New westfalia owner looking for general advice 1981

[Paddykavs]

Hi I'm new to the site and just bought my first westfalia, I'm looking for general advice on taking care of my van. Can any one suggest some "must do's" for a van of this age. I was going to put some new plugs and wires in, I also want to instal a cylinder head temp gauge but was wondering what other gauges would be benificial i.e. Oil pressure etc. Any advice would be great to get started. Thanks. Ps the van runs fine as is I just want to give it some tlc

[50 Kafer]

First things first, change your fuel lines. If you browse/search this forum there is alot of advice shared.
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John
1950 Kafer Deluxe (10/50)
1955 Beetle Deluxe (6/55)
1968 Beetle (11/67)
1982 Westy
1986 Cabriolet (6/86)

[reluctantartist]

Hi and welcome. I have an oil pressure, oil temperature and a CHT. Be careful installing the CHT. It is easy mess up the install in such a way that you have an air leak from an improperly sealing CHT sender. Your head temp will be high as a result. Do you have any service records that came with the vehicle. If you do that would be a great place to start looking for what next needs to be done. Get 30r9 for the fuel line. You can get GoodYear or Gates at your FLAPS. That is the fuel line that can handle today's alcohol blend fuels. It is expensive but don't skimp. Otherwise you will have to do it all over in a few years.
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1982 Westy, 1974 412 Variant... Yes, Aircooled's are great! Oh and I do have modern computer controlled vehicles too, but I just don't care about them.

[vanagonjr]

This is more post air-cooled, but may be helpful. Ignore the water cooling stuff, may attention to fuel lines, http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=457174&highlight=maintainance+maintenance
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John
LiMBO (late model bus club) www.limbobus.org
LiMBO is on Facebook too! https://www.facebook.com/groups/limbobus/
86 Wolfsburg Westfalia "Weekender"

[Paddykavs]

Thanks vanagonjr that's some great info defentaly a great starting place!

[vanagonjr]

[Paddykavs]

one more thing, my engine has a yellow "volkswagen canada remanufacture" sticker on the block with a number, i gather this means my engine is a reman from volkswagen canada, does any one know how to decode this number to determine the year it was remanufacured?

my number is 91742

exchange piece number is 071 100 031AX

[Mulcheese]

Everyone will agree replace fuel lines and yes that is correct. Think of it this way. These vans are old and one thing that deteriorates over time is rubber. If it is rubber inspect and replace if needed. I looked at my brake hoses one day and they looked good then I cleaned the dirt off and one started to weep. Good thing considering I was about to take a week trip. I figured brakes were important so I replaced all hoses.

It is hard to say what to replace since everything should but that is not feasible. Startwith the major, fire, stopping, starting and then cruising.
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82 Westy: Air is cool!
03 Jetta wgn
10 Jetta le
The Family!

[Paddykavs]

i need to replace the heater control cabels to the valves in the rear end, the problem is there is nothing there right now, does any one have advice or tips on how to replace them,

also if any one has pictures of how the cable attaches to the valve it self that would be great, im pretty sure i will have to fabricate something here as there is nothing there at all right now, just want to see how it is supposed to be done

thanks again for all the previous advice, im glad i joind this fourm lots of good people here willing to help a rookie