I pulled the tin piece off Mellow Yellow's left head to install a
adapter thingie that will let a oil pressure gauge get hooked up
alongside the 1.9L's stock oil pressure switch. Drove around a few days
to make sure I didn't spring a leak under there. Yesterday I put the tin
back on.

3/4's of the way, anyway.

No matter how I pushed and shoved, the lower front bolt hole on the tin
would not line up with the hole in the block. All the other holes lined
up with little difficulty, and I made sure to leave them loose before
doing a final tighten to provide a little wiggle room. But that last
hole. It's off by 1/8th to 3/16ths of an inch.

It's like the tin changed dimensionally while unused. I didn't step on
it or anything, just cleaned it with a pressure washer which had enough
strength to push the tin around if I had felt like using it in a pushy
fashion, but otherwise seemed to have no effect on the tin piece.

I don't understand how this could happen. It is a mystery.

The unused bolt sits on a shelf -- mutely reproaching me for my
inadequacy as a mechanic.

If fear that if I do enough work on the van, the shelf will be filled
with fasteners that could not be re-attached and the van will fall
apart. Just collapse in a tangled mass of gears and sheet metal and rods
and hoses.

--
--
Rocky J Squirrel (Jack Elliott)
'84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
'74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Bend, OR
KG6RCR