|
Geirskogul posted:Having the battery charge in the same compartment as the inverter seems like a recipe for disaster, though. I'll have to figure that out You can get a battery that's designed to be connected to an external vent tube, and use that? My car has two of these in the trunk. They come with little elbow fittings that snap into a hole on either end of the battery (and a plug for the unused hole) and you just vent the tube somewhere outside.
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2016 03:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 03:15 |
|
|
I could do that, also a good idea. Since it's a new page, I'm going to shamelessly plug the blog again: https://stupidbus.wordpress.com/ All of the 3D printed things used so far: http://www.thingiverse.com/geirskogul/designs An update on some of the printed things: the door handles are doing just fine, even though I use them to slam the front doors often. I think I'll get a bit of use out of them, and I have learned some things since the original design process that will make them even stronger in the future. The shift knob is starting to become smooth and shiny in parts, which is exactly what I wanted.
|
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2016 04:58
|
|
|
Geirskogul, how's the vent for that heater run? Any chance of CO buildup with it? (aka you have a CO detector right?)Black88GTA posted:You can get a battery that's designed to be connected to an external vent tube, and use that? My car has two of these in the trunk. They come with little elbow fittings that snap into a hole on either end of the battery (and a plug for the unused hole) and you just vent the tube somewhere outside. IIRC group 75, 78, and 90?? batteries are designed for this. There's others too I'm sure (like the one you linked), but 78 is what my car happens to use. Finding a vent setup is as easy as walking into a GM parts department if you want brand new. Or there's always an aftermarket battery box too.
|
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2016 06:54
|
|
|
I have a CO detector that I use for the beetle, but I should probably install a battery operated constant monitor one, just in case. The way the heater work is it has a separate intake and exhaust that come out of the bottom of it, that run the diesel combustion portion. That's sealed off and the exhaust goes out a 4-5' exhaust pipe that I have mounted down to the rear driver's side wheel. There's a separate fan that sucks in air around the cooling fins of the combustion chamber, and run it up to the cabin. Here's a cool gif I found:  Here's the heater with the cap off of the outlet:  The Locator posted:Also, I live in Phoenix, so I'll never actually use the heater. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Feb 29, 2016 |
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2016 07:22
|
|
|
Also, you live in Phoenix, so you'll never actually use the heater. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2016 07:26
|
|
|
Geirskogul posted:Here's my current plan Ha
|
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2016 14:03
|
|
|
Went out last night to pick up some final pieces, and came out of the store to see that this beetle had parked right next to me.   Not my jam, but cool I guess. Battery in:  Panel on      Used 3M white silicone for sealing. Cheap Chinese charge controller. Low voltage now because I have spent the past two days bumpin' some podcasts with the stereo while working on the car.   Now to monitor it and make sure it doesn't catch fire 
|
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2016 21:25
|
|
|
When the battery catches fire does it change to a frowny face?
|
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2016 21:58
|
|
|
If it doesn't, then I demand my money back! And now, a beetle intermission. In-between me posting earlier and now, I have replaced the starter in the beetle. The last time I took it to work it refused to start in a gas station parking lot (about 10 miles in) until I beat the starter/solenoid with a wooden stick. Suspiciously, I found said wooden stick underneath the bench seat, as part of a broom handle that had been cut off and left there by the PO. I guess when you have an OE starter on a car with at least 109k miles and 44 years on it things start to become sketchy. Old and busted, new hotness, etc   Cost of the new (probably reman) starter? $25 
Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Feb 29, 2016 |
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2016 23:12
|
|
|
Again, since my last post, I got bored and decided to install the new rear shocks for the bus. I bought them a month ago and they've just been sitting there. Time to get them on! Out with the old.   In with the new    poo poo.  Well, these look like they are the same length as the front shocks, so let's try it out.   Drives like a new car. I can still feel the rear dragging along, but the front no longer porpoises on every speed bump or curb cut. I'll need to contact Amazon about the listing, as it explicitly says "VW Transporter - Rear" with a separate listing for the front. At least the fasteners are broken free for when I get around to installing new rears. This job is made possible by power from the Hammerhead (tm) Electric Impact Gun, and viewers like you.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2016 01:22
|
|
|
Why the third battery? why not just use a big leisure battery as your second battery? (and run the stereo and the fridge/interior lights off that). also - you can get a solar charging controller that will do multiple batteries of a single panel array - which will do a nice job of keeping the main starting battery alive if you park the van up for a few weeks.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2016 11:20
|
|
|
The main reason is size. I have a big group 42 leisure battery in the rear already, but that's as large as I can go. And the panel already will charge the main battery through auto charge relays, but in the reverse order of the engine.Once one battery reaches 14.2v, it bridges to the next battery, up the chain.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2016 18:46
|
|
|
Is that a Renogy solar panel? You might wanna know there is a recall out on them as they seem to catch fire. http://www.renogy-store.com/Voluntary-Product-Recall-s/1971.htm
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2016 20:15
|
|
|
Not renogy. I saw that too and checked the SN to make sure it wasn't a Chinese warehouse buy. The downside is these aren't as flexible, but good enough for me. For instance, these stay straight on their own if you put them at a 45 degree angle against a wall. The renogy ones would bow. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 01:19 on Mar 2, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2016 22:48
|
|
|
I mean, would it really increase the odds of a VW catching fire?
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2016 00:49
|
|
|
I love how much better the bus is with the new front shocks that I just purchased new rear shocks for the bus and new rears for the beetle. The beetle has front struts and I don't have a spring compressor, but that will change next paycheck.
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2016 04:16
|
|
|
Why buy a compressor? Rent it from Autozone for free (they hold a deposit and refund 100% of it when you bring it back).
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2016 05:08
|
|
|
I may be using and abusing it later on the 98 Explorer, so I may as well find one for cheaper than AutoZone's deposit in case I end up destroying it. Purchases of the past few days/weeks for the bus: EZ oil drain valve New rear shocks Partial gasket kit just so I could find this one little gasket I needed An arduino More stickers
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2016 09:48
|
|
|
I think you can break it and still be ok and get your deposit back. I never have bought one but have rented it a billion times.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2016 18:52
|
|
|
Had a spare hour at lunch today (drill), so I decided to change the rear shocks on the bus. Inverter on  Impact driver ready  New shocks in  Old ones out. 
Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Mar 5, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2016 21:04
|
|
|
A week in and I'm convinced new shocks should be mandatory every 100k miles. This is amazing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2016 23:15
|
|
|
At work a few days ago I saw a possible future. Now that I have seen it, I can avoid it. The guy driving it had both a dog, and an eyepatch:   Today, however, I installed a subwoofer. It's an old home theater sub, but it fit perfectly in the space I have allocated for a sub, and it was also 4 ohms. Only "42W," but that's plenty for me.  I shoehorned a POS amplifier in there. It's a POS rated for "1100 watts," but it's enough and it was very cheap. A reviewer on Amazon did some calculations with current and voltage measurements under test, and calculated it out to be only 114W. Again, completely adequate.  Gives me a little end table for the bench.  In much bigger news, however,  my fiancee crashed her motorcycle. Yet another guy turning left in front of her while she had a green. I know she's not a speed demon, and is actually quite the competent rider from the few times I've ridden with her. Everything is dickered:  I JUST REPLACED this lens. gently caress. Like FOUR DAYS AGO.  Headlight is unrecoverable  Gonna need new headlight/fork ears. Good thing generics are cheap (like, $20 for both)  Speedo and tach were bent all around. I had to strong-arm bend the speedo back into place to limp the bike the remaining half-mile home from the accident    (You can see the rust from an old scrape from another bike; the surround was a junkyard replacement years ago) Broke the newly-replaced (last year) choke lever. Kinda difficult to find the right one for this redheaded-stepchild of a motorcycle (a lot of "first-year-only parts before a completely new look and frame in 1980)  Got the tank pretty good.   Also got the clutch lever just enough to make it really difficult to use. I rode home in one gear because it's dickered   I am thankful that I insisted on crash bars years ago. They've paid themselves off with this one  LH footpeg  Just a little bit on the front fender. It was bent out of place and scraping the tire, again had to bend it out to limp home  Rear turn signal  And the big one: nothing lines up anymore. The handlebars are bent way out of shape. The front fork is only a tiny bit out of whack, and hopefully I'll be able to disassemble it and loosen it up and it'll straighten out, but we'll see. The whole headlight and gauge assembly will have to go. The rest of the bike from the triple tree back is okay, and the crash bars took the brunt of the damage from the exhaust and (very expensive and hard-to-find) side covers.  Now, the kid that cut in front of her actually stopped when he saw her go down, and police were called. By complete chance I was working on the ambulance and was posted in the area. By another stroke of luck, all of this happened in front of a Phoenix PD sergeant who saw the whole thing, so when he came up to her she gave him my phone number and we came directly to her instead of having her call 911 and ending up with a huge fee (family of employees get free/discounted ambulance rides, but not if it's a full 911 callout with an engine and everything). The kid that hit her is only 19, but he did have insurance through a weird company called "Young Driver's America," which I can't find out much through google. He was very apologetic and assisted with everything, though he denies that he was on his phone. I called my insurance and got a phone number and contact info for his insurance, and she called in the claim today. She was wearing a helmet, boots, and gloves, but again wasn't wearing any of the other riding gear I got her (  ) so she got some gnarly road rash.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 01:32
|
|
|
Geirskogul posted:
Jesus Christ, dude. I'm glad that everything worked out as "well" as it did, considering how bad it could have gone. Hope it all gets straightened out, both medically and mechanically. Raluek fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Mar 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 01:41
|
|
|
Hope your girl is ok man. Good luck with the insurance and motorcycle.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 02:44
|
|
|
Glad to hear she's mostly okay.Geirskogul posted:Kinda difficult to find the right one for this redheaded-stepchild of a motorcycle (a lot of "first-year-only parts before a completely new look and frame in 1980) As soon as I read this, I knew it was a Honda.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 18:10
|
|
|
Claim update: insurance inspector came around today. We shot the poo poo, he took pictures of everything on the CB650, he explained to me about how the write-off process works (because it will probably be totaled), and then we geeked out for 15 minutes about the Enfield and the ACVWs. Overall a good day. After he left, I installed the rear shocks on the beetle. I was going to do the front shocks, but Amazon sent me the wrong part (or, more like, listed the wrong part as being compatible, so I have to return them) . The 71-73 Super Beetle is a strange cookie, and I'm tired of one-year-only parts (3-bolt ball joints, strut cartridges, etc).No pictures of the new shock absorbers in, but visualize KYB GR-2's in a beetle and you'll get the idea. The old ones, though, were oem   "Made in Western Germany"   And another box of Wago Lever Nuts came in. These are literally half the size of the old ones, and easier to use.  So small  I also got a 10-pack of weatherproof Posi-Locks (called "Posi-Seal") connectors. Gonna change those big ugly solar connectors on the bus out for these on the roof. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2016 00:08
|
|
|
Oh I freaking love Posi-Lock / Posi-Seal connectors. Do you find them on Amazon?
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2016 00:12
|
|
|
I found them for half the price on ebay. Amazon lists $14.99 for 4 of them, ebay had the same $14.99 for 10 of them. They are expensive, but they will live a hard life so I don't hold it against them http://www.ebay.com/itm/151980768603?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2016 00:17
|
|
|
Geirskogul posted:Claim update: insurance inspector came around today. We shot the poo poo, he took pictures of everything on the CB650, he explained to me about how the write-off process works (because it will probably be totaled), and then we geeked out for 15 minutes about the Enfield and the ACVWs. Overall a good day. Any word if "Young Drivers America Insurance" (which I'm pretty sure is supposed to have an apostrophe after the "s", but since it's apparently not on the interwebs, who knows) is actually a legit company? At least now you don't have to worry about getting it registered in AZ! quote:
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2016 01:52
|
|
|
Yeah, it seemed legit. The inspector was very courteous, and called me once in the morning to let me know he'd call 30 minutes before showing up, then called again when he was delayed, then called to notify. Every interaction was very positive. The car (a Kia Soul) was branded and vinyl wrapped, and he had a branded Canon DSLR (it had custom stickers on it, not just Dymo labels) and a name tag and keys on one of those belt retracting clips. I wonder if it's some State Farm agent or something that has gone above and beyond in self-promotion, and "Young" doesn't refer to adolescent drivers, but maybe a name? Like Bill Young or something.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2016 02:40
|
|
|
Geirskogul posted:... a name tag and keys on one of those belt retracting clips. As an industry professional, this is when you know you've made it. I don't even have one, but that's why he's a winner in his corporate car and we sit around in stupid shirts pretending to be something important. I would genuinely like to know how you even manage to sell insurance without a website. Maybe they're like MetroPCS and sit on a random street corner with a PA system playing gibberish with a pop tent to pawn their worthless services on the destitute. In all fairness to the kid, at least he has insurance -- unlike a healthy percentage of drivers careening around this godforsaken city. How I've managed to live here for eight years without being horribly disfigured in a collision is pure chance.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2016 07:12
|
|
|
He said a full third of his cases, the person at fault doesn't even have a license.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2016 07:16
|
|
|
Geirskogul posted:He said a full third of his cases, the person at fault doesn't even have a license. That sounds like a chicken and egg scenario.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2016 08:24
|
|
|
Got a call from the appraiser today
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2016 22:20
|
|
|
I have no idea what the bike is actually worth, but they actually factored in tax and title? 
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2016 07:24
|
|
|
Yeah. 1979 cb650, picked it up for 600 four years ago.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2016 07:42
|
|
|
I like to think the xx are kisses 
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 00:06
|
|
|
Cakefool posted:I like to think the xx are kisses Anyway, I told the appraiser that, if salvage is only a 250 hit to the cut check, I'd like to keep the bike. So, repair starts by stripping the bad parts off  My fiancee had a big windshield, but it was a Harley aftermarket one that I had cut down to a tombstone shape. It was subsequently broken and repaired multiple times through various drops and/or accidents. She stated she wants a flyscreen/cowl instead (just a little something to blow the wind upwards a little bit around town). So, I picked one up from ebay for $20 or so. Mocking up preferred cowl placement   If this doesn't work out in the end, at least I can play Honda LEGO with the pieces on another bike later. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Mar 20, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 03:08
|
|
|
Is it just me, or are those handlebars bent off centre? I suppose what I'm really asking is if the chassis got bent out of shape in the crash.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 03:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 03:15 |
|
|
Oh, those handlebars are completely fuckered. The front forks look straight to me, but something in the back of my head says they're off just a tiny bit, so I'm hoping loosening all of the triple tree clamps and straightening will fix it. I just got new handlebars in the mail today, actually. E: also the LH side crash cage is totally bent inwards, but it looks like the downtube itself is okay, just slightly twisted. Tomorrow or Monday I'll have to do the string test.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2016 03:25
|
|