The Belle Plaine Pain

Moderators: Sluggo, Amskeptic

Post Reply
User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:48 am

Belle Plaine is a picture perfect Minnesota town.
This forum's Belle Plaine is a good man. The coffee was on as I arrived.
Image

The expected rain was just beginning to sprinkle, but we had a garage reserved for us across town so your Itinerator would not melt away in the damp.
Image

A friendly farmer introduced us to our work quarters and we looked around to gently ask, "are there some lights?" The air introduced itself to us as well, a truly chest-tightening mixture of cow crap and dead fish. Hey, we all like to eat, right? It's called fertilizer. Some overhead cold flourescents sort of warmed up and we got to work - yes, Window Scrapers!

I thought we would be "more efficient" if we each did our own door disassembly. Detours cropped up, like yanking the door latch assemblies so they could have some sorely needed lubrication. As we worked, I darkly intimated that we were due for a real crap fest of flimsy parts. I was not disappointed, no wait, yes I was. I was not disappointed that we would be disappointed is what I meant to say. I am disappointed that my description of disappointment is disappointingly disjointed, but so were the parts. See the new scraper assembly pictured above the original here? They gave us only four of the eight required tent clips to hold the outer scraper onto the window sill. Why, you ask . . . ?
Image

As RandyInMaine and I had discovered with his oem VW Audi scrapers, the replacement parts are pathetically flimsy, here the riveter mashed the flimsy metal reinforcement with flimsily splitted rivets so that the trapped rubber is all buckled and wobbly. This, of course, helps us enjoy "wind whistles":
Image

The new scrapers have holes drilled right through the edge so they can twist the end in a curve, the old ones were stamped with the curve:
Image

The day's conversation had been enlivened by the appearance of JohnInTheHonda who had recently acquired his own bus and who was eager to pick up on the details of Volkswagen bus ownership. Ever the gentleman, he commiserated with our anguish over crap parts, sharing that he too has suffered such things with his Boss Ford Mustang restoration. I inartfully complained, "but Volkswagens were such better quality back in the day." I couldn't even hyperventilate, the air would not allow it.

Our slow day was bisected by the need to leave when the big trucks came back home with new cow crap dead fish fertilizer. We took off and I snapped this shot of the Cal-Look Belle Plaine Bus missing its window guts:
Image

At Chad's house, the conversation continued, the fresh air now smelled "weird", and the new parts kept giving us caniptions. John was pressed into service:
Image

I kept a close eye on this Ford guy, was he going to give us Volkswagen Quality Craftsmanship?
Image

Belle Plaine pondered the new vent window seal installation, we all did.
Image

The vent windows would not close with the new seals. They were just too thick and stupid. "Comply!" I screamed. "No," they thickly refused. Just like Chloe's vent windows, I noted. Chloe has the same new thick rubber strip on the trailing edge of the glass. I cannot tell you how many wasted hours I have blown trying to get the vent windows to close. The originals are thinner cross-section with easily deformable contact areas. We put them back in, and the windows opened and closed correctly. Belle Plaine I reckon, was wondering by this point what the ratio of steps forward to steps backward our day was going to have. After some severe anxiety by yours truly regarding the bending of the rear window felt to match the radius of the glass, the day just up and disappeared on us. The doors actually looked pretty good. We had escaped the usual danger spots of mashed trim and scratched paint. Thank you for your equinamity, Chris, and the catered box dinner was *good*, so was the beer.
Colin
(why are the metal parts too thin and the rubber parts too thick, why? Why? Why?)
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

User avatar
Bleyseng
IAC Addict!
Location: Seattle again
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by Bleyseng » Fri Jun 14, 2013 11:17 am

Are they just Chinese crap or poorly made repo's?
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

Jivermo
IAC Addict!
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by Jivermo » Sat Jun 15, 2013 4:44 am

This is certainly not a labor of love for the faint of heart. Keeping our buses in good order with crap reproduction parts is a continuing frustration. Colin's lament fell on my ears while the Miami session was ongoing...we had a perfect example with the poor quality of the simple shifter coupler we had to "doctor" for a good fit. Is there, on this site, a source list of repro parts that have been found to be of acceptable quality? I see Spiffy has commented on this, in the junk parts thread, but how about a list of good quality parts? If it's on here, please point me in the direction...y'all have a great time at this Maupin thing...it's a bit far from Miami, though.

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:58 am

Jivermo wrote:how about a list of good quality parts? If it's on here, please point me in the direction...

y'all have a great time at this Maupin thing...it's a bit far from Miami, though.

We have a sticky "Parts Known To Be Acceptable" for parts that almost hit "suitable enough".

Miami to Maupin is a "bit far"???
Pshaw. Tell that to my little 1600 lawn mower engine :flower:
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

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:08 am

Chris! If you read this (we shall see . . . ) the Maupin Beer Tasting Brigade enjoyed your raspberry beer a lot! Unexpectedly, I was serving as the Bottle Pourer for this particularly fine taste test, and I kept testing the taste as the level dropped. Well I had to make sure it maintained its quality as we reached the bottom of the bottle.
:drunken:
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

User avatar
BellePlaine
IAC Addict!
Location: Minnesota
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by BellePlaine » Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:44 am

I'm so glad that the New Glarus Raspberry Tart was well received. Those who tell me that they do not like beer, haven't tried enough beers, and they certainly had not tried that raspberry beer! Thanks for the being the bringer of beer to Anaconda and Maupin.

Since our visit, I have also been traveling almost non-stop. This week it's Michigan > Chicago. I'm in Lansing choking down a Portbelly sub and must make it to Grand Rapids by in an hour. It's a malt suppliers life!
1975 Riviera we call "Spider-Man"

User avatar
sped372
IAC Addict!
Location: Waunakee, WI
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by sped372 » Tue Jun 18, 2013 6:24 am

BellePlaine wrote:New Glarus Raspberry Tart
My mouth puckers at the mention of it! Good stuff but I think I actually like the cherry a bit better.
1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

User avatar
BellePlaine
IAC Addict!
Location: Minnesota
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by BellePlaine » Tue Jun 18, 2013 8:21 am

Me too, but I guess that the cherry crop didn't turn out last year so they couldn't brew much of the Belgian Red. Sped, you live in the land of fantastic beer!
1975 Riviera we call "Spider-Man"

User avatar
sped372
IAC Addict!
Location: Waunakee, WI
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by sped372 » Tue Jun 18, 2013 8:39 am

When we visited Door County (big source of WI cherries) we had heard the crop was only supposed to be around 25% last year. The weird spring and drought really hit them hard.
1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

User avatar
airkooledchris
IAC Addict!
Location: Eureka, California
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by airkooledchris » Tue Jun 18, 2013 9:42 am

it was really really good. it wasn't even cold, which I think really brought out all the flavors.

thanks for passing that along to be passed along... maybe throw in a few bottles of spotted cow next time, just for my own nostalgia's sake. =D>
1979 California Transporter

User avatar
MuedeStefan
I'm New!
Location: St. Anthony MN
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by MuedeStefan » Wed Jul 03, 2013 12:15 pm

FWIW I will be spending the 4th outside Stone Lake Wi on Lake Sissabagamon- where we shall consume many Spotted Cows and perhaps a Moon Man or two. Love the WI beer.
Morgen Morgen, nicht immer Heute

User avatar
BellePlaine
IAC Addict!
Location: Minnesota
Status: Offline

Re: The Belle Plaine Pain

Post by BellePlaine » Fri Jul 05, 2013 11:25 am

Thanks Stefan. I hope that you're having a good trip.

Brothers in good beer and ACVWs.
C
1975 Riviera we call "Spider-Man"

Post Reply