Date: Sat, 7 Dec 2013 10:58:45 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Organization: Cosmic Reminders
Subject: Re: Speedy
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuKK3_kk4gs_oyDkhF1WYJGUNAi7a-AiyXHKrkUzfDZsQQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Well Don ..
it's the same thing for me in the building trades.
I had a friend who paid at least $ 100,000 for a house remodel in Napa, Ca.
the doors and hardware where of exceptionally high grade ..
and yet ...:-)
a year after the work I noticed that all the brass plated hinges all had
only half of the screws in them that they were built for.
The contractor just never finished installing about 50 screws on at
least a dozen expensive hinges.
frankly ..that's typical almost.
Re speed of car work ...
I must make this distinction ...I don't just 'do repair' . like replace
a tired part. I call that Slam Dunk car repair.
what I find that is
these fine 25+ year old vans ALL need ....all of them without exception
..even if they sat in a meuseum ( ok, that's an exaggeration ) ...there
are countless little details that would be good to attend to.
I can not think of one vanagon job that did not also actually need
treating of corrosion ..
speaking of that..
I recommend everyone check their front turn signal housings for water..I
find many of them with water in them...
many with corroded away-to-nothing-rust inside the rubber boot around
the socket ..
this is what I mean ..
even replacing a burnt out light bulb 'really' needs a full re-do of
that whole light and socket assembly in my world..if you're really
taking care of the vanagon.
Check your front turn signal assemblies..
take them out ..make sure there's no water in them or under the rubber
boot..
treat the metal parts with something . Sometimes I drill drain holes in
the lens assembly if their old, cracked or warped.
lol..that person with the missing hinge screws ( yes I have a few
missing screws too ! )
She did not own a vanagon ..but we took a long, long Turbo Diesel
Vanagon trip from Napa Ca clear to Moab Utah and up into Wyoming, up
through Jackson even. We didn't get along that well the last few days
of the trip...
believe me ..it's a long long drive from Salt Lake City to Napa CA on
I-80 when you're droning along hour after hour after hour in a 1.9 turbo
diesel 5 speed diesel vanagon with someone you're barely talking to !!!
not recommended !
lol. :-)
Gorgeous fresh fluffy 5+ inches of snow here in the Rogue Valley,
southern oregon today .
10 inches at least on I-5 Siskyou Pass . Drive carefully !
I'm putting my narliest studless winter tires on the rear of my 87
Wolfsburg, then I'm going to put maybe 6 concrete blocks in the back
above the engine , for traction enhancement. ( 2WD vanagons have more
weight on the undriven front axle and less on the rear driven axle of
course.)
stay cozy !
Scott
On 12/6/2013 1:28 PM, Don Hanson wrote:
> Speed and poorly done aren't always related. In most trades, given
> unlimited time, anyone can get things almost perfect, eventually. In
> the building trade, for example, your know-nothing basic laborer can
> slowly put things together and get the job done pretty right, but a
> journeyman or master builder can do the same job ten times over in the
> same amount of hours and never make a mistake or let anything
> 'slide'...First you learn to do the job correctly and next you learn
> to do the job more efficiently...quicker with few wasted steps, yet
> still exactly right.
>
> If you are working at an hourly rate you really do want to be able
> work quickly without mistakes, and your customers will certainly
> appreciate your speed...especially at the rates some shops
> charge....So, the first time through a job, it might take say
> 5hrs....When you've done the job for years, and studied up on how to
> get it done more quickly and better, too....You can cut your time way
> down without sacrificing any quality...
>
> The first set of stairs I ever built completely on my own,
> shoot....it took me almost a full day just to get them laid out
> correctly. ..and that was after about 2yrs of working with real
> carpenters as an apprentice...... Now it takes me a few hours at the
> most. The first time I pulled my trans in my Vanagon took me maybe
> 3hrs....Now I can do it in half the time, and I have only pulled three
> of them...
>
> Watching a really good fast mechanic work is eye-opening. I used
> to be in awe of Alan at A & P Specialties down in Portland when I'd
> take my super-complex and difficult to work on Porsche 928 in
> there....He'd carry on a conversation and at the same time get work
> done like lightning, work that would have had me diving into the 14
> VOLUME factory shop manuals....
>
> I agree, first comes quality, but then you have to keep on getting
> better...speed it up and still make it right...unless you are working
> on your own stuff....then you can dawdle along at whatever pace
> pleases you, nobody cares much...
>
> On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Scott Daniel <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>> I could care less about speed..
>> I am interested in quality.
>> when I do a dash or heater box..there are nearly endless little tweaks..
>> adjusting things, lubing things, addressing corrosion, improving things
>> ..gluing weather stripping back on etc.
>>
>> Speed itself isn't worth jack unless it's an emergency, IMO.
>>
>> I have spent countless hours re-doing poorly done work on Vanagons. I
>> almost specialize in it, or did.
>>
>> Scott
>>
>>
>>
>> On 12/6/2013 5:35 AM, David Bjorkman wrote:
>>> Wow Jim, that's pretty quick. Reminds me of the times (way back) at
>>> Small Wheels shop when we used to compete to find how fast we could
>>> pull a bug motor, drag it 30 feet out and back, and reinstall it.
>>> Dave B.
>>> On 12/05/13, Jim Felder<jim.felder@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>
>>> I can do a dash out, bust open box, replace
>>> heater blower, seal box and reinstall dash in four hours.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>>
>>>
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