Hey Craig, glad you made it home safely.  Sorry about the spider bite
in our front yard? I'll call the exterminator today & have all them
critters done away with so other volks will still come & stay!

The last time we had a spider bite in our yard(4-5 years ago), Debbie
went into anaphalatic(sp?) shock & I had to rush her to the ER, so
glad it wasn't serious!

YMMV,

Tom-deep in the woods of SLC where the critters are mean, the women
gracious, & the vanagons welcome.

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/587482.jpg

On Aug 14, 2009, at 8:23 PM, craig cowan wrote:

> Hey guys!Well first i'd like to say how great its been driving my
> Boosting
> powered, Westfalia converted, 85 piece of crap bus these last
> 10,000 miles!
> Since May I have drive from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to Reno Nevada,
> spent a
> great deal of time there and in the surrounding areas, and have now
> made it
> safely back home to Pittsburgh PA. All this, driving alone in a bus
> i've
> "literally" built over the course of the last 5 years with list
> members help
> (I started when I was 15 years old!).
>
> My journey home was planned to be the same as my trip out. Follow
> I-80 and
> shoot for 500 miles a day, taking breaks every 100 miles or so to
> get out,
> walk around, fill up with gas, or whatever else I needed to do to
> stay awake
> (Driving alone is tiring). My first night was spent in Salt Lake
> City Utah
> at list member Tom Buses' house. Their hospitality was exceptional
> once
> again, and Bob Stevens showed up again to grace us with his
> presence and
> Subarea Powered Sincere Westy. It was great seeing these guys again
> and all
> was well other than seemingly getting bitten by a spider (Which
> subsequently
> got pretty bad somewhere in Iowa, but has since turned towards
> recovery).
> The following day I drove from Tom's to Sidney Nebraska to stay at
> Cabelas
> (it's cheap). This was my 21st birthday and I was able to celebrate
> with a
> great meal of Baked Beans, Gouda Cheese, Summer Sausage, Fresh
> grapes, and a
> New Belgium "Fat Tire" ale (Which the gentelman at the store
> insisted he
> could not sell me untill AFTER my birthday. After reminding him
> that that
> made absolutely no sense, he obliged.). So, on the morning of
> August the
> 12th I awoke to head east without a destination in mind, my goal
> was just to
> get as far as I could that day and park where I could. The
> following evening
> was planned for Peter O's in South Bend Indiana. Well my bus was
> developing
> a problem....
> See, some of you may remember that earlier in the summer after my
> trip west,
> i complained of trouble engaging 1st and reverse gear, as it would
> grind
> slightly. I later found out that this was only when the
> transmission was
> hot, from long sustained driving....as it NEVER did this while in
> and around
> Reno for 3000 miles. Well back on the road, it was doing it again....
> The problem really scared me when I pulled off for gas somewhere in
> Nevada
> (A state I hate with a great passion) and when I started again
> after the
> regular slight grind into 1st.....it was making a terrible whining
> sound
> (Which it never repeated). I immediately pulled over, let the
> tranny cool
> down for an hour, ate some lunch, and called our expert Daryl of AAA
> Transaxle. He gave me a list of possible problems, possible
> solutions, and
> some great advice, most noteably to baby the transmission starting
> in 2nd
> when possible (Always possible with the zetec) and slow down a bit
> (I was
> doing 85mph most of that day....). Well that got me home, but 65mph
> is just
> boring!
> As a result, I tried to limit my shifts and thus my stops. So my
> length
> between brakes went from 100 miles (or close to it) to 250 miles! As a
> result, I was making good time and ended up within 200 or 300 miles of
> Chicago by evening. My plans had changed.
> There was no way I could go through Chicago without first gear and the
> potential to loose second (assuming the needle bearing supporting
> the main
> shaft had gone. Hopefully not the case). I had found out on the way
> out that
> Chicago area of I80 is packed even in the middle of the day, so
> that left me
> one sane time to try to tackle it..... the middle of the night.
> So, I pressed on past where I had planned to stop for the night and
> made it
> to an area 100 miles outside of Chicago where I chose to pull off
> and grab a
> few hours of sleep. I found a busy Hotel and just slipped in
> amongst the
> cars for 3-4 hours of sleep. I awoke somewhat refreshed at about
> 3am and
> tackled chicago by 5am. With that out of the way, I was much too
> close to
> home to warrant a stop at Peter's, so I just pressed on! I ended up
> making
> it all the way home by 3pm on the 13th of August.
> I had driven from Sidney Nebraska to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania,
> alone, in a
> 1985 Vanagon pretty much non stop in just over 35 hours!
>
> Home, Transmission Problems:
> Well I found that 1st and Reverse were still there. I did grind
> into second
> once after a really hot stretch, making the transmission Guru's
> advice about
> possibly loosing the main shaft seem like a reality, but I've sense
> began to
> reconsider. It makes no noise, and works just fine when it's cold,
> which
> points to either a clutch problem (as if it's not dissengaging the
> transmission fully), a Pilot bearing problem, a fluid problem, or a
> linkage
> problem. The linkage I know to be less than perfectly adjusted, but
> this
> does not account for the randomness of the problem and the
> relationship to
> heat. The clutch, possibly? I'll have to bleed it and see if
> there's air.
> The Pilot bearing, possibly? I will save this for last, as I have very
> little interest in removing the transmission if it can be avoided. The
> fluid...
> I drained the fluid yesterday (after getting home from a REDICULOUS
> day of
> driving) and found it wasn't "terrible". It was dark, as I expected
> it to
> be, but it was like looking at used motor oil, if you don't see
> metal in
> suspension, the color is fine. There was no metal in suspension but
> there
> was some stuck to the drain plug. Not a TON, it wasn't looking like a
> magnetic toy with hair growing from it, but it had some. It didn't
> contain
> needles or large chunks of bearings, so I don't think it's much
> indication
> of anything other than wear from grinding. I put new fluid in using
> the
> valvoline Synthetic that I had available to me and figured "well if
> $25 in
> fluid fixes it.... that would be nice". So far around town it
> shifts MUCH
> nicer. I have had no trouble with engaging any gear and while I
> haven't
> gotten the transmission very hot yet, it seems to be improved. It's
> possible
> my fluid was just low. I'm going to measure out what I drained out
> tommorrow.
> In the next few days, I'll be throwing some highway miles on it and
> testing
> again and again (After bleading the clutch). I am hoping I don't
> need a new
> transmission at this point, it's not exactly in the cards right
> now....
>
> Well the final report:
> I drove 10,000 miles this summer, living out of a VW bus of my own
> build for
> 3 months. It's been a blast.
> I have stories and pictures from far away. I've met some incredible
> people,
> pursued some great dreams, and just lived and loved life. I thank
> you all
> once again for the parts you've played!
>
> Sincerely,
> Craig Cowan
> '85GL turned WESTY
> BOSTIG in the back
> Slept in a bed for the first time in 3 months yesterday!

Tom Buese
tombuese@comcast.net