Date:         Mon, 11 Mar 1996 19:08:05 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "David Easterwood" <deasterw@st6000.sct.edu>
Subject:      Memphis or Bust...


My mission was to deliver a 1968 Westfalia I had sold to Ken in 
Memphis.  

background...

I had bought the bus last summer for a cross country trip to Colorado 
with my father.  As much as I love the splitty buses, I will be the 
first to admit the baywindows are better suited for long distance 
driving (Man, I miss my '77 Chrome Yellow Westy.  The girl I sold it 
to sent me pictures of her with it at Crested Butte(sp?) over 
Christmas.).

My dad wasn't the best father in the world.  Left us when I was two.  
Though I may have very little respect for him as a father, he is a 
good guy and a pretty good friend.  He realizes it was a mistake now, 
and life is too short for me to carry grudges.  I wish my sister felt 
the same way.

We were going to go elk hunting in the Durango/Cortez area (at least 
he was going to hunt...  I was going to photograph/hike.  I haven't 
killed anything in years.).  Late in the summer, he had an accident, 
hurting his back.  Maybe we'll get another chance.  So now I had a 
'68 Westy I had bought solely for the trip and the trip was off.

Being mostly a Split Screen bus lover I didn't know what to do with 
the bus.  I thought I might want to keep it, so I bought a used 1600 
dual port from a friend's roomate.  Engine had only a few thousand 
miles on a rebuild when he got hit by someone.  The '69 bus it was in 
was totalled, but he kept the engine since he thought he would be 
getting another bus.  He kept it in the basement of his house for a 
couple of years.  He'd partially dissassembled the engine to sell the 
heads to another friend, but backed out on the deal.  He told me that 
he would take $420 for the whole engine.

I loaded up my tools and bench test equipment in my '59 single cab 
and went over to his house.  I re-assembled the engine, and hooked it 
up to the bench test stuff.  After changing the oil, adjusting the 
valves, setting the timing, and priming the fuel pump and carb it was 
time to start it up.  Cranked on the third try.  Let it warm up a 
little and then checked the compression.  It was pretty even, from 
132-136psi.  I gave him $420 and he helped me load it in the back of
my truck.

I got home and installed the engine in the '68.  Didn't do a "proper"
job, as it needed part of the engine seal replaced and I didn't hook 
up the heater box cables.  I just needed to get the engine in it so I
could drive it to one of the places I store my vehicles (I only have 
space in the yard for 6 or 7 buses, and I prefer to keep as many 
splits at home as possible!).

Fast Forward Six Months

After Christmas I realized that the '68 Westy and a '66 Hardtop Deluxe 
were not buses I needed/wanted and decided to sell them.  The '66 went 
quickly as it was a pretty straight & solid bus (not to mention I 
priced it too low, but the guy was in the local bus club...).  I 
offered the '68 Westy up to the list and almost immediately got an 
inquiry from Ken in Memphis.  I sent Ken some pictures and he in turn 
sent $100 earnest money.  A deal was struck.

The next step was finding a way to get the bus to Memphis.  It just so 
happened that I was supposed to be going through Memphis on my way to 
Little Rock to pick up a '56 23-window with a friend within a couple 
of weeks.  My plan was to deliver the '68 Westy then.

The first attempt to go after the '56 was the weekend of the "Blizzard
of '96".  The postponed trip which I was to deliver the '68 on was met
by the "Blizzard of '96, Part II".  So we set up another attempt, this
time shot down by the seller of the '56 having a death in the family.

Ken wanted his bus, I needed my money, so I decided to drive the bus 
to Memphis and fly back last weekend.  I drove the bus to work on 
Thursday.  I had not driven it since I had replaced the steering 
column and rekeyed the ignition switch to match the door locks.  
Somehow I had shorted out the line to the coil & it wouldn't start.
So I went in the house and got two 3' lengths of wire and hot-wired 
it (if you don't know how to hotwire one, I'm not going to tell you).

That day the bus seemed a bit underpowered and didn't want to idle 
right.  When I got home, I changed the oil and cranked it back up.
It still didn't want to idle right so I shut it down.  I looked in the 
engine compartment and noticed there was no gas in the fuel filter.

Hmmm...  Go to the oil bucket and sure enough, the oil I had drained 
smelled of gas.  Bad fuel pump.  Upon closer inspection I noticed not
only was the fuel pump bad, it was the wrong kind.  Engines with 
alternators have a shorter fuel pump that angle.  So I go to FLAPS to 
get a proper fuel pump and pump rod (the rod is shorter, too).  He has 
the pump, but not the rod.  After going to the third FLAPS I finally 
get home with the pump & rod.  Spend Thursday night changing the fuel 
pump (did I mention things were getting cold down here in the south?
The temp was in the 20's as I was doing this).

Friday morning was cold.  I look outside & the ground was covered with 
snow.  I knew it would snow, because this was the day to drive to 
Memphis.  I change the plugs, adjust valves and points, then go on in
to work.  I hoped to get off work at 3 to leave for Memphis, but had to
work until 4.

I wanted to got to Memphis via a southern route due to the weather (not
to mention the hills between Chattanooga and Nashville.  A friend of 
mine lost 4th gear on the long climb up to Monteagle (sp?) a couple of
years ago on our way to Buses by the Arch).  This meant going small 
highways, which is fine by me, except you have to stop in a lot of small 
towns.

This proved to be a blessing as I was going through No-wheresville, AL.
As I was driving along I caught a glimpse of a split crewcab beside
someone's house.  Turned around to talk to the owner and 30 minutes 
later it belongs to me.  The PO insisted it was a '61 even after I 
explained to him that the 12 12 1 on the vin plate meant it was 
produced December 12, 1961.  I pointed out the '62 features like the 
fish-eye front turn signals and the '62-71 rear lights, but he would 
not be swayed (except for the swaying he was doing as he was trying to
stand.  He was drunk as a skunk.  Said it was his birthday...).

Onward to Memphis

After dark I stopped to get gas.  It was cold. The high Friday was 
somewhere in the 30's and it was already back into the 20's.  About an 
hour after dark, I took my foot off the accellerator and the bus didn't
slow down.

Hmmm... that's odd... I don't remember this bus having cruise control.
I turn on the light and see the pedal is bent over to the right.  I 
reach down to straighten it and it comes off in my hand.  This is not
good.  I pull over.  The pin on the left side of the pedal had snapped 
off the floor.  Here I am in the middle of No-where, AL (actually a 
couple of hours west of No-wheresville, AL) with no accellerator pedal.

The accellerator pedal is an amazing piece of simple engineering.  With
the pedal in proper working order, with it's fixed hinge, there is only
one direction the acellerator rod can move to function with the pivot 
and accellerator cable.  Take away the fixed hinge of the pedal and all
hell breaks loose.  Without that fixed hinge in the equation, the rod 
can in addition to up and down, move fore to aft, side to side, and any 
combination of the above.

I manage to finally get the hang of it and continue on (with over 200 
miles left to go).  If you want to have some fun, take your pedal off 
and try it...  go on...  I dare you...

My original plan was to drive straight through 10 hours after a 6 hour
workday and sleep in Ken's driveway.  Yeah, rriigghhtt...  At 11pm the
temp was about 12 degrees and I had enough.  I decided to splurge and 
get a room with a warm bed in Tupelo.  Unplanned expense, but I was 
freezing my ass off!

The next morning I go out to the bus, and it won't start.  Too damn 
cold and the battery may have a dead cell.  I have to push start it.
By myself.  Pushing it back out of the parking space I push in part of 
the nose of the bus (hope it pops back out).

Back on the road and 2 hours later arrive in Memphis at Ken's house.
His family comes out to give it the once over twice.  His two girls 
love it and climb up into the cot in the poptop.  They were ready to 
go camping, but Ken explained it might be a *little* cold for that.

It was between 10:30 and 11:00 and we had a few things to fix before 
my plane left at 3:00pm.  

First: accellerator pedal
Go to hardware store to get hinge.  Go to Muffler shop & try to 
explain to "Goober" we need part of the hinge cut off and then 
welded into bottom of accellerator pedal, keeping the same geometry 
of the original pivot.  After about the third time he finally gets it.
Says it will take at least 30 minutes so we run across the street to 
get lunch.  We come back, it's done and I ask how much.  "Goober" 
wants to play games.  "How much is it worth to you?"  I said I don't 
care, how much?, and he says $10.  I pay him and we leave.

Next: change ignition switch
It was after 1pm now and it was a race against time.  We pulled the
steering wheel and I began unwiring the turn signal.  After I finished
that, I pulled the outer steering column.  I got the replacement 
steering column and began threading the turn signal wires through it. 
Put the column in and began wiring everything back up.  The only 
electrical that was not working before this was the front emergency 
lights, and I figured that out when I was putting it back together.  
We test the signals and everything works but the right rear.

Next I had to replace the wire from the ignition switch back to the 
coil.  Threaded the wire from back to front through the frame and made 
the connections at front & back.  Turn switch and power works but no
starter.  I remember taking the switch wire off the starter when I 
hot-wired it and crawl under the bus to reattach it.  Turn the key 
again and starter turns right over.

It's after 2:30 and my flight leaves at 3:10.  I ask Ken if he can 
put the headlight and emergency flasher switches back in as well as
reattach the steering column to the dash.  He says yes and we make a
mad dash for Memphis International.  We arrive at 3:10.  I am held up 
at the metal detector and they get the wand out.  Next time I've got
to bring other shoes.  Steel toe work boots set it off every time.

Thankfully there was a flight delay and I did make my flight.

There are still a few wrinkles Ken & I have to work out, but I think 
all in all this was a good transaction and proof that the list is 
beneficial in these kind of deals.

Turns out I will be going next week to pick up the '56 & Ken & I will 
complete our business together then.

Dave

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
* 59 DD Panel, 59 Single Cab		     Dave Easterwood		*
* 60, 66 & 69 Westfalias, (2)62 Crew Cabs    deasterw@st6000.sct.edu	*
* 65 Kombi, 65 Sundial Camper		     deasterw@mindspring.com	*
* (58-61?) Hardtop Deluxe Bus		     61 Deluxe Beetle		*
* 62 Hardtop Deluxe Bus			     64 Type 34 Karmann Ghia	*
* 63 & 64 21 Window Deluxes		     74 Thing		     	*
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------