TULZ - Part Two
Veeduber
This is gonna come as a shock to a lot of folks but automotive
engineering is not subject to the democratic process. Just because all
your buds are doing something don't make it right. Jumping on the
Internet and conducting a poll for the 'best' engine won't work.
Access to VALID information is a more serious problem than most
people realize and one that is going to plague you all your life so listen
up. Are you familiar with the classic 'bell-shaped curve'? (Then lookit
up.) If Volkswagen owners took a test about their vehicle you'd end up
with a classic distribution curve. The kiddies would be down on the idiot-
end and the experienced mechanics would be up on the expert-end and
everybody else – two-thirds of the total – would be lumped in the middle.
Now here's the problem: Virtually ALL of the information you're going to
run into is aimed at the lower slope of that curve, at the naïve,
inexperienced people.
Here's an example. Volkswagen of America offers an 'Official Service
Manual' for their air-cooled vehicles. It is in fact an ABRIDGEMENT of
the REAL manual. In the 'Official' manual they shyly caution you to not
put much faith in the manual but since kiddies only look at the pictures
the warning goes unnoticed. ( '…be especially careful about proceeding
with any specific task on the basis of the information in this Manual.'
Section 1, Part 5 of the Official Service Manual [VW Part No. LPV 997
164] )
Another example is the late John Muir's ever-popular "How to Keep Your
Volkswagen Alive – A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the
Compleat Idiot." Unfortunately, John was a better philosopher than a
mechanic. His manual is larded with hilarious gaffes, some of the
'procedures' will cause damage to your vehicle and a great deal of
information simply isn't there, such as how to overhaul your carburetor or
transmission. Trannys are actually easier to work on than engines and
rebuilding the Solex carb is a classic no-brainer, a task well within the
scope of any nine-year old.
John's manual serves to demystify the art of automotive mechanics and
the book is well worth the read, for the artwork if nothing else. But don't
put a lot of faith in it when it comes to technical accuracy.
The better manuals lack the sugar coating of the Idiot book and are more
complete than the 'official' abridgement. Probably the best all-'round
manual for the bug and Ghia is the Haynes book, their #159. It is
certainly the most cost-effective and most widely available.
If you plan to do your own engine overhauls you should also hold a copy
of Tom Wilson's excellent "How to Rebuild Your Volkswagen Air-Cooled
Engine."
If your ride is a bus, Ghia or convertible, there are books devoted to
those as well.
One source for most of these manuals is J.C.Whitney. If you're not on
their mailing list you probably should be. Most of the after-market
suppliers also carry manuals although they don't often mention that in
their ads in the magazines.
You can't maintain your vehicle without the manual any more than you
could take a history class without a textbook. In learning to maintain and
repair your Volkswagen, the manuals become your textbooks.
I shouldn't have to tell you that you need a manual but there is good
evidence that many Volkswagen owners disagree, relying instead on
magazine articles, their peers and the Internet for such information.
That's as dumb as it is dangerous. The infomercials in the magazines
are long on hype and thin on technical accuracy, and as this Newsgroup
clearly illustrates, the most commonly held Conventional Wisdoms are
generally wrong. ( The –009 is a good idea, right? :-)
The wiser course is to take such 'popular' information with a grain of salt
until you can test it against reality. (And that includes mine. Think for
YOURSELF!) Be especially wary of data offered by someone trying to
sell you something. Volkswagen built over twenty-two million air-cooled
vehicles. Most of the people offering you advice hasn't built even one.
(As a point of interest, Volkswagen of America is not a manufacturer.)
Once you've acquired your manuals the real work begins. You must
actually READ them. No Cliff Notes. No 'repair by consensus.' This is
especially difficult for American youngsters because the present-day
educational system does not teach students HOW to learn a subject.
I learned mechanikin from my grandfather and my dad and from fellow
mechanics, including some wonderful German fellows who worked at
Deet Eichel Volkswagen in Modesto, California. They were my mentors
and my apprenticeship lasted about ten years. By the time I was sixteen
I was a very good electrician, a pretty good machinist, a competent
weldor, and a fair mechanic. That was more than forty years ago and I'm
still learning. You obviously have not enjoyed my advantages; you would
not be reading this if you had. But some portions of the path I followed
are still available to anyone wishing to make the journey.
Have you ever seen a gasoline-powered washing machine? They are
still common in much of the world and were the standard in rural America
until the 1930's, some remaining in use well into the 1950's. I thought
they were marvelous things. Not the washing machine, the little kick-
start one-cylinder engine that powered them. By the age of nine I was
an accomplished small-engine repairboy :-)
If you're a total greenhorn when it comes to cars, tools and getting
greasy, it might be a good idea to step back and get yourself a copy of
the Haynes (or other publisher) manual for small engines, the kind you'll
find on a lawnmower. The reason for this is because a one-cylinder
lawnmower engine has about 85% of the 'DNA' in your Volkswagen
engine. Same poppet valves, same Otto-cycle, same relationship of
crankshaft to cam, same type of carburetor and so on. The manual for
these engines assumes NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE on your part, unlike
automotive manuals that, of necessity, must start rather high up the
learning curve.
The object here is to use a free lawnmower engine to teach you how
engines work. And yes, they are free… as many of them as you want.
Just tell folks you're a student and will pick the thing up.. for free… and
they'll give them to you. Go on. Try it :-)
What happens next is kinda funny. About half of those free lawnmowers
won't have a thing wrong with them. Oh, they may need a new spark
plug or the carb might need to be cleaned but they aren't junk. Give
them a bit of TLC, sharpen the blade, run them down to your local swap-
meet and the thing is worth a twenty-five dollar bill.
The nice thing about one-lungers is that they're small. Light. You can
put down some cardboard and work on one in your dorm or on the
kitchen table. You'll need a few tools that are unique to small engines
but they aren't very expensive and can be easily resold when no longer
needed. J. C. Whitney (and others) carries them. (See their big
catalog.)
The other nice thing about one-lungers is that the knowledge and
experience you gain from them can be transferred to a Volkswagen
engine with about an 85% match.
Part Two is meant to point you toward your textbooks and to suggest a
lab project you can keep under the bed. But as with any educational
process its effectiveness is up to you. DON'T go into this thing expecting
instant gratification. That's a myth. Education is expensive and time
consuming. Budget both your time and your money. Ideally, try to make
the system pay for itself, either by the lawnmower ploy or by doing
maintenance on other people's vehicles.
-Bob Hoover
-7 April 2K
over...@freeweb.com
to write this article- very good.
in your spare time could you re-write this for the people at
misc.invest.mutualfunds. rec.boats.building could use some edumacation
too.
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jeanp...@webtv.net
jeanp...@webtv.net
John Willis
>TULZ – Part Two
>
>Have you ever seen a gasoline-powered washing machine? They are
>still common in much of the world and were the standard in rural America
>until the 1930's, some remaining in use well into the 1950's. I thought
>they were marvelous things. Not the washing machine, the little kick-
>start one-cylinder engine that powered them. By the age of nine I was
>an accomplished small-engine repairboy :-)
I have an Uncle who, as a boy way back when (oh, around the late
thirties or early forties, took these kinds of washing machine gas
engines and would mount them on bicycles.....talk about someone
devoted to driving! He hasn't stopped driving since! Of course some
would say he hasn't progressed very far...his favorite mode of
transportation??? Model A Ford!
>Part Two is meant to point you toward your textbooks and to suggest a
>lab project you can keep under the bed. But as with any educational
>process its effectiveness is up to you. DON'T go into this thing expecting
>instant gratification. That's a myth. Education is expensive and time
>consuming. Budget both your time and your money. Ideally, try to make
>the system pay for itself, either by the lawnmower ploy or by doing
>maintenance on other people's vehicles.
Hobbies should always pay for themselves.
>
>-Bob Hoover
>-7 April 2K
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Willis
jdwi...@airmail.net
Jenn
news:20000407184120...@ng-fq1.aol.com...
> What happens next is kinda funny. About half of those free lawnmowers
> won't have a thing wrong with them. Oh, they may need a new spark
> plug or the carb might need to be cleaned but they aren't junk. Give
> them a bit of TLC, sharpen the blade, run them down to your local swap-
> meet and the thing is worth a twenty-five dollar bill.
It's finally happened...The illustrious Bob Hoover, whom we all worship, has
made a mistake! Since when has the US distributed $25 bills? I'm thinking
there aren't any in circulation, if there ever has been...
Jenn
'73 Ghia coupe (Isis)
'74 Bus
audac...@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/audacity242/
Sean O'Reilly
wordy / verbose and opinionated. i'm glad to see that bob h. approves
of the haynes manual, many in this newsgroup have said it's a POS. for
about $10, it's hard to beat. it also has many VW produced diagrams &
pictures that the Bentley manual for 70 - 79 type 1's does not have.