Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 18:47:04 -0700
Reply-To: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Progress on the Mellow Yellow front
In-Reply-To: <1283898468.30964.42.camel@TheJackUbuntuNetbook>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Hey Mike, good to hear that things are working out!
Have a good trip. ;)
Jake
On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 3:27 PM, Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@gmail.com
> wrote:
> The rebuilt transmission has been installed. Some may recall that the
> differential began to leak gear oil while I was driving to and from
> Montana last month. My mechanic (Steve, Steve's Place, Bend, Oregon) had
> previously noticed that the oil level was low, and suggested it was
> getting into the transmission. German Transaxle here in town found that
> the seals were hard and dry -- the way I like my women (TM) -- and oil
> had not only been leaking, slowly, to the outside, but into the AT. They
> found the AT to be in good shape save some scoring on the face of the
> oil pump. The rebuilt transmission shifts more crisply.
>
> The broken coolant bleeder thingy where the two fat coolant hoses cross
> the front (front means front) of the engine had developed a crack.
> Replaced with the fancy-pants $200 CNC machined aluminum part that
> GoWesty sells. My mechanic paid full retail for the part, didn't mark it
> up.
>
> The insurance company for the guy that caused the collision that
> totalled my employee's 72 VW bus and mashed the right rear of Mellow
> Yellow came through with a check. First they tried to total my van, too,
> then they claimed they had no responsibility because the driver had
> swerved to avoid an oncoming car, and also because he was only going 30
> mph in the 25 mph zone according to the police report. It wasn't until I
> picked up a copy of the report from the police department ($15) that I
> read that a) the officer showed the driver going over 35, b) that there
> was no witness for the oncoming car, and c) the officer found the driver
> to be at fault ("Case closed" the officer wrote on the report). So they
> coughed up $2,900 which was right in line with the estimates I'd gotten
> from the local auto body shops.
>
> But there quotes were based on new parts, and despite everyone's
> assistance here and recommendations for places to shop, it turns out
> that, yep, no one has those parts any more.
>
> But Mike Crabtree at Crabtree's Auto Body & Paint (Bend) reported today
> that he located an undamaged right rear quarter panel in a recycling
> yard, giving him all he needs except for a replacement rear bumper to
> repair the body damage. $1900 to do the work. I'll throw $500 at
> additional body rust mitigation, and use the remainder to start paying
> down the nearly $2,000 I had to put on the credit card to pay for the
> transmission and other work on the van.
>
> And my mechanic pulled a rear bumper out of his dumpster and gave it to
> me this morning. Not in perfect condition, it will need to be
> straightened a tad, stripped, and powdercoated black to match the front
> one, but it's in far, far better condition than the mashed one on the
> van. Crabtree said he'd do that work no charge.
>
> I'm rough on bumpers, buying a new one makes no sense to me.
>
> So all in all, I didn't come out too badly.
>
> Mrs Squirrel are departing on a five-day trip up the Oregon coast to
> Astoria on Thursday. May my Vanagon-fu be strong!
>
> --
> Rocky J Squirrel
> '84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> '74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX 'The Grey Van'
1986 Westy Weekender/2.5 SOHC Suby 'Dixie'
Crescent Beach, BC
www.thebassspa.com
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
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