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Thu Jun 14, 2012 4:29 pm

I unplugged the relay thing and tested the fan on one of the batteries. It was nothing more than a gentle spring zephyr. Time to evaluate options.

later on I'll strip the heater fan assembly from the Mitsubishi to see if the motor can be used. The motor mounts are different but the fan appears to be roughly the same size so perhaps the shafts are compatible. They both work a little differently in that the Toyota assembly pulls the air through the motor side, but the mitsubishi setup has a long shaft too with a conical centered fan to allow for this, so I may be lucky.

If the motor and fan can be combined the mount fabrication will hopefully be trivial. It will increase the size of the assembly a little more, but I am starting to lean toward seeing if I can get it to fit above the stone guard. It means it will have a short and unhappy life as it will probably be killed after a fording a few streams or being submerged in flood water but it's better than nothing.

Thu Jun 14, 2012 5:48 pm

dude, that plate is awesome...your the #8 UFO! :D :lol:

Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:25 pm

Those plates have been on it for 20+ years. The sad thing is I can no longer lay claim to them. Actually i shouldn't even have them anymore but because I was interstate for ages where the rules are different I forgot. It'd be nice if I could do something about that but the only way to keep plates that aren't on a registered car is to have them stored and pay a yearly fee on them.

Otherwise I think it's like a maximum $5000 fine or something for having them. I'm hoping the minimum is $0 because it's not as if I'm trying to pass it off as a registered vehicle. The only reason they are still on there besides sentimental reasons is to reduce the number of people showing up on my doorstep with insulting offers to buy it.

If I could find a way to hang on to those plates I would. But there is no way I know of.

Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:30 pm

RatCamper wrote: Those plates have been on it for 20+ years. The sad thing is I can no longer lay claim to them. Actually i shouldn't even have them anymore but because I was interstate for ages where the rules are different I forgot. It'd be nice if I could do something about that but the only way to keep plates that aren't on a registered car is to have them stored and pay a yearly fee on them.

Otherwise I think it's like a maximum $5000 fine or something for having them. I'm hoping the minimum is $0 because it's not as if I'm trying to pass it off as a registered vehicle. The only reason they are still on there besides sentimental reasons is to reduce the number of people showing up on my doorstep with insulting offers to buy it.

If I could find a way to hang on to those plates I would. But there is no way I know of.

take them off and hide them ;)

Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:51 pm

Stuartzickefoose wrote:

take them off and hide them ;)

+1 Hang them on the wall in your shop/garage/whatever. (or will they fine you for that too?) I didn't realize how tough your traffic regulations were over there. I saw your post about rear seat/beds, seems pretty extreme to me. They should have a provision for campers if you will agree to not ride in that seat while driving or something. I now appreciate how easy we have it here.

Thu Jun 14, 2012 7:28 pm

stuco wrote: Stuartzickefoose wrote:

take them off and hide them ;)

+1 Hang them on the wall in your shop/garage/whatever. (or will they fine you for that too?) I didn't realize how tough your traffic regulations were over there. I saw your post about rear seat/beds, seems pretty extreme to me. They should have a provision for campers if you will agree to not ride in that seat while driving or something. I now appreciate how easy we have it here.

my thoughts exactly...washington seems like its part of a free country or something...oh wait. :roll: its not free...everything costs money...

but in regards to our soldiers, i still respect and am thankful. just to make sure im not perceived as an ungrateful teenager...lol

Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:19 pm

Just having not surrendered the plates is an issue. I can get away with one and say I lost the other. Funnily when peoples plates are in bad condition the only thing they can do is "lose" one and then the other later. They aren't allowed to be touched up and they aren't replaced as pairs. Of course it costs too.

I kind of want the ability to have back passengers. I can't strap my kids to the roofrack!

I found a bunch of loopholes that sort of keeps my bay on the right side of the law. Many others with many types of vehicles aren't so lucky requiring engineer certified retrofits of various sorts.

Sadly our government has a history of changing the rules on people leaving law abiding people on the wrong side of the law, most of the time without their knowledge until they are called on it and dragged over the coals.

Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:53 pm

Well I did a rough cleanout of the front, put the heater thingy back in and what's left of my reskinned kick panels back on and went nuts with knockoff armor-all. I know that stuff's snake oil but I don't care. I want it to all look slick and slimy. I figure maybe I'll just throw together what I can, bolt down the cabinets somehow with a spacer to take up the height difference of not having a floor, bodge what I can to make it look legit, move that seat belt mount, replace the brake hoses and try my luck.

I can't get the panelling or flooring that I need unless it's registered. I have a trailer but it's away so often being used that there was a stage I actually forgot it existed so it's pretty much out of the question.

There's a place in town that may sell what I need but their prices are kind of scary so it's not really an option either right now.

Fri Jun 15, 2012 4:53 pm

So I dropped by at the mechanic on the way back from some errands to inquire about a couple of things including vehicle inspection, or more specifically the state of the interior. What they said didn't make me happy but at least I have confirmation. Having anything missing or not there is not good.

That is a massive PITA for me because it just plain never had a lower door card for the slider and there are a few other bits and pieces I have to make. But I can't get the materials without registering it or paying a massive premium to get a couple of stupid sheets of stuff delivered 100 km away or carrying boards one by one all the way across town on foot. :evil:

Well, at least I know.

I foresee a very large battle with the vehicle inspector on whether the vehicle is legal or not. Even though as far as I know it is, these days every inspector fears for their certification and play it super safe.
The only way this country ever functioned was through individuals turning a blind eye or fudging the rules a little when things are right but not quite conforming to the book. This has kept the wheels of the nation turning. The government has always been pretty draconian. But now people can't get away with it any more so a lot of people are at a horrible disadvantage. And because cost and difficulty of anything is so high it really screws over anyone who doesn't see thousands of dollars as pocket money.

I know a few people who plain can't afford to register a car or even do what's needed to be able to get a drivers license. These people are essentially trapped in town. Sure it's a nice little town of about 2000 people, but it cuts people off from affordable groceries, specialist medical attention etc.
The recently forced divide between classes and the loss of rural infrastructure is ruining a lot of people.
We're lucky enough to be one of the rare few who our own house but the infrastructure and cost thing has us at a disadvantage too. It's why I tend to have the occasional freak out. Lots of pressure to find a way to keep things going. Our DD is starting to concern me deeply so I'm pushing extra hard to get the VW registered but keep coming across dumb roadblocks in either legislation or finding needed parts.

Anyhow I may still have a few minutes before my son wakes up so I'm going to head out and see if I can put away / throw out a bit more accumulated stuff.

I'll leave you with a question. Some of you may have noticed the carpeted speaker box thing in a few of my photos. I'd like to put that somewhere but can't actually think of a place. It's not a permanent thing. It's the sort that people usually chuck on an empty seat or whatever. It has a built in amp and can do sub only too.
Any idea where I could put it? If there is a place I need to put wires with RCA ends going there. That's why I ask.

Fri Jun 15, 2012 5:23 pm

RatCamper wrote:
I'll leave you with a question. Some of you may have noticed the carpeted speaker box thing in a few of my photos. I'd like to put that somewhere but can't actually think of a place. It's not a permanent thing. It's the sort that people usually chuck on an empty seat or whatever. It has a built in amp and can do sub only too.
Any idea where I could put it? If there is a place I need to put wires with RCA ends going there. That's why I ask.

I would say remove the amp, and mount it solid someplace close to the radio (behind the driver seat, or under it ect) then run a long amount of speaker wire to the actual speaker, so you can move it around when you go camping ect. then you avoid moving a ton of wires, just the two per speaker.

Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:43 pm

Stuartzickefoose wrote: RatCamper wrote:
I'll leave you with a question. Some of you may have noticed the carpeted speaker box thing in a few of my photos. I'd like to put that somewhere but can't actually think of a place. It's not a permanent thing. It's the sort that people usually chuck on an empty seat or whatever. It has a built in amp and can do sub only too.
Any idea where I could put it? If there is a place I need to put wires with RCA ends going there. That's why I ask.

I would say remove the amp, and mount it solid someplace close to the radio (behind the driver seat, or under it ect) then run a long amount of speaker wire to the actual speaker, so you can move it around when you go camping ect. then you avoid moving a ton of wires, just the two per speaker.

The box is an integrated system. It's not going to be dismantled. Don't know if I mentioned it but I removed the amp I had connected to the stereo a while back because the stereo seems to use a weird voltage bias system to drive the speakers.

The stereo also has unamplified stereo RCA outs, and I've had the amp speaker box thing connected to a cig lighter adapter cord so it was all pretty self contained still. I might take a better pic later.

I have another question, assuming people check this thread. My bench runs from front bulkhead to back. There is a join at about the back of the back seat. Would there be a problem with mounting the bench to the front bulkhead or should I have an upright board that goes to the floor to attach it to instead?

Wed Sep 19, 2012 5:52 pm

Was that really the last post I did? Wow.

Quick post to get up to speed. The floor is in. Vapour barrier, hardboard and vinyl.

Replaced the broken nylon straps on the pop top with nylon strapping like a seatbelt. Silvery grey stuff. Found out why the old ones broke. The roof was twisted and all the scissors were bent. Bent them back with F clamps, wood and a lot of force. For the first time ever the pop top sits flat.

I welded up the rusted bit under the drivers step with a section cut from an old fridge. Burned myself nicely but the job is done.

Repaired the exhaust including a previously unnoticed crack running almost all the way around near a head flange.

Made a replacement table out of MDF and varnish-y stuff. Streaked it to make it look like wood. I'm happy with it.

Bolted down the cabinets a bit better including a bracket through the floor.

Used another P clip to hold up the heater hoses where they hang near the axle. Worked well.

Continued work on adding the front heater. Adapted the heater to output in the right direction and do fit above the stone guard. Still have to do the hardest bit. Fabricating an output that the T vent thing can sit on.

Swapped front and back wheels so I could get it up on ramps easier. Used MB Vito wheels as an intermediary. Was silly and shifted the caravan while they were on the front and took some surface off the pivot arm things on the front suspension.

I think that's it in a quick summary. I have photos. Just need to find them.

Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:47 pm

nice! keep it up!
:D
:popcorn:

Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:26 pm

I never put the photos in? Lazy...

Just here to say I'm not dead, and apparently even more not dead than before and all it took was vitamin D... Anyway feeling a lot better about things and started again.
Haven't really done anything yet. Well I have sort of. Did a little more work on the coolant powered front heater. Still not installed but I finally attached my crappy metal tube to the modified Land Cruiser under seat heater. If I can ever get my bay up on ramps again I'll test fit it again. The wheels always start spinning when it gets half way up the ramps :(

Still starts pretty much instantly. If it's been sitting a while the fuel system needs priming. On that I did observe something odd. A month ago or so I had to move it off the ramps that the back end was up on. The knockoff facet pump was nearly silent. Just a muted rattle. Then it ran out of fuel and did its usual jackhammering. On adding fuel it went back to its normal noticeable rattle. Makes me wonder if there is some kind of cavitation or an air lock in the line somewhere.

About the only things left on my "must do" list are modify the air cleaner and install the front heater (mounting, wiring and hoses). Oh and remove the pool noodle bits for now being used as an air seal between floor and frame next to the radiator. And as of yesterday fix the washer pump. It worked, and then didn't. I think I could do all this in the next week or two.

..oh and mount the rear heater. That's like three holes and some bolts and nuts.

Not sure if I've already put this photo up. Besides the mess you can see the floor, and the carpet on the front of the back seat which is the old carpet from the boot (trunk) of one of our dead cars.

here's another

Truth be told, I've been warming up by resurrecting a kids quad bike for... well my kids. Wiring, fault finding, getting it to run again and a lot of bodging. Excellent practice. Scary little thing. 110cc (or possibly 125cc) motor in it. Did well to get me back in the right mindset.

Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:14 pm

Welcome back; its been a while. Keep up the progress......"the work's so nice, you pictured it twice". :D

Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:01 pm

agreed! welcome back! :D

Thu Oct 25, 2012 9:39 pm

What th... How'd that happen. I'll fix the duplicate shortly.
Thanks for the replies by the way!

It has been a while. About all my bay has been used for is a car themed play house for my two year old. Yesterday he really freaked when I chucked him in so I could shift it to make a bit of space so my eight year old was less likely to kill herself on the quad bike.
I think he'd forgotten it could move because usually he's in the house when I shift it.

Next week I'm making the push to finish it. I keep seeing all these interesting vehicles online and kind of drop into a funk because of the catch-22 situation regarding needing to get rid of our car first to purchase.

Today no work on it, but I did receive the battery and ignition barrel for the quad. Put them in, did some fault finding (intermittent open circuit in the main earth) and it now can be turned on, off and started without external influences / tampering.
When I headed over to my usual shop to get some crimp connectors because by sheer bad luck I had a few break on the quad this morning and had no replacements and he asked me how the VW is going. I told him I haven't done much but will probably be in next week to buy some stuff for it.
That stuff would be my usual insanely over-specced hoses and bolts. Now I've sorted out the heater wiring mystery I can install it, wire it, plumb it and forget it.

I know it will be rejected because of the tyres. I'm leaving it like that for sacrificial reasons. The indicator and tail light lenses may or may not pass. It has the smoked rear lenses. Technically they aren't legal here. There is also a small crack near one of the screws. That can also be a fail.

My little boy's b'day is this weekend so all that sort of stuff is on hold until afterward, but I'm determined.

Sun Nov 04, 2012 2:19 pm

Being fairly insolvent has prevented much real progress, but I have done a little. The 'cruiser heater now fits under the floor and while only installed with one fine thread tek screw thing it is in its final position and the heater conduit / leg warmer in the cabin is in place.

when the heater is done a photo is going on VWKD, mostly for selfish reasons. Of all the heaters I've seen installed mine is easily the most compact. It's not in the cabin and the stone guard can still go back on. No minor task, especially for a RHD vehicle because they are a lot more cluttered under there.

I also made the first steps in adapting the Subaru air cleaner to fit the Weber. Made a template from the SCAT air cleaner, and started (again) cleaning the accumulated parts and tools off the back shelf so I can use the engine inspection hatch
What I plan on doing is plopping the template over the carburettor, then putting the subaru air filter roughly where it should be, marking alignment then working out what I need to cut / bend / weld to give the Subaru air cleaner a Weber base and make it airtight. The main issue lies with the Subaru air cleaner being concave on the underside with needed hose connectors under there too.

Although not related, here are my two side projects keeping me busy for now. Because both complexity and parts cost are an order of magnitude less than the VW they have been keeping me occupied.

Sun Nov 04, 2012 6:41 pm

RatCamper wrote:

Wow, I think my dad has the same spectrum analyzer - 30 years old at least.

Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:12 pm

It's been a little while since I've used it plus I have a terrible memory where numbers are concerned but I think the CRO between 20-30MHz so it would probably be a later revision. Funnily I was trying to get all it's probes back together yesterday. Cleaning out the back of the bay is more of a multi-point assault requiring other areas be cleaned up too, so when I tackled the shed I found another box and a couple more little satchels. The actual 'scope is taking refuge in the caravan while everything is being rearranged.

Looking at that picture the fake wood vinyl and the carpet on the front of the back seat really cleaned it up.

Well, yet another project looms. It's a first for me too. Working on a U.S. origin vehicle. Need to get the range selection kerjigger working right on an exploder. I will get back to the VW later on in the week I hope ...depending on if I buy another trailer too. Yet another possible project.

edit:

My bay STINKS! It's like a public toilet or something in there. I think a cat might have peed in it. I need to do something about this but I can't find the source. Considering this I think I had better go shift the motorbike helmets out of there.