At 12:23 PM 14/12/97 -0500, Joe wrote:

>   The second problem is snow had jammed under the van
>   so thick I could not shift anymore. I think I will
>   try the shifter update to fix this problem. Last
>   after the snow under the Vanagon started to melt,
>   on the way home, I noticed the idle going faster
>   and faster. Finally I had a suicide cruise control!
>   Pulled over and found a larger mass of ice hanging
>   on the accelerator cable, above the driveshaft. I
>   think the fix here maybe to reroute the cable closer
>   to the floor. This will allow the heat from the floor
>   to melt the ice on the cable also.
>
>
For anyone who is going off the beaten track with a vanagon synchro, there
are a couple of areas you need to protect.

Mud, snow, stones are thrown against the rear crossbar of the frame. Snow
tends to accumulate on top of the forward driveshaft and attach itself to
the various cables running overhead. In addition coolant pipes as well as
the oilfilter are at risk when travelling on gravel roads.

I installed an aluminium pan which is attached to the longitudinal bars of
the frame and completely encloses the driveshaft - around the "synchro
frame" - as well as the coolant pipes crossing on the right rear. In
addition I bolted a metal casing (a cut from a large metal pipe) onto the
additional frame just before the oilfilter. (I remember looking at my
oilfilter after extended gravel travel; the paint had been stripped off and
several dents from stones were visible.)

Bj�rn