Due to arrive soon

[MiniDave]

I-70 to Salina, then straight south?

Good idea to wait till the cool(er) evening.....also storms will have moved east too, so should be clear sailing all the way home.

Glad you had a good vacay, you were due after what happened last time! 

[94touring]

I had some ptsd from last time, I kept waiting for catastrophic failure once we crossed into Colorado. 

Supposed to be in the 100s across the midwest peak of the day.  We did that once last year coming from Yellowstone and never again.

Yeah Salina and South

[94touring]

Couple pics.  We did two 10 mile hikes with 1500 feet of elevation change on the long hike days.  Then a couple short easy days.  Otherwise it was simply relaxing, drinking coffee or popping into one of the breweries for a drink or a winery for a tasting.

[94touring]

Just passed Denver.  The one mini that's in my shop, owner, lives in Denver. He just happened to be driving to the airport and passed me.  Gave each other a wave.  What are the odds!

[94touring]

Glad I drove through the night...

[MiniDave]

Are you home now?

[94touring]

Yeah I got home at 8am this morning.

[94touring]

In my never ending have to be tweaking things quest, I bought a fuel injection kit.  The goal being have perfect air fuel ratios, resulting in better power and better gas mileage on mountain trips.  Should be able to fine tune better mileage around town too. A guy that just starting making these kits had a deal too good to pass up.  Same guy put together the trigger wheel ignition kit I already bought, which comes on the Efi kit, so I got a rebate there as well.  Since I have the efi kit for the mini as well, I may end up talking with him about setting me up with an ecu for it as well. I can use the same software for both.  I think the coolest feature so far doing the research and studying on the software is he includes a built in wideband, which will allow it to auto tune the air fuel ratios I want in the mapping.  The barometric correction mapping will work for the mountains.

[94touring]

I was looking for a few hard to find parts from Brazil and was able to locate them.  Problem is you can't just buy parts from Brazil without some kind of special tax id number issued from the government.  What I did find was a company, or probably just some guy with a website, who you send your list of parts to, he sources them, charges a minimal fee, and ships them to you.  I have a small order of things as a test run to make sure I actually get parts and not ripped off.  On my bus to do list are these god forsaken front king pins.  These are the suspension parts that control steering the front spindle assembles are located on.  I bought a bushing kit last year but never got to them after the transaxle grenaded and I did all the additional engine and paint work.  The bushing kit requires that I fabricate special tooling, which I have diagrams and good instructions on how to do, and a specific reamer which I also have.  In my boredom however and having found a website that has a bunch of Brazilian parts, I found what looks like a better solution. 2 different solutions actually. One is very easy and involves paying for entire new assembles, spindle and all.  Which I really like the idea of because these spindles are unobtainable in the states for this specific bus variant but are available in the UK as they used the same parts there, but are spendy and would be my last resort.  Eventually I would imagine they'd become NLA from the UK.  The Brazilian assembles are very affordable with the exchange rates.  As a perk what I've discovered is they're also rebuilt differently. Instead of a long rod that goes through the various parts which rotates about a brass bushing, these newer versions use a ball bearing internal guts.  This would reduce wear significantly and from what little bit of information I can find makes steering easier.  So I do believe I'll be ordering a set soon.  The 2nd option, and one that's maybe more appealing are conversion kits that ditch the king/link pins all together, but incorporate a ball joint.  The kits do not cost much also.  I'm thinking what I may do is order both, and utilize my old spindles to try the ball joint style on.  There's nothing particularly difficult about taking the entire assembly off and swapping them out, so might be a fun experiment to compare. More importantly I'd have spares for when the day comes they wear out or something bad happens and they need replaced. One other cool find also associated with steering is the stock swing lever arm that I replaced shortly after buying the bus. It also is crude in design and is simply a big rod that turns about a brass bushing, so it wears out in time also, mine was very sloppy. Also a pita to replace and ream.  The kits in Brazil utilize ball bearings again, which in the description says less wear and less friction for easier steering.  Also very affordable and just slip right in. 2 different styles and I may try both. So I'm looking forward to trying those out as well.  Pics for illustration. 

First 3 are swing lever designs. Stock then the 2 aftermarket. 

Secondly are spindle styles.

[MiniDave]

Assuming the parts actually show up, it will be interesting to hear how it all works out. I never thought a bus had heavy steering since the motor and gearbox were all in the back, but I guess a camper could be different.

[94touring]

It is a bit of a beast to turn sharply from a stop, or say backing into or maneuverering close to the wall at my garage downtown.  I just attribute it to no power steering, large diameter tires, and all of these steering linkages. It's definitely not like the mini in terms of easy steering.

[94touring]

The EFI kit came in today.  These are just a few items in the box.  All sorts of fittings and fuel related items. 

[94touring]

Got the appraisal report back a moment ago. 25 pages worth.  Couple highlights.