Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 17:46:13 -0800 From: Charlie Ford Subject: The Mothership's Mid-trip Checkup The Mothership's Mid-trip Checkup As I posted last week, I have been working at Dougs VW here in Seattle the past couple weeks. Actually I should say "going to school at Doug's VW". Tobin Copely, Jack Maynard and a couple others can attest to my lack of knowledge concerning the operations of the bus we all call home. In fact that very same lack of knowledge has at times almost driven me to tears. When something went wrong I didn't know how to fix it, or at least didn't have the confidence to fix it. This "is" my first water-cooled driver. Over the past couple weeks I have gained more of that needed knowledge and confidence. I have learned that patience and easy pace are essential to working on one of our magnificent machines. I have found that tender loving care is also needed, at least a gentleness of spirit. Another thing that helps is cussing. A good swear word every now and then barked with just the right amount of anger does much to release the pent up frustrations brought on by the ever popular busted knuckle. On Friday when I got to the shop, Doug said "hey, we don't have much to do today, why don't you just work on your bus." I made sure there was a slack schedule and agreed I and the Mothership could use the time together. One thing I knew I needed was new CV Boots. When I met Steve Dolan a few weeks ago he gave a workshop in Michael's Garage on the dismantling and re-assembling of the boots, so I figured "what the hell!". I commenced to pull the Mothership into the operations room. I set the lift arms to the right calibration to gently lift her into the air, and injected the air to the lift. Up she went, in all her glory. The underside of her looked almost as clean as the topside. But then she is The Mothership. Doug gave me the general drill of what to look out for and the proper sequence with which to drop the axles. I got out the air tool and went to work, unbolting and spinning to get the next hold. I extracted both with great ease. I felt as if I were a great musician in the middle of a muse that for some reason was making me flow like a skater on ice, driving me to the next plateau. I was poetry in motion.. But then it could have just been all the damn grease that was smearing from one end of my arm to the other, dripping on the floor like chicken dookie. What a bloody mess!!!!! Doug laughingly then instructed me to break em down. I said OK, so I commenced, I waded into the mud, the blood, and moly-molybdenum with a vengeful eye toward slippery destruction. I knew not what pitfalls I would encounter, but this is where life's fate had led me, so forward I pressed, slipping and sliding like never before. All the while trying to listen to the conversation of the shop, Doug was talking about religions of the world and another guy was talking about the blond next door. I was torn between the two. Finally I got the axles and CV Joints down to nothing but balls and rings. Some of them were "Blue Balls". This I recognized as being bad, simply by virtue of being male (you guys know what I mean), and the fact that heat makes things turn blue which crystallizes the metal and that is when things break. Hmmmmm..................................never mind. ; ) Doug looked at them and said "its gonna cost you abit more than boots, you need to get new CV Joints. He showed me heavy pitting on each one, he re-iterated my thoughts about "Blue Balls", he told me about the realities of driving with such bad parts in ones car. He went and ordered the joints.. There were many questions in my mind, How much would this cost? ...............Is there any way around it?............What role does this chain of events play in the development of a tadpole to a frog......but then I kicked that one out because it wasn't a priority right now. How much would it cost? The horror...the horror! I decided immediately that I needed to continue working. I sat on the little snap on roll around chair and started scoping the underside of this magnificent lady. I saw that much clutch cable bracket was broken. I showed it to Doug and he said he would get me another one from the back. I took the old one off, put the new one on, and re-adjusted my clutch cable, therefore re-adjusting my clutch. I ventured onto to more scrutiny. I looked the front beam side to side, top to bottom. I located each grease fitting and wiped it off. I reached over pulled out the pneumatic grease gun and filled each one until a small amount of the slick substance oozed from her joints. I swear I think I heard her sigh. I went back and took a look at my rear brakes. I adjusted each one until it was tight then turned them back three notches. I spun the wheel, feeling its tension. I replaced each little dust cover on each hub. In the process of doing this I found out that I also have quick release hubs, a high speed tranny, and all the little dust covers that seal the rear hubs from road grime. Cool Eh!@!!! I rolled up the front. I took both tires off and viewed my pads. Both looked in very good condition. I checked the fine rotors that I received from Chris Chubb. Wow, what a guy! Hope your doing well Chris. I adjusted my emergency brake cables, I checked my tranny oil, I waited on my CV joints and boots. The joints arrived at about 3:00 PM. I still didn't know the cost but they were here so I got ready to get down with the task at hand. I jumped in both feet first, the problem with being so anxious is that I hit a spot of spilled chicken dookie grease and fell, after picking myself up I continue much more subdued than before. I cleaned up my axles and laid the aside. I ascertained which side of the joint was to be inside (the side with the groove for the cup of the boot), and commenced. I packed the outer side of the joint with the provided tube of grease, slid on my boot, then the seating ring, then the joint, then the circle clip that can be a bitch if you don't have the right tool. The first set were a bit stubborn, I had to take to it with the brass hammer. If it don't fit, get a bigger hammer! I was successful in this endeavor. I mounted it on the Mothership. One side done, one more to go! The second set was easy livin'. They went on the axles with just a minimal amount of effort. I mounted it. Now call me silly, but new CV Joints and boots look damn good under a VW bus. They make her shine even more than she already does, in my eyes at least. I went in to the office to pay the price. Doug owed me a check for the week so whatever it cost was coming out of that. He had paid me $325 the week before, and my internet past due bill of $290.00 was what that check was for, and the subject of this story was what this check was for. He charged me the wholesale price for the joints, $62.00 each, brand new, and gave me a check for $50.00. Hey, I feel OK with that. I lowered her down from the rack and drove her backwards. I put her in forward and headed off down the road for the test drive. Man, what a difference! She steered tighter, rolled better, and torque much more smoothly than before. Over the weekend I put a third brake light on her, and today I did a compression check. The results were #1= 110, #2=115, #3=110, #4=125 lbs of compression. That is within specks I believe. Tomorrow I am changing my oil and packing her up. I am going over to visit Matt Zipeto, and Craig Standley, and Ron Lieberman, then I am outa town. In eastern Oregon I will see Jim Arnott, then on across eventually getting to Nova Scotia and down the east coast. probably sometime around December. Ya'll say a prayer for me now. Drop me a line when you can. This bus has brought me some rough miles in the past 6 months. I am glad to be blessed as being the present owner. I will be leaving Seattle on this Wednesday and will be heading over to Denver. I plan on moving back here to Seattle when my trip is finished, but for now I have to make full circle, that was the goal in the first place. The Mothership is ready and so am I. Thanks for tolerating my ramblings, Charlie Ford "79" Transporter, dressed for the road The Mothership The"Turning 40 Nostalgic VW Service Tour, and Search for the Beginning of Wind". http://www.armory.com/~y21cvb/charlie/charlie.html "Wider still and wider.....shall thy bounds be set"