Due to arrive soon

[MiniDave]

Whew! That's a load! Going to Estes first?

[94touring]

I have a planned stop there.  Will stay with Rob, a mini I did, one night in Denver too.

[94touring]

One thing BM recommended was make something to sound deaden generators. The one inside that wooden box is a low decibel unit, particularly if it's set on low output power.  I got a small amount of insulation, can lay the box on it's side, and have the exhaust end of the generator inside a bit with the insulation padding around 3 sides of it. There's gaps on the sides of the box so exhaust can vent out on the non insulation side. Gave it a test on the patio and it really does work well.  In fact the intake side is more noisy now. I can maybe use the plastic bins and build a fort around the intake side to block noise on that end.

[MiniDave]

I've read that putting it in a box is not the way to go, but to simply 'box' it in - in the case I read they simply stood plywood around it loosely. Really made a difference.....directing the noise upward I guess instead of outward?

[94touring]

All I did was position the exhaust end up to the opening of the box with the box open on it's side. Then used insulation to wall off the exhaust end so all noise gets absorbed into it. The slats on the box are in the upward position with it setup like that and where the exhaust would vent and whatever noise is leftover, plus it's not an air tight fit where it's placed into the opening. Intake end is in fresh air.

[94touring]

Back to the water methanol setup.  I'm definitely sticking with this as it works so well for head cooling.  The only issue is having to keep a supply in bulk, or rather go get the materials.  The 12 gallon cell last a rather long time at least. My final solution to this was sign up for a subscription service. This gives me a small discount but more importantly free shipping, so I'm not driving to 3 or 4 stores looking to score 12 gallons of washer fluid like some crazy person. Tractor supply has the best prices to begin with and after it's all said and done it comes out to $2.85 a gallon shipped to my shop every 2 months....17 gallons worth to satisfy the minimum purchase price of $50 for free shipping.
This is the -20 fluid at 30-33% methanol. Their 0 degree fluid has 23% methanol and would be a little cheaper at about $2.38 a gallon. 

[MiniDave]

How long does the subscription last? I can see you having to build shelves in the sheds when it starts piling up in winter!   

[94touring]

Until I end it.  I will inevitably end up with a hoarders amount and will need to keep it on the shelves in the carport. Even buying it at a 55 gallon drum at a time the cheapest I could find came out to $3.65 a gallon.

[94touring]

Great day for testing. Loaded up and ready to hit the road. 99f outside with a little headwinds. I have a metric ton of gear including 500lbs of fuel and water/meth.
Inside the bus is also loaded to the gills and toss in 100lbs of girlfriend. 70-73mph on flats saw 325-335 and most on any of the hills at the same speed was 355 on the heads.

[BruceK]

Looks like a great workout for the V dub.

Maybe it's not a great idea to refer to the methanol as "meth" in case someone overhears you! 

[MiniDave]

Yeah, a VW that runs on meth could have them lining up at your door once you get to BM!   

[94touring]

That's funny Bruce 

I've done a little over 2k miles so far. With a couple days in the Rockies. I've gone through 18 gallons of water "methanol"!  Have loaded up with the rest of the food supplies that hopefully last the 9 or 10 days. I did make a daily menu and as long as I follow that should be good and then some.  Also aside from a 3.375 gallon size box of coconut water and a few gatorades have 24 gallons of drinking water, also for the allotted 1/2 gallon showers each day.

Back to that meth stuff. Wow does this h20 injection work like a charm. The past 2 days have been me flooring it in 3rd to pull a few miles up a 6-9k foot mountain, followed by coasting, engine braking, and being mindful not to get brake fade on the 6-8% grades, and then 70mph across a 4-5k foot valley and another mountain. With the h20 spraying I can't get close to being dangerously hot on the heads no matter how hard I try.  I'm also averaging 19mpg which blows my mind considering I'm pulling about 1200-1500lbs of additional weight. Sleep a few hours tonight and then 3am drive 2 hours 17 minutes to burning man. They idea is bypass the midnight rush and the late morning rush before the heat sets in while I setup camp.

Couple pics. One is at 12k feet.

[94touring]

I've been back a few days decompressing from that trip.  There was a lot that happened. I do like an adventure and some mishaps that keep me thinking.  Well the mishaps included a leaky fuel hose which I fixed in Estes at the campground. I needed to remove the one webber to gain access so went ahead and did a jet change for the altitude. I was still a hair lean on the jetting for that altitude if I wasn't using the methanol solution.  Next up was the fan in the shroud started rubbing. I had to use a washer spacer on the mounting plate to shift it just enough. Then we eventually worked our way to burning man and sat in that line for 8 hours. At hour 6 the ignition coil died.  I began diagnosing why I wasn't able to fire up and went into the bag of parts to swap coils, except the Innocenti had that replacement coil from it's dead coil issue and I forgot to replace it in the parts bin.  Well, I ended up getting a tow strap pull into the event and as it turns out there's a vw bus camp there so I went and met those guys and snagged a coil.  Vroom was running again. In the meantime I had little to no service so couldn't order a properly ohm and voltage level coil for the return mission home.  Jims5543 was the man and was able to have one waiting for me in a town 2 hours south.  I really could tell a difference between the coils too!  Continued the drive and got a clogged h20 nozzle leaving Vegas. I had at one point mistakenly put a gallon of spring water in the tank instead of distilled and I suspect I picked up a deposit as a result. I used a sewing needle to prick the nozzle and was back in business. It was very evident the thing was clogged because I went from 330 degrees on a grade to 375 in about 30 seconds. Next day leaving Albuquerque I started hearing a grind and felt it through the clutch pedal. Suspected the throwout bearing. It turned into a squealing eventually when you'd shift.  Got to the shop and dropped off the trailer and gear and decided to drive it home.  4028 miles of driving on the trip and at the intersection where I live rounding the corner the clutch pedal went to the floor and never came back. I coasted a couple hundred feet down the street, turned into my condo parking lot, and rolled to a stop in a parking spot.  Just unbelievable!  The next day grabbed my truck and big trailer and hauled it back to the shop. Throwout bearing seized and pulled itself off the lever arm perch.

[MiniDave]

Do you still have the 60K coil on something?

What a great trip, can't take a vintage car on a trip like this without expecting something to happen! Glad you made it home safely.....

[94touring]

I have a new HV E-core 60k 1.5ohm I ordered that will replace the one that died in line. They're getting pricey. I also have a 3 ohm canister 60k volt coil that's safely in the spare parts bin for trips.  This 40k flame thrower will go in the back of the innocenti as a spare.

[94touring]

Couple things I'm adding.  4 channel cylinder head temp gauge to monitor each cylinder. Important with the h20 injection and even more Important on the "race" motor I'm building for it. I also have yet another fan shroud to test that just came on the market. I can really get results between shrouds now with the new CHT gauge.

[94touring]

Really liking the new cht gauge.

Got everything buttoned up and the bus back on the road. Not without issues of course. I decided to install a brand new starter while the engine was out. The starter is really tucked up back there and hard to get to. Not knowing how old the one on there is decided it would be good preventative maintenance. With everything in it fired right up. 1 time. Starter wouldn't engage after that.  Mother F'r. So I got to put the old one back on the difficult way. New starter bendix spun outward as it should but wouldn't return. I moved the gear and it went back so maybe I just fiddled with it on the bench and had it out of whack. Adjusted the drums after that long drive and heard some kind of clacking noise spinning the wheel.  After investigating saw the hand brake lever in the drum was beginning to pull from this large rivet that holds it all together. The other side had completely failed earlier this year (gotta love new parts) and I welded a stud and nut so it will never come apart. After doing the same thing to this side also saw the hand brake wasn't really engaging on that side. The one bracket arm rod thingy that moves from the lever pivot point had over 40+ years worn down and there was enough slop that the lever would hit the hub before engaging the brakes.  Needed about 1/8" filled in.  I took a washer, cut a sliver off, stuck it in the gap, and gave it a weld too. Voila hand brake works on that one again. A lot less hand brake travel now too. Go figure.