Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:28:33 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: was Brake question......now NVC at the end of Friday
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lol,
re
Some Vanagon drivers seem to be...a little more interested
in The Experience than in the actual process of driving the things...
you notice that too ?
I'd say 'many car driver's ' do that .
here's how I figure it ...
i'm very consicous of my driving, and how easy I'm being on the machinery
etc..
but I figure, the common person driving, is thinking about their driving, or
being easy on the mahcine and so forth, about as much as I am thinking about
my refrigerator at home...
like 'not at all' ..
they are just interested in getting to their destination.
it's the car's job to take care of itself, in their minds, more or less.
and really ....'most people' just know ..
you push on one pedal to make it go, another to make it slow down, and you
watch out the front , and turn that wheel in front of you to make that
picture stay look ing about right.
no idea at all about say ..oversteer, or wheels locking up under heavy
braking ..
going easy on the car etc...
just not in their consciousness.
and I dare say that 'people' in general, are much stupider about cars and
their driving than say, 20 or 30 years ago.
'many people' just think the electronics on the car will take care of
them.....or that a car is just another applicance that does their bidding
without much involvement or concern.
they didn't grow up say, driving on snow and ice where you knew you could
mess up badly if you didn't pay very close attention , for example.
They didn't learn to drive pre-ABS brakes , pre-air bag etc. etc.
yeah, I think most cars go through hell...given what their driver's may not
be skilled in ..
and I have my opinions about much of work done on them too .
and actually...
any half decent car could go 300,000 miles easily, with just proper care and
nice driving.
regarding servicing on cars....it'll still be friday for two more minutes
where I am ...
the treand is toward cars that don't need much in the way of service and
maintance..
like refrigerators and computers are now ...you just use them..
cars are trending toward that, and electric cars will need very, very little
maintaince, mechanically..
they might have electronic glitches or battery issues say ..
but electric motors don't need any maintanece, or very, very little.
But cars that can be serviced...ones that you can change fluids on, replace
parts that wear ...
inspect brakes, maintain tire pressures ...lube little mechanisms here and
there ...
it's child's play almost, it really is not that hard to do, most of
it...regular servivce.
'The trick' is the people involved..the owners and operators wanting that
work done, and getting it in for service, and then the people that do
it...or 'sorta do it' as the case may be.
my point is, it really, really is not very hard to take care of a car ..not
by people that half understand it and know how ..
and 'most cars' would last nearly indefenitely with good car and decent
operation of them.
Vanagons are like that ..
man, if you kept every bearing lubed, every CV joint, all fluids pretty
fresh, keep up with every tiny loose thing, and lube things that move ...
man ....they would just last a long, long time. And...not even that hard to
do, and kinda fun even, if one appreciates that sort of thing.
ok..friday is over ! ( but that was vanagon related anyway ) .
watch out below here ......
Anybody familiar with Charles Bukowski ? ....
that guy, as a writer ....his style is like 'brutal' ...uses the minimum of
words to report his experience ...
often with a twinge of downtroddeness...the struggle of being alive ...
in a sparse, simple , brutal style. Fantastic writer ...and he is just so
totally outrageously irreverant ....
Just the way he tells what life is like for him ....like telling about
not wanting to get personally inolved with the guys he buys the bet from at
horse tracks ...being going there for yearsm seeing the same people year in
and year out .....but doesn't want to get to know them ...he rejects the
whole world in a grumpy fascinating style. I like writing that doesn't
dance around something, I like it delivered full on ....he sure does.
If anyone has any appreciation for writing style .......well...... he would
be required reading in any writing class I'd ever have ........he's
irreverent, he's nasty almost, he's commonly vulgar ...and ...he's like made
being an alchoholic looser/writer a lifestyle - I was gonna say 'his style
regardless of content or subject' ...but the content/subject is part of his
writing style .....well I relate to it , lol. ....I like oddball stuff ,
'too out there' stuff. He's got that in spades. He died in 1994 ....your
perfectly irreverant low grade 'champion' fighting through life. And rock
solid in your face writing style. And I refrained from using a foul word
here once too.
I'll be quiet for a while. lol. ok, Friday really is over
for this week.
Scott, Renunciate
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Hanson" <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: Brake question......
> I'm changing mine every year at least, or whenever I have clutch or brake
> problems, whichever comes first. I don't 'push' my Vanagon in braking
> situations...don't go fast downhill, don't power up to stopsigns, nor do I
> do any road racing with it...but if I should detect any signs of brake
> fade,
> I would change the fluid right away...brake fluid is inexpensive.
>
> On the Auto trans Westies going downhill: A properly operated vanagon
> should do fine...using the gears to descend is often overlooked,
> especially
> by folks who don't know much about driving an older style or a heavy
> vehicle. I envision someone sailing along down Tioga Pass, looking at the
> beauty and listening to tunes on a summer day with one foot on the brake
> the
> whole way...not noticing the smell of hot....Could also happen in a stick
> shift, I guess...Some Vanagon drivers seem to be...a little more
> interested
> in The Experience than in the actual process of driving the things...
>
> Don Hanson
>
> On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 2:31 PM, <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> ---- Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>> > The most effective way to descend in a heavy vehicle with small brakes
>> is
>> > to apply them firmly and slow the vehicle below it's 'perfect speed',
>> then
>> > get off the brakes and let it build back up to speed (allowing the
>> > brakes
>> to
>> > cool off some) Watch the truckers go downhill.
>> >
>>
>> > Changing brake fluid regularly is good. Once you experience Brake
>> > Fade...you will become a believer...if you live.
>>
>> So, how often do you recommend changing brake fluid? Does one go by
>> miles
>> driven, or by time elapsed? I changed the fluid in my '91 VW Vanagon GL
>> Campmobile 14 months and 6K miles ago when I got it. In most vehicles
>> I've
>> owned I would change it every two years or 30K miles, whichever was
>> first,
>> but the owner's manual in my Prius doesn't even mention it. I asked at
>> the
>> dealer about it, and he said something like, "We like to do it at 100K
>> miles."
>>
>> David McNeely
>>
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