[T3] The road trip blues

[Daniel Nohejl]

> Glad you made it home safely. We enjoyed having you here, but next time 
> let's spend our days having fun, rather than fixing cars.  ;-)

Now that would be nice!!

> The problem is that the OD of the HE has rusted away under where the 
> sealing donuts have to go. This makes the tube OD smaller, so that the 
> donut has to chance to grip it. To fix this, I make a small shim out of thin 
> alum that I can wrap around the HE pipe where the donut will go. I butter up 
> the shim on both sides and then slip the donut over it. If you need a new 
> donut, you can cut them in half, then seal the cut faces with the muffler putty.

I’ve never thought to cut the donuts…..that’s a good idea! It’s not possible to just cut one side to spread the donut open and then push it onto the heater box? In any case, the repair we did works a bit. It’s still loud when the exhaust is cold, but it rattles far, far less once warmed up. I suspect we’ll have to tend to it again sooner than later. 

> Do you get the same amount of steering wheel turning to full left lock as to 
> full right lock?

No, it turns more to the right than left. Always has and there’s a spot of bare metal in the wheel well from when the tire rubs. I only ever hear it rub occasionally when parallel parking so I’ve never done anything about it. Why do you ask?

> Is this a gearbox you got from me?

No, I never installed that one and then I got one from a guy on The Samba who rebuilds them with new FAG bearings, seals, etc. You want yours back?

> Syncros live a hard life, so it's always kind to give them a little time to do 
> their thing. Pausing in N while you take your foot off the throttle gives the 
> engine time to slow down, so there's less syncing to do; then it's the N to 
> gear transition where the work happens and you want to allow some time for 
> the gears to sync.

Fair enough. I’m just concerned because I suddenly have to change the way I shift which makes me think something is amiss.