Date:         Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:55:38 -0800
Reply-To:     Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Dream: Lost my Vanagon; a new muffler, and other news
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

Crikey. I wish my brain could come up with less stupid stuff to deal with
when I'm asleep, but no -- this morning I awoke in the middle of a dream
in which I was searching for Mellow Yellow in a partially-empty mall
parking lot. I hadn't even parked it very far from the store's entrance,
but there I was, combing aisle after aisle of cars, in the rain, wondering
when my family would start to wonder when I was gonna get home with that
gallon of milk.

IN OTHER NEWS, Mellow Yellow finally got a new muffler. The old one looked
pretty much like rust lace. Now, it's so quiet that a couple of times when
I was sitting at a light I had to look at the tach to see if the engine
was running. Ernst muffler from Bus Depot, had it installed for $80 at
Steve's Place in Bend, Ore.

While the van was up on the lift he had another go at locating the source
of the "thunk" sound that occurs (mainly but not only) in second gear
(auto transmission) only when cruising on level pavement and just when the
foot comes off the gas pedal. When the drive train unloads, there's this
very audible "thunk" that sounds from under the vehicle. Ears say it's up
front, but that can be misleading. Nothing found wrong with wheels,
bearings, CV joints, motor mounts, tranny mounts, Canadian mounts, rear
suspension, front suspension, veeblefetzer fittings, or the steering
hawsers and levers. Rocking the vehicle fore and aft by hand causes the
tranny's park pawl to click a bit, but that's all. It's a head-scratcher.

A couple torn boots were found on the steering tackle up front. There's no
avoiding getting those replaced. Will need to get the front end re-aligned
after that.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Bend, OR
KG6RCR