Oh no, NOT AGAIN!

The plan today was for Sarah to take Oliver to Williamsburg to witness Linsey and her baby and for me to go to Richmond, maybe go to a car show, work on the Beetle, or sit around my mom's and do some school work.  Either way, I was determined to take Dudley.  So in my stupor, I got some things together, put some gas in Dudley, bought a quart of oil, and took off. 

I made it to Zion's Crossroads, and a guy in a big red truck pulled up next to me at a stop light.  He yelled that I had no brake lights and he looked reasonably pissed.  I was actually at a pretty good location at this cross roads of 250 and James Madison Hwy (whatever the fuck that is).  I pulled over and tried the few tricks I know...I checked the bulbs, put new bulbs in and nothing (I had gotten the brake pedal down using the rubber mallet and my book bag).  I checked the fuses and even changed them.  I played with the wires under the front trunk.   I sanded down the contacts.  Nothing nothing nothing nothing.  In the midst of all of this activity, I had called AAA to get a tow which was a pain in the ass, particularly because my fucking phone was on the verge of dying the whole time.  I also called Ken who after many rings finally picked up.  I told him what was going on and asked him if he could fix the problem.  He said "today" and I said ya to which he replied "bring her in." 

So the tow truck finally did come.  I buttoned Dudley up, got in the truck, and we drove in virtual silence from Zion's Crossroads (or was it Troy, VA) all the way to Fishersville.  This was a little tense and awkward and my mind wandered a bit.

When I got there, Ken was with a friend (what?!) talking.  I signed the papers and drove Dudley into the shop.  Ken got under him for a minute, did something with a wire, this that, and it was done.  Apparently it was the brake light switch.  $42.  Not too bad.

Broke

Turns out it was just the pedal assembly. The hook that the clutch cable latches on to had some corrosion, and after 42 years, it finally broke off. I had the car towed to NethKen Associations, and as usual, Ken did a nice job.  I also had him fiddle with the choke and lower the idle.  Car runs great now, though it doesn't seem like the choke is working properly when the car is cold.

Here's what I saw when I was on the side of the road waiting for AAA.  Looks broken to me, but I'm no expert.

No resistance in the wobbly, broken clutch pedal (left)

Buzz kill

Driving to STAB to do a little work, and something in the clutch pedal snapped. Maybe a clutch cable? Who knows. Fuck.

Poor Dudley.

Baby and Dudley

Party Mouth Baby!

Yay, Dudley!!

Baby and Dudley, Dudley and Baby

"Maybe I can get in there"

"Oh-poo?"

OMG is that a tank!? (aka how I broke the window mechanism)

I thought I'd grease up the window rubbers a little.  I put some lub on the window scrapers (first silicone spray, then WD-40), and wound the windows up and down to spread the lube around.  So far so good...particularly those stick rear windows.  I was working on the easiest-winding driver's side window, when all of a sudden, the window stopped winding up and down.  The crank still felt right, and I could feel the points when the window should have been all-the-way up and all-the-way down.  But the window wouldn't move.  Even stranger, I could pull it up, and it would stay!  I became very pissed and decided to see if I could identify the problem.  The first task was to remove the window winder, the door handle holder, and door panel.                

What did I find?  Absolutely nothing.  I wasn't able to diagnose the problem.  Enter Ken.

I called Ken of NethKen Associates in Fishersville, VA.  I had taken Bernie (parts) to Ken last year, and I knew he would be able to fix Dudley's window.  Though I didn't think he'd be there on a Saturday, but low and behold, there he was!  Upon my arrival, I remembered Ken's scary tank-Beetle.  Yup.  It's part tank.  Part Beetle.  Part middle launcher.  All CRAZY.  As the plate says, "YIKES."  

 While I busied myself walking back and forth to Sheetz and getting lunch at McDonalds, Ken figured out that some sort of rivet had busted due to corrosion.  Simple from old age, this little joint broke because of my repeated rolling of the window up and down.

 I don't know how Ken did it, but there's the hole the rivet fit through.  I don't know if the labels were "front" and "rear" were already there or if Ken made them, but hey, thanks for the clear labels!

I witnessed something impressive.  Rather than getting a massive rivet, Ken took a long bolt that fit through the hole perfectly and cut it.  Then, he put the bolt through the two parts of the mechanism and welded a washer to the end creating a make-shift, DIY, HARDCORE rivet.  WOW!  It works great!  Like a tank!

Hooked

So what I thought would be a very simple repair turned into something quite difficult.  The seatbelt hooks in Dudley were broken and yellowing.

 To go along with my refreshed front seat belts, I purchased a pair of hooks from Chuck's Convertible Parts.  These two plastic hooks were $26 dollars for the pair!  What?!  You'd think for that amount of money, these would be quality hooks, made in German, perfect fit.   Nope.  First I discovered that the screw holes didn't fit the holes in the car.  This was an immediate sign of poor quality, though the plastic seemed clean.  No problem, I get the drill out and increased the size of a couple of screw holes so I could slide the hooks over ever so slightly.

  

Okay, that worked.  My next hurdle came when I tried to mount a seat belt...nope, wouldn't fit over the hook.  Come on!  So my next modification involved a metal file and some very fine white plastic shavings.   Yes, finally!  Got it!  Unfortunately what I found was that when the top is up, the seat belts become inaccessible when on the lower hook.  Fuck it, I'll just use the top hook.  Geez, I could have left things there way they were...

Like Father...

Oliver and Dudley made friends quickly. Ollie is a natural behind the wheel-- even at 17 months!