Projects from THE COMPOUND

[DRIVEN]

No kidding. He was over last night to work on his bus and we were comparing notes. Apparently he came over and didn't really see anything at first and was about to leave when my daughter told him she though she herd a noise in the ceiling. He decided to just stick his head up in there to take a quick look. That's when he really smelled the smoke and started looking around. He found the source of the smoke but didn't start digging the insulation out until he'd gotten some welding gloves and a couple buckets of water just in case it flared up. Once he got it uncovered he found the wood crackling like a campfire. That's the noise my daughter heard. He dumped the insulation into the water buckets and used a wet towel to douse the wood until he was satisfied that it was completely out. I was amazed at how burnt the wood was with so little damage to the paper backing of the sheet rock and the insulation. We figured it was smoldering up there for close to 2 hours.

 

[hurst1979olds]

Glad to hear the house is fine and it was nothing worse. You caught it just time. Fires is the thing I worry the most. I work an 1-1 1/2hours away and that always run in the back of mind. Were you able to pin point the problem yet?

 

[DRIVEN]

My dad has been puttering along with his '68 for the last couple months. Here's a couple update pics I took yesterday. Compare these to the photos a few pages back and you can really appreciate all the work he's done.
Repainted wheels with proper LT rated winter tires:

The restored/repainted top. I didn't open it because it was raining and I didn't want to get the new canvas wet.

The inside of the top. He also made some nice vinyl skirts that snap over the canvas when it's closed. You can see the wood interior panels that he stripped and refinished. Also in the lower left you can see the curtains he added. They're actually the originals from my brother's '72. They match the blue perfectly.

Color change and cleanup of the door panels and seats:

He found a correct Zbed rear seat that had been freshly recovered on CL. Since there was a gap on the passenger side from the missing cabinet, he built a small storage box and covered it in matching black vinyl. The table may or may not be changed. And lastly you can see the laminate floor and repainted wall panels. What's not visible is all the insulation and sound deadening he added.

The rear bumper has been straightened and primed. My brother is working on the front bumper today and when it's done, they'll both painted white. Once they're installed it'll be ready to sell.

 

[DRIVEN]

...And some Vanagon updates. Nothing dramatic. Just been doing some cleaning and taking care of little things.
Straightened the rear bumper and replaced the missing end.

Replaced the missing ashtray and cleaned up the dash. Also reattached the speedo cable and replaced the defective brake switches behind the dash. The main battery that it came with was weak so I bought a new one. Then I revived the old one and used it for the house battery that was missing. There's a battery box below/behind each front seat.

Cleaned up the kitchen unit and did some testing. The stove works great. The sink works on shore water but not house water. I think the pump is dead but it really doesn't matter since I don't have a key to remove the water tank filler cap anyway. The fridge works using the house battery or shore power. It gets cold enough to make ice in the back! Haven't tried it on propane yet.

Cleaned a couple stains on the cushions and washed the curtains. The smoker smell is 95% gone now.

The upper bunk needed no cleaning but in case you guys are curious, this is how it looks folded out.

I didn't take a picture of the ceiling when I got it but let me assure you it was gross. It was covered from front to back with black, green and white mold. The inside is finished with a fuzzy texture that kind of resembles velour -- referred to as flocking. Everyone on Samba (VW forum) recommended Tilex. It took a couple bottles but the results were well worth the effort. Apparently it's a common problem in wet climates or when storing the top when it isn't dry. Here's the after shot:

I've been driving it for the last week and have almost 200 miles on it. It runs and drives great! It's no powerhouse but it keeps up with traffic. I ran it through DEQ and it failed miserably. It has euro-spec exhaust on it with no cat so it's no surprise, really. I need to get it on the analyzer at the shop and maybe weld a cat in. Funny thing is, it passed the visual inspection. The "professional" at the testing station had no clue what he was looking at . I've still got another week on the temp permit to get it worked out. Once my title shows up it's up for sale.

 

[Ringers]

I need to buy your El Camino!

 

[DRIVEN]

The '66? Sorry, NFS. Belongs to my wife and has too much history. It's been in her family since new and has over 500,000 miles on it.

 

[DRIVEN]

So when I went to file my auction paperwork at the DMV to get a title for the Vanagon I found that it hadn't been registered in 5 years. That means a trip through DEQ. Air cooled VWs are not known for their low emissions and I've heard horror stories about how hard it can be to get one through. Add to that the fact that someone had replaced the US Federal exhaust with Euro-spec. That means I no longer have a cat or a place to put one. I ran it through just to get a baseline. The test is simple: they check to see that the cat is present and test your emissions at idle. The maximum HC allowed is 220ppm. I scored just under 4000 :shock: . Since most DEQ workers are not nearly as smart as they think they are, I passed the visual inspection for the cat. Maybe they thought the muffler or heat exchangers were it.
I took it down to the shop to use the 4-gas and was able to adjust the air flow meter and retard the timing enough to get it down to about 400ppm. Close but not quite there. I know what comes next seems stupid but I actually found the idea on a Porsche forum. Picked up a $70 universal cat, fabbed up a flange, removed the tailpipe from the muffler, welded on a cat and short turnout, done!

Ran back down to the testing station and tried again. I had my doubts that a cat would get hot enough to light off, being after the muffler, but had to give it a shot. I was rewarded with 0.00 CO and 64ppm HC readings. PASS! Now I can unbolt the cat (so it doesn't get stolen) and reset my timing. I'll get the tags tomorrow and the title should show up in the mail any day. The wallet gauge is running low so I really need to sell it.

 

[Ringers]

That's great your cat got hot enough way downstream! I can find another 66 Elco, so I'm not all sore!

 

[Oldsmoletick]

I'll have to remember that trick if NY ever adopts emmision testing for old vehicles.

 

[DRIVEN]

Don't even get me started on the DEQ scam. It has everything to do with revenue and nothing to do with the environment. Luckily, Oregon is just corrupt and backward enough that it's not that hard to pass, obviously. They just want their money.