[T2] Trip Report: Well that was interesting...

[Tom Tarka]

Took the '71 up to Pulanski, PA - about a 70 mile trip one way - to pick 
up a Porsche drivetrain that came with the 914 project I recently picked up.

The mystery single-port, non-doghouse 1600 did pretty well for it's 
first trip on the interstate, running pretty strong and staying at 
around 210degF oil temp when I started hitting some of the long hills.  
I expect she's running a little rich right now, but H30/31 carbs are 
always a bit interesting to deal with.

Arrived, and after a struggle, got the pallet with the drivetrain into 
the bus.  I was happy to let the bus cool down a bit. Before leaving, I 
went to check/reset the timing and she was running a bit retarded (~10 
ATDC for a TDC goal).  The problem is that the SVDA I'm running wasn't 
meant for this motor (it's from a '71 fastback, IIRC) and it wasn't 
seating right, with the base of the dizzy bumping into the dizzy clamp 
nut.  Managed to get it close to TDC, but that only lasted for about a 
mile before she popped up and out of her groove (so the rotor didn't 
actually turn).

Fun.

Applied some hammering to get it seated, proper timing be ... well, if 
not damned, at least acknowledged but not achieved, and went on our 
way.  I figured to take state routes on the return trip to keep the temp 
down a bit (and wary of how the valves on the new heads might be 
settling in).  Unfortunately, the combination of the retarded timing and 
traffic lights/construction (with perhaps some carb tuning issues thrown 
into the mix) resulted in an occasional stall when stopping, but worse, 
a poor "hot start" condition, which made for some interesting and 
traffic blocking situations.

We continued though, and managed to not get hit or arrested for blocking 
traffic.

The bus was running well under load, and the temp was in a good place 
(with me all the while making a checklist of the things I have to do to 
get the stock dizzy set up upon my return to home), so I was feeling 
pretty good about things as we continued our delightfully slow drive 
through the towns and countryside of Western Pennsylvania on a gorgeous 
summer day.

About 10 miles from home I passed over a rough patch of road just prior 
to a red light, and, while mindful of such things as RPM, avoiding 
stalling, cars in front of me, and generally trying to do 5 things at 
once, the acrid smell of burning rubber hits my nose as smoke comes 
billowing out from the dash.

Ignition off, pull onto the sidewalk, race out and back to pull the 
ground-strap (thoughtfully left loose as the headlight relay had been 
replaced the evening previous and other bugs are still being worked 
out), and breathe as the bus appears to not be on fire. I'm quickly 
under the dash and see the melted mass of wire, but opt to leave it for 
a moment to cool down and...breathe.

45 minutes later, having convinced myself I could do no further damage 
by running the bus, and (hopefully) identifying a now-removed ignition 
switch as the culprit of the short, I hot wired the bus, put her in 
neutral and started her with a screwdriver. One stall and 10 miles later 
we were back in the driveway, safe and sound.

The adventure continues...

Cheers,
    Tom
    '71 hardtop camper
    '67 Freedom Camper