hi folks

I've been off the list for about 9 months now (busy, busy) but
since I've made it back home and am jobless I have plenty of time.  So 
far this summer I've made it from Canada, (Manitoba, Ontario) to Mexico
(Texas bordertowns) with Glenda, my '73 orange camper and back home to 
Lincoln, Nebraska again with no troubles.  Incidentally, when 
traveling on the highways of south Texas one night I was stopped to be 
searched FOUR TIMES! How's that for discrimination?  Glenda didn't 
like it much but held up fine when the contraband sniffing pups went 
through her twice.  Okay, okay, well I was searched once going into 
Mexico, once coming out (of course.. they couldn't pass up a chance at
looking through the belongings of two young boys with long golden locks
and grins on their faces), and once at a checkpoint 60 miles north of 
the border (all of which were mandatory searches).  
The fourth was when I was stopped by a trooper 10 miles from destination
Corpus Christi at 2 in the morning because my license plate l ight was 
out, and after the officer told me to have a nice evening he mentioned 
oh-so-casually, "by the way, you wouldn't happen to have any narcotics, 
machine guns, or dead bodies in your van would you?"  After I told him no
and that I'd already been searched THREE times that day, he asked if he 
could just take a look around the outside of the van.  Seeing no harm in 
the cop walking around my van, I agreed.  He disappeared behind the 
blaring lights of his cruiser and brought back a big bigdog.  Oh, well 
you didn't tell me that you had a hypersensitive, ferociously trained 
drugsniffing dog with you, I thought... what an ingenious plan.. one 
that would have even gotten me had I any unmentionables in the interior 
of the vehicle.
 So this is a warning to all of those to whom it applies, be sure to 
even turn down searches that involve cops walking around your van.  :) 
Probable cause because of a big jumping, barking, freaking-out dog... 
what a strange thing.   Luckily this wasn't the case and I continued 
unscathed with no more law enforcement problems the rest of the trip.  
 
Okay.. now for the good stuff.  There seems to be an oil leak coming 
from somewhere inside the fan housing, as smoke from burning oil makes 
it's way up from somwhere inside there.  Now is there a somewhat simple
way of getting to a gasket in there without ripping the whole engine 
apart?  Anyone ever done this before with the engine still intact?  
Please tell me the process, and what particular gasket to ask for at 
the parts store.

Next.. timing.  It seems like there was always someone else around to 
time my engine, so I never really bothered with it on my volkswagen.  
Which is more effective, static timing or with a timing strobe light?  
I've tried it statically, but the light stays on for a quarter turn of
the distributor.. what would cause this?  And this is with brand new 
points.

Fuel guage:  my fuel guage always shows that there's always half as much 
fuel as there really is in the tank.  I've already repaced the guage in 
the dash and it didn't help... I guess I'll have to replace that floater 
arm deal in the tank... unless anyone offers a suggestion here.

Thanks so much.
Scott Steffens
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
steffens@herbie.unl.edu