Shadetree's Wolfsburg Tintop

[shadetreetim]

I guess this is the start of my build thread for the 89 Wolfsburg Tintop I bought yesterday. Today I picked up a set of Mercedes C230 wheels (ET37).

They are in great shape and came with a used set of 195/70R15’s. I’ll replace those but it is nice to use them to check out the new look. Drilling out the lug holes with a 9/16 bit was pretty easy. I stuck one wheel on the front to check it out.

Used the stock alloy lug nuts to temporarily bolt the wheel on, so I won’t drive it like this. The rim/tire is extremely close to the suspension. I plan on contacting Loogy tomorrow to order the spacers, lug nuts, and screw in front studs I need. While I had the wheel off I noticed the lower shock bolt is missing. It just reinforces the fact that I’m going to have to check this van over thoroughly. It may explain the light clunking sound I heard a few times from the front end.
Driving the van around today it seems to run pretty good. It did drip a few drops of antifreeze in the driveway. I’m going to have to fix that soon. The heat gauge would get up to ¾ and stay there, not sure if that’s normal yet. I did hear the radiator fan run, so I guess it’s working. The PO claims to have changed all the cooling hoses a few weeks ago. They do look new so it is probably true. But he didn’t change the fuel lines so I ordered the kit from GoWesty today. After all the times I read to change the fuel lines, I figured it was easier than hearing about it constantly.
While I was cruising around (I mean testing) in the van I picked up a new set of wiper blades for the front and back. I pulled the wiper arms off and shot them with a coat of John Deere Blitz Black paint. After I got back from buying the rims I put the wipers back together.
Rooting around under the back seat I found the rear hatch and one of the side window screens. That was cool. I also found the original build sheet for this van. Originally purchased here in SoCal.
We had to make sure the dogs fit in the van. They look happy.

The van looks all shiny on the passenger side. The roof, front, and drivers side have the clear coat coming off. A paint job is in the future plans. Mechanical issues first though.

_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[levi]

Nice, that's a carat, yes?
_________________
One of these days I'm gonna settle down,
but till I do I won't be hangin round.
Going down that long lonesome highway,
gonna see life my way

https://youtu.be/cSrL0BXsO40

[IrideWheelies]

Better - it's a Bluestar!
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89' Dove Blue Syncro Hightop

[shadetreetim]

You guys would know better than me. Back in the 80s I had a couple of splitties and a bay, but this is my first Vanagon. I believe the Carat has the the same interior configuration. Is this seat cloth unique to a Bluestar? Here's the build sheet I found.

I've always shoved the build sheet in the glove box when I've bought a new ride, it is very cool when you find one in an older vehicle.

On a different topic; on my lunch break I emailed Loogy to get the adapters and stuff I need.
_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[Krautwagen]

I just traded in my old Bluestar for a newer 1999 Eurovan.

I removed the cracked and faded fiberglass from the sides, very similar in appearance to your paint. I loved the that van, you will too.
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Andy
Lakewood, CO
1973 Type 1 Bug
1974 Type 1 Bug
1999 Eurovan MV

[BenT Syncro]

[shadetreetim]

Maybe I should change the thread title to "The US Market Wolfsburg Limited Edition Vanagon commonly referred to as a Bluestar on The Samba even though technically it isn't". Seriously, I would swap in a turbo diesel in a heartbeat though. My long range ultimate plan is to do just that.

I've been watching, lurking, looking at Vanagons for over a year. My favorite floorplan / cloth / color interior was this one. It was just my luck that one was available when I was finally ready to buy one. This interior may have swayed me to buy a project with known motor troubles (the antifreeze leak), but the way I see it is any vehicle with 150K plus miles on it will need some work anyway. Might as well start with a known problem in a Vanagon I really want.

That's a nice ride there Krautwagen. I hope your EV inspires as much love as your Wolfsburg did. My wife is already kidding me that I have a big grin on my face when I'm around mine.
_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[shadetreetim]

The wife and I always name our vehicles. The Jetta TDI is Pugsley. My 57 GMC is Clyde. So we needed a name for the Vanagon. I jokingly called it Tortuga the day I bought it, but have called it Vinnie ever since. So Vinnie the Van it is.
Anyway, I’ll move on to the good stuff. After work today I measured the distance from the wheel mounting surface to the back of the stock Mercedes Center Cap. I still had one rim mounted on the van so I took pictures of the grease cap sticking through the rim about ½”. Looks like I need a little more than a ½” spacer to run these ET37 rims with the stock caps. After emailing the pictures to Loogy, I pulled the wheel back off and replaced the missing lower shock mount bolt.

I decided to drive Vinnie to the car wash so I put the old alloy back on and went down and washed the motor as good as I could without flooding the interior. While I was out I cruised by the local FLAPS and picked up some fresh synthetic oil and a new oil filter. When I got home I pulled the 57 out of the garage and tried to stuff Vinnie in there so I could change the oil. Unfortunately he’s about 6” too tall, and I haven’t put the 15s on yet. I guess I’ll always have to work on Vinnie in the driveway. Since he won’t fit anyway maybe I’ll lift him an inch or two.
After the oil change I pulled a spark plug to see what shape they were in. The plug was dry and light brown. Good. It looked very old though, the washer was rusty and cruddy. The plug wires looked just as old. I’m going to order the parts for a complete tune-up.
While changing the oil I started looking around and under the newly washed motor for the source of the coolant leak. I found quite a few of the hose clamps on the new hoses were just finger tight. I ran through them all tightening them up a little. The head gaskets look pretty new and so far I don’t see any coolant around them. Hopefully it was the hoses leaking. We’ll see.

While I was rooting around in the engine bay I discovered the heavy braided ground wire on the driver’s side from the body to the motor had broken off at its attachment point. I didn’t have a replacement braided ground cable so I cut the old one off square, tinned the end with my soldering iron, drilled a new hole, and bolted it back to the motor. I’ll pick up a new one, but I just wanted to see if it made any difference in performance. Since I’ve never owned a Vanagon I wasn’t sure if the performance of this motor was normal or not. It wasn’t too bad, but seemed lazy when accelerating. But after reconnecting the ground wire it pulls through all the gears with purpose. It certainly doesn’t feel lazy anymore.
With every wrench turned I’m getting to know this old van better. And as I get to know it I like it more than ever.
After all that work, the wife, dogs and I set out in the van on the driveway for a while. My wife was excited to find out the fluorescent light still worked. Apparently she likes the van too.

_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[BenT Syncro]

Why don't you just use a 60 degree countersink and recontour the lugholes? Then you can use factory Carat style wheel bolts to attach the wheels w/o any further drama. If you insist on using spacers to change the offset beyond the ideal ET30, the factory front bolts are long enough to accommodate a 1/2" spacer as you seem to be planning. Incidentally, that will give you ET24.5 (37.0-12.5 =24.5). Use 56mm studs from EMPI or Sway-away for the rears. Of course, conical seat lugnuts too. Total cost of hardware should be less than $100. Billet spacers $10 each up to $65 each depending who you buy them from.

You could get away from using the spacers in back if you weren't so married to those MB centercaps. Billet aluminum caps are available to fit those wheels with Wolfsburg insignias for about $50-65 per set. They shouldn't need any machine work if you are using spacers in front.

Anyway, just making a few alternatives. I've been putting oddball wheels on Vanagons since 1999. That's how ended up with a pile of alloys taller than my house plus the neighbors house on top of it.
_________________
BenT

[IrideWheelies]

[BenT Syncro]

[shadetreetim]

In my quest to get Vinnie running as good as he possibly can, I stopped by the local FLAPS at lunch and picked up new plugs, cap, rotor and fuel filter. I rushed home from work and proceeded to try to replace the plugs. But it was not to be. The new plugs did not have a removable tip, and my wires won’t work without removing the tip. Crap. So I put the old plug back in.

I have an appointment at the DMV tomorrow afternoon to transfer the title into my name. Here in California you must have a smog check done within 3 months of transferring said title. The previous one was in September. So I decided to take Vinnie in for his checkup without the tuneup I had planned. I had more than a little apprehension about my plan since I had just fixed the ground problem last night and had barely ran the motor since. So I drove around for a couple of miles before heading to the smog station. A few blocks from me there’s a semi-deserted street through a new commercial area. It was a good spot to try to blow the cobwebs out. Vinnie was pulling strong and seemed to run smoother than last night.

The smog tech needed my assistance to open the hatch and access the motor. I considered playing dumb just to see if he would forego the visual, but helped him open the engine cover. I was then banished to the waiting room where I sat on the edge of my seat next to the open door listening and sniffing the air. I don’t remember those smells wafting in here while the last car was being tested. A vague smell of burned oil and … dust.

I kept thinking, I hope the motor doesn’t blow up while he has a load on it. He lugged it pretty hard. Is that a miss I hear? Then he would remove the brake and the motor would happily rev high. That’s better. But will it pass? If it doesn’t pass I’ll be bummed. Finally he pulled it out of the stall and parked it. Just tell me it passed. Is he walking slow because he has bad news for me? You mean I have to pay $75 even if it fails? C’mon dude, TELL ME!

WE PASSED! Did it barely pass, or do I have room for wear? It tested like a new car he said. Really? I love this Vanagon.

Results at 15 MPH 2151 RPM
HC (PPM) Allowed 122 Tested 18
CO (%) Allowed 0.72 Tested 0.13
NO (PPM) Allowed 1010 Tested 0
Results at 25 MPH 2139 RPM
HC (PPM) Allowed 102 Tested 27
CO (%) Allowed 0.91 Tested 0.12
NO (PPM) Allowed 870 Tested 6

Maybe I don’t need that tuneup after all. I cruised home a happy man.
_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[vanjoe]

Congragulations!! Happy Cruising. Keep control of the addiction. I have had a hard time with my addiction. We really need to start a 12 step program for Vanagon owners.
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1990 VW Vanagon tin top weekender Carat
1998 Mercedes S420

"Why is there never time to do it right the first time, but there is always time to do it twice?"

"Back to the basics!"

[shadetreetim]

Thanks Joe. 12 Vanagons in every yard is a better plan.

You bring up some good options there BenT. I’m usually the guy who is all over saving money and I never shy away from doing it myself. But as I sat there the other night looking for all of the parts from various vendors, saving web pages and running out to the garage to take another measurement, I realized that there may be less drama if I just contacted Loogy. A couple of emails back and forth and I know I will have a combination that works without any trial and error.

The final result is 10mm spacers on the front to accommodate the stock caps. I can shorten the grease caps up to 3mm if needed. ET37 minus 10mm = ET27. That will make the wheels centerline set 3mm further out than stock alloys. While 3mm may seem like a lot when referring to certain parts of the anatomy it’s not that much here. 3mm = less than 1/8”.

Now I don’t necessarily like the stock caps with their Mercedes emblems, but I do want to use them until I find something that I do like. These wheels don’t lend themselves well to the no-cap look. I love the idea of the Wolfsburg logo on the cap, especially because my ride is a Wolfsburg, but I don’t like the look of a raised cap on these wheels, or on the stock alloys for that matter. It kind of reminds me of the wheels on an antique pedal car, with the center hub sticking out further than the tire.

And with the fronts on 10mm spacers, the rears would look weird to me without any. Plus there is the center cap issue. I don’t like the rears tucked under the body like they are now in comparison to the fronts. Since I am ordering spacers anyway, I’m going with 15mm spacers to position the rear rim centerline 8mm further out than stock. We’re only talking roughly 5/16” here.

And since I’m ordering everything else, I went ahead and ordered the conversion studs for the front. Just the two times I have swapped the front rim has convinced me these are well worth it. Lug-centric wheels without lugs is not that well thought out IMHO.

And lastly, I was happy to throw some business at Loogy. I’ve read through numerous post where he gave extremely thorough explanations to help whether OP were buying from him or not. I appreciate that. My communication with Loogy was consistent with his post. Occasionally I am very happy to pay the expert. Could I have saved a few bucks? Maybe. Selling my mistakes on eBay is way more likely.
_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[shadetreetim]

My driveway is on an angle. Let’s just say it will be a perfect spot to burp the cooling system. I’ve parked Vinnie there nose up since I adopted him last weekend. Every morning a quarter size spotting of coolant has greeted me, but I couldn’t find the source of the leak. On Thursday I got home from work to discover this:

It was dripping coolant as I walked up. Well at least now I’ll be able to tell where it’s coming from. Turns out it was out of the Coolant Reservoir Tank vent. The Tank was overflowing today, it is only ½ full normally. Interestingly, it filled while the engine was cold. Makes me wonder if my Expansion Tank Cap is malfunctioning? Bus depot has a replacement cap for under $10. I wish I had known earlier, I ordered a bunch of parts from Bus Depot Wednesday night. Thursday night I parked on level ground and woke up to no leakage.

I have been thinking about some wiring mods to make the van more battery friendly. I plan on adding a 12V outlet at the base of the kick panel in front of the shifter, another one on the back of the passenger seat, and one somewhere around the base of the back seat. But I want these outlets and the radio to have keyed/no key switching. I went by my local electronics store today and picked up some nice on-on and on-off switches, in-line fuse holders, and relays. I’ll do one switch for the Radio, one to control all the 12V outlets, including the existing cigarette lighter, and a matching on/off switch for the driving lights I’ll eventually add to the front. If/when I add a second battery I’ll move all the 12V outlets over to it.

I have an almost new pair of tires in my garage off my old Tacoma. They are 215/70R15 load rating 97 Hankooks. I decided to have them mounted on my new rims so I could see if they would work. They may be too tall for my 2.1 though at 26.85 inches. When my adapters arrive I’ll put them on and test them. If I lose too much acceleration I’ll buy some 215/65R15s. I do like the look though.

Today I pulled apart my speedometer to fix the odometer/tripmeter. I used the method of repair I found here on TheSamba, a re-purposed paperclip. Cheap and easy. 45 miles later its still working. Now I can check my mileage.

_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[shadetreetim]

Got up early this morning and headed over to the window tint guy. Vinnie ran great on the I-215, 65-70 MPH for 12 miles or so. I took my Bentley manual to read through while waiting on the tint job. I picked 5% for the rear windows and 50% on the front doors.

I’ve never been ticketed for 50% on the front. The installer struggled getting the sliders and vent windows to look good. It took over 4 hours. I read everything of interest in the Bentley, made list of what to do and/or buy next and then sat there bored. After they finished I headed over to Harbor Freight to pick up a few things, and then hit up NAPA. I had read that NAPA carries Air Conditioner Mineral Oil. Since the windows were just tinted I couldn’t open any windows and the air doesn’t blow cold. It reinforced that I need to finish gathering the parts to blow out and recharge the AC.

I bought a quart of the Mineral Oil and a new Coolant Reservoir Cap they had in stock. I asked if it was German and the kid said it showed a VW part number, it must be. Well for $2.36 I didn’t really care that it was made in China. It’s worth it to see if it will keep Vinnie from piddling on the driveway tonight. When I got home I put on the cap, topped off the coolant and burped my radiator. I was hoping that might be the cause of my temp gauge reading ¾ ever since I bought it. A quick test drive let me know it wasn’t. I’ve read that these China Caps may not work well so I ordered a new German one and a new Thermostat from Van Café this afternoon. I think I’ll make a screw on Libby Bong from the old cap and burp it again.
I had planned to replace the fuel lines this afternoon, but after the tinting took so long and my side trips I had to get to work on my back yard to keep the wife happy.
_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[shadetreetim]

Today when I got home from work I was excited to find two boxes on the front porch. One contained the spacers and lugs I ordered from Loogy and the other my LED lighting. I ran out to put it all in before dinner.
The first thing I did was install my LED interior lighting. While pulling out the passenger side rear fixture, the clip popped off and disappeared inside the opening. I felt around in there and taped a magnet to a long zip tie so I could explore deeper. No luck. I wedged a small screw in to hold the fixture in placefor now until I order another interior light to replace it.
What I was really excited to start was my wheel swap. So I pulled the front wheels and put in my studs, spacers, and new rims. The front was fast and easy. Moving to the rear I broke out my breaker bar with a big cheater to get the hubs loose. My wife wandered outside as I’m bouncing on the end of it. I assured her I knew what I was doing. I don’t think she was convinced. Getting the hubs off was the hardest part of the entire job though.

I went with 7mm spacers on the front and that meant my stock Mercedes caps wouldn’t quite fit. I broke out my BF Hammer and modified the grease caps a little. The caps clip in place firmly but won’t seat perfectly. I don’t have any more adjusting possible. I don’t think the caps will fall off so I’ll probably just leave it this way until I decide what to do to get rid of the Mercedes logo. I have a couple of ideas rolling around in my head. We’ll see.

I’d been wondering if the 215/70R15s I mounted on two of the wheels would leave me with enough acceleration to be drivable. So I had to drive a couple miles to see how it performed now. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the performance was still acceptable. And even on the worn front tires it handled pretty well. I initially inflated front and rears to 40 lbs and it was very stable. I had the old 14s inflated to 42 and they felt a little squirrely.
When I got back home I measured my front and rear heights. The rear was 27.75 with 21575R15s and the front is 26.6 with the old 195/70R15s that are on there right now. I’ll get another pair of the Hankooks I have on the rear. It should set pretty level then. These Hankook Optimo H724s have a load rating of 97 so they should be fine for my tintop.
For my last project of the night I changed out my dash lighting. It was too light outside to tell how well they were going to work, but I already wish I had found a bulb for the clock. I’d rather have no bulb than that yellow one. I headed in to have dinner and waited for it to get dark so I could check out my new lighting.

The interior is lit very well with the LEDs and even better is their lower power draw. I’m going to look for a fixture to change the fluorescent out.

What will be delivered tomorrow?
_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[BenT Syncro]

[shadetreetim]

From what I've researched, with window tinting, the lower the number the darker it is. 5% is commonly referred to as "limo" tint. It gets this designation because it allegedly allows only 5% of the light through.

GoWesty has an article about tinting here: http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=851

I chose the 5% specifically to make it harder to see inside the rear for parking lot security AND the benefit of heat reduction. Less visible, less temptation, less light, less heat.

The 50% is more in line with what comes stock on more recent cars. It allows 50% light in, and more importantly, allows the officer to see you. In my case he'll see a balding middle aged man smiling back. Probably not too high on his profile-o-meter.

Yeah, I need to knock on wood somewhere. I may have just jinxed myself. I'm always polite to the officer and roll down all my windows when I've been pulled over. But laws are subject to interpretation, I can only hope they don't beat me over the head with a strict interpretation of the code.
_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[BenT Syncro]

'Enlightening'. My tint guy always uses the opposite of the percentage. I did Google the terms and confirm your research. On that note, California (where I live) only permits 70% on front side windows. I've got 50% on there now. My rears have 25%, which my tint guy calls "limo tint" or 75% in HIS terminology. I have a difficult time seeing much in the back at night. Your 5% would seem to make the rear appear like solid walls at night. Yikes!
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BenT