Itinerant Air-Cooled

Hell?

Pretty close to it anyway.

My garage was, at least in and out of the rain. It was cold. There was no coffee. And there was the task at hand to complete.

At this point I think I should slip in a warning. When you see Colin in the future please do not use any of the following words; Bug, window, seal, or chrome in the same sentence. Or paragraph. Or in the same general conversation. They will very likely provoke a disturbing reaction which could take the form of.........

1. The appearance of a severe and uncontrollable nervous tic.
2. A crouched retreat into the nearest corner whimpering, "Mommy, mommy!"
3. Headlong flight into the neighbor's back yard screaming at the top of his voice.
4. A simple dead faint at your feet.

Folks, it was Hell.

Now Colin will put a good face on this (as he will always do), but it was Hell. Awful, terrible, frustrating, miserable, painful, seemingly unending Hell.

The task at hand that provoked such misery? We had to remove (that was reasonably easy) three windows from my Bug reseal them and install them. Doesn't sound so bad, right? Ya' shoulda been there! Really! We could have used an extra set of hands or two.......... or three. I should mention that these windows use the "American" style seal which also includes the chrome surround strip.

Getting these seals (from Wolfsburg West) to both accept the chrome strip AND the glass at the same time was (and is this next word ever an understatement) difficult. The seals really didn't want to have anything to do with either the glass or the chrome surround much less accept them together.

While I acted as a large clamp (I believe my back and fingers have welded into a semi-permanent alignment) Colin busied himself with fitting the rest of the seal, stabbing himself, and experiencing the agony of Simple Green in finger wounds. Hell, I tell ya'.

Colin kept up a good, chatty, businesslike demeanor (except when he was screaming in pain and agony) and told me I'd be proud when we had the windows back in the Bug, I told him that, if anything, I'd just be relieved to get them back in. Well, we perservered and we did get it done. And I'm happy to say, we did it right. The Bug looks great, leaks should now be a thing of the past, and the car is put together as it was meant to be. But it was not a pleasant experience.

Colin, thanks for hanging in there through an unfortunately long day (I really do regret that). It was a test of both dedication and personal integrity that would have EASILY broken most of us. I know that I probably would have bailed out midway through that despicable windshield.

But, you know what? That feeling of relief is starting to give way to feeling proud about the results.

Thanks Colin! It sounds trite to say it, but there is no way I could have done this job without you.

That was fun.
The Bookwus Bug is a beauty, worthy of all efforts to keep it that way.

Co-co-co-co-li-li-li-lin AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHH


(SEVERAL days later . . . . )

Good on ya both. Proud is good. Per adua ad astra.

And whatever you do, don't (in a stimulant-induced blur) ask him to move his "truck".

glasseye wrote:Good on ya both. Proud is good. Per adua ad astra.

And whatever you do, don't (in a stimulant-induced blur) ask him to move his "truck".

There was the Walk Through The Valley Of Doubt . . . I would say this job, of all the jobs over the past eight years, tested the very edge of my patience, perseverence, and pain in the company of another human being. Bookwus was the very first of my customers to witness the edge of my exasperation and hopelessness, he was the very first to see me throw a plastic spatula in a little fit of temper as the !&^%#@**%$$! seal slipped off the glass for the eightieth time, disassembling the chrome strip in the process, and getting the stubborn rubber groove to open up and go over the edge of the glass while prying with a sharp little tool that had opened several paper cuts that stung in the Simple Green, while trying to keep the @%!*&#^ glass from sliding around on the %$#@!#$^! counter
while asking Bookwus "would you PLEASE KEEP THE #^*@^@)GLASS FROM #%@%@*( MOVING SO I CAN ^%^@(! PUT THE #^@)!@%@% GOD&^@(!! SEAL ON THE ^%#^(@) GLASS BEFORE MY @#^&@^@& FINGERS @%^@$&!@ GIVE UP EVEN @#^T@())TRYING, THEN MAYBE WE CAN #$!(*&#@ GET THE !@#%^$*( WINDSHIELD IN THE @#%@$!CAR BEFORE #*@&!! MIDNIGHT!!"

But like I told him with absolutely no idea of what I was talking about, "it is like childbirth, the agony quickly disappears once you are done."

We did have a desperate moment when the "rope" snapped halfway through the windshield installation. It was a piece of lamp cord, and the copper wire strands were letting go one at a time along the bottom, then schtoink! it's done, it's 8:30PM, it's expended my every last calorie of energy, and I am thinking, "does Mike need to see me cry?" So I apologize to Mike and the car and drill a BP relief well with a screwdriver along the bottom of the windshield towards the broken cord, trying to get the seal over the lip. Tears are beginning to well, because I thought I saw torn rubber and paint flecks from the pinchweld, and I was thinking about my new career at WalMart as a greeter, "let me see your f***ing receipt you f***ing moron I did NOT ruin that seal, it was defective!!"

Like any suspenseful B movie, there was the final 1/2" where the seal was bound so tight the cord would not move. Bookwus exclaimed "we're almost there! Just pull it!" and I snapped back " we are NOT almost there, this is the SPOT, this is it, the failure point, the obstacle, we are NOT almost there." "OK chief."

And one last slightly stinging eyes, massively sore hand, sore back, desperate fatigue, poor car lamenting tug and the windshield fathunked into place.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Bookwus came out a couple of times, "how is it going?" and what are you going to say?
"Going? What the f*%!@ is 'going'? Try 'STOPPED' How is stopped? I CAN ANSWER THAT! How is it 'going' . . . "

Fortunately, and with great effort, I had replied, "gud", because she had made us an Exceptional Lunch& Dinner. I gloried in the clean soothing cleanliness and order of the house. She had provided a cool classic counterpoint of civility with the spread of grapes blueberries watermelon bananas salad bread lasagna, and the trembling hopelessness just had nowhere to go.
Colin

My hands are shot. I was at Fancy Pant's house yesterday and can hardly grasp a screwdriver . . . feels like 80 year-old's arthritis.
But that little bug shore is purty.
ColinColdCloudySTILL

Sorry I missed you guys, wound up taking an extended vacation with the family to th Coast.
Colin you need to stay away from NW VW windows, nothing but agony and regret.

hambone wrote:Sorry I missed you guys, wound up taking an extended vacation with the family to th Coast.
Colin you need to stay away from NW VW windows, nothing but agony and regret.

Oh hambone, nothing but steely character-building and that flinty faraway look that says, "we shall prevail."
Colin
(ya proud of that left rear window? of course you are)

did you say simple green as lube for the window? we used soap for hambones rear window ssssucked. i used water based sex lube at hal's prodding and it was soooo easy.....ok easier

hals prodding for my window installs.... better put that up front would not want to get Gypsie going