Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 13:00:27 -0400
Reply-To: Cory Sammons <slagskot@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Cory Sammons <slagskot@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: A little more to the story of how we got our Vanagon...
In-Reply-To: <d4b4c1f04092721145e0393b7@mail.gmail.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
On 9/28/04 12:14 AM, "Kate Sumbler (ktpupp)" <ktpupp@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 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=-
>
Why doesn't anything like this ever fall into my lap?
From the looks of the van, you could scrap the old enginge, put in a TDI and
have a better camper for less than the $5500 I paid for mine
Im swimming through a sea of jealousy to wish you the best of luck
Cory Sammons
84 Westy
99 New Beetle
Gardiner, NY
|