A Short Trip to the Cabin.

The Plan.

The plan was to drive to the cabin on Thursday after Harvey got out of class. We had planned to spend Thursday night at the cabin but Matt and Mike had already made plans to spend T, F, S and S there. 

In the end Harvey and I decided to just go up for the day.

Getting Parts.

I figured that we would have time to fix the leaking spring pipes while we were up there so Wednesday morning I drove the jeep to Friedman Bro’s.
I had to get some 1/2” plastic drip pipe and some connectors. I ended up buying 50’ of pipe and half a dozen connectors.

An Abrupt sit Down.

I left the store and walked to the jeep.
As you may know, the jeep is jacked up quite a bit and is a stretch trying to climb in. I normally grab the door with my left hand and the door jam with my right. Then I swing my right leg up into the jeep. I then rest my right bum on the seat and pull myself up into the jeep.
Anyway, I was in the midst of climbing into the jeep, with my right foot in the jeep when my left knee decided that it was no longer going to hold me up. I didn’t quite fall but I sat abruptly on my butt.

I had a hard time getting to my feet as the muscles in my left leg were all stretched and very painful from trying to not let myself fall.
Eventually I managed to get to my feet using the rock guards and the door to hold onto.

I stood there for a while wondering how I was going to get into the jeep if my left leg won’t hold me up.
Eventually the pain subsided enough that I was just able to hitch my right bum onto the edge of the seat and with a little whimpering and some cussing and pulling, I managed to get all the way into the jeep.

Oh great! I want to go to the cabin tomorrow and climb up that steep hill to fix the leaking spring pipes and right now I don’t even know if I will be able to get out of the jeep when I get home.

I had no problem getting out of the jeep when I got home but to get out I just turn with my feet out the door and slide to the ground with both feet.

I still haven’t tried to get back into the jeep.

Lets Take the Van.

I decided that I still wanted to go to the cabin even if I couldn’t walk up the hill.
I still wanted to take the rug up there too.
The one unknown was could I push the clutch down in the van with my sore leg. I figured that I should be able to get into the van because I always use the front hub as a step and I step on it with my right foot.
I went out to the van and tried it. As I suspected it was no problem getting into the van. I tried the clutch a few times and it didn’t hurt to push it down.

Okay it’s settled then, if I can manage the carpet with help, we will put it in the van and take it up there and leave it in the dining hall to be installed in the cabin at a later date.

Thursday

Getting the van ready

Thursday morning, the leg was feeling pretty stiff but not as painful as the day before.
I figured that I was going to be okay to do what needed to be done today.

Tightening the Exhaust Bolts.

When I took the van to get the exhaust welded the guy said that the bolts holding the pipe to the manifold were loose.
I told him that I knew that and would he go ahead and tighten them.
The guy said it would be no problem. Well, I guess it was a problem because he didn’t tighten the bolts

On the way home from the muffler shop I could still hear exhaust leaks.
This morning I crawled under the van and tightened the exhaust pipe flange bolts. They were pretty loose.

Harvey got to our place around 10:30 and we loaded the rug into the van, with Patti’s help.
I had already loaded the tools, parts and pipe we would need for the springs.

So we Headed for Boonville.

Harvey and I got in the van and headed up 101. The van was running real good except for one small glitch.

If I was traveling at say 60mph. and wanted to pass, when I step on it the van would not accelerate. The engine would stutter and stumble and we would actually slow down.
I noticed though, that if I press down on the accelerator slowly, the van accelerates and will go as fast as 80 mph. I didn’t try to go any faster.

What I think the problem is, is that the timing is likely set too far advanced and when I step on the gass the vacuum advance moves the timing even farther in the advanced direction so it causes the engine to misfire. If I move the throttle very slowly the vacuum  advance doesn’t come into play and the engine accelerates.

I’ll have to check that out when I get home

We drove to Boonville and stopped at the Boonville Market to get a couple of sandwiches for our lunch.

From there we headed for the cabin. The road is still pretty bad so we had to go slow.

At the Cabin.

The first thing we did when we arrived at the cabin was to take the rug out of the van and put the it on a counter in the dining hall.

Once the rug was dealt with we went into the cabin to eat our sandwiches.

After lunch we drove up the hill to the trail head.

We took the pipe and connectors out of the van and and headed up the trail.

It was a little slow going for me because of the fall in the parking lot but I made it all the way to the leaky pipes.

I cut out the leaking section of the pipe…
 

Once we got all the leaks bypassed we had to carry the old chewed up pieces of pipe back to the van.

The Creek.

We took the old pipe to the cabin and took a little break.
After a while we decided to take a ride to the creek. The water isn’t as high as I thought it might be.

We drove down to check out the swimming hole.

This is the view looking up stream.
A nice sized redwood tree fell across the stream here. We will have to harvest it this summer.

This is looking down stream.

Part of the bank sluffed off into the swimming hole but the current, this winter, removed the big stump in that spot so I guess it was a good trade.

Can you find the toad?

After hanging around at the creek for a while we headed back up the hill. We stopped at the the cabin to return the keys to the grove, then headed for home.

Another Glitch.

Twice while we were driving around I noticed that the Check Engine light came on. It went out after a short time but I don’t know what that is all about. It never came on while we were on the freeway.

We got home around 6:00.

It was good to be up at the cabin with Harvey again; it has been a long time.

I was pretty sore from the exercise and from the fall on Wednesday so I’m going to lay low for a couple of days. 

Cleaning Up and Welding the Exhaust Pipe

Cleaning up.

The TBI job Is finished so now I have to clean up all the tools and stuff that I used for the job. That took most of the morning.

Around 2:00 Bob stopped by to check out the TBI job and pronounced it good. We visited for a couple of hours.

Welding the Exhaust Pipe.

Around 9:30 yesterday, I took the van to Jonnie Franklins muffler shop and got them to check out my muffler to make sure it was in good shape. The muffler was good so I had them weld the short piece of exhaust pipe that I had clamped in place.

It took about 20 minutes to do the welding and cost me $25.00.
Not bad.

Cards and supper.

Around 4:30 we went up to Windsor to visit with Joanne and Dave. We went to supper at a place called KC’s. It’s a little pricy but pretty good food.

After supper we went back to J&D’s and played cards until
around 9:30, then went home.

What’s next?

Now that that project is done I am going to goof off for a couple of days before I start removing the springs so they can be shortened.

I need to take a large rug to the cabin and will need to use the van to do so. I’m not sure when I will do that.
The cabin will be in use this weekend but I may go up there tomorrow for the day. I can take the rug up there then and leave it in the dining hall until I can get back there to install the rug in the cabin. The rug is 10’ 6” X 13’ and should cover the floor like wall to wall carpeting.
Then I can start on the springs next weekend.

Okay, That’s it for now.

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The TBI Installation is Complete.

Installing the Air Cleaner.

At first the air cleaner looked like it was going to give me a lot of trouble.
Here are the air cleaner parts that I got from Bob.
The big canister houses the actual air cleaner. The other aluminum thing is the plenum which connects on top of the TBI. There is also a bracket that Bob used on his setup and some flex tubing. 

After scrutinizing the parts, I decided that all I really needed to do was to modify Bob’s bracket a little and the air cleaner should fit right in.

Here is the bracket bolted on. After several modifications I finally got it right.

The canister is strapped to this bracket with some very large hose clamps.

Here it is installed and running

this is the old system for comparison.

Thanks Bob.

I want to thank Bob for all the support and the spare parts. This would have been a lot more expensive and a lot harder to do with out Bob’s parts and help.

Now, I just have to take the van to the muffler shop to get the exhaust pipe welded.

More Work on the TBI

 

Temperature Sensors.

I started the day by swapping the two temperature sensors.
I had installed the sensor for the ECM (Electronic Control Module) in the thermostat housing but it looked like it was going to be to tall and maybe be crushed by the engine cover.

The temperature gauge sensor was originally in the side of the head.  I removed it when I replaced the manifold.
You can see the brass reducer in the side of the head.

I removed the reducer from the head and the sensor from the thermostat housing and installed them in the others hole.

There is a lot more room for the temperature sensor in the thermostat housing.

Routing Computer Wires.

I had to close up the hole I made in the engine compartment for the computer cable and plugs.  The hole had to be over 2” in diameter to clear the plugs.

You can see the hole with the cable coming through it here.

Once the cables were all through the hole it had to be closed up to keep out critters and keep the cable away from sharp metal edges.
What I did was to cut a couple pieces of plastic scrap.  Once I had a 5” by 5” piece of plastic, then I had to make a hole in the center for the cable to come through. Next, I cut the plastic in half. I mounted one half below the hole and the other half above the hole. You can see the finished product below.

Above; you can see the test plug and the fuse block mounted to the right of the hole cover. I have decided to just use some Velcro to mount the ECM to the side of the wheel well where you see it in the picture. It will be under the seat but still accessible.

Wires and Tubing.

Next I had to dress up the wiring and fuel hoses in the engine compartment . The most important thing was to keep the wires and hoses away from the exhaust manifold.

Here is how it turned out.

  There is still a little more work to do on the wiring but it will have to wait until I have the air cleaner sorted out.

Okay, that’s all for now.

It’s Alive!!!!

A call From Harvey

Around 8:00 yesterday morning Harvey called. He wanted to come by and change the oil in his car.
I told him that that wouldn’t be a problem as he was going to do all the work.

After the Blog.

After I finished the blog I went out to the shop to start working on the TBI project.
Today I wanted to get the engine started.
I needed to connect the exhaust system and install the o2 sensor.

Harvey Shows.

Just as I was getting started Harvey showed up.
I spent some time showing him what to do . Then I sent him off to the auto parts store to buy oil and an oil filter.

Back to Work.

I went back to work on the exhaust. I was going to install some of the exhaust parts that I got from Bob, but when I started working on the system I found that I had to do a lot of modifications to do that. I decided to used the 3 bolt exhaust pipe with the o2 sensor socket already installed and connect it to my existing exhaust system with a short piece of pipe and some special clamps.

I’ll take the van to the muffler shop to get the pipes welded up.

Harvey Returns.

Before I could get that done Harvey came back. I helped him jack up his car and showed him what to do to change the oil and filter and left him to it.
When he was done with the oil change it was time for lunch time;
Patti, Harvey and I went to Carl’s Jr for lunch. When we came back Harvey hung around for a while and visited with us. It was nice spending time with him.

IT’s ALIVE!!!!!

After Harvey left I went back to work and got the exhaust system hooked up. I installed the o2 sensor, checked to be sure there were no wires or hoses in the way and tried to start it up.
The engine turned over a couple of times and fired up.  I didn’t let it run more that a few seconds because I still had to install the temperature sensor and fill the cooling system with coolant but it did start and ran pretty smooth with no check engine lights coming on once it started. 

That was all I did on the van today.

More Progress on the TBI Project.

Pinched Line.

I noticed that the PVC line where it connects to the TBI has to make a real sharp turn. The hose looks like it is pinching at the turn.  To fix this I decided to insert a spring into the hose where it makes the bend. The spring will keep the hose from collapsing.
First I had to find a spring that was the right diameter so it just fits into the line and won’t migrate. I found a piece of spring in my junk that looks like it will work. All I have to do is shorten the spring by about half.

After inserting the spring I attached the hose to the TBI.

The hose on the left side is the PCV line.

Mounting the Fuel Pump Solenoid.

Next. I decided to mount the fuel pump solenoid and two large fuse holders.

There are a couple of bolts that are securing a shelf that holds up one side of the cook stove for the Van. The bolts stick into the engine compartment over an inch.

I decided that this would be a good place to mount the solenoid and fuses. 
All I had to do was find a piece of metal the right size to mount to the two bolts and I can mount the solenoid and stuff to that.

I looked through all my metal stock in the shop. Nothing!
I looked through all the steel that I have on the side of the house. Nothing!
I was about to give up and go buy a piece of steel when I noticed a stack of wine barrel hoops that I have in the back yard. I looked the hoops over and decided that a piece of hoop would work just fine for the mount.

I selected a hoop and took it into the shop where I cut off a piece long enough to span the distance between the bolts.

I drilled holes at each end of the piece of metal and two smaller holes and tapped them for the fuse mount.

Once the fuses were mounted I affixed the metal to the side of the engine compartment with the solenoid bolted to one of the mounting bolts.

The check engine light.

I had to find a light to use for the check engine light.
The one I had was burned out so I went through some of my stuff but couldn’t find anything that would work.
I went to three auto parts and one hardware store.  I had to drive from one side of town to the other so it took an hour or more.  The third auto parts store that I went to had a light that would work. It is red unfortunately, and fits a little loosely but it will work. I’ll keep an eye out for a better one at a later date.

I installed the light and spent some time figuring out how to mount the computer and another fuse block.
Around 4:20 I decided that it was time to quit for the day.

Today I will try to get the exhaust connected and maybe even try starting the engine.

Bob Helps With the TBI.

 

Finishing the Throttle Linkage.

After breakfast I went out to the shop and started the last part of building the throttle linkage.

I had to drill a small hole near the end of the bent part of the rod  so I could insert a cotter pin in the hole to secure it in place.
Also, when I was welding on one of the levers I kind of blew it up. I was afraid that it might break in the middle of nowhere so I decided to fix it. Basically I made a new lever and brazed it alongside the old one.
I got that done and installed it on the TBI

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures this morning.

Bob Showed Up.

After noon Bob showed up. He came over to supervise and clear up some questions I had about the installation.
With his advice I finished hooking up all the electrical connections and the fuel lines.
We finished around 6:00 and decided that that was enough for today.

Bob Took some pictures you can see at… 

http://www.bobseyes.net/

What’s Next ?

Now I just have to tidy up the wiring, get the exhaust system welded up, install the O2 sensor, swap the position of the temp sensor, refill the radiator and probably a dozen other things that I can’t think of right now, I think this job will be done.
As long as it runs when I try to start it, that is.

More Work on the TBI.

Throttle Linkage.

I’m still working on the linkage for the TBI.
I had to lengthen this piece of linkage so the throttle would have full travel. To do so I had to cut the end off the link so I could still use the connector on the end.

Then weld another longer piece to it.

I installed this part and tested the operation of the linkage.

It turned out that I had the linkage connected to the wrong lever and it was moving in the opposite direction from what it should.

I moved the linkage to the lower lever but it turned out that that lever was too short to move the throttle all the way to full.

By this time I was too tired to make any good decisions so I quit for the day.

Overnight.

During the night, I realized that I could shorten the connection to the TBI throttle by drilling a hole in the lever closer to the pivot point. That should allow the proper amount of movement necessary to move the throttle to full.

You can see the original hole at the end of the triangle and where the link goes through the new hole.

Helping Loraine.

Around noon, we went to our friend, Loraine, to help her remove the cover on her pool and pick up some stuff that she wants to get rid of.

We met Joanne and Dave there with their pickup. We needed the pickup so we could hall a couple large rugs in the back.

After removing the pool cover we went to lunch at Ozzie’s Grill. Good hamburgers!

We went back to Loraine’s after lunch and loaded the rug’s and a couple of other things in Dave’s pickup and brought them back to our place. We unloaded the rug’s and sat around for a while then decided to play some cards. Joanne and Dave left around 7:30.

Okay, that takes care of the last couple of days. I’ll be continuing to work on the TBI installation today.
Bob is coming by this afternoon to answer some questions that I have and maybe lend a hand.

More Work on the TBI.

 

Wiring the TBI.

I got a lot of the wiring on the TBI and got the fuel return line connected to the tank and run along the frame toward the engine. I also made a bracket to mount the MAP sensor on.

 

Throttle linkage.

I had originally thought that I would have to bend the triangle part that is attached to the accelerator to get the linkage to hook up but it turned out that I could accomplish the same thing by straightening the short connecting rod.

you can see the rod and the triangle piece here.

I had to take all the kinks out of the rod.

Once I got the rod straightened out I hooked it up and found that the lever that the rod is connected to hits the bottom of the manifold. The throttle only opens up half way.

Okay, I’ll have to do something with that.

Maybe if I extend the lever it will move the throttle all the way.
I did that, adding about 1.5 inches to the length of the lever and it moves the throttle all the way now.
Unfortunately now, a different lever is hitting the back of the engine compartment restricting the movement of the throttle.
I think if I shorten the connecting rod between these two levers it should work.
By the time I was at this point it was almost 7:00pm and I stopped there.

Today.

Okay that is where I will start today. I plan to also connect the fuel lines and the rest of the wiring. 

TBI Project Continues.

Fuel Return.

The first thing to do today is install the fuel return line. That went pretty well.

Large Hole.

Next I had to make a large hole in the side of the engine compartment; I used a 2” knock out punch to make the hole. The hole had to be big enough to get three large plugs through.

I’ll have to figure some way to seal the hole off.

Coolant Connection.

Next I had to swap the upper radiator hose connection for one that had a threaded hole in it for a coolant temperature sensor.

Installing the TBI.

Next it was time to install the TBI unit. It took me a while to figure out which way the TBI went on.. At first I had it 90° off and couldn’t see why it wouldn’t line up with the mounting holes. Eventually I figured it out and got the TBI in place.

 

Throttle Linkage.

I tried hooking the throttle linkage up but I will have to bend that triangle piece so that the linkage will line up vertically. It looks like the old throttle linkage will work.

It was getting late and I was tired so I decided to quit for the day and start at that point tomorrow.

TBI System the Fuel Pump.

 

The Fuel Pump.

The plan for yesterday was to install the high pressure electric fuel pump and the fuel return line. 

Fuel Return.

The TBI uses a circulating fuel system. The fuel is pumped from the tank to the TBI under high pressure.
The fuel that isn’t used in running the engine returns to the tank through the fuel return line.
The van doesn’t have a return line but fortunately the tank does have a fitting for a fuel return line.
To get to the fitting the fuel tank has to be dropped. Ideally the tank should be empty when you do this.
Of course this tank holds 38 gallons and is about half full.

The big black thing is the tank.

Removing the tank isn’t real hard. There are  four “J” bolts holding it up.
With the floor jack it is easy to remove the nuts and lower the tank.

The tough part is dealing with the filler connection.

Getting the filler pipe and vent disconnected is tough but getting them back on is a real pain in the neck and took forever.

Once the tank was down it took a few minutes to install the rubber line to the fitting on top of the tank. Once that was done the tank was lifted into place and the “J” bolts tightened.
The next hour or more was spent getting the filler pipe connected.

The Fuel Pump and Filter.

The next thing to do was to figure out where to put the pump. I looked at my options and decided that Bob had his in the best place so I installed the fuel pump in the same place he did; against the frame above the rear axel with the filter mounted vertically against the tank.

Return Line.

By the time I had the fuel pump installed it was around 4:30 and I was done for the day. I’ll do the return line and the wiring for the pump on Saturday.

A Couple of Days Goofing Off and the TBI Kit Arrives

 

Goofing Off.

Wednesday and Thursday were kind of slow. I have been just checking out and organizing what I would do when the TBI kit gets here.
I bought some steel tubing for the fuel return line and some ‘hard to get’ clips and rod connectors for the throttle linkage.

On Wednesday I went with Patti to the eye doctors so she could get some measurements done and a good inspection of her eyes before she has cataract surgery on June 1st.

The TBI Kit Arrives

Thursday, in the late afternoon the TBI kit arrived. I unpacked the box and found a lot of parts and one amazing wiring harness.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to convince the guy I ordered the kit from that I needed a cable connection on the throttle body. I will have to fix that.

Today, I will start with the installation of the electric fuel pump and fuel lines.

A quick ride to the Cabin.

It was supposed to rain off and on Tuesday so I decided to take a ride to the cabin, just for the day, to check things out.
It is the first chance that I have had to get up there since we got back from AZ and I was chomping at the bit.

On the Road

I was on the road by 9:30
It was a nice green ride on 128, with some rainy spots.

Once I got to Boonville I stopped at the store to get a sandwich for lunch. They make good deli sandwiches at the Boonville Market.

Once I had lunch taken care of I continued toward the cabin.

Peachland Road.

Peachland Road is open but in poor shape; lots of pot holes, small slides, and deep puddles.
The worst spot is this slide. The road here is pretty narrow but wide enough for this truck to get through.

There is another spot where the road has slumped about a foot or more, for a distance of twenty-five or thirty feet.

Cold at the Cabin

Eventually I got to the cabin.
It was raining lightly and it was very cold. The first thing I did was to get a fire going in the wood stove.

While the cabin was warming up I took a little walk around the compound.

I noticed that Dave had done a good job repairing the roof on the wash house.

There is plenty of water coming out of the overflow for the cabin spring.

I went back in the cabin to warm up and sat in front of the stove enjoying the heat for a while. Eventually I decided to eat the sandwich I bought at the Market. I brought a couple of envelopes of cocoa with me so I heated some water for a cup of hot cocoa to go with the sandwich.

After lunch I drove the jeep up the hill to check out the springs.

Everything looked good at the barrels and there was a good amount of water coming out of the overflow.

The crossing is holding up nicely.

I drove up to the trailhead and parked the jeep.

I had to move a few limbs to clear the trail.

That’s better.

I walked out the trail, crossed the creek and came to where the plastic pipe comes down from the spring to the barrels. When I stopped to look at the pipe I heard water spraying out not far away.
When I checked it out, I found there were several places along the pipe where squirrels had chewed holes in it and water was spraying out.

I went back to the cabin to see what I could find to fix the pipe. As it turned out there wasn’t much. All I could come up with was some electrical tape, some duct tape and a length of 1” plastic pipe.  What I needed was 1/2” pipe and some connectors.

I took what I had and went back up the hill to the leaky pipes.
I had to cut out sections of the pipe as the holes were spread apart.
I wrapped the ends of the 1/2” pipe with the electrical tape and then stuffed the 1/2” pipe into the 1” pipe. Then I tried taping around the connection with the duct tape but everything was too wet for the duct tape to work. 

I managed to slow down the leaks but I’ll have to come back with some 1/2” pipe and barb connectors to fix the leaks.

I went back to the cabin and hung out enjoying the fire until it was burned out, around 4:30.
It was time to go home since I promised Patti I would be home by dark.