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0to60in6min Samba Member
Joined: November 27, 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: OR & CA (Oregon/California)
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:23 pm Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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The GL added other equipment making it closer to $20k. |
I know... I'd pick non GL Syncro with locker for sure versus the 2WD GL for almost the same price.... i'ts way easier to add GL options later than convert a 2WD to Syncro... yes? |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:39 pm Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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Eric_Taylor wrote: |
Did your family get to tour the westfalia factory? |
Sadly no tour. I remember picking it up at the Westfalia location. Imagine two parents with their 1, 7, and 9 year old and their luggage. I’m sure my dad just wanted to sign for it and hit the road. I do have pictures somewhere but they’re not with my paper file. We basically arrived with duffels that had backpack straps. We had no camper equipment obviously so it was basically a treasure hunt across various German department stores piecing together flatware and pots and pans and cups etc. All in red naturally. For the first week driving I remember how baffled my father was that their was only one turn signal indicator on the dash. He just couldn’t get over that the Germans couldn’t include both direction indicators. I can’t believe I still remember that. _________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:42 pm Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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0to60in6min wrote: |
Quote: |
The GL added other equipment making it closer to $20k. |
I know... I'd pick non GL Syncro with locker for sure versus the 2WD GL for almost the same price.... i'ts way easier to add GL options later than convert a 2WD to Syncro... yes? |
Right!! If I’m reading the options chart correctly the difference between GL and non is only power steering and tweed vs velour trim. That’s it! _________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7482 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 9:27 pm Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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Vnyd Dog wrote: |
I remember how baffled my father was that their was only one turn signal indicator on the dash. He just couldn’t get over that the Germans couldn’t include both direction indicators. I can’t believe I still remember that. |
That’s funny. Of course, he just bought a premium priced van and the GL trim no less! _________________ - Jim
Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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Alaskaberrys Samba Member
Joined: June 19, 2016 Posts: 1001 Location: SE Alaska
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 9:39 pm Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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Great story! Thanks for sharing it.
Have come across any photos of that Euro trip 30 some years ago? _________________ '91 Westfalia, Bordeaux Red Pearl 2.1L 2wd Auto
'91 T3 Syncro Doka, Escorial Green 1.9L TD AAZ “Gremian” (to provoke, irritate, exasperate, vex...) |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 7:11 am Post subject: Thule Mount Roof Box done. |
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Alaskaberrys wrote: |
Great story! Thanks for sharing it.
Have come across any photos of that Euro trip 30 some years ago? |
I do need to find them, as I also want to show my boys the trip, especially my older one who can now understand that kind of stuff. It will be fun to see. tay tuned...
And now, my major accomplishment of the weekend, finally getting a roof rack installed! I know it seems minor, and most likely many of the things I'll be doing will probably be considered basic here, but our Van was unaccessorized for so long that I have much ground to make up. I'll say this, reviewing the dozens of threads about pop top struts, racks, awnings etc., prepared me for how cumbersome mounting the ARGs was going to be. I had to make the decision that I wasn't going to co-locate and then also that I wanted to retain the Thule lock knobs, which meant mounting the brackets up pretty high on the top to clear the Fiamma. It was a one-man show so I did the best I could to get it all square. In the end, I'm pleased it turned out, and that one project is done!
_________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 7:35 pm Post subject: Powerflex Steering Rack Bushings |
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I spent an exciting evening stuffed under my van last night. The Vineyard Van got it's first dose of Powerflex bushings for the steering rack. Because I can never find time on weekends, I'm generally forced to do projects when the kiddos are asleep, which generally means in the dark! Earlier I had taken preparatory steps of getting all the tools assembled and van on stands.
I then spent from 7-9:30 laying on my back in the cold and dark of a Napa winter evening. Took about one full hour and a half to remove the four bolts and four bushings, then probably the next hour to assemble the new bushes and get the rack lined up, which took longer than it should have.
I used needle nose vice grips and PbBlaster to lube the original bushes and then sort of yanked and twisted until they popped out. Jesus it was like delivering a baby! Turns out my bushes were actually newer, having been replaced already in 2016. I think this made it harder to get out.
Anyhow, got the Powerflex in and new rack hardware on c/o Chris at T3. Took for a drive today and what a difference. Firmer for sure. I was surprised it was so noticeable. So, one item off the list. Next up, MOOG Upper Ball Joints...
_________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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Eric_Taylor Samba Member
Joined: January 21, 2011 Posts: 291 Location: Bend, Oregon
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Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:48 pm Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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The steering rack bushings are really surprising! I could not believe it made such a difference either. The upper ball joints will be rewarding too. It's a nice satisfying job to do. be glad you don't have to deal with the lowers. That's a pain. |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:48 pm Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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This week I attempted banging out the Trans Mount and doing the Powerflex.
In thinking about it, I decided it made sense to buy a whole new mount from Burley to use as a donor and hammer out that bushing using the techniques from those gearbox/trans mount threads. Wow. I DO NOT want to do that again. In the end I was successful but it took way longer than I expected but I also did it without a vise. My technique was also a little off as I didn’t get the inner ring properly cut all the way through. Grrr. Lots and lots of banging a 2lb sledge and hitting my hand a few times.
I had the inner ring nearly folded in half before it finally budged. It was pretty mutilated in there after using Thor’s Hammer and some screwdrivers and chisels so I went back with a Dremel to smooth and polish out the gouges. Time for some Vitamin I and a bourbon.
_________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 3:05 pm Post subject: Upper Ball Joint Day with Moog |
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Alright got some dry weather to tackle upper ball joints and a long overdue oil change on the 1.8T. I ended up using the fancy new Molygen from Lubro-Moly. Supposed to be hot stuff...
And on to the ball joint. Not sure if mine had ever been changed. Was surprised to see 17mm hex heads on top. There was very little to no room for the wall of a socket to fully sit on the head. But I was able to get enough on there to break it free. Fortunately the Moogs use a hex cap. Much better design.
From there I got after the 24mm nut on the bottom. What I learned from the other side was that it was much better to use a ball joint separator than to try and hammer it off. I tried that per a YouTube method but to no avail. So I fulled removed the ball joint to get the separator on. Cranked down till it popped, but I had forgotten to fully remove the 24mm bottom nut. That meant it would just spin, so I had to reattache the top screws temporarily in order to put enough tension on the ball to get the nut off. Came off, then install new one. You can see my blue pry bar method here leveraging down again to allow me to torque the new nut back on. Much better!!
_________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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vela123321 Samba Member
Joined: May 09, 2010 Posts: 172 Location: San Diego
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 8:28 am Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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What a great story!
I lived in Germany for a year when my kids were 2 and 5. We did a trip in a rented T6. I think that’s what it was... in 2009. I realized how great the trip was, and on my return to California i bought a 1987 Westfalia. We’ve done a few trips up coast 1 and many trips to the mountains and desserts. It is definitely a way to make memories with the family!
I found the van getting less use the last year. My daughter is 15 now and her friends are the priority. My son is 11 and when I talked about selling the van he freaked out. The van is in great shape, but I decided to add a couple of projects to reconnect with the van. I just added propex and I’ve opened up winter camping! We went out to the mountains this weekend and made even more memories. My son was able to help me in working on the van now... which is new and equally amazing.
Thanks for your story! This forum has been so valuable to me to keep the van running. I’ve had trouble on the road and although I can work through things, I’m no mechanic. The people here have saved me! _________________ ________________________
1987 Westfalia Vanagon 2.1 automatic
2014 VW TDi Jetta Sportwagen (Dieselgate)
2016 BMW 328i
1967 Bug... given to a friend
others not VW... Toyota, Audi, Volvo, Datsun, International Harvester |
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Multiman mv Samba Member
Joined: January 24, 2017 Posts: 987 Location: Martha's Vineyard, Ma
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Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:48 am Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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Fantastic family history you’ve recorded. Great writing, very entertaining and proof that these machines are memory makers. Thanks for sharing. |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 8:42 am Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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Thanks for taking a read! I'm going to keep my updates/mods/repairs going in this thread. I don't want to jinx it, but I've got a line on some CLKs but it's a 2 hour drive each way...will report back later today on the adventure! _________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:06 pm Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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And SCORE!
3.5 hour roundtrip and $350 later and I got a pretty pristine set off a 1999 CLK!
Excited. Next call to T3.
_________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 12:00 pm Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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Successful trip last week up to Plumas for four nights. Weather was perfect but cold enough at night for Mrs. to comment and have me start thinking it's time for a Propex. My two boys had an absolute blast exploring, camping, digging, eating s'mores, and just being boys. They are a handful.
We're still getting the hang of camping with kids. While def not what I prefer, we learned we just need to make our life easy and do disposable everything. No one wants to have to do dishes in the dark when kids asleep in ice cold camp water. That was a biggie. Otherwise, we seemed set for food between the truckfridge and cooler, although I did lose some beers in the recesses of the Westy at one point LOL. Packing up camp, I discovered the four hefeweizens we desperately needed were hiding in the small cubby beside the bench. Duh.
Only down side was I waited too long before leaving to test faucet and pump. Turns out something was up and ordered a new pump. Got home, installed new pump after trip, now it seems the Shurflo is the issue. Connected the wires and pump runs, ordered new Shurflo...
Only real gremlin giving me concern now is that somehow on the way out, it felt as though the van lost boost. I posted about it in the 1.8T section, but after van sat overnight, the drive home from Truckee was flawless. All the boost was back. Very weird. Everything I ended up reading about seems to point to perhaps something called the N75 boost controller. The piece is about $100 so it may be something I just have on hand in case.... Anyways, you've all seen camp pics before.
We spotted a few other Westy's out and about. Great to see us all keeping up these special rigs.
_________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:19 pm Post subject: LED Awning Lights |
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LED Upgrade for next trip to bring a little light to the party. I simply followed the great write-up from Texas Vanagons @ http://texasvanagons.com/fiamma-awning-led-lighting/
Turned out great. Took my time with the silicone and painter's tape getting it on and secure to allow it to dry. Otherwise I have an aux batter under the bench so I ran wire down the vent, through the engine bay, and into the bench seat using one of the heater coolant line grommets.
Will see how it holds up. Next I’m awaiting some power panels from Chris at Uniwerks and will be rewiring my aux electrical under the bench to a proper fuse panel. Not sure yet how all the wiring will run up to the air duct but have some ideas. Hope I can run up the channel at rear of sliding door and it’ll come out. I may have to disassemble the air duct to gain access. Anyone installed one of his panels in that upper vent?
_________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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SCM Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2011 Posts: 3119 Location: Bozeman MT
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Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:02 am Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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Wow, what a great story! I made it to this part
“The boys are the 3rd generation with the Van and my son, before learning to speak, would sing the door open chime which he loved. We would all laugh. When he learned to speak he called the Van “doo doo”
before I started to tear up. I have the day off work, I think I’ll go for a drive. _________________ '91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine |
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 7:45 am Post subject: Uniwerks Power Pods |
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SCM wrote: |
Wow, what a great story! I made it to this part
“The boys are the 3rd generation with the Van and my son, before learning to speak, would sing the door open chime which he loved. We would all laugh. When he learned to speak he called the Van “doo doo”
before I started to tear up. I have the day off work, I think I’ll go for a drive. |
Cool thanks. Hope you had a great drive!
Now with the awning done, I decided to give Chris at Uniwerks design a shot with his Power Pods. I ordered the upper bunk pod with all the trimmings and the rear ashtray pod. I decided to start with the ashtray because I could see the wiring would be easier. So here's how it's coming together. I'm really liking the utility the rear ashtray pod will bring. I've already got a few sockets in the bench seat panel but failed to take into account those USBs would not be readily accessible with the seat flat, so the ashtray pod is an awesome solution!
Below are some pics of me test fitting it in the rear panel, some shots of the pods, and then getting it test wired and hooking to a 9V battery to check my work. I also took the opportunity to rewire under my bench and add a Blue Sea 6 circuit panel off my Aux battery which also serves the fridge. Blue Sea has a great pic of how to wire a super clean panel with a switch and two sockets so I copied that and it turned out great I think!
For the ashtray, I purchased a neat-looking red anodized USB socket with integrated voltage display and paired it to a Blue Sea temperature sensor.
_________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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michaelbteam Samba Member
Joined: June 28, 2012 Posts: 232
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Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:16 am Post subject: Re: The Life and Times of Vineyard Van! |
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This must be a unique tale, well told. Thanks for sharing! I did not inherit a Westy but my kids will get mine. I found a weekender for my son and last year we enjoyed an adventure together to Syncro Solstice where we camped side by side. Thanks for inspiring with some "when I get around to it" project ideas.
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Vnyd Dog Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2015 Posts: 384 Location: Napa
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Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 1:00 pm Post subject: Uniwerks |
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More progress on the pods.Got the ashtray unit in and connected after getting initial wiring run for the upper bunk. Tried to find a way up the C-pillar at rear of sliding door to get up to air duct, but the path was blocked somewhere at the top and I couldn't get through. Ended up running the wiring towards the back by the A/C, then down the panels and back to the bench seat battery. Pics of the pre-wiring to tie all the sockets and switches together.
Otherwise, here's the ashtray with a Blue Sea temp gauge I thought would be handy to have when camping...
_________________ '87 Westy 1.8T Conversion, Orignal Owner, European Delivery @ Westfalia factory in Weidenbrueck.
The Story:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713391&highlight=life |
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