

| Subject: | past weekend's vanagonry |
| From: | Allan Streib |
| Date: | Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:33:15 -0400 |
Finished painting the fuel tank. In total, two coats of rust-oleum primer, two coats of regular rust-oleum (black), and a final spray coat of 3M rubberized undercoating. Before I reinstall the tank, I'm going to wire-brush and POR-15 any spots above the tank area. Should be very minimal, based on what I saw when I dropped the tank. I'm also going to put in a new throttle cable, since the little rubber accordion seal at the engine end is torn. I successfully repaired the nipple I snapped off of on one of the fuel expansion tank vent valves using JB Weld, and a short length of 5/32" brass tubing from the local hardware store as an interior "splint". This tubing was nearly a perfect fit; a tiny bit tight so I reamed out the plastic with a 5/32 drill bit first to reduce the risk of splitting. The expansion vent valves themselves were pretty gummed up so I cleaned them with aresol carburetor cleaner, which did a nice job. They move freely now. On the interior front, I replaced the rear heater valve "O" ring which was leaking. I used some Permatex Red gasket sealer spray on the O ring before putting the flange back together, and then cleaned the carpeting under the seat with the Hoover hot-water cleaner. Hopefully I will now have non-smelly heat this winter. I repaired the severely cracked top of my AC ductwork with some galvanized sheet metal from the hardware store. This is sold for use in residential HVAC ducts; it's pretty thin stuff but on the plus side it's very inexpensive, and easy to bend to fit. I cut out the cracked plastic and replaced it with a section of the sheet metal, fastened with #8 screws and speed nuts, and RTV silicone all around the perimiter. I then sealed up the minor cracking on the lower half of the ducting with JB Weld. The hardest part of getting the ducting back in place was feeding the power connector for the passenger-side illuminated vanity mirror back into the ceiling. For some reason it just would not fit -- I was nearly ready to just cut it off and then finally it slipped in. Allan -- 1991 Vanagon GL -- 1991 Vanagon GL
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