Date:         Fri, 8 Nov 1996 01:54:32 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         mholser@Adobe.COM (Malcolm Holser)
Subject:      Bob Hooverisms

So I'm perusing the ol' sermons web page, and I see that there is a new one on
"Tehachapi Run and Trip logs" (or vicey-versy), and Bob sounds kinda maudlin
here.  I guess some of you flamed him for being windy!  Well I just cleared out
some of my Vanagon (and type2, now)mail, 'cause my mailfile had hit 32 megs,
and my machine didn't care for it anymore.  That's since the 4th.  Of November.
This ain't 'cause the Hooverman is windy, for certain.

At any rate, I find these pages really great (mostly I find that I agree with
everything, and it makes me feel less stupid to know I've got some company!).
I painted my engine.  Black.  The other pilots thought it looked silly (this
is a Lycoming 0-360, the VW-engine-from-hell).  Now I read the sermons, and I
feel justified! (BTW, the Millenium Cylinders I paid $1000 *each* for already
came nicely painted.  Black.).

I kinda chuckled, but didn't reply, at the post from the guy who was pissed that
the lifters he got were flat on the bottom, and he went back and sorted through
a batch to find some worn ones.  I wondered when the sermon was coming, but it
didn't.  Now I read on the sermon page that people musta flamed Bob for writing
too much.  *I* don't think he could write too much.  Some of it's pretty funny,
too, as well as being useful.  I loved the sandblasting one (but I guess you
haveta have done sandblasting at a shipyard, like me to *really* appreciate it,
it much worse that he makes it out -- ships are BIG, and they smell bad, too).

At any rate, I am writing this because this lifter thing the other day reminded
me about a worn parts story, and reading some sermons reminded me...

My airplane was running pretty poorly.  It had just been through its yearly
inspection (they call these "annuals" for some reason), and the mechanic had
declared it healthy.  Another mechanic told me to check the plugs, and I pulled
them (8 on a 4 cylinder engine).  Looked good to me, nice color, clean.  They
were beautifully made, too.  The center electrode was a precise shape to meet
the two outer electrodes.  They, in turn, had their ends machined to a radius
to match the nice oval shape of the center.  I thought they looked *great*, 
and proceeded to tell the mechanic so.

Wrong!  They wear that way, they ain't supposed to be like that, despite how
nicely they had shaped themselves!  A new set of plugs, and the plane was
great!  I later learn that my first mechanic never saw a spark plug that needed
replacing -- he couldn't bear to spend the money (significantly more than
your cars ones, BTW).  My plane has really hot magnetos, and the plugs only 
last about 200 hours, so I add in another buck-an-hour to the cost of flying.
Sigh.  I fly enough that I've got alot of these nicely self-machined plugs
laying about.

Lifters are ground flat on the cam end.  Perfectly flat.  Then they are
hardened.  Reground ones usually don't get the hardening, so I always get
new ones.  They don't sit centered on the cam lobes, either, since they
are designed to rotate, and this offset is what spins 'em.  If they stop
rotating for some reason, the wear real funny (as does your case).  The
rotating and the offset combine so that the lifters get a dished appearance
when they wear.  Like my spark plugs, just cause something looks right
don't make it so.  Often, on my VW's, I have no idea what something was
supposed to look like, 'cause I've only seen mine, and it's typically worn
to a nub.  I never am sure if it's supposed to be a nub.  It's because my
busses are always old wrecks.  Like my old airplane mechanic, I'm only happy
when I get a real bargain VW, and they show it -- lots of nubs.

So there.  Flame me for being windy.  Bob: write more, and thanks.  And
correct me if them lifter bases is supposed to be nicely dished...

malcolm