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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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 Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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| djkeev wrote: |
Great thread! Keep posting photos of your progress.
I'd strongly advise that you pull you dash top and clean out the heater system.
I have mice in my heater intake but not in the van after sitting for 10 years.
When you are done, put a screen over the air inlet behind the front grill to prevent their reentry!
Here is what did based upon a photo posted by 10cent.........
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...;start=200
Dave |
Pretty much at this point I've come to the realization... where HAVEN'T the mice been?
Thanks for all the tips, everyone! I really like having all eyes on this.
OK, I'm going back in, then will have some photos to show you progress. I have a goal today... let's see if I get there.
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=602180
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 2:03 pm Post subject: question |
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Taking down the kitchen shelf.. "disconnect the light"... so after I disconnect the battery, how do I disconnect the light? the wires look soldered on? do I just cut the wires?
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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I got an answer on the kitchen light removal, and a soldering iron (or a de-soldering iron as the case may be).
My goal today was 1)to get the rest of the curtains and covers out of the van (except the front seats) and wash, and get them into the sun to dry. 2) I was hoping to get the closet pulled out, but that will have to be another day. So, the goalposts shifted. Hey, it's my game.
Mission accomplished! (Well, there's still a load in the washer, but I was running out of light.) And there they will stay for a while, in the summer sun.
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 10:01 pm Post subject: A Prepositional Tale - or, everywhere a mouse can go |
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Progress, and some observations about mouse wayfinding.
The Bentley manual has been very helpful. I removed the rear bench seat as you saw, when we were talking about the rear heater back a ways. I removed the rear shelf:
The kitchen light actually worked, and that made me smile. I want to keep it, at least for a while.
But I need to disconnect the light so I can remove the kitchen shelf. A friend loaned me his soldering iron and told me to melt the solder to pull the wires loose. A pose prior to heating (disconnect the battery first):
I think I did ok. They're loose, anyway! so then unknotted the wires, pulled off the light, and pulled out the kitchen shelf.
I realized I could see where the mice, with their dirty nasty little bodies and feet, made trails that I could see. This amused me for a while. Join me in their journey!
They ran down the kitchen shelf, and hopped up onto the top of the curtain behind the closet; see the little brown smudge where they passed through?:
The top of that particular curtain is the only thing I've found chewed on:
Then they ran along the curtain to that top little nook in the back of the closet, and look, they leapt/skidded down the back slope of the closet, and landed on the floor! Look for the brown smudges:
They also dropped down the back of the closet, boop, boop, boop from shelf to shelf:
There was more, but by that time I'd had enough. Besides, I wanted to check out the curtains I had found, and wash everything up.
I found this one, figured out it goes on the rear. I didn't put it on all the way. There are some holes in it. But the vinyl and plastic screen are in otherwise great shape, still supple and not cracking:
and the other curtain goes over the slider window, attaches to the van inside:
And here is Charlie with the curtains. It's not all about That Cat, after all.
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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Big Bill
Samba Member
Joined: June 21, 2005
Posts: 1782
Location: Santa Rosa, Ca
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 6:35 am Post subject: |
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| I have an electric device that repels rodents. Got it at the local ACE hardware store. I think it would work great in the Vanagon if you are still having problems. Great progress on the Ghost. |
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 6:54 am Post subject: |
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| Big Bill wrote: |
| I have an electric device that repels rodents. Got it at the local ACE hardware store. I think it would work great in the Vanagon if you are still having problems. Great progress on the Ghost. |
That's exactly what I need once I get Ghostie cleaned up. I don't have a mouse free place to park. It works pretty well, huh?
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 11:30 pm Post subject: Inching along |
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A friend has come to visit, and today helped me pull out a few more cabinets; closet, roof top bed, and storage cabinet. There's just the kitchen cabinet left. but it has all those utilities to unhook. That's for another day. I don't see you could do this without the Bentley manual. Much less put it all back together!
There was a little mouse nest built in the top of the water tank lid. No pic, sorry. You'll just have to imagine how adorable it was  and yes it looks like they have been cavorting in the wall behind the storage cabinet and kitchen. Can't wait to get in there.
Also cut the pop top tent out. It's surprisingly small - it looks so big up there stretched out. I could pretty much rip it down with my hands.
This brightened Ghostie's mood to no end!:
But the coolest thing is the Bigfoot pine air freshener my friend brought:
That's it for today.
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=602180
Install in reverse order of removal.
Last edited by ServantOfElwood on Sun Aug 10, 2014 8:13 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TequilaSunSet
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Joined: May 30, 2012
Posts: 2109
Location: Philippines
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 8:11 am Post subject: |
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Nice progress... keep it up!
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Don't harsh my mellow...
1985 Hightower Vanagon 1.8T- Gone
1972 Panel Bus- Gone
1967 Bug- Gone
1964 Euro Sunroof Bug- Gone
1969/72/63 Sunroof Bug- Gone
1975 Brazilian Bug in the Philippines 🇵🇭- New to me |
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luVWagn
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Joined: February 21, 2008
Posts: 1340
Location: Snoqualmie (WA)
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Crankey
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Joined: July 11, 2004
Posts: 2658
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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Bigfoot=fresh air  funny  |
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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| luVWagn wrote: |
Noooooooo! The ghostship has lost its sail! 
But I'm digging the Tibetan Prayer Flags  |
I know! It was a bit of a dilemma, the tattered tent removal. Aren't we weird? It's why i didn't pull it down right away. But it looked cool in the photos; not so pleasant in real life, raining down mouse garbage and bits of rotten cloth. And the smell.. The prayer flags helped ease the transition. Oh, and Bigfoot. 
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oldhuldy67
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Joined: November 25, 2008
Posts: 506
Location: somewhere with a southern exposure
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Happy to see the progress |
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ServantOfElwood
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Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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campism
Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2007
Posts: 4491
Location: Richmond VA
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| Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 7:56 am Post subject: Re: Inching along |
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| ServantOfElwood wrote: |
There's just the kitchen cabinet left. but it has all those utilities to unhook.
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That kitchen cabinet is not that much work. It's actually the FIRST one I removed when soundproofing my Westy. Get busy!
P.S. While you have it out, slot the cabinet's floor from the holes to the back edge of that floor. Once slotted you will not then have to lift the cabinet over the copper lines to get it back into place but can then simply slide it into position.
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geo_tonz
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Joined: August 01, 2012
Posts: 1472
Location: Courtenay, BC, CANADA
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| Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 11:33 am Post subject: Re: Inching along |
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| ServantOfElwood wrote: |
| I don't see you could do this without the Bentley manual. Much less put it all back together! |
Congratulations, you've grasped a vital element in working on these things (IMHO)!! It's funny how many threads get started on here because people cannot grasp that concept and figure the Bentley is too expensive and therefore not worth bothering with! It has easily saved me far more money than it cost in my time and not having to re-do repairs or fix things I broke because I didn't know what I was doing.
I also have the Haynes VW Transporter Manual which was fairly cheap. I like to refer to both. The Bentley is by far a more exhaustive volume but the Haynes is written to more of the layman and helps me get a good overview picture of what I am about to undertake, though it only really covers the basics of the vehicle, not camping equipment, power accessories, etc.
Van's starting to look great. It's a lot of work to get into the air box in the dash but it is definitely something you need to do!! You can make everything in the van sparkle but I won't matter a bit if the air blowing in your face is filtered through a mouse nest in the air box. Even if you leave the fan off air pressure will push through the box and out the vents when you are moving. Closing the vents likely won't do much as the seals are probably too worn to seal well any more. When you get in there take the time to re-seal the vent flaps, lube the blower motor (or replace if noisy) and probably replace the heater core, as the job kinda sucks and you probably won't want to repeat it in a year or two for one of those other items.
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 "Ron Burgundy": 1991 Vanagon Multivan (Weekender) 2.1L Auto - Driver/Camper |
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 2:18 pm Post subject: Re: Inching along |
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| geo_tonz wrote: |
You can make everything in the van sparkle but I won't matter a bit if the air blowing in your face is filtered through a mouse nest in the air box. |
Tell me about it  that's why I needed two pine trees driving it here!. No, I know I need to take the front apart. While the weather was good though, I thought I'd get the back part done first and back together, and get the top all clean and the new sail on, then go to the front. I appreciate everyone's advice! Keep it coming! When I get to that area, trust me, I'll be looping back through this thread again!
I think I saw where someone took their dash into the shower... Not a bad idea... All part of the spa treatment...
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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ServantOfElwood
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Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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ServantOfElwood
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Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:15 pm Post subject: A Question |
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I've been working on removing the kitchen cabinet. Disconnecting gas lines, which is all new to me (well, what isn't new to me here ). The Bentley says to disconnect the gas lines from the propane tank (which I did), then remove the plate and seal underneath the van where the lines feed into the van. It looks like I need to remove the entire propane tank to get at some of the screws. In the photo you can see the tank bracket bolted underneath, and it's JUST covering up three of those six screws I need to take out.
Question: am I correct in thinking I need to remove the tank? Bentley doesn't say to, but I don't see how else I'm going to get the plate off.
Another Question: do i really need to take this plate off in order to get the kitchen cabinet out? Whine whine
Oh hah, look what I found after getting back to Ghostie after consulting the manual:
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ServantOfElwood
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Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 2:45 pm Post subject: and furthermore |
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"Remove shelf" these aren't screws.. these are.. nails? How...?
OK, I'm going to a BBQ. Will get back to it tomorrow. Maybe Elwood will figure it out
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djkeev
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