Date:         Sat, 4 Feb 1995 12:03:33 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Eric Oster <ekoman@u.washington.edu>
Subject:      My `66 is back on the road! (rambling, some queries.)

#SET RAMBLE ON
As some of you know, I've been trying to trade my `83 Buick away
(For practically _anything_ else.), and it decided to go to the 
great wrecking-yard-in-the-sky last week. (Transmission.) And it
basically would have cost me more to fix the trans than I thought 
the car was worth-(It is, after all, an econobox.), yet I managed
to talk the used car salesman that it was worth considerably more
than a really beat-up 1962(?) <<We'll get to this later.) bug that
had been sitting forlornly in the lot for some time. This bug, shall
we say, needs some serious work done to it, both body and enginewise,
but it runs (if you can call it that), and spews oil from just about 
everywhere you can imagine oil spewing from a bug motor/transaxle. I
was ~70 miles from home, and after the trade, I realized that this poor
bug was in no shape for highway driving whatsoever. That was when I
decided to fix my bus.
   I had started this major mechanical overhaul about three weeks ago,
including transaxle swap, brake replacement, etc. etc., but since it
has been raining a lot here in WA, and I can't get my bus into a 
garage due it's 8'6" heigth, I had been putting this off until drier
weather. It's raining really hard, there's 3" of mud on the ground,
but I have the cargo floor rubber mat from my (deceased) `63 on the
ground, affording me some protection. Get the transaxle set in, redo
the brakes, including a trip to the front of the bus for the master
cylinder. 12 hours all told the first day.
   I set out the second day, grind the transaxle out for a 200mm
flywheel, make the e-brake conversion, pressure bleed the brakes, so
now in addition to being soaking wet, I have brake fluid/transaxle
grease/aluminum shavings all on my coveralls, and my SO doesn't look
much better. (Yes, she likes the bus enough to actually go out and 
help me work on it, even under such conditions! :)). Now it's time to
put the engine in. We put it into place, and the %^$#!! won't turn over!
Pull the motor out, grind some more out, put it back in, S%#! still
won't turn over! But after the third try, it did. And after some review
of the schematics, we managed to hook the wiring up correctly so it would
start, even! (sheepish <g>). We couldn't manage to get the starter bolt
in, but I figure it'll last until we can get it in properly.
   The old girl drives almost flawlessly now! (As she should, almost
everything mechanical has been replaced by now!) A few urban legends
about splits (around here, anyways.) are:
1) The braking systems are very poor.
Somewhat true, IMHO. But if you maintain them, and keep the mechanics
up to snuff, they are actually fair-good. On a related note, quite a
few old splitties here in WA have no e-brake, and the only reason I can
come up for a lack of this is laziness/lack of money.
2) The interior noise is almost deafening.
Now that almost everthing is working again, it is very smooth and one
could almost say that it's quiet in here! Normal conversation isn't a
problem.
3) They are extremely `tippy'
I haven't driven mine enough to comment on this, but I have taken it over
the Narrows bridge, which has very gusty, blowy, nasty winds, and with
an additional 2-3' of bubble top on my roof, it's exciting. Most of the
time I hear about them tipping over, it's due to operator malfunction
of one sort or another. Like exiting the freeway too fast, on a curvy 
offramp.
#SET RAMBLE OFF
Anyways, can anyone remind me how to polarize a generator?
And the bug that I traded for is actually a 1960, not 1962 as it says 
on the title. Is there any way to correct this. I've thought about,
but I would think it's more trouble than it's worth. I know someone
up here who has a `65 bus registered as a 1968! Go figure.

************************************************************************
* Merging onto the information superhighway in one of these autos:     *
* 1976 Plymouth Volare; 1966 Volkswagen camper; 1962 Ford Fairlane 500 *
* Sport coupe; 1962 Volkswagen beetle; 1955 Ford Starliner `vert. None *
* of which are very fast.                                              *
*                                                                      *
* Eric Oster (ekoman@u.washington.edu)                                 *
************************************************************************