Dim Bulbs in Speedo/gas gauge assembly

Dear Mr. Moosie,

No, I am not retired, but work out of the house.

Of the two original bulbs, one was dimmer than the other. It clearly had something going on inside beside the hefty coating of evaporated metal on the inside of the envelope. It was pretty orangey. Swapping the bulbs resulted in the brighter bulb remaining brighter and the dimmer bulb staying dimmer. Popping in two new 2.3w bulbs resulted in both bulbs being equal brightness, but it's not really as bright as I would like to see.

I'm hiring Rand McNalley to build a map of the rear of the instrument case so I will have a reasonable chance of hooking things up properly when I am done. Else pressing on the wiper washer button may result in the fuel gauge reading high.

So your dimmer actually works? I'm SO jealous! -BH

lamps too

it

Yeah. Big whoop. That plus the gas cap appear to be the only two goddamn things on this bus that DO work.

Went to replace the burned out H4 headlight bulb on the driver's side. The big chrome bezel came off fine. But one of the three Philips bolts that affix the metal ring that clamps the front of the reflector to the ring behind it had a completely stripped-out head. Nothing even close to resembling the "+" that a Philips driver could work with. Had to drill the head off. That didn't go so well, and the tab that the bolt went through got kind of, er, butchered. Now I'm in the market for the bits that hold the reflector in place.

Stupid, stupid Wonderbus.

Let me know by Saturday. I can send you one. Meanwhile a small piece of wire should hold it! Things to buy extras of: headlight screws (as you found out) distributor screws for points and for condensor, That little spring under the distributor, CV joint bolts, Instrument panel lamps(!), Speedometer cable, clutch cable, throttle cable and the attaching hardware. (On the front end of the clutch cable is a special clevis pin that eventually wears through. I prefer to replace it with a conventional 1/4" clevis pin by drilling it out slightly to fit - do that on your spare also) Look at the M.M. contraption that holds the gas pedal pieces all together... Carry spare parts for when that fails! Have you ever looked at the "hunk of canvas" that connects your steering column with your steering box? Kinda scary but the bolts should hit each other when it fails, so you won't loose all control! I also carry a small can full of odds & ends bolts and nuts with threads appropriate to VW (and now a second one with bolts / nuts with threads appropriate to Subaru!) You don't travel that far generally and if the bus breaks down where you do drive, you probably won't be in a position to work on it without risking being killed. I drive fairly long distances in places that are unlikely to have much in the way of support services / parts. I used to carry a spare starter and make sure my alternator was never more than a couple years old after rebuild or I carried a spare one. Spare distributor, fuel pump (FI), ECU, spark plugs and wires...

Anyway, now I carry one of each of the Subaru electronic sensors!

Why am I telling you this?

You are right on the verge of being fully enlightened. Once you lost the fear of pulling the engine - you now know that there is pretty much nothing that is beyond your ability to figure out. Now you've entered the "old fasteners" awareness zone. Soon you'll be replacing all the phillips head screws in your bus with allen head screws. In approximately 2 years, you will find that all the allen head screws are messed up and you will go back to phillips head screws! Another tool you should have if you don't is a hand impact driver. I was initiated to them when doing small Jap motorcycle work. You need a selection of impact bits for various sized screws. Engage bit to screw, apply some twisting motion against it, hit with hammer and the impact breaks the screw loose or breaks the screw head off - generally doesn't strip the head because of the downward force. Would not have saved the headlight screw rim tab though!

-BH

OH - Is the rubber elbow just inside the gas filler ripped? Sorry - you mentioned the gas cap!

Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@adelphia.com...

only two goddamn

driver's side.

Philips bolts

reflector to the

even close to

Had to drill

bolt went

for the bits

Not yet -- I've crawled under the front end of the bus a few times and peered at the bits there, but it is still a bunch of uniformly gray undifferentiated cables and boxes and bumps and things. I'll need to spend some time poking around up there to begin to identify things.

Yeah, short trips. Though there is pride in being able to lash together a repair with a rubber band, a clicky-top pen, and a pop-top tab (and I will always endeavor to do so if I can), the AAA card is a good fallback position. I hope that's not too unmanly.

Funny you should mention that. The other day I was messing around in the engine compartment, and then moved under the dash to futz with the wiring . . . and noticed that the bus is fast becoming a lot less mysterious to me. It has become more matter-of-fact to work on it.

Huh. I was just thinking that stainless cap head allen bolts would be just the thing. You musta read my mind. Time for the tin-foil hat.

Whuffo that happens? I use alloy and stainless allen hardware on my bicycles and never feel that they will ever mess up.

Thanx for the tip on the tool -- they don't even seem to be very expensive.

Uh -- I hope not. Though it would not surprise me, given the general ramshackle condition of this bus.

Stainless is not as strong as steel. Stainless won't rust, but in a socket head bolt the corners of the hex socket have to take about twice as much pressure as the same size bolt with a hex head. Socket heads often look nice and are sometimes necessary for space requirements, but if you expect to have to wrench on them really hard you'll be better off with a hex head.

For light duty, however, socket heads are no problem.

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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of:

hand artfully

few times and

uniformly gray

I'll need to

identify things.

breaks

position

fairly

in

lash together

pop-top tab (and I

good fallback

Once

that

to

around in the

with the

lot less

work on it.

screws

bolts would be

tin-foil hat.

hardware on my

impact

impact

be very expensive.

ripped?

the general

As usual, a plethora o' Handy Hintz.

Gotcha. Makes sense.