On 2010-08-28, Wes wrote:
"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

As for the starter -- no pushbutton in the MGA -- you pull on
a knob which pulled a wire in a spiral steel sheath, to mechanically
close the contacts on the high current switch near the starter.

No wonder Lucas is called 'The Prince of Darkness'.

Actually -- I never had a failure of the starter contacts or
switch overall. Now the fuel pump -- that was a regular failure.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On 2010-08-28, James Waldby wrote:
On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:31:27 +0000, DoN. Nichols wrote:

[ ... ]

My MGAs had SU fuel pumps as well. If it quit on the road, the
trick to get gas to get to a safe place to start was to turn the
ignition key on and of several cycles (no steering lock so it was safe)
and this would pump enough fuel into the float bowls to drive for a
little while.

Then pull over, open the trunk and get out one half of the jack
rod, tilt the seats forward and remove the cover over the batteries (two
6V batteries, one on each side of the driveshaft), get back in, turn on
the ignition, and bring the end of the rod down smartly on the fuel pump
(behind the passenger's seat) and it would run for a while. Repeat as
needed until I could get to work or home, then climb under, unscrew the
nut securing the points cap, remove the bolts securing the toggle points
assembly, rotate a couple of turns to change the toggle point, and
reassemble. Fine for another year or so. :-) (I understand that they
later added a capacitor to reduce the burn rate on the points.)

[ ... ]

Then the article goes on to list the seven "more common problems
with SU fuel pumps" (burned and/or sticking points, stiffened
diaphragm, leakage past valves, broken pedestal, various fuel
leaks around loose or cracked parts, air leak, clogged lines)
and explains how to fix them.

Hmm ... I'm surprised that I did not experience a broken
pedestal, given the number of times I bashed the pump on its side. The
other problems (other than burned points) I did not experience -- but
perhaps because when I first rebuilt my pump I replaced the diaphragm as
well as the points. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...
On 2010-08-28, Wes wrote:
"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

As for the starter -- no pushbutton in the MGA -- you pull on
a knob which pulled a wire in a spiral steel sheath, to mechanically
close the contacts on the high current switch near the starter.

No wonder Lucas is called 'The Prince of Darkness'.

Actually -- I never had a failure of the starter contacts or
switch overall. Now the fuel pump -- that was a regular failure.

Enjoy,
DoN.

There were other cars, and aircraft, that had that kind of switch. IIRC,
that's how the starter worked on my Bugeye Sprite, too. They were reliable,
as I recall.

The first time I drove a Triumph TR3 I almost pulled the knob off the
dashboard. 'Turns out that it was a push knob. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:09:47 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:23:30 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 10:49:46 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:35:50 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:38:45 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:
former VW mechanic.

Oh, you're the guy who actually worked on 'em? I'm the guy who would
always say, with a smile "Oh, a VW? The crusher is over there."

I LOVE beetles! Well..except for the Super Beetle.

Between hearing the heads flop 1/4 inch off-seat on acceleration,
seeing a gazillion of them on fire on the side of the road, getting my
hearing reamed by their high-pitched squeals, and being in a VW van
@45 degrees in a 40knot gust on a bridge near Mountain View, CA once,
I had my fill early on, thankyouverymuch.


You are talking about badly maintained bugs. They are almost as bad as
a badly maintained Caddy or Volvo or Chevette.

Oh, I forgot to mention the rear-enders in Bugs, the 99% of owners who
didn't take their POS in to have the braked adjusted weekly, as they
needed.


While they can indeed have issues, the technology is well mature, well
documented and has improved a 1000 fold from 1939..or 69

No doubt. I haven't looked under the hood of a new Bug, and I don't
relaly have any wish to. I would like to play with one of their
diesels, though. It'd power a genset and backhoe right nicely.


But at least they gave you carbon-monoxide-filled heat during the
winter, eh?

Only on a poorly maintained one. Does your current ride ****
antifreeze on your foot from a poorly maintained heater core?

No, and I'll bet no VW you owned did, either.

But, as a subset of the population, VW drivers were always known for
their crazy driving and total lack of maintenance. Anyone who
wasn't/isn't a VW freak knows that. Only those who did their own work
kept up their Bugs at all, it seemed.

--
If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do,
we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we
cannot do. -- Samuel Butler

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:20:48 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:27:03 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:52:33 -0700, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

Buerste wrote:
Something doesn't work so you take it apart and troubleshoot all the
components. You can't find anything wrong so you put it back together
and...IT WORKS PERFECT! It has happened to me for forever but what's
going on? My latest is the icemaker in the kitchen refrigerator. I
spent hours and hours finding documents and troubleshooting. No, it
wasn't frozen-up, (the most common fault it seems) the motor worked,
the thermostat checked out, the heater passed muster. The water
valve is OK and all cleaned out. (I've replaced plenty of those in
different units over the years). Of course, I find nothing else that
could cause it to crap out so put it all back together and...it works
just fine. Go figure. I've had hundreds if not thousands of this
kind of thing, I'll bet everybody else does too!

Mechanical objects get lonely sometimes. Depressed.

Playing with their innards brings the meaning back into their life. Call it
a mid-life crisis, if you will.

Call any machine, and the chances are good, that the machinery will respond
to you.

While all of the preceeding is quite true, please be sure that you
never underestimate the innate animosity of inanimate objects.

Larry...most such objects are actually friendly! Like dogs..if you
express interest and care about their welfare..they respond nicely.
But..you have to do it on the same wavelength as they receive. And not
all machinery is the same "channel"

I've known this since I was old enough to hold a hammer and
screwdriver, mon.


Then of course.. there are the "sports".

Like evil twisted inbred pitbulls..there are a few machines out there
that only want to kill/rend/tear/****/**** and **** over the nearest
human being.

Luckliy, I've avoided most of those. Like I said, I hate VWs. gd&r


Fortunately most are not in a position to do so..but some...shrug..can
and do. And the results can be....horrific.....brrrrrrr!!

I once had such a machine in my home. A 4 slot toaster. It tried to
kill or at the very least..**** off EVERY user except one (my wife).
Like a cat..it only had one owner. Biggest problem was..there were 6
people in the house. So my wife had her very own toaster for years,
the rest of us using a modest and hardworking 2 slice toaster who did
yoemans work for us. And I/we treasured it deeply. And it knew it and
appreciated it.

Now who's forgetting history? Cats don't have owners, just staff.


Her toaster ultimately had a mechanical problem that I solved with the
proper application of a 3lb shop hammer and my big Haybudden anvil,
followed by a toss over the fence, directly into the dumpster. And I
laughed..laughed as it died!

The new replacement evidently got the word and its been behaving nicely
for a number of years now. And I still use the trustworthy 2 slice and
talk to it, celebrate it, while its toasting. And it feels good about
itself.

Ayup, that's how it's done.

--
If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do,
we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we
cannot do. -- Samuel Butler

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:03 -0400, scribed:

On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:32:33 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:



Try it in my line of work..fixing high precison machine tools..CNC.

Client will call..telling me that out of 50 parts...2 of them are .010
off..the rest are perfect. And they take 2 minutes each to run. And its
random....

So I have to watch the ****ing machines for a minimum of 100 minutes
just to see if I can catch what the hell is going on. This after doing
a mechanical checkout that takes 15 minutes minumum..then tuning the
control, pulling all that sheetmetal off, checking couplers, ballscrews
etce etc etc.

Can **** away a whole day doing that. And you cant bill the client for
all that time either.


Gunner


I feel your pain, Gunner.
Client had (still has, I believe) a standard modern CNC lathe - would
crank out 100 good parts, then 5 parts 2 thou small, then 7 parts 4
thou small, then another 2 or 3 2 thou small then 105 good ones then 1
2 thou big, and 1 4 thou big, and then another 50 good ones, then50 or
more between 2 and 4 small.

You get the picture.
Darn thing used "resolvers" instead of quadrature encoders and they
were really finicky as far as noise in the lines. We ran sheilded
cable, did all kinds of tricks with grounding, separated the feed to
the computer from the feed to the motors, used isolation transformers,
and in combination finally got it down to the point he could get 1000
good parts out of a run of 1025.

I spent HOURS on that thing, a couple hours a day, a couple days a
week, for a period of several months.
He still owes me a few hours of free machining!!!!

I am the Sword of my Family
and the Shield of my Nation.
If sent, I will crush everything you have built,
burn everything you love,
and kill every one of you.
(Hebrew quote)

Umm... Sorry to be intrusive, but did your friend ever check the
cutter or bit... Scales can always be reset, and it is normally a
tooling problem that makes bad parts. Bad bit if you are milling, or
the wrong cutter on a lathe. Just my 0.02...

Fred

On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:17:17 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:



You are talking about badly maintained bugs. They are almost as bad as
a badly maintained Caddy or Volvo or Chevette.

Oh, I forgot to mention the rear-enders in Bugs, the 99% of owners who
didn't take their POS in to have the braked adjusted weekly, as they
needed.

???? Bugs had self adjusting brakes. Only a complete yutz could drive a
post 64-66 and not have brakes.


While they can indeed have issues, the technology is well mature, well
documented and has improved a 1000 fold from 1939..or 69

No doubt. I haven't looked under the hood of a new Bug, and I don't
relaly have any wish to. I would like to play with one of their
diesels, though. It'd power a genset and backhoe right nicely.

The Jetta etc are actually decent cars, though not Bugs. Buddy of mine
takes normal maint..and has somewhere over 350,000 on his diesel VW,
nothing major to report in maint.


But at least they gave you carbon-monoxide-filled heat during the
winter, eh?

Only on a poorly maintained one. Does your current ride ****
antifreeze on your foot from a poorly maintained heater core?

No, and I'll bet no VW you owned did, either.

G Nope.


But, as a subset of the population, VW drivers were always known for
their crazy driving and total lack of maintenance. Anyone who
wasn't/isn't a VW freak knows that. Only those who did their own work
kept up their Bugs at all, it seemed.

So were people who drove Nash Ramblers home from the bar.

You really carrying a torch against the Beetle, arnt you? Someone run
over your foot or something?

I have found..in well over 40 yrs of being a licensed driver and a
number of million miles..that the VW was a decent car, better than some,
worse than others..but not much worse and only a tiny few..Volvos come
to mind....

Gunner


I am the Sword of my Family
and the Shield of my Nation.
If sent, I will crush everything you have built,
burn everything you love,
and kill every one of you.
(Hebrew quote)

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:41:47 -0400, "Buerste"
wrote:


"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
Some day Ill build up another one. Biggest problem with em was..no air
conditioning. Which sucks here in the desert.

I built one of these 30 years ago...actually I built two, one for a friend.
Most fun vehicle EVER!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VK0f...eature=related

More fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFnf17cp3Eg&feature=fvw
Much better (and quieter) than a vub dub.


--
If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do,
we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we
cannot do. -- Samuel Butler

On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:39:48 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:17:17 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:



You are talking about badly maintained bugs. They are almost as bad as
a badly maintained Caddy or Volvo or Chevette.

Oh, I forgot to mention the rear-enders in Bugs, the 99% of owners who
didn't take their POS in to have the braked adjusted weekly, as they
needed.

???? Bugs had self adjusting brakes. Only a complete yutz could drive a
post 64-66 and not have brakes.

Between then and 1970, there must have been no fewer than 10 million
of the manual adjusters out there on the road. C'mon, Gunner. All
your VW-owning friends who weren't mechanics had to pump the brakes a
dozen times before almost stopping in time. Don't you remember?


While they can indeed have issues, the technology is well mature, well
documented and has improved a 1000 fold from 1939..or 69

No doubt. I haven't looked under the hood of a new Bug, and I don't
relaly have any wish to. I would like to play with one of their
diesels, though. It'd power a genset and backhoe right nicely.

The Jetta etc are actually decent cars, though not Bugs. Buddy of mine
takes normal maint..and has somewhere over 350,000 on his diesel VW,
nothing major to report in maint.


But at least they gave you carbon-monoxide-filled heat during the
winter, eh?

Only on a poorly maintained one. Does your current ride ****
antifreeze on your foot from a poorly maintained heater core?

No, and I'll bet no VW you owned did, either.

G Nope.


But, as a subset of the population, VW drivers were always known for
their crazy driving and total lack of maintenance. Anyone who
wasn't/isn't a VW freak knows that. Only those who did their own work
kept up their Bugs at all, it seemed.

So were people who drove Nash Ramblers home from the bar.

You really carrying a torch against the Beetle, arnt you? Someone run
over your foot or something?

No, they just ****ed me off, scared me (brakes and vans) and attacked
my senses (whistling muffler tips, heads).

Oh, and Nader took his case against the Corvair but not the VW, which
had an extremely similar axle setup and likely about 10 times the
insurance claims. That's probably the largest ****er for me.

Maybe I can steer you away from this sore topic by showing you an
interesting DVD on eBay: http://fwd4.me/bOG The Culler's Reference.
g

--
If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do,
we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we
cannot do. -- Samuel Butler

On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:26:59 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:39:48 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:17:17 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:



You are talking about badly maintained bugs. They are almost as bad as
a badly maintained Caddy or Volvo or Chevette.

Oh, I forgot to mention the rear-enders in Bugs, the 99% of owners who
didn't take their POS in to have the braked adjusted weekly, as they
needed.

???? Bugs had self adjusting brakes. Only a complete yutz could drive a
post 64-66 and not have brakes.

Between then and 1970, there must have been no fewer than 10 million
of the manual adjusters out there on the road. C'mon, Gunner. All
your VW-owning friends who weren't mechanics had to pump the brakes a
dozen times before almost stopping in time. Don't you remember?

I remember 56 of them being driven by minimum wage rentacops in oilfield
wastelands and the high desert and having very few problems mechanically
with them. Most had been rebuilt to 1800s and the biggest problems were
parking brakes. The boys would run in someplace, crank the wheels and
grab the parking brakes so they could do a 180 in the dirt.

Think rentacops are VW nutz?
G


While they can indeed have issues, the technology is well mature, well
documented and has improved a 1000 fold from 1939..or 69

No doubt. I haven't looked under the hood of a new Bug, and I don't
relaly have any wish to. I would like to play with one of their
diesels, though. It'd power a genset and backhoe right nicely.

The Jetta etc are actually decent cars, though not Bugs. Buddy of mine
takes normal maint..and has somewhere over 350,000 on his diesel VW,
nothing major to report in maint.


But at least they gave you carbon-monoxide-filled heat during the
winter, eh?

Only on a poorly maintained one. Does your current ride ****
antifreeze on your foot from a poorly maintained heater core?

No, and I'll bet no VW you owned did, either.

G Nope.


But, as a subset of the population, VW drivers were always known for
their crazy driving and total lack of maintenance. Anyone who
wasn't/isn't a VW freak knows that. Only those who did their own work
kept up their Bugs at all, it seemed.

So were people who drove Nash Ramblers home from the bar.

You really carrying a torch against the Beetle, arnt you? Someone run
over your foot or something?

No, they just ****ed me off, scared me (brakes and vans) and attacked
my senses (whistling muffler tips, heads).

I detested the vans, simply because they were a pain in the ass to work
on and rather underpowered.

Oh, and Nader took his case against the Corvair but not the VW, which
had an extremely similar axle setup and likely about 10 times the
insurance claims. That's probably the largest ****er for me.

There were at least 20 times the VWs running around then there were
Corvairs too.

Maybe I can steer you away from this sore topic by showing you an
interesting DVD on eBay: http://fwd4.me/bOG The Culler's Reference.
g

Need a copy?

Im sure I have it tucked away somewhere..or can build you one from my
records

Gunner


I am the Sword of my Family
and the Shield of my Nation.
If sent, I will crush everything you have built,
burn everything you love,
and kill every one of you.
(Hebrew quote)

On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:42:12 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:41:47 -0400, "Buerste"
wrote:


"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
Some day Ill build up another one. Biggest problem with em was..no air
conditioning. Which sucks here in the desert.

I built one of these 30 years ago...actually I built two, one for a friend.
Most fun vehicle EVER!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VK0f...eature=related

More fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFnf17cp3Eg&feature=fvw
Much better (and quieter) than a vub dub.

Has a VW engine in it if you notice.

With that much underbody..the thing is like a flying wing. Kid was
pretty good though.

Gunner


I am the Sword of my Family
and the Shield of my Nation.
If sent, I will crush everything you have built,
burn everything you love,
and kill every one of you.
(Hebrew quote)

Gunner Asch on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:09:47 -0700
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Between hearing the heads flop 1/4 inch off-seat on acceleration,
seeing a gazillion of them on fire on the side of the road, getting my
hearing reamed by their high-pitched squeals, and being in a VW van
@45 degrees in a 40knot gust on a bridge near Mountain View, CA once,
I had my fill early on, thankyouverymuch.

You are talking about badly maintained bugs. They are almost as bad as
a badly maintained Caddy or Volvo or Chevette.

Sometimes, worse.

While they can indeed have issues, the technology is well mature, well
documented and has improved a 1000 fold from 1939..or 69

There are only two reasons we dont see them on the streets much anymore.

VW stopped making the Bug because they weren't selling in Germany.
When your "signature" vehicle is being outsold by a French import,
time to retire the design.

EPA regs and the simple fact VW stopped bringing them into the US. They
couldnt sell for as much as they could get for "improved" models.

They are still manufactured and run in South America and do yoemans duty
down there.

They run, and they run well. They are maintenance intensive - you
can't just run 'em and 'put them away wet'. That air cooled engine
requires that you regularly check the valve clearance. Plan on pulling
the heads every 50,000 miles and changing the valves. Of course, that
said, they have also been known to run "forever" while you wait for it
to die.
We use to outfit the busses for a drive from Tunisia to Niger.
Beef up the suspension, add an extra air filter and oil cooler, "good
to go". Being air cooled, there was no need to haul water for the
radiator.
I'd love to have a 68-72 Van, as that is what I worked on, for the
most part. "Easy" to work on, reliable. Okay, not the best for heat
in the winter, but ....

pyotr
--
pyotr filipivich
We will drink no whiskey before its nine.
It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!

On 8/29/2010 6:40 PM, pyotr filipivich wrote:
Gunner on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:09:47 -0700
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Between hearing the heads flop 1/4 inch off-seat on acceleration,
seeing a gazillion of them on fire on the side of the road, getting my
hearing reamed by their high-pitched squeals, and being in a VW van
@45 degrees in a 40knot gust on a bridge near Mountain View, CA once,
I had my fill early on, thankyouverymuch.

You are talking about badly maintained bugs. They are almost as bad as
a badly maintained Caddy or Volvo or Chevette.

Sometimes, worse.

While they can indeed have issues, the technology is well mature, well
documented and has improved a 1000 fold from 1939..or 69

There are only two reasons we dont see them on the streets much anymore.

VW stopped making the Bug because they weren't selling in Germany.
When your "signature" vehicle is being outsold by a French import,
time to retire the design.

EPA regs and the simple fact VW stopped bringing them into the US. They
couldnt sell for as much as they could get for "improved" models.

They are still manufactured and run in South America and do yoemans duty
down there.

They run, and they run well. They are maintenance intensive - you
can't just run 'em and 'put them away wet'. That air cooled engine
requires that you regularly check the valve clearance. Plan on pulling
the heads every 50,000 miles and changing the valves. Of course, that
said, they have also been known to run "forever" while you wait for it
to die.
We use to outfit the busses for a drive from Tunisia to Niger.
Beef up the suspension, add an extra air filter and oil cooler, "good
to go". Being air cooled, there was no need to haul water for the
radiator.
I'd love to have a 68-72 Van, as that is what I worked on, for the
most part. "Easy" to work on, reliable. Okay, not the best for heat
in the winter, but ....

I'm curious as to where in South America they're still being
manufactured. The Brazilian line was shut down some time in the '90s
and the Mexican line in 2003 and I was not aware that there was another one.

On Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:24:28 -0400, "J. Clarke"
wrote:

On 8/29/2010 6:40 PM, pyotr filipivich wrote:
Gunner on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:09:47 -0700
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Between hearing the heads flop 1/4 inch off-seat on acceleration,
seeing a gazillion of them on fire on the side of the road, getting my
hearing reamed by their high-pitched squeals, and being in a VW van
@45 degrees in a 40knot gust on a bridge near Mountain View, CA once,
I had my fill early on, thankyouverymuch.

You are talking about badly maintained bugs. They are almost as bad as
a badly maintained Caddy or Volvo or Chevette.

Sometimes, worse.

While they can indeed have issues, the technology is well mature, well
documented and has improved a 1000 fold from 1939..or 69

There are only two reasons we dont see them on the streets much anymore.

VW stopped making the Bug because they weren't selling in Germany.
When your "signature" vehicle is being outsold by a French import,
time to retire the design.

EPA regs and the simple fact VW stopped bringing them into the US. They
couldnt sell for as much as they could get for "improved" models.

They are still manufactured and run in South America and do yoemans duty
down there.

They run, and they run well. They are maintenance intensive - you
can't just run 'em and 'put them away wet'. That air cooled engine
requires that you regularly check the valve clearance. Plan on pulling
the heads every 50,000 miles and changing the valves. Of course, that
said, they have also been known to run "forever" while you wait for it
to die.
We use to outfit the busses for a drive from Tunisia to Niger.
Beef up the suspension, add an extra air filter and oil cooler, "good
to go". Being air cooled, there was no need to haul water for the
radiator.
I'd love to have a 68-72 Van, as that is what I worked on, for the
most part. "Easy" to work on, reliable. Okay, not the best for heat
in the winter, but ....

I'm curious as to where in South America they're still being
manufactured. The Brazilian line was shut down some time in the '90s
and the Mexican line in 2003 and I was not aware that there was another one.

Damn! You are right!

Fortunately we still have millions of Bugs here in the US, often parked
in fields, in sheds and on the street, so getting one is no biggy and
parts are still readily available.

Gunner


I am the Sword of my Family
and the Shield of my Nation.
If sent, I will crush everything you have built,
burn everything you love,
and kill every one of you.
(Hebrew quote)

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:20:48 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:27:03 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:52:33 -0700, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

Buerste wrote:
Something doesn't work so you take it apart and troubleshoot all the
components. You can't find anything wrong so you put it back together
and...IT WORKS PERFECT! It has happened to me for forever but what's
going on? My latest is the icemaker in the kitchen refrigerator. I
spent hours and hours finding documents and troubleshooting. No, it
wasn't frozen-up, (the most common fault it seems) the motor worked,
the thermostat checked out, the heater passed muster. The water
valve is OK and all cleaned out. (I've replaced plenty of those in
different units over the years). Of course, I find nothing else that
could cause it to crap out so put it all back together and...it works
just fine. Go figure. I've had hundreds if not thousands of this
kind of thing, I'll bet everybody else does too!

Mechanical objects get lonely sometimes. Depressed.

Playing with their innards brings the meaning back into their life. Call it
a mid-life crisis, if you will.

Call any machine, and the chances are good, that the machinery will respond
to you.

While all of the preceeding is quite true, please be sure that you
never underestimate the innate animosity of inanimate objects.

Larry...most such objects are actually friendly! Like dogs..if you
express interest and care about their welfare..they respond nicely.
But..you have to do it on the same wavelength as they receive. And not
all machinery is the same "channel"

Then of course.. there are the "sports".

Like evil twisted inbred pitbulls..there are a few machines out there
that only want to kill/rend/tear/****/**** and **** over the nearest
human being.

Fortunately most are not in a position to do so..but some...shrug..can
and do. And the results can be....horrific.....brrrrrrr!!

I once had such a machine in my home. A 4 slot toaster. It tried to
kill or at the very least..**** off EVERY user except one (my wife).
Like a cat..it only had one owner. Biggest problem was..there were 6
people in the house. So my wife had her very own toaster for years,
the rest of us using a modest and hardworking 2 slice toaster who did
yoemans work for us. And I/we treasured it deeply. And it knew it and
appreciated it.

Her toaster ultimately had a mechanical problem that I solved with the
proper application of a 3lb shop hammer and my big Haybudden anvil,
followed by a toss over the fence, directly into the dumpster. And I
laughed..laughed as it died!

The new replacement evidently got the word and its been behaving nicely
for a number of years now. And I still use the trustworthy 2 slice and
talk to it, celebrate it, while its toasting. And it feels good about
itself.


Gunner



That's a great story, if we could just do that with bad cops and
politicians.



http://www.lvrj.com/news/slaying-of-...-98223884.html


The victim's side is not allowed to cross examine or bring their own
witnesses to a coroner's inquest.

The above statement is true, never could figure out what only one side
of the story is good for.

SW

On Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:47:52 -0500, Sunworshipper wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:20:48 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:27:03 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:52:33 -0700, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

Buerste wrote:
Something doesn't work so you take it apart and troubleshoot all the
components. You can't find anything wrong so you put it back together
and...IT WORKS PERFECT! It has happened to me for forever but what's
going on? My latest is the icemaker in the kitchen refrigerator. I
spent hours and hours finding documents and troubleshooting. No, it
wasn't frozen-up, (the most common fault it seems) the motor worked,
the thermostat checked out, the heater passed muster. The water
valve is OK and all cleaned out. (I've replaced plenty of those in
different units over the years). Of course, I find nothing else that
could cause it to crap out so put it all back together and...it works
just fine. Go figure. I've had hundreds if not thousands of this
kind of thing, I'll bet everybody else does too!

Mechanical objects get lonely sometimes. Depressed.

Playing with their innards brings the meaning back into their life. Call it
a mid-life crisis, if you will.

Call any machine, and the chances are good, that the machinery will respond
to you.

While all of the preceeding is quite true, please be sure that you
never underestimate the innate animosity of inanimate objects.

Larry...most such objects are actually friendly! Like dogs..if you
express interest and care about their welfare..they respond nicely.
But..you have to do it on the same wavelength as they receive. And not
all machinery is the same "channel"

Then of course.. there are the "sports".

Like evil twisted inbred pitbulls..there are a few machines out there
that only want to kill/rend/tear/****/**** and **** over the nearest
human being.

Fortunately most are not in a position to do so..but some...shrug..can
and do. And the results can be....horrific.....brrrrrrr!!

I once had such a machine in my home. A 4 slot toaster. It tried to
kill or at the very least..**** off EVERY user except one (my wife).
Like a cat..it only had one owner. Biggest problem was..there were 6
people in the house. So my wife had her very own toaster for years,
the rest of us using a modest and hardworking 2 slice toaster who did
yoemans work for us. And I/we treasured it deeply. And it knew it and
appreciated it.

Her toaster ultimately had a mechanical problem that I solved with the
proper application of a 3lb shop hammer and my big Haybudden anvil,
followed by a toss over the fence, directly into the dumpster. And I
laughed..laughed as it died!

The new replacement evidently got the word and its been behaving nicely
for a number of years now. And I still use the trustworthy 2 slice and
talk to it, celebrate it, while its toasting. And it feels good about
itself.


Gunner



That's a great story, if we could just do that with bad cops and
politicians.



http://www.lvrj.com/news/slaying-of-...-98223884.html


The victim's side is not allowed to cross examine or bring their own
witnesses to a coroner's inquest.

The above statement is true, never could figure out what only one side
of the story is good for.

SW

Based on the above report...its not going to look real good for the cops
involved once questions start being asked and the facts come out.

Notice that New Orleans cops from the Katrina episode are still going to
jail for murder, conspiracy and coverup?

Gunner


I am the Sword of my Family
and the Shield of my Nation.
If sent, I will crush everything you have built,
burn everything you love,
and kill every one of you.
(Hebrew quote)

On Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:50:21 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:47:52 -0500, Sunworshipper wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:20:48 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:27:03 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:52:33 -0700, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

Buerste wrote:
Something doesn't work so you take it apart and troubleshoot all the
components. You can't find anything wrong so you put it back together
and...IT WORKS PERFECT! It has happened to me for forever but what's
going on? My latest is the icemaker in the kitchen refrigerator. I
spent hours and hours finding documents and troubleshooting. No, it
wasn't frozen-up, (the most common fault it seems) the motor worked,
the thermostat checked out, the heater passed muster. The water
valve is OK and all cleaned out. (I've replaced plenty of those in
different units over the years). Of course, I find nothing else that
could cause it to crap out so put it all back together and...it works
just fine. Go figure. I've had hundreds if not thousands of this
kind of thing, I'll bet everybody else does too!

Mechanical objects get lonely sometimes. Depressed.

Playing with their innards brings the meaning back into their life. Call it
a mid-life crisis, if you will.

Call any machine, and the chances are good, that the machinery will respond
to you.

While all of the preceeding is quite true, please be sure that you
never underestimate the innate animosity of inanimate objects.

Larry...most such objects are actually friendly! Like dogs..if you
express interest and care about their welfare..they respond nicely.
But..you have to do it on the same wavelength as they receive. And not
all machinery is the same "channel"

Then of course.. there are the "sports".

Like evil twisted inbred pitbulls..there are a few machines out there
that only want to kill/rend/tear/****/**** and **** over the nearest
human being.

Fortunately most are not in a position to do so..but some...shrug..can
and do. And the results can be....horrific.....brrrrrrr!!

I once had such a machine in my home. A 4 slot toaster. It tried to
kill or at the very least..**** off EVERY user except one (my wife).
Like a cat..it only had one owner. Biggest problem was..there were 6
people in the house. So my wife had her very own toaster for years,
the rest of us using a modest and hardworking 2 slice toaster who did
yoemans work for us. And I/we treasured it deeply. And it knew it and
appreciated it.

Her toaster ultimately had a mechanical problem that I solved with the
proper application of a 3lb shop hammer and my big Haybudden anvil,
followed by a toss over the fence, directly into the dumpster. And I
laughed..laughed as it died!

The new replacement evidently got the word and its been behaving nicely
for a number of years now. And I still use the trustworthy 2 slice and
talk to it, celebrate it, while its toasting. And it feels good about
itself.


Gunner



That's a great story, if we could just do that with bad cops and
politicians.



http://www.lvrj.com/news/slaying-of-...-98223884.html


The victim's side is not allowed to cross examine or bring their own
witnesses to a coroner's inquest.

The above statement is true, never could figure out what only one side
of the story is good for.

SW

Based on the above report...its not going to look real good for the cops
involved once questions start being asked and the facts come out.

Notice that New Orleans cops from the Katrina episode are still going to
jail for murder, conspiracy and coverup?

Gunner


Guess I'll have to look it up, no TV.

But, they won't ask any questions that the DA hasn't already approved
of. And they're buds, ya know that blue line of denial or what ever it
is called. I'll have to order a CD of this one.

The other side of the story is bound and gagged and can only observe.

Maybe they will finally fix the whole process, cause this family and
friends are gonna be ****ed when they here that it is justified.

Sept. 22 , there abouts


SW

On 8/26/2010 10:34 AM, wrote:

Oxidized connections at the connectors account for a very large
percentage of computer repairs, too. R&R connector, computer starts
working.


Used to be REAL common with socketed DIP RAM and DIP socketed
processors. Remember when virtual;ly every chip on a motherboard was
plugged into a socket????

About 20 years ago, I was ready to install a new mamaboard in a flaky
4.77mHz PC clone. I was intending to transfer the socketed RAM. As I got
my face down into it, I suddenly realized every chip on the board was
socketed, not just the RAM and 8088. I pressed all the chips fully back
into each socket and the flakiness disappeared.

My experience is over half the time when someone calls me to look at
equipment that is malfunctioning, it starts to work as soon as I get
within about 50 yards.

This is called Tech Effect. I once put my fingers on a hard drive to see
if it was humming from spinning as I turned on the 'puter. This had the
effect of Laying On Of Hands and LO! the drive returned to life.

Can I hear a Hallelujah, brethren!?!

David

"J. Clarke" on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:24:28
-0400 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
On 8/29/2010 6:40 PM, pyotr filipivich wrote:
Gunner on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:09:47 -0700
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Between hearing the heads flop 1/4 inch off-seat on acceleration,
seeing a gazillion of them on fire on the side of the road, getting my
hearing reamed by their high-pitched squeals, and being in a VW van
@45 degrees in a 40knot gust on a bridge near Mountain View, CA once,
I had my fill early on, thankyouverymuch.

You are talking about badly maintained bugs. They are almost as bad as
a badly maintained Caddy or Volvo or Chevette.

Sometimes, worse.

While they can indeed have issues, the technology is well mature, well
documented and has improved a 1000 fold from 1939..or 69

There are only two reasons we dont see them on the streets much anymore.

VW stopped making the Bug because they weren't selling in Germany.
When your "signature" vehicle is being outsold by a French import,
time to retire the design.

EPA regs and the simple fact VW stopped bringing them into the US. They
couldnt sell for as much as they could get for "improved" models.

They are still manufactured and run in South America and do yoemans duty
down there.

They run, and they run well. They are maintenance intensive - you
can't just run 'em and 'put them away wet'. That air cooled engine
requires that you regularly check the valve clearance. Plan on pulling
the heads every 50,000 miles and changing the valves. Of course, that
said, they have also been known to run "forever" while you wait for it
to die.
We use to outfit the busses for a drive from Tunisia to Niger.
Beef up the suspension, add an extra air filter and oil cooler, "good
to go". Being air cooled, there was no need to haul water for the
radiator.
I'd love to have a 68-72 Van, as that is what I worked on, for the
most part. "Easy" to work on, reliable. Okay, not the best for heat
in the winter, but ....

I'm curious as to where in South America they're still being
manufactured. The Brazilian line was shut down some time in the '90s
and the Mexican line in 2003 and I was not aware that there was another one.

As far as I know, the old Bugs are no longer made - anywhere. Not
a bad run for a vehicle originally designed in the 1930's.

pyotr

--
pyotr filipivich
We will drink no whiskey before its nine.
It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!