What did YOU do to your van today?

[seatown7]

A before and after for the powder coating of my stove face plate. Installed it today before the holiday feasting began.

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Current Rig: 1987 Westfalia with Subaru 2.2 conversion, Kennedy Engineering adapter plate, Peloquin limited slip differential, Schwenck springs, Rad-Flow shocks, Burley Big Brake front discs, Burley Rear Disc Brake kit, T3 Technique 711 Shifter, 16" Audi wheels, T3 Technique steering reinforcement, T3 Technique HD anti-sway bar, Powerflex bushings, 100w solar panel, Power-Sonic Life-Po house battery, Burley rear swing out spare tire carrier.

[BigPapaV]

Finished adjusting my shift assembly via markward's instructions with the bungie cord and a quarter. All gears are easy to get, and feels SOOO much better.

Before today I had tried the adjustment with my wife's help, but I thought I had read somewhere that the shift shaft elbow should be straight up and down. With that thought I had tried to pre-set or "twist" the rear shaft into this position and lock it down as such. Then when I checked the shifting 1st gear was actually R, and 3rd was 1st.
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1986 VW 3-knob Syncro Tintop w/ 1992? Suby Legacy 2.2L (KEP install)

[dhaavers]

[jlrftype7]

[RicMcK]

Rust repair, sound proofing and insulation.

Repaired the shelf behind the cabinet (at rocker panel). Rust Mort, Por 15, truck bed paint. Bonded in some sheet metal pieces to re make the shelf.
Removed all the fiberglass insulation.
Removed minor surface rust along the seams, and around the service panels(wire wheel, rust Mort / Rust fix, Por 15, truck bed paint).
Applied sound deading mats, and 1/2"open cell foam
Cut and glued single sided Thinsulate.
Fixed Rt rear leading edge quarter panel seam (water ingress into space between the rear of the sliding door and wheel well seam. De rusted, and treated the surface rust.

Cleaned up my Aux battery service panel, and associated wiring (battery ACR...) .

More to come:
Sound mats under cabinets
sliding doors and shelves for the closet.
sound proofing and insulation headliner, sliding door, rear hatch.
Sound mats on the metal on the engine lid area (seams covered with aluminum tape).
New front door, and A/C cabinet speakers
Manis Speed Throttle body.
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Rick McK
Seattle
89 Westfalia-2.2L WBX "VINNY"
2006 TDI Jetta
1936 Ford Pick up
70 tin top, 700k mi when sold in 91
58 split window bug - (first car) long gone.

[fxr]

Prophylactically refurbished the Chinese Diesel Heater with a new glow-plug, body temperature sensor and added a tiny drop of machine oil to the fan bearing. All ready for a winter trip or two - Alabama Hills next week.

I also replaced the CR1220 in the Afterburner controller - and spotted why this one appeared to have died within a year - the +ve connection to the circuit board must have been a very dry joint and had finally parted. Re-flowed that and all seems hunky-dory!
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300

[AlfromNH]

Removed a bent radius rod. Took. Some doing…

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‘88 2wd Auto Westy project

[randolph57]

Finally finished my Vitrifrigio fridge installation powered by Lifepo4 105 Ah battery fitted behind/under drivers seat.Fridge choice confirmed after meeting 'Sam' at the T3 Busmeet early August at the end of his several month Europe Sabbatical!
Only real thought I had was to attempt to fit Vitrifrigo mounting frame inside original cabinet rebate instead of notching the cabinet where the rubber strip is left hand side. It was tight and I think it has turned out OK plus if next owner (unlikely) wants to return to original it can be done as all original wiring is still in place. Cold beers on demand:)

[jlrftype7]

Scarped and brushed all our recent snow off the Vanagon for a drive around town.
We got approximately 8 inches a few days ago, then another 3-4 inches fell last night. Time to dig out the VW before it got snowed in .
The Dunlop Snow Tires are still working well. I had good grip while driving through our Winter Wonderland.
Packed snow, slick tracks on side streets, and cleared main streets.
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[campism]

Exacted revenge on the hickory tree that fell and crushed it last winter. We bucked and split and stacked the wood last spring and now that woodstove season is here we're burning that sumbitch.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic, tragically crushed by a falling hickory tree in my own driveway and now gone, leaving me Vanagonless and with no plans to replace it, alas.

[vanis13]

[campism]

[bertobarb]

[bertobarb]

[bertobarb]

[VanTimm]

Installed Burley Motorsports Big Brakes on the front of my new-to-me '90 Carat:

I'm hoping that, between the Big Brakes and the added compression of a Suby EJ 2.5 mill, I'll never again experience the anus-clenching thrill of brake fade on a steep and winding mountain grade. Been there, done that--more than once.

[VanTimm]

Installed Burley Motorsports Big Brakes on the front of my new-to-me '90 Carat:

I'm hoping that, between the Big Brakes and the added compression of a Suby EJ 2.5 mill, I'll never again experience the anus-clenching thrill of brake fade on a steep and winding mountain grade. Been there, done that--more than once.

[VanTimm]

Installed Burley Motorsports Big Brakes on the front of my new-to-me '90 Carat:

I'm hoping that, between the Big Brakes and the added compression of a Suby EJ 2.5 mill, I'll never again experience the anus-clenching thrill of brake fade on a steep and winding mountain grade. Been there, done that--more than once.

[fxr]

Added a rapid jump-start switch.

Background - a few weeks ago we took a trip to Alabama Hills (CA). The first leg past Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe took about two hours, and we stopped for lunch there. The van started OK, but stalled at the exit of the carpark, and it was immediately evident the battery was depleted. Now the problem was that we were blocking the exit - and cars would soon be piling up behind us as finding the jump leads (well hidden at the bottom of the under-seat storage), getting the cover off the van battery and then getting access to the positive of the 300Ah LFP battery took many minutes.

So yesterday I installed a cheapo HF battery kill-switch across the alternator's input to the LFP charger and the LFP positive. The removable key is on a string and hides in the "black hole" between the rear seat and the kitchen cabinetry. Works a treat!

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Oh, and the reason the van battery went flat? The bolt that goes through the EJ22 alternator adjuster into the alternator body had sheared through, the alternator eventually flopped down, and the belt just did nothing. It was lucky the battery lasted as long as it did, as stalling halfway down the Hwy50 downgrade into South Lake Tahoe would have created havoc, and we'd have been stranded for ages before a tow-truck could reach us.

The fix - there was an Autozone a few hundred yards away, so went and bought some M6 bolts and while tensioning the alternator belt with a screwdriver as lever, tightened the alternator up directly to the slot. And so it remains quite happily - I won't even bother to replace the adjusting device.
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300

[bertobarb]

Sliding Door Curtain Retention

The Problem: The elastic at the bottom of the sliding door curtain has long since given out and the little rings at the bottom corners of the curtain are long gone. So, the curtain hangs into the living space (where inches are precious) and allows prying eyes to see in from the outside.

The Solution: An elastic strap with female end snaps installed at each end and then attached to the male end snaps that are available for use when the short curtain straps that retain the curtains when they are pulled open are unsnapped.

Simple, inexpensive parts from a Craft Store (in this case, Michael's)

Measure out a length of elastic strap, allowing for as much or as little tension as you want and install the snaps at both ends.

Pull the curtain closed and attach the elastic strap. Done!