Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 21:09:46 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: [FIX] Instrument Housing Repair
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
I have been plagued by the infamous fracturing and breaking of the
instrument housing in my '88 GL Vanagon. My problem was around the
speedometer holes. All broken out except for one hole. I had the speedo
held in place with "100 mph Tape" (Alaskan for silver "Duck" tape" -
used to fix SuperCub airplanes up there - thus 100 mph".
I recently acquired a replacement only to find it was broken worse than
my original. Had good instruments, so I sold it for the instruments,
making it clear the housing was marginal at best.
Then I acquired another housing. This time from a 1990 model. In this
case the housing looked good,the holes for the speedo were ntact, but
most of the instruments were gone except the tach and related stuff. The
ribbon connecter was still all there, but not much else.
Upon very close examination I discovered the tach mount holes were
broken out as well as where the light goes for the clock and center
instruments.
Back to square one. I was no better off than with my original housing.
So what to do?
Here is how I fixed the problem and rebuilt the hole bosses for the
mount screws.
Materials:
Plumbers epoxy putty - one tube. This stuff comes as two part mix. What
I used was like a tube in a tube. There was an inner core of Part A
(gray), and an outer layer of Part B (white).
Coarse sand paper or a rasp. Small putty knife. Small hobby type
trimming knife, wood carving tool, or whatever. Something with a blade
and good handle.
Procedure:
Rough up the area around where the boss is broken out. There must be
grooved surface for the epoxy to get a grip. I used a rasp. Sandpaper
works.
Cut off a piece of the plumbers putty and mix according to instructions.
Should have a round ball of "squishable" putty to work with. Make sure
you get enough for each boss area. Mix only enough to repair one hole at
a time. It sets fast.
Press the putty into place and fill the hole where the boss used to be.
Spread the putty on both sides of the plastic, and shape the corner so
there is ample material for strength and for drilling a new hole. Level
the top of the putty with the putty knife using the existing plastic as
a guide for the putty knife blade. The putty will be hard enough to
drill in 1/2 hour to 1 hour. It can be trimmed in 20 minutes.
Trim tthe putty so that the instrument that fits there will indeed fit.
Then with instrument in place to set the hole location, drill new screw
holes. Be sure to use a dril bit that is slghtly smaller than the screw
threads but not to small. This putty gets very hard and thus brittle. If
the hole is to small you can crack the putty if the screw doesn't fit
just right. The hole should be just big enough that the screw threads
self tap. Do not tighten the screws to tight. Just snug is sufficient.
Once the holes are drilled, remove the instrument, and clean out all the
shavings. Then install the instrument, snug the screws and you are done.
Try to be sufficiently accurate in the work that the screws do not have
to be removed once they are tightened the first time. Bad for the new
hole boss.
Thats it. Easy task. Solves a big headache with our Vanagons. Just takes
a little time. Should be a good permanent fix.
Good luck to all,
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
