Sounds like a great store!

On Dec 10, 2007 7:27 PM, Edward Maglott <emaglott@buncombe.main.nc.us>
wrote:

> I reached my destination the other day to find a pretty good trickle
> of coolant coming from the area of the coolant distributor on my
> '86.  I drove back home and parked until I could work on it the next
> day.  When I went to work on it, the engine was cold and not leaking
> and I couldn't really tell exactly where the leak was from.  I
> thought about running the engine until it leaked, but then it would
> be too hot to work on.  I needed to pressurize the cooling system and
> didn't have the gadget to do that.  Got the old noggin working and
> realized I could push air into the expansion tank cap through the
> tube that goes to the overflow.  I took out the little compressor I
> carry which has some attachments (for inflating rafts and such) that
> are cone shaped.  I put one on the pump and hooked a spare piece of
> hose to the cap.  Now I ran the pump and put the cone gently into the
> hose leading to the cap on the expansion tank.  You have to be
> careful because the pump could put way too much pressure into the
> system .  I just pushed it in briefly a couple times and let excess
> pressure come back out of the cap.  Coolant immediately began
> squirting from the leak.  So there's your tip and keep reading below
> if you want to hear some FLAPS rambles.
>
> I found that I needed a new hose "H" on
> here:  http://www.loam.org/vw/Vanagon/VWtoNapaHoses/  and called my
> local NAPA to see if they had a hose 7990.  They didn't, it would
> have to come several hundred miles and I'd have to pay shipping and
> it is 13 inches long.  The hose I need is only about 6" long.  Maybe
> you lop the extra off the 7990 and it is what you need?  Anyway, I
> decided to try  a FLAPS that is real old timey.  They have no
> computer, to look things up they use the enormous horizontal stack of
> mysterious books all combined in one big rack so that it is like a
> single 6' thick book.  There are 2 dogs and a cat roaming
> around.  Various stock that appears to date back a couple
> decades.  Only one older woman has the key to the register, and only
> opens it when there is a sale.  The younger woman looks through all
> the books for a while then takes my hose and disappears.  While she
> is gone, I notice all these cabinets of drawers in front of the
> counter.  The drawers are about 18" square and 3 or 4" deep with
> little dividers holding small parts.  They are labeled things
> like:  brass fittings, fuel line fittings, wheel studs, snap rings,
> cotter pins, etc.  While I'm waiting I count and do math and see that
> there are 240 of these drawers.  The woman finally returns with a
> hose that has a section that pretty much matches what I need.  I can
> cut off the extra part.  I take it for about $10.
>
> Edward
>

--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
Crescent Beach, BC
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/