On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 00:41:27 +0000, Larry wrote:


The 411 was very dangerous to own. The top of the engine was sealed to
the body under a sealing cover under the back floor. Its analog fuel
injection had a fixed manifold with rubber hoses between them and the
injectors at about 50psi in the hot engine compartment all sealed up.
The rubber failed, miserably, and poured hot gas over the hot metal
sealed in the hot compartment, a real explosion hazard INSIDE the cabin
of the car if it blew the lid off, burning all the occupants to death.

The second time it happened...in there with the ignition HV and POINTS
sparking in the gas fumes, I dumped it and that was the end of the
Volkswagens...as you can imagine. You could smell the fumes, luckily,
but that was always in the boondocks when it blew.

While my Squareback wasn't dangerous per se, I never could get a good
seal on the engine cover, and the blow-by stink always made my nose
feel like it was a foot away from a breather. And as I much as I
liked the gas heater, more than once I pondered the fact that gasoline
was being pumped across a glow plug a couple feet in front of my face.
A few other issues put the '67 Squareback in a tie with a '71 Chevy
Nova 307 as the most disagreeable cars I've owned.

--Vic