The Life and Times of Vineyard Van!

[0to60in6min]

[Vnyd Dog]

[Vnyd Dog]

[jimf909]

[Alaskaberrys]

Great story! Thanks for sharing it.

Have come across any photos of that Euro trip 30 some years ago?
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'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...)

[Vnyd Dog]

[Vnyd Dog]

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...

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'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

[Eric_Taylor]

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.

[Vnyd Dog]

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.

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'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

[Vnyd Dog]

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!!

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'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

[vela123321]

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!
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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

[Multiman mv]

Fantastic family history you’ve recorded. Great writing, very entertaining and proof that these machines are memory makers. Thanks for sharing.

[Vnyd Dog]

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!
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'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

[Vnyd Dog]

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.

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'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

[Vnyd Dog]

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.

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'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

[Vnyd Dog]

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?

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'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

[SCM]

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.
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'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine

[Vnyd Dog]

[michaelbteam]

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.

[Vnyd Dog]

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...

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'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