how much I valued them.
The way you, Sanchius, conduct yourself on this forum is an example to us all: you share your knowledge and good fortune with us all, even when the slim thread of Vanagon that connects us is strained.
Thanks for hanging out here. _________________ '84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com |
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shadetreemech Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2005 Posts: 777 Location: Claremont, CA
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:06 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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We smile the smiles, we cry the tears, we learn the lessons.
People are the only game in town and you bet your life to play. With wisdom, gained or innate, you play with all your heart. That can hurt. It's all good.
I see your walk, Sanchius. You know what you know. People in general overcompensate for their insecurities. Don't see that with you.
Carry on, my Vanagon friend.
My condolences.
And, well said.
Dan _________________ '84 GL 1.9
'01 Volvo V70 T5
'88 Westy - "MZDRTHY" |
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22573 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:58 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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I was a bit astounded to find out that Peter had died. Our lives crossed as I work in the spectroscopic side of the same field and of course RPI is only 15 minutes from home base.
I lost another icon in my world last year, whose beginning were in a field in India in the 1930s ( “ we didn’t keep track of years , we were too busy trying to stay alive) and ended up as Director of the Spectroscopy Lab at MIT _________________ .ssS! |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22573 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 4:28 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Belated Woof from the East Coast Husky.... _________________ .ssS! |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:16 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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We've been busy doing everything but putting together the ready to reassemble Vanagon motor...
We're spending a lot of time in the high Sierras (when it's hot) and the pure silence of the deep desert (when it's not), hunting petroglyphs and knocking off more parts of the PCT.
Flew to Ohio, where The African Queen was the hit of the Findlay Armor Show...
Spent some time in Colorado with the kids catching the Pikes Peak Hill Climb...
...and down at the Mighty Roar Jaguar Racing Shop in Golden playing with old cars with old friends.
Then in San Francisco enjoying the Bay Area for The Fourth, visiting family, hiking in the redwoods, lunching on the water, and taking in the beaches.
Now back home, fire season is giving us some spectacular sunsets (this is Beckwourth complex fire just across the California border) and it's time to gather up the gumption to reassemble the engine and get the Westy back on the road before summer is gone completely.
_________________ The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going!
Last edited by sanchius on Sat Jul 10, 2021 4:11 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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jberger Samba Member
Joined: November 17, 2003 Posts: 2476
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Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 1:03 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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sanchius wrote: |
We've been busy doing everything but putting together the ready to reassemble Vanagon motor...
We're spending a lot of time in the high Sierras (when it's hot) and the pure silence of the deep desert (when it's not), hunting petroglyphs and knocking off more parts of the PCT.
Flew to Ohio, where The African Queen was the hit of the Findlay Armor Show...
Spent some time in Colorado with the kids catching the Pikes Peak Hill Climb...
...and down at the Mighty Roar Jaguar Racing Shop in Golden playing with old cars with old friends.
Then in the San Francisco enjoying the Bay Area for The Fourth, visiting family, hiking in the redwoods, lunching on the water, and taking in the beaches.
Now back home, fire season is giving us some spectacular sunsets (this is Beckworth complex fire just across the California border) and it's time to gather up the gumption to reassemble the engine and get the Westy back on the road before summer is gone completely.
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That's the BBI Porsche last in line (in your pic!)
J |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7404 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 2:05 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Thanks for posting an update here. I enjoy the photos, the news and the occasional carrots leading off to a Jaguar forum where I wouldn't typically go. It seems that a Jaguar convertible would be a very nice car to drive. _________________ - Jim
Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:09 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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I had pulled the engine late last spring, an oil delivery problem taking out #3 rod bearing. The damage was self-inflicted, the result of unsuccessfully attempting to match up a stock depth oil pump with a slightly longer aftermarket cam in the first build. It didn't go well and some painful mechanical tuition was paid.
My confidence and gumption were low and fun distractions high, so the teardown and rebuild advanced slowly over the early summer. By mid-July, it was time to pick up the rebuild pace lest the entire summer past us by. Plus, I was wearing out Mrs S's good will by displacing her car from the cool garage and out to the driveway under the hot desert sun for too long.
This time I used the correct, shallow, 30mm oil pump to match up with the aftermarket 2252 cam. 10c had cautioned that this needed to be done in one of his posts.
The only strange thing with this rebuild is that I had to add 2 extra flywheel shims to get the crank endplay set to spec. I couldn't find any documentation saying one shouldn't do this, but it was unsettling and left me wondering if I'd missed something internally. Next time I'll do a hard-stop to test set the endplay much earlier in the process rather than at the very end, when the case halves are glued together and the rods, pistons, cylinders, and heads are all fitted.
Once reassembled, the engine jumped back in suspiciously easily. Suspending the back of the transmission with the blue ratchet straps and lowering/angling it down, plus precisely lining up the ends of 4 long bolts inserted through the upper transmission and engine mount holes, helped considerably with the match up.
Since my WBX is a rare stock LWR special edition (LightWeight Rally without AC or PS :- ), I had hoped to use the single track crank pulley I had been kindly gifted, which only needs to be torqued to 60ft-lbs and would make it easy to access the 30mm crank bolt with a wrench for rotating the engine by hand when setting the valve clearances. Unfortunately the end of the single track pulley didn't match well with the crankshaft, so I was stuck using the overly deep stock 3-track pulley torqued to 258ft-lbs.
I also upgraded the intake color from normal Rustolium red to their brighter "Snap-On" Sunrise red, figuring that's worth a couple extra horsepower right there.
Now running again with the nice WBX sewing machine sound I like to hear, it was time to take it on some short shakedown runs and visit some of our favorite local haunts that we've been missing all summer.
First was to meet Mrs S for a Dirty Wookie ("It's a little Chewie") brown ale at the BC's Production Facility "Best beer in Reno" out on the west side of town.
Then we followed the Truckee River west up the canyon for a bit. It seemed to be train day in the canyon...
The hike along the tracks out to the remote train bridges was hot, time to cool off in the river for a bit...
Walking back, we heard a distant approaching train horn and hustled off the narrow section to catch another consist, well loaded and straining up the grade, coming by. He gave us a couple friendly toots of the horn as he slowly motored by.
Finally, we ended the day by getting off road for a bit to visit Tuna's wild horse buddies who are always hanging around at the east end of Clean Water Way.
Paraphrasing JoeTiger's sig quoting VWagabond, it's so good to be afield again...
_________________ The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going! |
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Schnippzle Samba Member
Joined: February 04, 2021 Posts: 288 Location: Swede in London, UK
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 12:01 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Always love & appreciate your updates. Good to see you both back on the road. |
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22573 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 1:28 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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That’s a very big cat. _________________ .ssS! |
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coqcitywesty Samba Member
Joined: February 20, 2018 Posts: 401 Location: Coquitlam, BC
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Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 10:47 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Good to see you back on the road - been missing the Husky and the Tahoe vistas. The wild horse shot is very cool - Tuna seems quite calm around them. Thx for posting. _________________ 1991 Westfalia EJ251, 1972 Volvo 1800 ES
Last edited by coqcitywesty on Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:41 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 5:44 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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While replacing the engine, I noted a radial splatter of fresh heavy black grease aligned with the inboard driver CV boot and knew I had an unpleasant CV boot change job waiting for me. I had ordered a set VW Tiguan CV boots based on this recent thread and left the box sitting next to the van for a couple weeks, but the new boots simply refused to jump in and install themselves. I had some free time over the weekend so I decided to bite the bullet and change out the two driver's side CV boots.
A favorite trick to make a bad job not so bad is to time it.
Somehow focusing on how long each step takes seems to make the task less arduous.
Mentally, I figured it should take about 1 hour: 20mins to extract the half-axle, 20mins to change the boots, 20mins to replace it.
LOL, I was way off; it took 3 hours: 50mins to extract, 1:10 to change out the boots, and 1hr to reinstall.
There was enough room that I didn't have to jack up the van, which allowed me to just roll it back and forth to get to all the CV bolts.
However, it was cramped enough to make torquing the bolts to 33ft-lbs a chore.
At least it was a big improvement on the 4 hours it took me to do my first one back in 2017.
With the half-axle rebooted and back in, it was time to road test the new engine some more and stretch it's legs by running it up to the top of Donner Pass on Interstate 80. The new engine pulled wonderfully up the I-80 grade, though I didn't push it hard and stayed with the semi's in the slow climb lane. We exited at Donner Lake to take the twistalicious Olde Hwy 40 route up to the top of the pass, but found the upper pass road closed for repairs and repaving. The new engine was so well behaved that I had no doubt it would have done just fine climbing the rest of the way to the top.
So we pulled over and enjoyed some really great ice cream to cool down in the heat of the early-August afternoon.
Then we parked just down the road, in the shade next to the lake. One of the other goals was to start getting our outdoors routine dialed back in, so we rolled out the carpet to keep Tunes out of the dirt, broke out our camp chairs, and relaxed for a couple hours; reading our books and taking in the clear mountain air over chips & salsa with a little bubbly to celebrate the successful journey, while watching the parade of happy kids going by, bouncing along on their inflatables being pulled behind speed boats.
The nice thing about being able to set one's own hours is that you can put time into the things you feel are important and give some of one's good fortune back to society. Towards this end, Mrs S and I volunteer with a local group dedicated to non-judgmentally relieving human misery. Each week we gather to assemble and distribute hundreds of hot lunches, bags of water, bread, & canned goods, and hygiene dignity pacs to our local homeless encampments, domestic-abuse centers, anti-human-trafficking shelters, and low-income families & elderly in Reno's lowest of the low skid-row hotels.
It is amazingly fulfilling, even for an old curmudgeon like me.
_________________ The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going! |
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22573 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 6:49 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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A small head battery operated impact is your friend in CV joints
Save your arms for the final torque. Crack them amd tension them with the power tool. _________________ .ssS! |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7404 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:26 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Oh my, if I saw this post previously I didn't comprehend it because I was only looking for pictures of Tuna, the half-track, an air show, a jag, volvos, bikes or something else that you post and catches my attention. Reading this today certainly caught my attention. Risk taking and exposing vulnerability is hard. Learning to engage is rewarding...but still hard. Thanks for sharing what you've learned.
Quote: |
A Titan in his field, out of respect for the stratospheric intellectual level at which he existed, I had never risked crossing that emotional line one holds between just friends and BEST friends with him.
And now that he is gone, I am left feeling so deeply saddened by the opportunity I missed to connect with an amazing person at a much deeper level that would have enriched us both immeasurably.
All I can say is that if you have people in your life whom you respect, whom you love, whom consider your best friend, please reach out to them and be sure they know.
Take the risk to make the connection, to break the boundary, as all too soon there will come a time when this is no longer possible. |
_________________ - Jim
Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 9:42 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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When you NEED to drop the van off for a professional alignment at a shop 9 miles away before the big camping trip to the Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca next week, but the Air Quality Index is 215 (Very Unhealthy) due to smoke and ash from the Dixie fire...
_________________ The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going! |
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22573 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 9:46 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Um, er, excuse me....woof?
_________________ .ssS! |
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dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16476 Location: Brookeville, MD
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