life is shifty
Jul. 16th, 2019 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eorThe new van is a '84 Westy and our old van was an '84 Westy, but in a lot of ways they are different. The old van was an early '84 base model camper, which means in a lot of ways it was an '83.5. The new van is a late '84 Wolfsburg edition, which means it has lots of different bits. It has armrests on the seats. It has curtains with curtain hooks (earlier vans had curtains attached directly to aluminum rods). The early vans had a flat bench back seat, the newer have two seat shaped spaces instead of one continous surface. The poptop tent attaches differently and will be much easier to change. Even the shifter is different, which is where we begin today. The shaft for the early shifters was 12mm and the later were 14mm.
On the way home with the van (yes, I drove the van home from NH, it takes a special kind of crazy) I couldn't help but notice that the shift linkage was a nightmare of vague feedback and misplaced intentions. It was like driving a rom-com. I had rebuilt the shift linkage on the old van and seen a distinct improvement, so one of the first things on the list was a shift rebuild kit and a short shift kit. Short shift kit keeps you from having to lean over so far to shift into 3rd. I figured I'd start by installing the short shift kit because that can be done from within the van and I was putting off assuming the position (Vanagon owners #1 position, laying on back under van with legs sticking out, #2 position body bent into back hatch with head over engine compartment).
So I removed the shift knob and started to take the rubber boot off the shifter. And the whole shifter fell about 4 inches through the floor, leaving a few stray pieces of aged plastic behind. The hemisphere that made the shifter rest in the proper place was no longer a hemisphere. In fact without looking it up, I couldn't tell what shape it was supposed to be. I think the only thing holding the shifter even moderately in place for the drive home was the rubber boot. The hemisphere and the place it seated into were both toast. Those are not parts in the usual rebuild kit, so those are now on order. So much for doing the short shift.
So I moved from the front to the back of the shift linkage, by the transmission. Lot of oil and dirt back there, things get worn out quickly. Lot of oil and dirt back there, takes hours just to clean down the to the parts you're working on. Got that disassembled and ran into the next gotcha. The rear bushing sits between to flanges. The bearing is shaped like a golfball with a hole through the middle. The flanges have circle shaped holes to hold it in place. Had. Had circle shapped holes. The two flanges in question look like circles drawn by a particularly bad artist. The bushing is also disintegrating. So it's back to the internet. Bushing is easy, everyone has one to sell. The flanges seem to be rare as hen's teeth. Our two choices were UK with exhorbitant shipping costs or ebay from Latvia. Latvia didn't actually have them in stock, lead time is months, so we're reduced to paying more in shipping than in parts.
After much cleaning and replacing of parts, the back part of the shift linkage is laying on the ground and the front portion is sitting at the bottom of the shift box.
I'm so glad I'm not using this vehicle as my daily driver!
On the way home with the van (yes, I drove the van home from NH, it takes a special kind of crazy) I couldn't help but notice that the shift linkage was a nightmare of vague feedback and misplaced intentions. It was like driving a rom-com. I had rebuilt the shift linkage on the old van and seen a distinct improvement, so one of the first things on the list was a shift rebuild kit and a short shift kit. Short shift kit keeps you from having to lean over so far to shift into 3rd. I figured I'd start by installing the short shift kit because that can be done from within the van and I was putting off assuming the position (Vanagon owners #1 position, laying on back under van with legs sticking out, #2 position body bent into back hatch with head over engine compartment).
So I removed the shift knob and started to take the rubber boot off the shifter. And the whole shifter fell about 4 inches through the floor, leaving a few stray pieces of aged plastic behind. The hemisphere that made the shifter rest in the proper place was no longer a hemisphere. In fact without looking it up, I couldn't tell what shape it was supposed to be. I think the only thing holding the shifter even moderately in place for the drive home was the rubber boot. The hemisphere and the place it seated into were both toast. Those are not parts in the usual rebuild kit, so those are now on order. So much for doing the short shift.
So I moved from the front to the back of the shift linkage, by the transmission. Lot of oil and dirt back there, things get worn out quickly. Lot of oil and dirt back there, takes hours just to clean down the to the parts you're working on. Got that disassembled and ran into the next gotcha. The rear bushing sits between to flanges. The bearing is shaped like a golfball with a hole through the middle. The flanges have circle shaped holes to hold it in place. Had. Had circle shapped holes. The two flanges in question look like circles drawn by a particularly bad artist. The bushing is also disintegrating. So it's back to the internet. Bushing is easy, everyone has one to sell. The flanges seem to be rare as hen's teeth. Our two choices were UK with exhorbitant shipping costs or ebay from Latvia. Latvia didn't actually have them in stock, lead time is months, so we're reduced to paying more in shipping than in parts.
After much cleaning and replacing of parts, the back part of the shift linkage is laying on the ground and the front portion is sitting at the bottom of the shift box.
I'm so glad I'm not using this vehicle as my daily driver!
