Date:         Thu, 21 Dec 2006 20:21:01 -0500
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Subject:      Re: vans
Comments: To: Tom Buese <tombuese@COMCAST.NET>

Correcting a Splitty..Boy, someone would sure have their work cut out
putting my old 57 S-african back into 'factory' condition...If it still
exists.
  I think my all-time best modification, done through necessity on one of
our 'hippy circumnavigations of the western US and Canada' was the cooling
scoops we added near Reno...
  That old 36 hp motor ran great but anytime we had a long pass..(and the
passes took a looong time in that bus) the motor would heat up and suddenly
seize...We'd have to clutch in and roll backwards off the road onto the
shoulder and wait..sometimes maybe two-three beers worth...then she'd start
right back up and roll along again at about 15mph uphill..Usually, only one
seize-up per pass in the Serrias...
  So near the Reno dump we ran over someone's lost garbage can lid..musta
blown out of his pickup..Stopped and picked it up, cut it in half, used our
knees to form it into two scoops and screwed those right onto the side of
the  bus over the engine vents...No more seizing up!  Those stayed on till
I sold that bus..Pretty nice battleship gray enamel roller paint job, too.
  Don Hanson