From Veeduber@aol.com  Sat Sep 30 01:47:02 1995
msgnum: msg16753
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 02:46:59 -0400
From: Veeduber_at_aol_dot_com
Subject: Grendel, Friday


Grendel, Friday.  Rolling.

The accelerator cable arrived as promised.  It took only a few  minutes to
install, even though it was not the proper cable.  Long enough, but with a
cast eyelet instead of the stock hook.  The eyelet is about 1/8" thick.  Add
the thickness of a bolt's head and the thing wouldn't fit.  So I wired it.
 Stainless steel safety wire, the heavy stuff.  Three wraps.  This made the
cable about 3/4" longer, causing the barrel nut on the carburetor's throttle
arm to barely catch the last bit of the ferrule on the wire.  But it works.  

I took a cautious trip around the block, came back and checked everything.
 So far, so good.

My next stop was the local VW guru and his high-powered hub puller, an
appointment made a week ago, delayed day by day until Grendel was back on her
wheels.  At his shop everyone had a good laugh over Grendelūs appearance
before the guru told one of the lads to pull the left rear drum, as if it
were no big deal.  The kid goes off, comes back with a standard bolt-on
three-arm puller, 'way too small to deal with a seriously stuck  Volkswagen
drum.  A real VW drum puller uses all five lugs.  I ask if that's the biggest
thing he's got and he thinks I'm joking, gives me a little lecture about his
quarter-century of experience, blah, blah, blah..  So I sit there for three
hours while they go at Grendel's stuck drum with heat, sledge hammers,
air-chisels and cans of WD-40.  In the end they manage to bust their 'Hasn't
failed yet' drum puller and strip out one of  Grendel's lug nuts.   Indeed,
they tried everything I had already tried, except a heavy-duty drum-puller.
  After running out of ideas and enthusiasm  the guru drifted off to answer
the phone and never came back.  His minions  maintained an embarrassed
silence as I put the wheel back on and dropped Grendel off the jack.  By then
the guru was off the phone but nowhere to be found.  It was a while before I
realized there would be no bill, that their failure was a thing to be tacitly
ignored.  So much for the local guru and his fabled high-powered drum puller.


Failure to remove the drum has pretty much played out my string.   There's
evidence the drum has been stuck for some time.  The brake shoes on that
wheel are completely worn out, the axle wobbles in all directions.   From the
motion of the stub axle it's obvious the axle must be replaced, probably the
bearings as well, but first I'll have to deal with the drum.  Drilling off
the hub is  too big job to tackle while sitting in the mud getting rained on,
especially if you don't have a drill.  But there's a philosophical factor
involved.  To abandon Grendel now is to let the bastards win and that's
something I just can't condone. 

The brakes are my biggest worry.  The master cylinder leaks and the drums are
so worn that even adjusted to maximum drag the pedal damn near hits the floor
before the brakes take hold.  That five or six inches of pedal play leaves a
sick feeling in your gut when the guy in front of you decides to stand on his
binders .  Coming down the mountains, and threading my way through LA traffic
promises some interesting times.

Grendel is still without turn signals or cabin heat. I found a 1967 VW bus
flasher unit in a local junkyard but the guy wanted $50.   I'll rewire it to
use solid-state components rather than pay fifty bucks for thirty-year old
parts of unknown condition.   Providing cabin heat will be less of a chore.
 A bit of work insulating the duct I've made from 3" aluminum vent pipe, plus
wiring the heaters on; Grendel's 'good condition' included a broken heater
control knob and rusted heater wires.

And it needs a better shifter plate.  At home, I could weld up & regrind the
old one, keep it running forever.  Up here, I've become know to all the local
junkies.  Its as if I'm walking around with 'SUCKER' tattooed on my forehead.
 Frankly, I've just about had my fill of local VW experts who gnaw on axle
nuts with a pipe wrench and go after stuck drums with a dime store
gear-puller. 

I'm tired.  I gave it a good ten hours today.  I've been away from home
nearly a month.  I'm not up to any more road-side misadventures.   But I WILL
drive this beast home

-Bob