"...with each broken shoelace / out of one hundred broken shoelaces, / one man, one woman, one / thing / enters a / madhouse." Charles Bukowski
Our three and-a-half year experiment in air-cooled VW-only ownership came to an end this week when we drove our generous neighbors' Eurovan to Helena to pick up our new-to-us car*, the yet-to-be officially named 2003 Subaru Baja pictured below.
Continuing problems (some my fault, some not my fault) with Gertie and Ludwig and the absence of time, a heated garage, and, yes, motivation were the primary reasons for making this move; I should emphasize quite clearly for the record that spousal intimidation had nothing to do with it.
This homely graph lays out our experience in depending on two early-1970s cars for transportation over the last 42 months.
I hope the more hardcore element of this blog's readership--the element, if there is one, who drive all and only ACVWs--forgives us this offense. For my part, to feel like somewhat less of a failure** I remind myself that trapeze without a net was an act thrust upon us to some extent and that, in the end, lessons have been learned. Older and wiser, I guess.
And don't worry, we're keeping G & L.
*or truck, or whatever you call this kind of hermaphrodite
**not fishing for pity, just stating the facts
The more or less interesting lives & times of our 1974 VW Campmobile, Ludwig and our 1971 VW Squareback, Gertrude
November 15, 2012
November 7, 2012
In Rainbows
We saw an inordinate number of rainbows on a drive (in Ludwig) to Helena recently.
1
2
3
4
5, 6
7
There were actually more than this, I just wasn't able to get photos of them all. It was kinda crazy and awesome seeing rainbows over and over.
See the "A" on the hill? We live over that way.
November 5, 2012
Boots
Does footwear count as tools? Sure, why not.
I have a pair of Danners that I wear most days but as anyone who's spent time them can tell you, boots're most comfortable when they're about to fall apart. Since my Matterhorns are like a pair of slippers at this point--that is to say, very very comfortable--they're my boot of choice when I'm working on the cars. Which wrecks them even more quickly, I'm sure. Which makes them more comfortable, which means I wear them more, and so on.
Labels:
tools
November 2, 2012
Incredulousness
During a recent trip to JCPenny for a new pair of sneaks, Tater Tot showed off her keen sense (and distaste) for marketing-via-contrived-sentimentality.
October 31, 2012
Happy Hallowe'en
Labels:
other rides
October 28, 2012
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.
Labels:
other rides
October 27, 2012
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.
October 24, 2012
Happy Birthday, Ludwig
October 22, 2012
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Labels:
Montana,
Repairs,
road trips
October 20, 2012
Missoulaneous VWs
Labels:
other rides
October 14, 2012
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.
...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
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.
...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
Labels:
parts
October 12, 2012
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.
Labels:
Repairs
October 7, 2012
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.
Labels:
Montana,
road trips
October 3, 2012
First Snow 2012
Labels:
first snow
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)