What did YOU do to your van today?

[vanis13]

[fxr]

[yiucycle]

[seans67]

Since finishing the 1.8T install a few weeks ago - new rear shocks.
Now I have the front end torn apart- new front wheel bearings, tie rod ends, upper ball joints, and Upper control arm bushings.

Also rebuilt the power steering rack, not really that hard. Waiting for power flex bushings so I can put it all back together.

Oh and a new stereo, nothing special just a pioneer deck from Amazon but it does have Bluetooth and a USB port. Now I need to make a cabinet in the back above the bed where the old AC used to be. So I can put the new speakers in there.
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Sean

'71 Squareback '71 Porsche 914 ‘80 Camper '87 Syncro Weekender 1.8T '87 Wolfsburg Weekender '97 Toyota Land Cruiser ‘03 Audi A6 Quattro 3.0 ‘04 Audi A4 Avant Quattro 1.8T ‘05 Audi A4 Quattro 3.0
‘06 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

[oldhuldy67]

OK...I know that there are real mechanics out there, master fabricators, electrical-solar-off-the-grid Sambanistas y Sambanistos. Me, I am just another poor soul who depends on a1980 Westy for my OCD treatments. I just found a good dose of practical therapy.
I have seen others post about Honda Oddessy's flip-down cup holder console and seen the report that they won't work on swivel seats. So... I thought about it and began to wonder if it could work if it had a bracket that would allow you to easily remove it. The seat could be turned around and then the small console could be put back into use while camping.
Toby Bennin and John operate an air cooled shop, Import Restoration in Smyrna, Ga. I am blessed to have these friends...they are worth the $, too.
So, here's what we came up with...

Bead blasted some old steel and painted it with "Vanagon Brown".

Poked the holes, cleaned up the wheel well surface and filled the old cup holder holes with dumdum, sealed the area with tar-backed roll sealer, heated it up with my heatgun, pressed/rolled into place, and then locked it into place with nyloc 5/16.

I decided to remove the front wheel to avoid banging into brake lines.

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Currently:1980 Westy Westfalia Poptop (a total stock-look rebuild with all my favorite camping mods)
1967 stock Sunroof Beetle
Formerly:
1978 Westy Campmobile, the"EM50 Urban Assault Vehicle" code named "The Pickle"
1973 Squareback (sold on a lark)
1973 Super Beetle (crashed..walked away without a scratch)
1972 Standard Beetle (lost in a relationship..)
1966 Beetle (the Black Beauty, my Dad's)
1964 Beetle (the Beige Bug, my beginning beater, also my Dad's) Thanks, Dad.

[Abelabelabel]

Installed a new Gowesty Dash PCB last week.


Pros:

It works! And there's no other robust alternative once the factory foil-type connectors bite the dust. They are so fragile.

This is a great item to have available, as the foil is really *weak* The foil was delaminating, and attempting to install new LED's to illuminate clock + idiot light icons + speedo + Tach didn't work. The tach and speedo still worked, but I suddenly had no lights, and my Oil pressure buzzer would go on, and stay on as soon as I hit about 2300 RPM for the first time.

Cons:

My clock doesn't work anymore, which is just kind of annoying, because of where the new PCB is located, it's going ot be a PITA to torubleshoot. Sometimes my Oil Pressure light will "flicker" as I change gears and the RPMs drop and raise back up.

Pics of the install:

7MM bolts.

All cleaned up.

Some of the left overs.

Nuts set aside, these will be reused. Other plastic pieces pictured are "deleted" once new PCB is installed.

Getting the PCB pieces to "mate" with the old plugs was the hardest part of the install. Shined a flashlight behind to help me make sure I was making a solid connection between the female and male parts.

Must not have gotten it right for the clock, as it's still not working.

Could also be a little moisture that got in there when I was cleaning everything up while I had everything taken apart.

Here's another neat step. Little rubber tubing was included to help create a "light barrier" for the colored LEDs. Replacement is just those cut LED diodes, so "outside light" can enter. Putting these sleeves on keeps that from happening. Was kind of a pain, but it worked! Really made me appreciate the attention to detail that Gowesty had. It's still very much a DIY fix, but they've filled in all the blanks that would have made this a mediocre upgrade.

Another PCB install where Female - Male connection has to be done almost blind, since the replacement doesn't have "fitted" female plug. To make sure PCB stays on properly a small amount of glue is required. So getting it wrong the first time was a bummer, I had to remove the glue, clean, clean, clean, and test before semi-permanently gluing again.

Next on the list:
Hissy Leaky AC to figure out.
Pwer Steering ATF drip-drip-dripping
New Radiator that's ready to put on.

Then:
Brakes. . . Exhaust. . . suspension . . Paint.
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1991 Vanagon GL / Carat Interior / Auto - White "Daily"
1990 Vanagon Carat / manual / Cherry Red "Bella Rouge"

[singletrackrod]

Here's a quick photo- before the final fitting - of my new Wet Okole neoprene seat covers. The fit and finish far exceeded my expectations. If you are looking to re-do your seats and want a durable, easy to clean surface, these are worth a look.

More photos to follow.

I also finished the lacquer/wax finish on my table.

Final getting close to completion

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Ella '89 Full Camper - bit by bit I'm importing the pieces from my wrecked '87
Louise '87 Full Camper - bought her new - zero hours 2.5L subie conversion. She had more add-ons and mods than I could ever count. (lost in an accident 10/25/2020)
'08 Stage 2 STI (sold)
'04 Forester XT
'00 4Runner Limited (sold)

[Steve M.]

...

[joetiger]

New squirters from T3 Technique:

And these FANTASTIC new plates. I finally found a specialty plate I can get behind (and qualify for.)

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Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[Mountain1.8t]

[Mountain1.8t]

[joetiger]

[singletrackrod]

[Mike760]

[digthemlows]

Drilled my very first holes in the westy.....Lift assist is now installed.

[joetiger]

While the aftermarket bumper options are very nice, they're a bit out of my price range. Having beaten up my original chrome rear bumper (and then another) I figured I'd go with a cheap black one this time around.

CIP1.com sells two versions, the super-flimsy one that we're all familiar with, and an upgraded version for more $$. They were having a sale last week, so I bought the more expensive one. I can tell you that it's as heavy as the original.

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC-255-807-111-CBK

My foot slides off of them, which bugs me, so I added some self-adhesive treads cut down to size ($10 from Amazon.) We'll see if they stay on or if I need to come up with better mounting solution, or scrap them altogether. They do look OK right now, though, and should serve their purpose.

http://www.amazon.com/Keeper-05680-Safety-Step-2-p...3MYS44CHQV

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Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[wesitarz]

Fixed rad fan in 88 Wolfsburg Carat auto with Subaru 2.5L (no working A/C)

Wire colors are different from Bentley 97.141. My rad fan thermoswitch had RW3 (+ve with IGN ON); RB2 (relay clicked only when jumped from RW3);RBL1 (nothing when jumped from RW3)
Checked relays 2nd stage (#53) on fuse panel and 3rd stage with fuse under dash behind left air vent). Both clicked OK with 12v and ground from the battery.
Hooked up battery + and - to the rad fan using jumper cables and alligator clipped wires. Rad fan worked OK. Faulty fan ground. Added a second ground to the fan. Thank you The Samba.
Now I had high speed fan when jumping thermoswitch RW3 to RB2.
More wiring difference. RBL1 at thermoswitch becomes RB at the harness connector to the resistor (2 RB wires,1 B wire into resistor,1 red wire out).
Jumping RW3 to RBL1 at the thermoswitch I got + at RB2 at resistor. The other RB and B wires feed from the A/C. I Connected one RB to the B wire so resistor 1 and 2 will both be +ve when RW3 is jumped to RBL1 at the thermoswitch. Then I had slow speed fan .So I am bypassing the 2nd stage relay in the fuse panel.
So at 95 degrees C at the thermoswitch I get slow speed fan and at 102 degrees C I get high speed fan at least in my test scenario.

[MrBuelterman]

Installed Blazecut on the desk lid.

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86 2.4L 2WD Peloquin Westy

[rlbarnes5]

Added a driver's side grab handle!

Thanks to all who posted advice on this project. Handle cost me $10 on eBay. Wedges free from my mechanic. Total time about 45m for install. No cursing required!

Details on my mods page here: http://byronsalaskaadventure.blogspot.com/p/byron.html[/url]

[TommyBoyGomes]

I put new shoes on my multi. Love me some Rheins!

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1969 Squareback, 1776cc
1990 Vanagon Multivan