DIYbanter - Well, that took too long...

On Sat, 08 Jan 2011 21:09:47 -0600, Pete C. wrote:

Tim Wescott wrote:

All the times that someone said "Use Kroil, and if that doesn't work,
bang on it, and if that doesn't work heat it up good an hot". All of
which I knew, of course, but some people need the repetition to
actually go out and do something.

I found out about Kroil here about 7 years ago, ordered a gallon and
haven't looked back. Wonderful stuff.

**** The former owner -- the one who put in the 327, the Volkwagen van
seats, and the radiator from god only knows what, was obviously
convinced that he was a mechanical genius. I'm not so sure of that.

He probably was a mechanical genius of sorts, the difference being that
his goal was just to make the POS functional, not pretty.

Um, those Volkswagen front seats were held in with four or five inch long
1/4" carriage bolts, through loosely-fitting wooden blocks. And they
were half broken.

The one in the rear was also held on by 1/4" bolts, and not nearly enough
of them.

Heck, those seats didn't pass _my_ safety inspection, much less SWMBO's!

The radiator is hard mounted to the frame instead of being soft-mounted
like every other radiator installation I've seen, and the radiator frame
is pulling away from the top tank as a consequence. The fan is about 2"
away from the radiator, and there's no sign of a shroud. When the
correct radiator is put in, it'll be more like 4".

The throttle linkage would only open the carburetor about half way, and
did not do so smoothly -- I had to make a custom arm for the linkage to
get it working (it was one of the first jobs I did on my then-new
lathe). Oh -- and there was no air cleaner.

The spark plug wiring is just haphazardly draped over the top of the
engine, although it is tied back from the exhaust manifolds with some
twine.

The alternator wiring crinkles when you move it.

The emergency brake cables were completely frozen up when I got it.

None of the three revisions of the speaker installation work, and only
the last one is still installed.

Etc.

So IMHO, the phrase "thought he was a mechanical genius" just about sums
it up.

--
http://www.wescottdesign.com