Vic Smith wrote in
:

Had a '67 Squareback too - POS. But it was nice to hear its gas
heater take off like a jet and start steaming up the windows.



My 411 station wagon had the gas heater in it...and I was really glad!
South Carolina was hit by a freak snow storm that brought this place to a
standstill as they have no way of removing FEET of snow, back in the
early 70's. The trucks skidding and flipping over stuck us in Santee,
SC, where I-95 crosses Lake Marion for 3 days. I spent my days trudging
with a 2 gallon gascan to the truckstop for gas, then back the mile or so
to my GAS HEATED little station wagon to put it in the tank. My feet
were wrapped in towels from the towel outlet store for warmth and
traction as I had on smooth sole street loafers, hardly fit for snow. We
stayed warm all night with the gas heater and intermittent engine running
to recharge in our place in line. Met lots of great people in the same
boat (on topic!)...(c;

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.

Larry
--
http://www.spp.gov/
The end of the USA and its Constitution....RIP

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

Vic Smith wrote in
:

was being pumped across a glow plug a couple feet in front of my face.


It wasn't a glowplug! It was a SPARKPLUG! I know how you feel. But the
spark was keeping it going. The alternative was BOOM! if it went out...(c;

Larry
--
http://www.spp.gov/
The end of the USA and its Constitution....RIP

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Vic Smith wrote in
:

was being pumped across a glow plug a couple feet in front of my face.


It wasn't a glowplug! It was a SPARKPLUG! I know how you feel. But the
spark was keeping it going. The alternative was BOOM! if it went
out...(c;

Larry

Several years back, Ambulances were gas burners as well as having the gas
heaters. After a few of them burned, they switched to diesel.

Leanne