Due to arrive soon

[BruceK]

What kind of drivers work for UPS?  How can they screw up like that? 

[94touring]

Looks good, well all except the crack.

It was one of those days I hated everything car related.  I really hope everything works out. The transaxle Stabilizer kit I bought doesn't fit exactly right either. Cause Brazilian cross over years are just a hodge podge.  Good thing I can fabricate.

[94touring]

What kind of drivers work for UPS?  How can they screw up like that?

The same kind that mess up my minisport order and try to change me $500 in warehouse fees.

[MiniDave]

I use DHL for MiniSport orders too, at least I only have one carrier to yell at if things go south - but so far they've only messed up one delivery and it was a minor thing.

[94touring]

I got it running.  I got no reverse.  Pulling it back out tomorrow.

[94touring]

Finally got this !%&!.?#.   Here's what we concluded.  Ups must have  done a real number on it cause the reverse shift gate was basically stuck.  In order to get to the shift gates the nose cone comes off, which means pulling it all out.  I decided to shift everything back about 6 inches, take the nose cone off, inspect the gates and see wtf is up.  Well, they were all set to neutral like they should be for the hockey stick to select and push-pull them.  I manually went through them with a little pry bar and reverse took a lot of force.  Finally got it to engage and a good chunk of metal shaving came out.  After working it in and out for awhile I decided to button everything up and see if the shifter would do it. Well it engaged it but wouldn't de select reverse.  So back to cycling the reverse gate till the son of a motherless goat worked with the shifter.  Then it was adding gear fluid again, ect ect ect.  Only took me 8 hours!  Backed it out of the shop under it's own power and went for a spin. The carbs are pig rich so good thing I got some various needles.  Gearing wise it's exactly what I wanted.  Cruises effortlessly at a much lower rpm.  Tomorrow I'll begin tuning and adding the bumper back on.  Oh it also runs very cool.  All my tin work must have paid off.

[94touring]

Wideband for the win today.  Was able to adjust the air correction jets and idle jets to get things near perfect. Main jet was fine, a tad rich, but the next one down was too lean. I can buy a set in between and try those.  I started off extremely rich so noticed big improvements in performance.  Cruises 75mph effortlessly up the rolling hills.  The back road by the shop with the steep grades is no longer a 2nd gear 25mph battle. 

[cstudep]

Dang, glad to hear you finally got it going. A guy ought to be able to charge these careless shipping companies for the time/parts/hassle that comes from situations like this. For the last 6 months or so the shape of packages from the likes of UPS and Fedex has been horrible. We have gotten some really rough looking packages lately. My wife got some cleaning supplies "reshipped" to her 4 times before it finally all showed up in one piece. One of the packages had actually been completely re-boxed by UPS at some point and it still looked like it was ran over a few times.

[MiniDave]

Yeah, the bride ordered some new shelves for the new fridge, box had been re-taped at least twice - Fed Ex - looked like they used it for soccer practice. good thing the parts were plastic and tough enough to be undamaged. They weren't packed well either.....

DHL still seems to do a pretty good job on parts I get from England.

time to take the bus on a short camping trip to check out all the systems

[94touring]

No joke.  I'd like to send them a bill for about 1000 bucks.  Been driving it all over today to make sure everything works and work out any gremlins, which there's been a few but nothing crazy. It drives so much stinking better with this new motor and taller gearing. My auxiliary tank is also pretty slick now that I've gotten to use it.  Drive till my main tank gets low and flip on the auxiliary tank and watch it fill the main back up.  Just a couple hundred more miles before I can change the oil and she's all broken in.

[94touring]

Did a little quick math on gas mileage on the first tank.  Considering I had it idling for lengthy periods of time fiddling with carbs and the reverse problem, as well as way rich jets, several WOT pulls and hill pulls, it still got the same mileage as the old engine.  Next tank I'll drive it normally and see where I stand.

[BruceK]

Dan, sounds like you are working your butt off, overcoming hurdles thrown at you, and making good progress.  Good on ya! 

[94touring]

Dan, sounds like you are working your butt off, overcoming hurdles thrown at you, and making good progress.  Good on ya!

I was almost defeated!  Got its first oil change and valve adjustment today.  Since the front wheel bearings were new I went ahead and reset the lash on the axle nuts now that it has some miles. All minimal adjustments required.  I did find a loose lower link pin where the sway bar pinches all together.  One last adjustment on the steering box and she's pretty steady now. 

[MiniDave]

Never give up, never surrender!   ;D

[94touring]

Well the tow bar frame is done.  Need to clean it up and throw some paint on it.  Took all day to fabricate, mainly cause there's several things to work around.  Hopefully it holds up!  I tried to make it as beefy as possible with several attachment points on the frame.  Just pulling a mini with it.  I know once it's on it's not coming off!

[BruceK]

Mucho attachment points and cross bracing.   4.gif

[94touring]

Mucho attachment points and cross bracing.   4.gif

Ha yes!   Those arms that go upward have a sleave they fit in which is what holds the bumper onto the frame. 

[MiniDave]

You're going to dress those welds, right?   ;D

A little paint and some grade 8 bolts and you're good to go.

Can't wait for the report on how it hauls the Mini up the hill behind the shop - think you'll be able to get into 3rd?

[94touring]

Ha, the ugly welds stay!  They're strong, I do know that.  Should know tomorrow how it does.  That one stretch I may need to take in 2nd because while it zooms up it in 3rd, it's a handful due to the curves.  Not sure I want to take it that fast pulling the mini. There's a couple other long steep grades that aren't setup like Watkins Glen that will be a better indicator.

[94touring]

Got it painted and on.  Went for a spin and it does pretty well.  Still does 70-75mph on a flat stretch or slight incline. Moderate hills slows down to 55mph and steep hills is a 2nd gear 35mph pull.  Stops about like my pickup when I'm pulling a trailer with a mini on it.

[cstudep]

Looks good pulling it too! One thing is for sure though, pulling the mini behind it makes that little VW look HUGE!   77.gif

[94touring]

Looks good pulling it too! One thing is for sure though, pulling the mini behind it makes that little VW look HUGE!   77.gif

Yes it does!  It does weigh a solid 2.5x my mini at least.  Curious if it feels unstable in windy conditions.  It was raining pretty hard yesterday during the test run and didn't try to crash me on any of the curves. The bus already feels iffy on twisties and it didn't feel any worse with the mini attached at least.  I can't imagine how poor my fuel mileage will be lol.  I've seen about a 3mpg improvement with the new motor and that's been running rich. New main jets came in yesterday so I'm hoping to squeeze out maybe another 2mpg and gain a little more pulling oomph.  On the to do list tomorrow is oil cooler lines to the cooler. 

[cstudep]

Since your flat towing the mini with all 4 wheels on the ground I wouldn't expect it to affect the handling of the bus much at all (aside from braking obviously). It's basically just following behind. If you were towing it on a dolly or trailer that would be a whole different deal.

Good thing you added that Aux tank, that is for sure. Hopefully your hit on mileage won't be any greater than the gains you were able to make so you at least break even.

Either way it sure looks good, and it will be nice once you get to a campsite to have something you can drive around in without having to "break camp". That's why everyone in an RV is flat towing a Jeep around.  4.gif

[94touring]

It was a lot of time and effort but the aux tank is a really nice addition even without towing.  Getting low on gas?  Aux switch!

[cstudep]

The dark blue stripe on the bus is nearly the same color as the mini (at least it appears to be in that picture) it's almost like you did it intentionally.