Date:         Tue, 24 Jan 95 10:23:58 PST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Nick Pace <nickpace@rand.org>
Subject:      VW-Re: Stuck sliding door on Buss'

Todd R.  Schroeder (todds@sunnet.chotel.com) was having a problem with the
sliding door on his '71 bus as the thing wouldn't open at the rear without
banging from inside.  My door (on a '71 also) was doing the same
irritating thing regardless of the level of my love and attention, the
tightness of the bolts, or the many pounds of grease and WD-40 I slopped
all over the mechanisms like holy water.  The worst problem was trying to
get the door open from the outside.  PURISTS READ NO FURTHER.  I solved it
by finding another hand hold bar (the kind attached to the panel that
separates the front passenger seat from the rear of the bus), drilling two
holes in the rear of the sliding door (parallel to the ground and on the
same plane as the front latch), and mounting it so that a small tug on the
bar, when unlatching the front lock, will easily slide the !@#$%^&* out
from the body.  Not an elegant solution but it does look almost stock.

Did it fix the problem from the inside?  Of course not.  As I tell my
passengers who are struggling to get it open, "that is why God gave you a
right elbow and shoulder".

Nick

  pathetic ascii drawing.....
    +------------------------+
    |                 +-----+|
    | ======          |  ===||<--- front lock
    |   ^             +-----+|
    |  hand hold             |
    |   bar                  |
    |                        |
    +------------------------+
	       ^
	     door