Here's the latest on the Pioneer's upgrades:

The local VW guru did the major brakework that she was needing.

New pads on the back, new rubber brake lines, and a new cylinder on 
one side.  Sand glaze off front pads (since they were doing ALL of 
the work).  New bearing on drivers front.

Big news:

Get yerself a glasspack muffler!  Here's my testimonial:

I first got my current 1776cc in my '67.  It came with a shot 
bugpack glasspack that was _loudashell_.  

When I sold it, I kept the engine, but opted to get a normal muffler,
that bolted onto my large flange 3-bolt exhaust header.

Well I drove off in my '57 thinking it felt less powerful.  I 
attributed it to the fact that it no longer was attached to the '67 
tranny.

Several months later I find out that the '57 was indeed retrofitted 
with a '67 tranny.  I didn't think much about that as I'd become used 
to the engine feeling a little more gutless.

Well all this time with the normal muffler, I was never able to get 
my rear bumper on.  Last week when dave was doing the brake work, I 
decided to see if he'd have a muffler that would be small enough to 
fit my rear bumper over.

He pulls out a little glasspack and says, well you'll probably need to 
get a header for this, but let's go see.  Lo and Behold it mates 
perfect with my current header.

Well when I drove off, it felt like my old '67.  The Pioneer is one 
bad apple again!  And the bonus:  It has that loud lawn-mower engine 
sound!

Part Two - Loose as a Goose:

My original reason for the post.

I've had trouble in the past, and it's happened again, so all T1 
owners take a second and save your life.

Again, the stupid bolts that hold the gear reduction box to the rear 
swing-arm have come loose!

I _lost_ the main one, so when you accelerate or decelerate the rear 
of the bus goes all crazy wabbly and you have to steer to correct it.
I noticed it was gone, so decided to check the rest.  Two of the 
three rear bolts were loose!

Since this is my third time around at losing the main bolt, I've got 
some big plans.  I understand there is a heavy duty lock-tite stuff 
that will work to hold it in.

Does anyone have any experience with this stuff?  I plan to use some 
carb cleaner and a tooth-brush to get the hole cleaned out thoroughly, 
and get a new bolt and throw it back in with the lock-tite.  I'm sick 
of having a crazy steering bus!

Well, again thanks for all the help/support.

Keep on bussin'!

- Mike White 

[Mail: mike.white@law.utah.edu   -   mwhite@eng.utah.edu]
Visit my '57 23-Window VW BUS at: [http://cloud8.law.utah.edu/]