Tailgating At Target

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Amskeptic
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Tailgating At Target

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Nov 14, 2010 8:17 pm

I am supposed to be dropping the engine to reset the endplay. But I do not have the feng shui yet.

So I came up with a detailing sort of project instead, here in LA, in the sunshine, in the warmth, behind Target on a Sunday morning.

The black vinyl on the inner tailgate panel has been straining against the button retainers as it shrinks. The edges have been slowly pulling in and delaminating and showing more brown masonite than an OCD like me finds tolerable.

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Above, I am learning, 31 years into these cars, to not attempt to remove the panel itself, take the buttons off first! Really. Duh. In years past I have gotten all stupid and tried to pry behind the masonite (cheap compressed cardboard if TMI) which has torn the edges, wrecked the buttons, scratched the paint with my pry tool. I do not know why. Today, the buttons all popped off and the panel released sensibly. Huh. Who wudda figgered . . .

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Above, I am releasing the strained vinyl and exploring the depth of delamination. Then I had to slowly lay down drops of SuperGlue and work my way from the inside to the outside perimeter of the panel. Today I did not glue my tongue to my teeth. The vinyl is completely glued all the way to the edge in the below photograph:
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And, like I did with the Road Warrior's kick and cargo and tailgate panels in 1992 in Sylmar California, I painted the brown masonite edges with black paint so that it all looks nice and black even if the vinyl has shrunk a bit:
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Here is the original factory wax in the pristine clean tailgate area:
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Removed the hatch latch assembly for cleaning and lubricating. It was already clean and lubricated, with plenty of fresh factory grease:
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Removed the handle/lock cylinder and cleaned and lubricated it. This sucker was actually a bit loose where the actuator screws to the tumbler. That explained why the key was able to move in and out by a good 3/8".
There is a VW logo on the sealing grommet, but there is also a "King" logo.
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Closed the tailgate down on me so I could hit the inner metal/outer skin sandwich with an indiscriminate blast of Rust-Fix rust catalyzing primer all along the bottom of the inside of the tailgate. Even helped to migrate the factory wax down there for a life-long anti-rustification:
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All back together:
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And the corners are properly black once more with no (noticeable) pulling of the vinyl around the buttons:
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Final step was to wax the tailgate edge that contacts the seal, then treat the seal to BlackMagic conditioner to help make the talcum powder stick to the seal:
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Treated every door seal to BlackMagic conditioner + talcum powder:
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My audience was a bit blase about my triumphantly successful completion to this brainless operation:
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Thus endeth this bandwidth abuse.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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LiveonJG
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Re: Tailgating At Target

Post by LiveonJG » Sun Nov 14, 2010 8:31 pm

Amskeptic wrote:Today I did not glue my tongue to my teeth.

Colin
Progress!

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hambone
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Post by hambone » Mon Nov 15, 2010 12:06 pm

Ok, what the HELL are you doing in LA again? I thought you just got back to the east coast? Man I can't keep up. I don't know how you do it.
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Post by LiveonJG » Mon Nov 15, 2010 2:52 pm

hambone wrote:Ok, what the HELL are you doing in LA again? I thought you just got back to the east coast? Man I can't keep up. I don't know how you do it.
I think it might be a Ronald McDonald type thing, there are actually several Colins roaming about the country at any given time.

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hambone
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Post by hambone » Mon Nov 15, 2010 11:03 pm

LOL! For real! =D>
Hell it must be true. I think it happened to Picard too.
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:38 am

hambone wrote:Ok, what the HELL are you doing in LA again? I thought you just got back to the east coast? Man I can't keep up. I don't know how you do it.
I just sit there, with this big wheelie thingy that I move back and forth and there are these black things I step on and a stick, and somehow I end up in LA, because I am a heat-seeking ground-based missile.
ColinUnanchoredBaby
(Lanval needed a hand with getting his water-cooled Vanagon engine back together and Nathan@el needed some tweaking to pass a smog test)
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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hambone
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Post by hambone » Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:06 pm

Oh sure crossing continents multiple times, just for kicks.
Do it now I guess, before the senility sets in. :drunken:
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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glasseye
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Post by glasseye » Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:41 pm

hambone wrote:Oh sure crossing continents multiple times, just for kicks.
Do it now I guess, before the senility sets in. :drunken:
:cheers: :bounce: =D>
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Post by BellePlaine » Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:23 am

glasseye wrote:
hambone wrote:Oh sure crossing continents multiple times, just for kicks.
Do it now I guess, before the senility sets in. :drunken:
:cheers: :bounce: =D>
I am already looking forward to next year's itinerary!
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Post by glasseye » Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:37 am

There's gotta be some quote somewhere that goes something like:

"Time spent looking through a windshield at landscape is not subtracted from our alloted time on Earth"

Vaulting effortlessly across the continent in a motor vehicle is one of the great privileges of being a North American.

Do it I say. Do it while you still can. :cheers:
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:33 pm

glasseye wrote:There's gotta be some quote somewhere that goes something like:

"Time spent looking through a windshield at landscape is not subtracted from our alloted time on Earth"

Do it I say. Do it while you still can. :cheers:
Not only not subtracted, maybe it adds to our time on Earth.

What's your blood pressure, Old Goat Glasseye, when you are on the road?
Codger Colin125/75
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Post by glasseye » Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:46 am

Blood pressure here was probably about ten over ten. :cheers:

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Eastern NV, near the UT border.


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"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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LiveonJG
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Post by LiveonJG » Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:09 am

Image

Show off!
Keep it acoustic.

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Sylvester
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Post by Sylvester » Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:26 am

Not as good as Glasseye's pictures, but this is coming off Lookout Mountain, Georgia on the 15th of November. I soon passed a used car dealership with a Gremlin and Pacer in there. Would love to see how much they wanted for them. Bliss driving and scenery, BP 130 over 80 (great for me).

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BTW, can anyone identify all the cars in this lot? I see the Gremlin and Pacer.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue, I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace. Where never lark, or even eagle flew. And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod, The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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Post by sped372 » Fri Nov 19, 2010 11:04 am

glasseye wrote:Image
There's something wrong with the vehicle in this photo. It's too, oh, I don't know, watercooled or something.
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