Date:         Tue, 12 Jul 2005 13:50:03 EDT
Reply-To:     THX0001@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         George Goff <THX0001@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Patching pushrod tube? / Bandage It
Comments: To: jens.jakob.andersen@POST.DK
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

In a message dated 7/12/05 9:03:08 AM, jens.jakob.andersen@POST.DK writes:

<< I tried to patch it up with some tin from a beercan, but it doesnt hold
tight.


Any good ideas? >>

JJ,

Sounds like you are looking for something to get you through the night until
you can do it right.  So . . . let the van sit until all the oil has drained
back into the crankcase.  In fact, park it so that the side with the leaking
pushrod tube is the high side.  Clean the hell out of the pushrod tube, then
wrap it with the aluminum foil tape which is used by HVAC men to make up ducting.
 This is NOT the duct (relay, duck) tape most people think of, but it is a
rather thick aluminum foil with a very aggressive adhesive.  Make certain the
first wrap of the tape is tight to the pushrod tube all around the rupture and
use as many layers as turn you on, at least, say, three.

I love these type of emergency repairs and the stories about their longevity.
 Like the bubble gum patch on a gas tank puncture which holds for ten years
until some anal retentive Good Samaritan decides to be helpful and pulls off
the bubble gum stuck to the tank.

Once, I saw a four foot diameter circulating fan which was pressed into
service by pulling the plywood off either face of its shipping crate, nailing a
motor into the corner of what remained of the box, then stapling some wire cloth
over the front and back.  As it ran, the frame racked back and forth in a
relaxed rhythm going from square to slightly rhombic then back again.  The fan
stood on the floor in one of the lowest subbasements of an auxiliary building at
a nuclear power plant during the construction phase and I know for a fact that
it ran continuously for at least the three years I was there.  I wish my
jerry rigs were that successful.

George