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Date:         Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:14:19 -0400
Reply-To:     "Kate Sumbler (ktpupp)" <ktpupp@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Kate Sumbler (ktpupp)" <ktpupp@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      A little more to the story of how we got our Vanagon...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Thanks for all the warm "welcome to the list" messages! I think I'm gonna like it here! :)

Here's another chapter in the story of our free 85 Westy:

After we decided to go back up to the UP to pick up the van, we made plans with some friends of ours to make it a camping weekend - plus it would give the guys some time to check out the engine before we tried to drive it 300 miles home after it sat for a couple of years. We figured the trip could be easy or just as well could become a nightmare, so we wanted to have a few drivers and a couple of knowledgeable grease monkeys on hand just in case.

We drove up to the UP and played around in the van for a little while but as it was getting late we knew we had to head out to the campground to set up camp for the night. We did learn that we would need to buy a battery to get the van started and planned to drive to Marquette in the morning to hit the closest Wal-Mart. The next morning we got the battery and drove the 2 hours back to Grand Marais. Once we installed the battery, we fired her up and the engine ran about a minute and a half before we saw some smoke from the rear. Rob cut the engine and poked around to discover a leaky valve cover was the culprit, the gasket looked to be the original and was in need of replacing...

Grand Marais is a town that doesn't even have a stop-light, so a well stocked auto parts store is not available. We bought a tube of gasket goop from the old fashioned hardware store to see if it would work, but with limited optimism. Our friend David changed the flat front driver's tire while Rob was gasketing (yes, I know that is not a word, but what else should I call it?!?!?!) and discovered that the time spent in the UP elements had rusted the brake components enough that (at least) the front driver's side brakes were seized. With this knowledge, we realized we would not be driving the VW home that day because even if we could free up the brakes, they would not be in safe driving condition. Add to the that the fact that the gasket goop didn't seal, and we started making plans to come back with a truck and trailer to bring her downstate.

The weekend of Sept 18th, we drove back up to the UP with a truck and tow dolly to bring home the van. It took a bit of effort to get it on the tow dolly (we had to remove the frozen caliper assembly and literally tow the van up the ramps onto the trailer!) but we got it home in one piece!

Here's a link to a page with some pics from our adventure thusfar: http://www.sumbler.com/vw/VW.html

-=kt=-


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