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Meet "Chewie"
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Colorado Yeti
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 2:51 am    Post subject: Meet "Chewie" Reply with quote

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So, diving head first into the strange and mysterious land of "Westfalia". We just bought our 1st Volkswagon, a 1985 Westfalia Camper from a fellow member on this forum. Seems somewhat befitting, since my last name is actually "Volk". It has 135,000 miles and is all stock except for a 1990 2.2 Subaru engine. Very happy with it so far and my family is planning some great roadtrips around the U.S./ Canada/ Nepal. My kids named it "Chewie" since it is large, brown and cumbersome.

So far this is what I have fixed:
- Circuit board / wiring harness in dash pod was fried. Replaced it and got all of the dash lights working again. Thanks Mike at Rocky Mountain Westy for locating the parts.
- Replaced original blown speakers with good quality ones. It has a great Blaupunkt stereo, so now I can crank up my Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead & Led Zeppelin with impunity. Much to the chagrin of my wife.
- Took the doors apart and lined the interior of the inner panels with dynomat. Now it sounds like a real car when you close the doors and it is much quieter.
- Replaced the original leaking auxillary heater with a school bus heater from JC Whitney. I was able to fit it into the original space and create a plenum duct so it directs air out of the factory vent hole. Holy cow, does it crank the heat! Will be nice on the cold Colorado nights coming back from skiing.
- Welded in a new exhaust system with new header gaskets, new catalytic converter and a Dynomax Super Turbo Muffler. Sounds great and looks nice. It passed the super-strict Colorado emissions test with flying colors. (I purposefuly neglected to inform them of the Subaru engine conversion......that would have been a huge can of worms.)
- Replaced the 12v water pump in the sink tank. Sink works perfectly now.

What I still need to do:
- Install amber fog lamps in the front grille. Should be here tomorrow.
- Replace front shocks with KONI units. Right now it dives like a submarine when I hit the brakes.
- Replace all of the bushings in the front end.
- Replace the washer nozzles for the front windshield. One is clogged and the other one squirts way over the top of the van......I will kind-of miss that part because it really impresses the ladies. I wouldn't worry about the lack of squirters too much, but they use that wonderful magnesium chloride on the roads in the winter. I would rather have the ice & snow.
- Figure out how to rebuild the fridge. Great posts on this forum should help me with it.
- Build a 1 foot padded extension for the upper bunk since I am 6'4" and do not want to be fetching my pillows out of the stove every couple of hours during the night.
- Modify my garage door assemby so I can squeeze it into our garage during the winter if I need to work on it. Chewie is 76" inches tall and my opening to the garage is 77".....with the requisite modifications. Oh well, nothing a sawz-all can't accomplish. Just be sure to do it while the wife is dropping the kids off at school.

That should be it, but we all know that a truly heroic and honorable project is never finished. I am just trying to convince my wife of that. Wish me luck.
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pioneer1
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 3:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome-sounds/looks like a nice ride.
The windshield washer squirters are somewhat adjustable-like a ball & socket. Use a small pin to rotate the offending one to the correct spot. Usually a blast of compressed air will clear a plugged nozzle.
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FNGRUVN
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 6:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bring it to Rocky Mountain Westy this weekend so us locals can check it out.
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sanchius Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 6:22 am    Post subject: Re: Meet "Chewie" Reply with quote

Colorado Yeti wrote:

- Modify my garage door assemby so I can squeeze it into our garage during the winter if I need to work on it.

Welcome to the club and thanks for the most excellent intro post. With pic, no less!

I have the same garage issue, rather than modifying the door, I just air down the tires and it goes right in.
That means you can now justify getting a nice air compressor! I use my compressor ALL the time.

The best way to convince the DW of the need to keep Chewie in good sort is to take her on some fun adventures so she is as invested in Chewie as a source of good times & memories as you are. Yesterday evening, after my DW returned home from a long day/week, I had a picnic dinner (roasted herb chicken, light salad, grapes, cheese & crackers, juice & ice cold Riesling) all ready to go our Syncro. Within minutes, we and our new puppy cruised out to one of the best sunset promontories on our part of the front range to watch a beautiful western sunset across a massive vista of high-grass prairie and mountains. I parked with the slider door facing west and we set up the camp chairs that live in the back of the vanagon and spent the next hour or two eating, chatting without interruption ("sorry kids, you gotta stay home this time") and watching the show as evening slowly transitioned to dusk, watching the bats and hearing the coyotes yap in the distance. It was an awesome, vanagon-enabled, decompression after a long week for her. If I had remembered to bring the oil candles, I would have been able to add the word "romantic" to the last sentence, but that that wasn't really the intent

Will we get the chance to meet you at the RMW open house this Friday?
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insyncro
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 6:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome aboard.
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Colorado Yeti
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 6:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks everyone. Like the way you think, Sanchius. Good idea on airing down the tires My wife is actually pretty excited about the purchase, which I cannot say about my old Jeep that I have owned for 17 years.

I am going to try to make it to the BBQ at Rocky Mountain Westy this Friday evening, but I am on call at the hospital, so who know how that will pan out. Maybe see some of you there.

- Keith
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coclimber
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome man!

How are the tires? I've seen way too many vans on the road without tires safety rated for a Vanagon. Just check'n!
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msinabottle
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:21 pm    Post subject: Welcome to the Funny Farm! Reply with quote

Well, you hit the ground running, I must say, and I congratulate you upon the great start you've made. I hope you'll be at the gathering Friday, you can look over what I've done with and too Winston and perhaps get some ideas, although you have many good ones of your own.

Best!
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jahbikez
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 9:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

welcome aboard! Chewie is a beauty! I bought my first Westy in march of '12, and have loved every minute of it....I had the same issue squeezing into my garage, I found a scrap piece of wood wedged between my garage door handle and the header to the opening keeps the door just high enough, and I manage to squeeze in with about 1/2" to spare. my fridge did not work when I bought it, I followed a few tips, and got it to work on ac/dc, but still need to fix the propane side of things. I still rock a cooler, as my beers don't seem to fit with my food. I always save any large bottles (2 litre pop) and fill with water and freeze them. they take up some space, but give a little assist to the fridge. hope to see you on the roads around FortFun! I will be in the '82 baby blue air cooled, giving the VW greeting wave. Jared
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loopdloope
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 8:30 am    Post subject: Question Reply with quote

What modle blaupunkt was in the 1985 volkswagens? I'm trying to restore my 85 to 100% original. Anyone out there know?
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luVWagn
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

First to say it... Fuel lines.
Nice van! Taking that 2wd skiing will be fun!
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HoustonPhotog
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:38 am    Post subject: Re: Meet "Chewie" Reply with quote

Colorado Yeti wrote:

- Modify my garage door assemby so I can squeeze it into our garage during the winter if I need to work on it. Chewie is 76" inches tall and my opening to the garage is 77".....with the requisite modifications.


I had my garage door opening enlarged. fortunately it was just the header tat needed modifying and not the height of the track etc. Had about 4" of height added.
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MacDude
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome to the galaxy Chewie!

You should make a custom cover for your westy out of Brown Shag Carpet....

Very Happy Twisted Evil
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yardbug
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:00 am    Post subject: Re: Question Reply with quote

loopdloope wrote:
What modle blaupunkt was in the 1985 volkswagens? I'm trying to restore my 85 to 100% original. Anyone out there know?


It wasn't original to the van. It was a newer unit with aux-in. This vanagon had the Heidelberg cassette player from new.. I think it was $800 add from the dealer. Shocked

Keith, I didn't realize your circuit board on the cluster fried?
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Colorado Yeti
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yardbug -

No big deal on the dash circuit board. I just couldn't figure out why the gauge lights weren't working. Picked up a good used one from RMW. No problems since then.

The Subie 2.2 finally gave up the ghost a month ago when we were coming back from vacation in the PNW. Luckily we were only 2 hours from home, so I had it towed back to my house. I knew that the engine was going to eventually give it up based on the rod knock when I would start it up. I have a great replacement engine sitting in my garage waiting. Just need some free time to swap them out. I have no regrets buying the van and you were totally honest when you sold it to me.

Cheers!
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vanagonjr
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chewbacca approves - tell him Chewie - in your own words!

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