Date:         18 May 96 13:43:50 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Linda J. Bartnik" <76065.3075@CompuServe.COM>
Subject:      brakes & valve cover gaskets

Hey all,
Well, today I decided to get grungy and see if I could figure out what was with
my brakes.  Variable pedal height, etc.

Well, started with the left right rear drum.  Undid the lug nuts, jacked the car
up, took off the tire.  Saw the two little bolts that hold the drum on but
remembered folks on the list who said it wasn't going to be that simple

It WAS that simple!  Bolts came out easily and drum slid right off!  Wow, I was
impressed.  I was dismayed, however, to see the plate that the lug studs are
part of almost completely blocking access to all the brake parts.  I was worried
that I was going to have to remove that axle nut anyway.  Of course, none of the
manuals mention this thing.

well, I decided to see what I could do, took off the small return spring to free
up the brake shoes a little and tried to tap out the adjuster stars to lube them
because those puppies are frozen.  The PO had driven around for some time with
the rubber plugs missing.  I could not tap them out.  They're in there
permanently it seems.  So what I did was hand turn out the threaded thing that
each shoe sits in until I could just get the drum on.  Worked pretty well, put
it all back together.

Did the other side, which came off just as easy.  Beautiful!  My theory is that
I will still be able to get the drums off next time because by then the brake
shoes will have worn down a bit.  Unfortunately, I was not able to free any of
the adjusters so it looks like I'm going to be adjusting my brakes the hard way
from now on :( .

Anyway, pedal feel is greatly improved and the parking brake works much better
too.  No more variable pedal height.  Whew!

While I was grungy I decided to do the valve cover gaskets, which were leaking.
Went out to the import parts store which was closed, so then went to Advance
Auto Parts.  Asked if they had 'em, guy looked 'em up on the computer and went
and got 'em, coming back saying, "Yeah, we've got some and they've been here for
a good long time."  Box looks pretty old, is a company by the name of Fel-Pro.
$2.99 for the pair.  Not too bad, I guess.  Box was so old that there was no UPC
on it!  Anyway, inspected the gaskets and they looked ok, so I bought them.

Went back, got under the left side and started to flip the bail up when it
started to look like that was not the right way as it bumps into the cooling tin
before it gets to the top.  Try to flip it back down and have a REALLY hard time
(must be the wrong way Steve :) ), so I go do the other side.  Flip it down,
easy as pie, and pull the valve cover -- down is the right way :) .  Pull out
the old, clean everything up real nice, put in the new and replace.

Go back to other side where some grunting and cussing and grabbing of the bail
and pulling it down while at the same time pulling myself up to the bottom of
the car gets it back to center.  Couldn't get the screwdriver in to flip it
down.

Finally got it down and r&r'ed the gasket.  Started car and checked for new
leaks, couldn't find any.

I checked the pushrod tube seals and they appear to not be leaking much at all,
so I'm gonna wait on those for a while.

Thanks for the answers everybody,
Sean