...Jeff, tks for crushing my paranoia. haven't read Stephen's tale but have probably been living it for years of German cars. then I got a Vanagon deliberately ! seriously tho, the grommet/sleeve will help to delay speaker replacement. thanks for surviving and sharing ...drive happy...

--- On Mon, 11/21/11, J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET> wrote:

> From: J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
> Subject: When little Jobs Go Wrong
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Date: Monday, November 21, 2011, 9:56 AM
> OK, so my story isn't nearly as bad
> as Stephen Grisanti's recent exhaust work which resulted in
> pulling a head, but a PITA just the same. The problem: Left
> front speaker cuts in and out plus poor sound quality
> despite being a nearly new Sony 3 1/2 speaker modified to
> fit stock enclosure. The cause: original puny gauge speaker
> wire brittle and cracked in several spots. So, I decided to
> rewire both front speakers. Now the original wiring was run
> through rubber grommets and tubes from the doors into the
> dash area. I'm thinking maybe it is unusual for these
> grommets/tubes to still be in place because I swear I do not
> remember my two previous Vanagons having them in place. They
> made it a real pain to fish new 18 gauge speaker wire
> through, especially on the drivers side but I managed to get
> it through. I had to disconnect and move the instrument
> cluster out of the way to get the wires routed on the
> drivers side. Upon re-installing the gauges, the red "
> Brake" and "Seat Belts" lens pops off and falls into the
> nether regions of the dash. Now I had to pull the gauge
> cluster completely out to search for the lens-I never did
> find it. I remember my spare cluster down in the basement
> and luckily that one still had the lens. Put the gauge
> cluster back in and turn the key-now my oil light does not
> light up (it had before) <sigh> This was supposed to
> be an hour long job at most!! Try my spare cluster and the
> oil light works. Finally, FOUR HOURS later, I have it all
> back together, except now the oil light isn't working again.
> And the speakers? Well, no more cutting out, but the sound
> quality still isn't that good. Frustrated, I decide to go
> for a motorcycle ride and salvage whats left of my Sunday
> afternoon. I get the bike out and clean it up, go in the
> house and put on all my gear and take off-within 1/2 mile it
> starts to rain. Its a good thing no one stopped yesterday
> and asked me "Hey, is your van for sale?" (which I do get
> asked from time to time) Jeff
>
>
>
>
> Jeff Stewart
>