Date:         Fri, 22 Jun 2007 07:29:21 -0500
Reply-To:     Matt Roberds <mattroberds@COX.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Matt Roberds <mattroberds@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: [NVC] Possibly the most useful camping gadget ever
Comments: cc: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <20070622021028.EILJ3928.eastrmmtai114.cox.net@eastrmimpi03.cox.net>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

> From:    Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
> Date:    Thu, 21 Jun 2007 18:06:21 -0700
>
> I think we need to be looking at PTO's for Vanagons to drive oversize
> margarita blenders.

<friday>
Put in a Syncro transmission and use the front driveshaft connection as
the PTO.

Very early splitties came stock with crank handles.  The handle fit
through a hole in the rear cooling tin and mated with a special bolt
head on the crankshaft pulley bolt.  Maybe something like that could be
rigged for a Vanagon.

I recall an (Indiana Jones?) movie where the bad guys had a hideout out
in the woods.  They had taken an old pickup truck, put the back end up
on blocks, and installed a wheel with no tire on it.  There was a flat
leather belt looped around this wheel that went to another pulley that
in turn drove a water pump or generator or something.

You could build something like a chassis dyno - two big rollers on a
platform.  Drive the van up onto the rollers, the tires spin the
rollers, and the rollers are hooked to the margarita mixer.

I've seen a smaller version that involves the top half of an electric
blender from the thrift store, and the prime mover from a weed-whacker.

The 90 A alternator would probably support up to a 1 hp 12 V electric
motor if the electric motor was not run at a high duty cycle.
</friday>

Matt Roberds