TheSamba.com :: View topic - A few neat things I did on my Vanagon build...

Tue Jul 27, 2021 9:42 am

I've always wanted a Vanagon Westfalia, and a few months ago, at the beginning of the summer, I had the opportunity to buy one cheap. The van had belonged to a friend of mine who died, and I bought it from his widow, also a good friend. The van had sat on the mesa out here west of Taos, New Mexico, for several years, and was in sorry shape.

The VW engine was 'blown' (details died with the owner), the interior needed help, the tires were crap (and 18 years old), and the van had apparently served as a metropolis for several colonies of mice. There were nests everywhere; they ate through the pop-top canvas and some of the upper mattress; and it took forever to get the smell out (actually it's still not totally out.)

The idea was to use this Vanagon for a summer road trip with my wife and 10-year old boy, so I had a lot of work ahead of me. My plan was to install a Subaru EJ25 and do everything else required to get the van ready for a trip in the second half of the summer. I originally budgeted 4-5 weeks.

Many years ago I did another engine swap, putting a Cummins 4BT diesel into a 1980 International Scout. That was such uncharted territory (things like machining my own transmission adapter to mate with a trans that no one ever uses with the Cummins, etc., etc., etc.) that I ran a pretty extensive build thread on a 4BT forum. With this Vanagon build, I felt that I would be just doing what many others had done before me, so there was no real need to maintain a build thread. Also, I didn't really feel like I had the time. But over the course of the build I did a small number of cool / original things, and that's what I'll post here.

Being a metal fabricator and machinist, and wanting to save money, I made my own engine mount, using some parts of the original mustache bar ...

and exhaust system, made from Subaru parts, motorcycle exhaust parts, and pre-bent sections from Summit Racing.

I also made all my own heat shields.

One of the cooler things I did was this little intermediate arm mechanism in the throttle cable system which allows the proper functioning of the automatic transmission kick-down. Basically, the two arms act as one because of a torsion spring sandwiched between them, until the arm which is cabled to the throttle shaft reached its hard stop. Then the other arm, cabled to the accelerator pedal, can move just a bit further, which enables the transmission kick-down. It works perfectly.

I also made a new sunroof (functional) and fabricated a quick roof rack from stainless steel, which certainly came in handy for removing the pop-top when it was time to replace the mouse-eaten canvas.

And a tow hitch...

I set up an air-to-oil transmission cooler, using JIC hydraulic hoses...

as well as an air duct / tunnel to forcefully direct the air coming through the gas tank "valley" over the cooler.

The spare tire carrier is too small for any of my tires, so I re-purposed that space to hold a jerry can.

And lastly, I added set screws into the wiper arms to keep them from moving around... which they otherwise wanted to do...

I did a handful of other things too, which were not very interesting to photograph, such as making custom high-pressure fittings for the power-steering system, and machining wheel spacers.

I received invaluable help from this forum on questions such as the cooling system and the turn signals. I also got fantastic service from a few vendors which serve this community, notably Mick from BUSARU, Christopher from T3Technique, and VanCafe (special thanks to Trevor).

Well that's about it. It actually took about 7 weeks to do all this, in part because the first EJ25 I installed turned out to be no good! I had to source and install a second engine in that time-frame! And there were other surprises along the way (like a badly leaking fuel tank). But the van is basically done now, running well, and we are finally leaving on a little trip tomorrow.

Cheers,
Christian

Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:30 am

NICE!

Please more pics and a trip report!

Have a great time. :D

Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:24 am

All that cool stuff and somehow my favorite is the set screws on the wiper arms. Good idea.

-Rob

Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:27 pm

crobox wrote:

Trying to save weight by using the Indy car starting system will leave you in a bind someday.

Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:29 pm

Robw_z wrote: All that cool stuff and somehow my favorite is the set screws on the wiper arms. Good idea.

-Rob

Yep, why didn't I think of that! :lol:

Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:48 pm

Robw_z wrote: All that cool stuff and somehow my favorite is the set screws on the wiper arms. Good idea.

-Rob

mod of the year/decade/century? it's pretty damn solid.

Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:59 pm

crobox wrote:
SNIP

And lastly, I added set screws into the wiper arms to keep them from moving around... which they otherwise wanted to do...

snip

Cheers,
Christian

Robw_z wrote: All that cool stuff and somehow my favorite is the set screws on the wiper arms. Good idea.
-Rob

Steve M. wrote:

Yep, why didn't I think of that! :lol:

Add me to the list and thanks for the reminder and creative solution to our shared problem.

Any chance you'd be willing to share your build info for the hitch? It's on my list for this week actually. I'm road tripping on the 6th of Aug and wanted to take a small trailer along.

:?:

Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:20 pm

congratulations on a great rescue! excellent fabrication skills, you and your van are worthy of each other!

-dan

Tue Jul 27, 2021 2:34 pm

Impressed! But, the mod to the wiper has me a little confused. It seems that indeed, the wiper problem exists and I have indeed had it happen multiple times. The issue with doing the shown mod is that the arm is actually designed to be the thing that gets wonky, strips, whatever --- and thus saving the rest of the wipers system that are extremely difficult to repair. An arm is super easy to replace compared to pulling the dash to replace the other bits. No?

Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:04 pm

Right. The wiper arm is the failsafe to protect the splined motor drive ah.. thingie, which is very hard to replace.

You pick out the brass or Al that is smudged in the grooves between the ridges on the motor shaft thingie, put new arms on, and everything is groovey.

hard to tell but his may already be worn/damaged... so if he has to tear into it again the motor will have to be replaced if the set screws are tight enough

I might have posted pics w.r.t. para. 2 above on here...

Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:34 pm

9.5isCanadian:

Happy to post pics & info about hitch design when I get a chance... packing for trip now! Basically, in words, I used the tow loops AND made an arm that goes under the bumper and then goes back up to utilize the holes for the original engine mount / mustache bar.

All the folks with concerns about the wiper mounts:

Actually it did occur to me that the splined cone might be something like a "slip joint", protecting the rest of the system. I initially did a very good job of picking out the grooves, but the wipers didn't stay put for long. So... I decided to risk it with the set screw design. I'm aware there is a risk. Consider me a test case for this concept! I will update with results when they are available!

Cheers

Tue Jul 27, 2021 4:01 pm

Interesting mod on the wiper arm. MIne were going funky and I cut the top off and drilled and threaded a bolt down into it. Works a charm. That one van has the wipers switched . the foils should be on the drivers blade.

You started with my type of van, dead from the start. I always like to deag or tow my cars home when I buy them.

Stacy

Tue Jul 27, 2021 4:38 pm

bobbyblack wrote: Impressed! But, the mod to the wiper has me a little confused. It seems that indeed, the wiper problem exists and I have indeed had it happen multiple times. The issue with doing the shown mod is that the arm is actually designed to be the thing that gets wonky, strips, whatever --- and thus saving the rest of the wipers system that are extremely difficult to repair. An arm is super easy to replace compared to pulling the dash to replace the other bits. No?

Let 'em rip. I've been through too much crap with these. I've picked the splines clean, I've used Loctite, spring washers with proper torque... the day still comes when this alleged "failsafe" proves itself too eager to prove its function.

-Rob

Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:22 pm

crobox wrote:
Actually it did occur to me that the splined cone might be something like a "slip joint", protecting the rest of the system. I initially did a very good job of picking out the grooves, but the wipers didn't stay put for long. So... I decided to risk it with the set screw design. I'm aware there is a risk. Consider me a test case for this concept! I will update with results when they are available!

Cheers

if you own a macro lens, you might want to take pics of the cones

or just inspect carefully with a magnifier - my bet is they are worn

I dunno if you can buy new ones sep. from the whole motor, but even if so the labor to get the thing out of there is so huge that mere money will seem negligible in comparison

Tue Jul 27, 2021 8:39 pm

Happened to me, I had to buy new wiper arms the cones were so worn out.

Nice shop, are you in Taos?

Tue Jul 27, 2021 8:52 pm

Gnarlodious wrote: Nice shop, are you in Taos?

Yep

Tue Jul 27, 2021 9:02 pm

Detail pix of bumper attachments:

The van... almost ready for takeoff!

Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:54 am

crobox wrote: 9.5isCanadian:

Happy to post pics & info about hitch design when I get a chance... packing for trip now! Basically, in words, I used the tow loops AND made an arm that goes under the bumper and then goes back up to utilize the holes for the original engine mount / mustache bar.

All the folks with concerns about the wiper mounts:

Actually it did occur to me that the splined cone might be something like a "slip joint", protecting the rest of the system. I initially did a very good job of picking out the grooves, but the wipers didn't stay put for long. So... I decided to risk it with the set screw design. I'm aware there is a risk. Consider me a test case for this concept! I will update with results when they are available!

Cheers

Maybe go with a nylon set screw to provide fsilsafe function ?

Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:47 am

crobox wrote: Detail pix of bumper attachments:

Van looks fantastic :!:

Thanks for the hitch pic. I can figure it out from there.

Post up on your travels.

Owen

Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:52 am

just an FYI, and I know you are all set up and leaving.
but you are running a 2wd. you can put a normal sized spare in the clamshell.
consider it a doughnut it'll be fine to get you around/down the road.
worse case is to put it on the pass front and move that tire to the blown out tire.

it may be just me, but i'm not a fan of strapping a tire to the fiberglass rack.