Happy Hallowe'en

Happy Hallowe'en. Here're two pumpkins.

Mexican Riviera

I saw this pretty Rivi last month in Missoula. Look at that fancy tire mount. I looked for imperfections in the paint job, but couldn't find any.

So many questions: What's that black thing on the back? Is that a solar panel on the roof? I stood around staring for quite awhile, hoping the owners would show up. They didn't.

Pretty nice, even if the chrome is painted white.

Happy Birthday, Gertrude

Forty-two years ago today Gertrude was manufactured in Wolfsburg "Western" Germany. She shares the same exact birthday as Taiwanese singer Tarcy Su and French soccer player/coach Alain Boghossian.

Happy Birthday, Ludwig

Thirty-nine years ago today Ludwig was manufactured in Hanover "Western" Germany. He shares the same exact birthday as singer/songwriter Laura Veirs, cyclist (and Butte Montana native) Levi Leipheimer. And EP (same day, different year).

The Right Carb and Pumpkin Day

Where did I leave off...I had to take off the right carburetor (again) to see why it wasn't doing what it should (again).

Disconnect the throttle linkage and wiring.

Undo the two nuts holding it to the intake manifold.

And it's out. I took the top off (again) to get at what I think was the problem.

That round black thing at lower right is the float. That copperish strip above center is a spring that holds the float in place, kind of. In this shot, I have the spring wrapped around the pin on the float. Why? Because when I took it apart initially, the whole thing sort of flew apart on me and I wasn't sure how to put it back together. I made a guess, and guessed wrong.

After taking apart the extra carb I got, it was apparent that the spring in fact sits atop the pin, not around it. Duh, in retrospect.

And so....

We got to go to Deer Lodge for Pumpkin Sunday at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. We parked by the big horse for ease of relocating Ludwig. It wasn't quite as cold as E's outfit suggests, but we were (are) all a little sick and bundled up accordingly.

Tater Tot might've been a little nervous about lollygagging on railroad tracks. She's a very cautious person.

She was not really into it this year at all. The only activity she agreed to was coloring; she even refused to choose a pumpkin (Melissa smuggled one out for her).

After a truncated Pumpkin Day, we headed to Butte to run some errands--at the Goodwill I got a pair of Dickies and a pair of Carhartts, Melissa got some jeans and fabric, and E got a jumper and a brand new rocketship sleeping bag. Melissa took this shot, which she thinks makes Ludwig look like a Vanagon, on the way back.

So I'm declaring my battle against Ludwig's right carburetor a tentative success.

miles 224,948-225,042 (click for map)

Missoulaneous VWs

Don't remember

Lower Rattlesnake

Good Food Store

The Continuing Saga of Ludwig's Right Carburetor

Like I said, everything seemed okay so I reinstalled the put-back-together carb on the engine and let it sit overnight. The next morning no gas was leaking anyplace so I put fresh oil in, ran it a little bit, and let it sit again. Next day, still no leaks.
Thinking this meant I could take him on an 160 mile round trip to Helena for work, I set off. Boy, did he run like crap. I pulled into the gas station on the edge of town and yanked the 1 and 2 spark plug wires off the distributor--no change in running. But pulling 3 and 4 made him stumble like crazy: therefore cylinders 1 and 2 weren't doing anything. After limping back home, I poked around to find out why. It turned out whereas before the carb was delivering too much gas (or, more accurately, delivering gas when it shouldn't've), now it wasn't sending any fuel at all.

I called up Brax in Divide and asked him for some parts; they came two days later.

...a used carb--to scavenger for a float, if I needed it--for $5, and a carb rebuild kit for whatever the contemporary Beetle carb was--because I just needed the float valve included in it and carb kits for buses are >$60 (this one was $18).

Next: Grady vs. Solex 34 PDSIT 3, Round Two

Why Is the World in Love Again?

It's like déjà vu all over again. A couple years ago we needed to take Gertie on a trip but I found a huge fuel leak underneath her hours before we were gonna leave. Two years later, nearly to the day, I was getting ready to take Ludwig on a trip and what do I find but a huge puddle of gas under him.

Where the Hell is all this gasoline coming from?

Tater Tot was concerned.

It was coming from the passenger-side carburetor, way up on it someplace. Off it comes.

Gingerly handling a gas-filled carb.

E took this one.

Look at all that gas (it's not supposed to be that way). It had filled everything from that carb down with gas, including the "top" of the head and the crankcase. If you ever have something like this happen to you, be sure you do an oil change before you try to drive or even start it. But don't put the oil in until the problem is licked or you'll just be changing it again.

Carb Basics 101. This is the carb (right) with its top (left) off. That brass nut (top center of the picture) with the poky thing poking out of it is the float valve. That round black thing with the brass flap attached to it is the float. When the carburetor is put together, the brass flap can contact the poky thing on the float valve. Gas comes into the carb via the float valve. When the float bowl (the chamber where the float lives) has a certain amount of gas in it the float floats, pushing the valve shut so no more gas comes in. Then when some gas is used up out of the float bowl, the float sinks and the valve can open again. Essentially, it works just like a toilet. The problem was, apparently this float valve got stuck open, resulting in a flood.

Everything seemed to be fine and it was thought that maybe a chunk of crap lodged itself in the float valve and stuck it open (I'm told it happens). So I put it back together with a new gasket. You have to love how much care these aftermarket companies put into making sure the holes on their gaskets line up with the holes in the carb, don't you? 

Next: Will it work? No, it won't.

Last Hurrah of Summer

One of Melissa's buddies from high school and his son came for a visit a few weekends ago, and so did one of our buddies from Missoula. We cruised around a little bit in Ludwig. Most of these photos are Andy (the h.s. buddy) or Melanie's, not ours.

Mel D, memorial, and Ludwig at Flint Creek Pass

Mitch, Mitch's gut, and Ludwig (false color)

These next two were taken within milliseconds of each other, from different angles.

Ludwig as he would've appeared in the 1880s.

The only time E really opened up with the boy E was in Ludwig.

First Snow 2012

Gertrude sitting under a fresh layer of soon-to-be-melted snow (Ludwig gets to be in the garage).