Date:         Fri, 2 Dec 1994 18:41:58 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         wabbott@townshend.Corp.Megatest.COM (William Abbott)
Subject:      Re: Timing Belts

David Kao writes:

> The funny thing is I never need to replace
> timing belts from any of my VWs and Volvos. But isn't it a sound recommendation
> that all Accords replace timing belts at 65kmile or be prepared for new 
> engines?

	David, if indeed you've got nothing but gasoline Vanagons and
used to own bugs, then timing belts aren't an issue. If you have a diesel
Vanagon or any boxer water pumper, that ol' belt *DOES* need to be changed
every 50-65K miles. And VWs, unlike, say Toyotas, will break the engine
if the belt fails.

	My take on Consumer Reports is that they're people unlike me and
don't value the things I value. I haven't taken them seriously in 
over 20 years. I got wise the mutual difference between them and I
when I was a kid and they condemed, every year, the Aurora H.O. scale
slot car track I had and loved. This was the kind with two metal pins
to align the tracks and a little metal, later nylon, clip that held the
pieces. Consumer Reports said it was too hard to use, and children might
swallow the pieces. Sure enough, I swallowed one or two... :-)
	But the stuff they spoke glowingly of, with molded-in plastic
ears on each piece of track, breaks easily! All my pals with C.R. approved
brands of track couldn't make it work after a couple of months of putting
it together and taking it apart. Eventually, some brands of slot car tracks
came out with repair clips to fix broken "eared" track. Little metal pieces
that a child could swallow.
	Somewhere in the attic, I've still GOT my track from the 60s and
it worked last time I assembled it. With the little pins and clips.

	Bottom line: Consumer Reports mean well, but don't understand 
mechanical issues very well.

	 
	Bill Abbott
	
	93 Corrado, Wannacrewcaborpickup,
	Cats: Moustache and Georgi Zhukov
	Best Fish recipe: Pan Blackened Catfish
	Favorite flannel pattern: McNab (natch!)
					
     /\_/\      
    //o o\\   
   <<==Y==>>   "growing whiskers and a tail!" 
   mm,\C/,mm