TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:53 am

Hi Everyone,

I'm proud to announce that I own this 83.5; picked it up a few weeks ago.

So far, I've changed the oil, replaced the headliner with suede, scrubbed down the insides, and added rubber floor mats.

I even got lucky at the local salvage yard. I found a 85 passenger vanagon and I pulled out the front seats, sun visors, visor clips, the tachometer and (working) odometer. :shock: I finally got around to installing everything but the tach over the weekend. :D

I plan on changing the clutch master cylinder and bleeding the brakes this weekend.

I've been lurking on this message board the past few months, reading up. I just wanted to thank the community for all the great info and posts.

See you on the road!

[img][/img]

Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:32 am

Welcome. Looks like you scored a beautiful van. I'll repeat the Samba mantra..."Change the fuel lines, change the fuel lines..." It's cheap fire insurance!

:D

Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:55 am

welcome nice looking vw camper i kinda like the hubcaps/rims? nice dog :)

Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:18 am

Right on, congratulations on the van. Pick up a decent second fire extinguisher. Don't forget to honk/flash your lights and wave.

Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:20 am

Congrats on the find! The van looks great... And in case you haven't owned a vanagon before... YOU really opened a can of worms.. NOW your hooked whether you like it or not.....

Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:31 am

Very Nice, bet the dog digs it. :D

VW12step isn't kidding about the fuel lines. I'll post pictures soon of what came out of my '88 GL.

Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:50 am

Nice find and you're way ahead of the Bell curve just by finding this site before buying the van. I wish I was so lucky. Hope you have as much fun with yours as I am with mine.

Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:36 am

Welcome to the addiction
I second 12step's advice, change the fuel lines ASAP
also, keep your Suburu in good mechanical shape, you may need it ':wink:'
Also buy a Bentley if you haven't already
And don't forget to enjoy it.

Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:42 am

Nice rig!

Congrats. You will find that there's really helpful people here and lot's of useful info on this site.

Enjoy!

Neil.

Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:29 am

Nice van and welcome. I too am a new owner within the last 5 or 6 weeks. I lurked around the forum for about a year before I finally bought. It is a strange addiction, but satisfying because there is so much support on this site. Have fun with it.

My dog looks just like yours, and he has claimed the van as his own. If I open the door for him he'll jump in and hang out all day-I mean like 8 hours plus. It's nice company when I'm working on it.

Mike

Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:31 am

Sweet!

Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:11 am

Lovely van, and welcome to the funny farm. Let me join the swarm of Dutch Uncles clustering 'round you to urge you to change the fuel filter, if you haven't already--cut it open and check for rust--and add the cannister filter in between the pump and your engine.

Then run a can of BG-44K through your van to clean the injectors. Do the easy, simple stuff to prevent worse trouble later on.

Best!

Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:45 pm

Howdy! Nice looking van!

Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:48 pm

[quote="nelinor"]Hi Everyone,

I'm proud to announce that I own this 83.5; picked it up a few weeks ago.

See you on the road!

Congratulations and welcome to the few, the chosen, the vanagoneers.

Real nice van. The more I look at the pre-1986 (?) vans the better I like the round headlights above my square lights. I am just too cheap to get gouged into a South African grill.

Nice van, really

Can you post more pics ?

Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:06 pm

Very nice. I too own an 83.5 Westy. Coming up on 4 years now and I still love it. If you have troubles getting the tach to work send me a PM. I had trouble with mine until msinabottle helped me out. He did the hard work figuring it out and then told me how to wire it up. I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping either. It's not exactly a plug and play. Close but not exactly.

Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:15 pm

Very Nice and Welcome!

She'll become your Secret Mistress.

Glad you lurked here ( did the same thing ) helps with the common problems that comes with owning one of these Misfit Toys.

Jumping on into a Master Cylinder fix. Good Man. Just purge the entire system at one mighty swipe.

Hitting a Yard already for parts?

This Dude's blood run deep in Vanagon :vw:

Congrats!

Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:45 pm

Welcome. Are you sure this isn't an April Fools thing? Right?

Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:19 pm

nice you got the one of the best ones. 83-85 1.9 wbx'ers are the coolest round headlights rule.

Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:29 pm

Nice! Vanagons are the best!

Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:55 pm

skaaudivw wrote: 83-85 1.9 wbx'ers are the coolest round headlights rule.

Yeah, baby ! 8) 8) Round Headlights!!

(Let's hope this isn't the beginning of a great schism among the Vanagoscenti).