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Big B
Samba Member
Joined: June 24, 2003
Posts: 467
Location: long beach,cal
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 Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 12:59 am Post subject: Air bag Vanagon?????? |
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Questions; 1, Has anyone installed a airbag kit on a 91 Vanagon/ Any photos or comments???
2, I want to install Audi 17" wheels on my Vanagon, any body else done it??? Comments?
Big B |
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NAL1222
Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2003
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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I am actually planning on putting a set of 17" S4 style wheels on my 82. They are the same offset, but the center hole must be machined out something like 2mm all the way around to clear the front.
as far as airbags...The 80+ vanagon is very similar in the layout of the front suspension to most chevy pickups and large full frame older passenger cars...so the front airbag setup would be easy...as for the rear...it looks easy, but who knows.
You HAVE to watch the offset of the back wheels carfully as I hear there can be some interference between the tire/rim and sliding door.
Good luck, and please post pics.
Nick Long |
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j8
Samba Member
Joined: August 13, 2003
Posts: 575
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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hey brian. dunno about the airbag kit, and dunno about the wheels from personal experience... i've heard of upgrading to the the 16" but 17...dunno. is it the lift you need? cause a millenium-falcon-fix of spacers might give you that extra boost of clearance.
gotta echo nick, good luck and please - pics! |
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panel
Samba Member
Joined: December 02, 2001
Posts: 1193
Location: Victoria B.C. Canada
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tantau
Samba Member
Joined: August 17, 2003
Posts: 52
Location: honolulu, hawaii
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| Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 2:06 am Post subject: |
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I was gonna install a set of VW passat 17" on my vanagon... et45... yea you have to machine out the center hole as well for the front to clear the grease caps.... and use a spacer (10mm) for et45 to clear the rim off the upper ball joint... also finding longer 43mm lug bolts too for the front was needed. The rears fit just fine... but I needed to find ball style lugnuts as well to match the rims...by the way.. the sliding door cleared... I never completed the project though...sold the rims/tires... but I still have the spacers and lugbolts.... let me know if interested.
_________________
"He who controls the spice, controls the universe" |
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dukeofvw
Samba Member
Joined: July 07, 2004
Posts: 1
Location: houston(league city) Tx
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| Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Hey brian, It seems that you and I are in the same boat. I have an 81 vanagon and I am wanting to put bags on it. So far from my research no one does droped spindles or bag kits for this application. Right now I am designing a new front suspension, with new upper and lower control arms that I will fabricate my self. I will need to relocate my rack and pinion, weld in new mounting posisions for the air bags plus dont forget the shocks. I is going to be very big change in the front end. Oh ya I also need to tub the front fenders so it will drop to the frame. the back does not seem like it will be so bad but it will still need to be tubed and have the motor raised up about 3in. If you want me to keep you posted E-mail me. Well That is my 2cents, Jon |
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Diego
Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2003
Posts: 22
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| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:30 am Post subject: |
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Hey Brian, congratulation 4 your briliant idea of the air bags on your 91 Vanagon, but I think you should install a 17" BBS (very cool!!!), and why dont't you install a cruise control??????
GOOD LUCK
Diego |
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DanJReed
Samba Member
Joined: July 30, 2004
Posts: 548
Location: Riverton NJ
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| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 11:49 am Post subject: You may want to ask this guy, |
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He put 17's on a Westy,
VERY sharp!
Wait,
His name is Brian too!
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/nobleman36/album?.dir=/464f
(Sorry if its you, but he's in Oregon..)
Here's the thread ref.
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers/message/508
| Quote: |
From: "Brian" <nobleman36@y...>
Date: Sat Jul 10, 2004 3:25 pm
Subject: wheels and stuff 
Hi All,
Thanks for the positive feedback!
The wheel and tire combo are Ronal RT wheels 17"x7.5" They have an
ET of 35. They come with a machined hubcentric 10mm spacer bringing
the ET to 25 front and rear. If the offset were anymore to the
positive on the rear a slider door extender would be needed to clear
the rear wheel. The one thing that gave me the jeebs is they sell
these with a long shank lug nut for the rear and claim a direct bolt
up. What you end up with is 5.5 turns on the nut. I am ordering a
set of 46mm long rear lugs for this as peace of mind (stock is
34.5mm). I have the rear spacers pulled and have 12.5 turns on the
lug now & am looking forward to getting the rear track out again
safely!
Fast Forward has these lugs on their site:
http://www.fastforward.ca/SyncroSuspension/default.htm
The tires are Kumho Ecsta ASX Tires in a 225/45-17
Here is a blurb:
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?
tirebrand=Kumho&tiremodel=Ecsta+ASX&pc=KU21%2D7359
Also, I had one question about the wheels in picture five on my
previous link. They are the 15" SA Carat II wheels. I have this
package for sale. I have five wheels, four are mounted with Nokian
205/65-15 all season rubber with about a years driving left in them
(per my tire shop).
I had great luck with these tires and only went for the low pro setup
for the handling. I guess I shouldn't have driven Eric Didier's WRX
powered Wolfsberg
http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?
page_id=543989&cat=10&val=1
This van is crazy fast and too much fun to drive. Contrary to what
I've heard on the Vanagon list, these things handle great and are
stable at high speed "if" you do the right things (lowered,
wheels/tires, bils or konis, anti-sway bars).
Anyway, there ya have it (grin)!
Brian from Salem, Oregon |
Wow!
_________________
-Dan
(87 Westy Vanagon, 98 Jetta GLS 2.0, 95 Golf Sport)  |
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