Corkey! The 1980 Westfalia Vanagon

[Stuartzickefoose]

Ok I promised pics...

Sink working:

Found some nasty stuff back here...got it bleached till I can properly clean it with removal and wipe down. Much better then it was!

This was unplugged since day one and page one...since no one answered any of my what’s this questions I’m finally figuring it out 4 years later. Go figure.

Plugs in the indicator panel. Magical, now that works too.

Finished the gauge install. All works perfect and this engine runs absolutely solid at 170* oil temp at full flog mode, and at idle maintains 45-50 psi, and up to 75 at full throttle. This things actually in nice shape! Good for the next guy

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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Xevin]

Outstanding Stu Looking good. I’d buy that Van. But you know, I’m a bus driver. I Look forward to getting my facet working in the 76 😉 and trailer fixed 😡. But seriously that’s a great Van.
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Keep on Busin'

[Stuartzickefoose]

Ensenada at sunset from la bufadora.... story to come!
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Stuartzickefoose]

Well got some big news...loading some pics...
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[vwwestyman]

[Stuartzickefoose]

so....back a few weeks now....


My little sister flew in a few days before her trip to Austria to come visit me in the van. never done anything like that together since we are now both adults, so it was a new experience to go on a adventure just brother and sister. great experience for sure

we headed out from Rrialto on Saturday morning, aiming for mexico, somewhere. no plan!

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got into the border crossing at Tijuana, and stopped shortly thereafter for a potty break and to grab some pesos for the day. enjoyed some beach scenery....

we ended up driving down the toll road coast line to Ensenada, and then out to labufadora.

Tay drove for a bit too! (stopped in traffic at pic)

stopped in Ensenada for Fish Tacos!

then rallied out to the tourist trap for a nice expensive 200 peso pina colada ($10!)

then we turned back and headed up a dirt road....one that i knew about from THIS adventure: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8313238#8313238


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had a BUNCH of fun here....

we parked in a spot to watch the sunset, and this awesome guy just shows up speaking perfectly clear english, and says "follow me, the views better up there"
and points behind and up about 1000 yards up the hill. so we followed him...:

and he leads us here, says have a good rest of your evening, and enjoy the sunset...

which is also where this pic was taken:

we watched the sunset and told stories...for about 15 minutes.


then turned key and went on down the hill!


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stopped for more food and then drove on through the Valley of the wine, which i CANNOT remember how to say in spanish

then took a wrong turn and my uturn attempt was blocked by this ridiculously deep water way that was once a road...

but got around it safely (didnt try to cross, Taylor wouldnt let me) and made it to the border, crossing in Tecate.


lemme get a few videos uploaded.....then the adventure continues...stay tuned!
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Abscate]

me

[GenXer]

You guys just made some awesome memories that will last a lifetime. Very cool!

[Stuartzickefoose]

Definitely made new memories and plenty more yet to post, that was just the first day!

Going to back and add in some youtube videos to that last post so if you already read it slide back up and look again...
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Stuartzickefoose]

and on with adventure!

the next day we wanted to go do something in the area, and we ended up driving from Rialto (Riverside CA) out to Joshua Tree.

we took off and as we began the very small climb up i10, i noticed thanks to my new oil temp gauges something wasn't right! not yet overheating but definitely running much hotter then it had been. Note that gauges are mostly for TRENDING patterns, you watch then for the first few days very intently over a variety of driving, then you simply compare as you drive. i dont stress if immediate numbers are lower or higher then expected, i just look for big swing changes. well, this one got me. after fiddling with the timing, the AFM, and anything else i could adjust to bring temps down, i finally just decided i would pull the licence plate back and give it extra flow fro a few miles and see what it did.

low and behold, i had left the fan screen off and a gas receipt had gotten sucked in at the gas station and blocked 30% of the fan. and hence, my temps rose. removed the receipt and it ran perfectly the rest of the way! (no pics i was stressing out a bit) INSTALL YOUR ENGINE FAN SCREEN AIRCOOLERS!

moving right along... getting all the way to the gate and both of us had no interest in going in, but turned west and headed out into the hills.

and she promptly mentioned she wanted to drive on dirt. My favorite words....

so we did.

pretty quickly (about a half hour west of the national park entrance) i noticed that there were ATV two track trails all along the highway. so i figured....why not?

there i found one that appeared to just drop down a brief hill and back to the road.

so i decided to video from a vantage point, and let Tay drive. first time on a dirt road (driving the van) and she did great!


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then she buried it....


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as you can see, literally 15 feet from the roadway.

I RAN down the hill and before i got to her, two DIFFERENT cars had pulled over to offer to help push us out. Letting tay drive, i talked her through it, showed her where to dig and we aired down a bit first, and then around 4 of us shoved the van back out onto pavement! (no pics of the helpers unfortunately )

so naturally...


we did it a few more times. if it was fun once, lets do it again right?

i videoed while taylor drove...

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then we swapped drivers and she video'd (i might get that uploaded later since it was on HER phone...) and we bounced along a OHV trail along the two lane highway for a mile or two. till we came to a sharp dip.

like real sharp....

i knew we wouldn't get across easily. i may have made it with an angled approach, but again, seeking to teach i gently set it into the dip.

we then used the stock vanagon jack to lift the nose up, scoop dirt/sand from under the front bumper, and shove it under each front tire. the van was out in about 10 minutes. i kid you not, less then 2 minutes from getting stuck and a big 4x4 truck rolls up behind and asked if we wanted a tug out. right about that time i had tay hop in the drivers seat and POP....out came the van from the hole

ONWARD!

now that taylor was driving again, i got to video more...


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we then found a dry lakebed to goof off on. can you tell we are related yet?

the long one....

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and the short one...

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somewhere right after that last video i suspect i lost my mudflap, but i didnt know it until a week later....


We drove for quite a ways after that to get to a friends birthday party in Palmdale or Lancaster area, then back the same night to Rialto. I flew out to Seattle in the morning, and Tay left for Austria shortly after i did that afternoon. the adventure continues....
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Stuartzickefoose]

as if this page can take any more pictures and video updates....heres another two weeks of fun.


i flew back into LA and when i landed they got DUMPED on again with rain. which meant i was happy to stay inside for a bit and stay dry.

but I had a trip planned from Riverside to Auburn, CA, up by Sacramento (LA to Sac) and needed to prep for it! during our offroad experiences, taylor and I had managed to rip the dryer vent host used to move the heat from the engine up to the cab....


i had forgotten it required dropping the gas tank to fix that...

thankfully i had left it nearly empty right before had knowing it was a possibility.


got the hose replaced:

and took off to see if any of the fuel lines would leak and make me explode.



nope.

see the missing mudflap?


so i hauled the van back to the house and loaded up all this and more into it:

and headed north! took off about 1 am, and with up the 15, across the 138 to i5, and then north on 5 to the 80, the east on the 80 about 45 minutes to where i was headed. arrived at 10:05 AM. held 70 mph nearly the whole way, cracking a nice and comfy...8 MPG?!?!?! i was getting less then 130 miles per tank! (16 gallons) OUCH!!!


but not a hiccup, which was a huge blessing since i had NO fast way to get to my engine or my tools without unloading the carpet into the rain. yuck. smooth and warm trip north, and then took it MUCH easier after that.

spent a week at Christian Encounter Ministries, my favorite non profit of all time. this is the place i ride for in the Agony ride mentioned in my signature (Riding again this July! ) which is also the whole reason i have the roadbike anyways

then went up to visit a fellow rider, Scot, who lives at 4500 ft elevation right off the 80 in Alta. he got around 2 feet while i was there....i had to chain up just to get to his house!

left a small electric heater running inside the van to keep windows clear... which worked well till i had the hatch open for a couple minutes.

then the power went out, so that got veto'd. it got deep....FAST.

decided to chain up all four tires...I accidentally had to buy a set of chains because i had stashed mine and forgot where i put them. thought i left them in rialto, but just buried deep in the van. so now i have two sets.....

scot and i decided we should try and get the van down the hill...

right about this time my starter decided it would stick and stop working.


and my shift linkage froze.


did i mention while taylor and i were in mexico i broke my early NLA hard to find unobtanium slider door handle off? it USED to be all one key.

got those working briefly, and made it out and onto the roadway....3 miles of forest service road....with a fresh foot or two of powder....

did beautiful

then my shifter froze on the way down and i broke the linkage trying to shift back into park. had i known how hard they were to find i would have just disconnected it before forcing it and saved myself $150 on the replacement cable

got it back into town, and replaced the starter. magical, not the thing cranks over fast again! the old one had been badly abused the last few months due to FI issues when i couldnt get it to start last summer. thankfully its an autozone special so lifetime warranty

can you see the gold dusting of brass all over the inside of the bell housing?

got that replaced and then headed over to the home depot.

and proceeded to clip a curb.

those tires have lasted me the ENTIRE time i owned the van thus far.

swapped the spare on and and the went on to my next appointment with a buddy for lunch.

on the way back into town ran out of gas.


having a REALLY great day here.


got gas in it (carry the can on the roof, full at all times so not a huge deal) and then made plans to head to Oakland area to see this guy ( https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8984677#8984677 ) and took it light and easy the whole way. got much better gas mileage!

stopped in Citrus heights to meet Jason, the best vanagon parts source ive yet to meet. guy has just about anything and everything.... email him at [email protected] ....been in the business for over 20 years and is a great guy. Had my linkage and got that picked up and then stopped by Stephans Autohaus in Sacramento to see the fabled 1.8t experts. ( https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6272866#6272866 ) They had recommended i check with Jason to find the linkage, and they sure saved my tail on that one!

then finally got over into oakland area (Moraga actually...) and met Alex and his family and the 85 westy he just got. very kind family let me hang out with them and fed me dinner and let me take a shower. (MUCH NEEDED!) swapped some fuel lines and spark plugs on his, my shift linkage, saw an EPIC rainbow, and called it a day....

then took the vans out for some photoshoot fun

stayed the night and then took off in the morning and headed to Kingsburg to meet the one and only Wasted youth....(or did we all waste our youth?) and to see his collection....

then on to bakersfield to get a late lunch with my cousin and her husband there.

took my time the whole way back down and up and over the grapevine and back to riverside, and managed to clock a epic 16-17 mpg, and the lowest of 15.5 over the grapevine. just gotta slow down and take it WAY easier and suddenly my trip gets cheaper in fuel and broken parts costs.....magical!
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Xevin]

You go Taylor. You even managed to keep Stuart’s windshield on the van
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Keep on Busin'

[Stuartzickefoose]

Which brings me to my last update for now.....


I decided to empty most of the van for a couple days in san diego, and was going to sort it all out when i got back to rialto this next monday. well, due to a few people contacting me about the van being for sale, i also left it empty in case one came through.

and......


they did.


Meet Chris and Erin, the ECSTATIC new owners of Corkey the Van. after telling them every fault and glitch I could think of I simply couldn't talk him out of it.

they are excited to do some upgrade, learn their new van, and experience vanlife! hes ready to dig in an learn, so theres a big chance he will pop up here soon, in which case ill be sure to link the two threads together

They are on their way to pick me up (they live 15 minutes from where im at in San Diego) and we are going to carpool back to Rialto to get my other car, but also to spend 100 miles learning how to properly drive a aircooled vanagon, and answering questions and just becoming good friends and passing Corkey along the right way. They always have permission to call me with questions and if I can ill be happy to help them out where I'm able. Absolutely wonderful new owners that the van totally deserves

Its been an adventure for sure. Time to hit the next chapter in life!
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[shagginwagon83]

What a roller coaster of emotions

"Here's pics of some epic adventuring with my sister......and now it's sold"
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"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin

[dobryan]

Corkey lives on.

Great story Stu.

What is next?
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2010 Subaru EJ25 (Vanaru) and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[Stuartzickefoose]

[dobryan]

[Stuartzickefoose]

So the new owners came and picked me up this morning, and were kind enough to take me back to riverside (100 miles one way!) and during the trip we got to talk about different driving techniques and suggestions for best highway actions. And offroad and wherever else they wanna go. But good time together learning the new to them van!

And although i will see them again soon to pass along as much of my spare parts as i can, and to continue answering anything the can ask...here was the final goodbye today...:


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Good luck Chris and Erin! Heres to many trouble free adventures!
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Abscate]

.....and another adventure begins....good luck kids!
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🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🍊 🍊 🍊

[notchboy]

From a slow death in the PNW to a stump jumper in Mexico.

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