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Date:         Sat, 1 Apr 1995 22:15:37 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Thom Fitzpatrick" <thom@tim.com>
Subject:      '56 kombi progress 

Howdy,

Well, today I welded in the hinge carrier. I bought this several months ago from West Coast Metric, so I was committed. It sucked.

I will NEVER, EVER, again buy replacement panels from West Coast Metric. Ever! You hear me? NEVER!

(Those of you who aren't familiar with bus terminology, the hinge carrier is the piece between the engine lid and hatch that the engine lid hinges attach to.)

I will NEVER, EVER, again buy replacement panels from West Coast Metric. Ever! You hear me? NEVER!

The piece is a wee bit shorter than the original, which means there's about an 1/8" more of a gap, both between the hatch and the carrier, and the bottom of the engine lid and the rear apron. The effort that went into forming the piece was marginal at best - the edges do not have nice tight bends like they should, making the piece difficult to fit at best.

I have found the quality on each and every body panel piece that I have bought from West Coast Metric to be of crappy quality. I bought rocker panels for both sides (3 pieces), which did not have the proper curve and rail angle; battery tray which did not have the proper curvature and was too big; hinge carrier, which was not formed cleanly and too small; Front floor cab pieces, which were not bent at the proper angles, and while they had the correct stamping, it did not match up in the same place with the original!

So you say I'm an idiot for buying all my stuff there? Maybe so, but unfortunately I bought it all at once!

I will NEVER, EVER, again buy replacement panels from West Coast Metric. Ever! You hear me? NEVER!

Luckily, all but one of the pieces I bought is installed, so I don't have too much more headache left to go thru.

I will NEVER, EVER, again buy replacement panels from West Coast Metric. Ever! You hear me? NEVER!

I then welded the hinges to my engine lid, since the last set of bolts were frozen in. Oh well. The other bummer was my engine lid hold-up broke, so now I gotta figger out how to fix that or find a replacement. And I ran out of MIG wire when I tried to weld it up! D'oh!

I also held a bodyshop class today for a guy from my office who came over and did some work on his Datsun 1600 roadster. I hammered out a few dents for him - remarkably easy but impressed the hell out of him!

Tomorrow I'm off to the junkyard to try to get a section for the right side of my engine compartment, you know where you lean your elbow when you're trying to loosen the top right engine bolt that holds the starter in!

I will NEVER, EVER, again buy replacement panels from West Coast Metric. Ever! You hear me? NEVER!

Thom -- > "More hay, Trigger?" "No thanks, Roy, I'm stuffed!" ............................................................................ : Thom Fitzpatrick Transamerica Info Mgmnt : : Systems Administrator 1860 Howe Ave : : tfitzpatrick@tim.com Sacramento, CA 95825 : : fax (916) 921-6781 (916) 565-3346 : ............................................................................


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