<VV> Ole Valve Guide Eater

[vairologist at juno.com]

Smitty says:  I sincerely regret that I didn't get back in time to make
it to BeaverRun for the RR.  If the program collapses from lack of funds
on my part I will be ever regretful.  I am leaving Chuck Sadek in charge
of carrying the banner for BBRT and expect he will do well.
        A couple of weeks before the trip to Portland I was telling my
wife how much I was looking forward to getting out on the road and
leaving all the household, club and family responsibilities behind for a
while.  Nothing to do but look out the window and look at the scenery and
stop off at interesting sites to enjoy the country.  Well that was a god
idea anyway.
        When the valve guide failed and I had to return from West VA I
thought, well at least the shoe has dropped, and I won't have to wonder
what evil is going to attack me.  A few days later, having blown the Mini
in Iowa and a small family get together in KC we were on the road again
with an upbeat frame of mind.  I did have one secret concern, which I was
not sharing, and was a calculated risk that I knew I might have to deal
with later.  When changing the PG governor and cleaning the residue out
of the pan I found that the fluid was strangely dark. Not burned mind
you.  Just dark.  So I flushed it and filed it with clean fluid and hit
the road.  Later of course came the broken fan belt, speedo cable, and AC
belt, which were more nuisance factors than anything.  
        Entering the foothills and passes of the Rockies was where the
thermal choke pull-off failed, allowing the choke to go closed??? and
leaving me powerless beside the road on an uphill until I found the
problem.  This, combined with a temp warning red light fairly often as we
got into 100 degree plus temperatures was beginning to take the fun out
of travel.  We entered Grand Junction in 104 degree air temps at 50-55
mph in order to keep the light out.  It would get so hot even the
Safeguard could not control detonation.  In all my years of pulling the
camper I never encountered those kind of engine heat problems before.  Of
course we could not use the Air Cond when the engine was already so heat
stressed.
        Heading up across the desert states things went reasonably well. 
I did notice that the rear axle bearing I had first noted on the way to
the Flagstaff convention was getting a bit louder.  Also there was a
clattering sound located at the top of the engine that I could not
diagnose.  I finally decided that it was a fan bearing and kept on
keeping on.  My relaxing vacation trip was going into the crapper.       
         More Later