Thank you so much for sharing your accumulated wisdom.

Please send an autographed copy of "Mein Kampf" to my p.o. box in Buenos
Aires.

F. von Klausewitz.
'37 Beetle - 370k

-----Original Message-----
From: ARKADY MIRVIS <HEATERMAN@NAC.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Wednesday, April 28, 1999 6:21 AM
Subject: Re: Shoddy German Workmanship?

>German craftsmanship? It died in 1945!
>After that it was total confusion, fear, massive infusion of foreign
>blood and foreign workers. Want proof? Go to germany and listen to the
>language - it isn't German anymore! Replaced by Engldeutsch ! Germany
>became a nation of selfmasochists ready to apologize for what happened
>and mostly of what never happened at all, and kiss the ass of any jerk.
>The joung generation still pays billions  to millions of "survivors" and
>will never follow the examle of Adolf Hitler when he threw away
>the Versailles Treaty shacles.
>The workforce is demoralized, drinking in workplace is rampant, workers
>speak all kind of languages....
>The fathers - the bearers of traditions and soldiers, the grandfathers,
>all lay in graves disgraced and hated by brainwashed sons and daughters.
>
>You want to see typical representatives of new generation - look at face
>of the Foreign Minister Joshka Fisher.
>Punks are all over. While German carries his groceries in a small bag -
>the Turks push carts. The guests shit and piss in the streets.The Kurds
>fight their war with Turks on German soil!
>What you want to see as German craftsmanship are the last remnants of
>past great tradition.
>My previous Vanagon (1984 - 15 years ago!) had a similar to yours
>problem!
>I am amazed that my highly respected mentor Hieronimus Joachim
>Hagedornus Freicherr von Kreuznach und zu Puttlitz did not suffer a
>broken heart yet!    Ark
>EMZ wrote:
>
>>     It is a common problem for the 4 corners of the speedo mount
>> (where the 4 screws go) to break. I would not be suprized if
>> there was some butcher mechanic in there trying some "plastic"
>> welding with a torch. A better fix for this is body plastic.
>>
>>             Eric                   86-VW4x4
>>             vw4x4@fyi.net          72-240z
>>             Pittsburgh, PA USA     1936-Chrysler
>>
>> On Tue, 27 Apr 1999, Mark Mages wrote:
>>
>> > I just pulled apart my instrument cluster today, and I
>> > found an interesting surprise... part of the
>> > instrument housing is melted.... one whole corner of
>> > the speedo mounting box is melted right off.
>> >
>> > I looked around in there with my flashlight, and I
>> > couldn't find any evidence of any sort of electrical
>> > fire, all the wireing & other parts of the dash seemed
>> > untouched - it looks almost like they melted it on
>> > accident @ the factory, then bolted everything in.
>> >
>> > I haven't had any electrical problems with it, and
>> > can;t see anything that might've burned...
>> >
>> > That brings up the question - the amount of damage
>> > that was done to the housing, and the speedo was
>> > untouched... that could mean a replaced speedo &
>> > possibly incorrect mileage... any way to tell 100%?
>> > all the record I have from the PO jive with the
>> > current miles, but that leaves 1.5years and 15K and a
>> > journey from michigan to Houston unaccounted for.  It
>> > never seemed an unreasonable amount of miles, so I
>> > never thought about it.
>> >
>> > Anyways, I pulled the cluster apart & cleaned the
>> > faces - WOW - taking 84K of dust & grime off makes a
>> > lot of difference... I don't recommend doing this - it
>> > isn't hard, but if you haven't done it before it can
>> > be tricky.
>> >
>> > Oh, and I inadvertently fixed my intermittant speedo
>> > problems... seems some mysterious red paint was coated
>> > around where the speedo clips in, and was preventing
>> > it from seating tight all the time.
>> >
>> > So the vanagon saga continues...
>> >
>> > ===
>> > Mark
>> >
>> > 87 Westfalia Gl
>> > 84 Scirocco 8v
>> >
>> > http://members.tripod.com/~jehanno
>> >
>> > _________________________________________________________
>> > Do You Yahoo!?
>> > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>> >