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tencentlife
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006
Posts: 10075
Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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 Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 12:33 pm Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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For anyone following Redshiftt development, there's two new blog posts I think you'll want to see:
https://intrepidoverland.com/news/
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Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine. |
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tencentlife
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006
Posts: 10075
Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 9:42 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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There are new Redshiftt developments, and a fresh post I think anyone doing a wbx head reseal job will appreciate:
https://intrepidoverland.com/the-fire-ring-cure/
Check it out, and I welcome your comments on the blog.
_________________
Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine. |
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dobryan
Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006
Posts: 16496
Location: Brookeville, MD
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tencentlife
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006
Posts: 10075
Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 9:59 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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So, wanting to gauge interest in a little wishlist project I'm working on, to see if it should become a product:
I don't have central locking and don't care to add the system since, having a fairly high ape index, I can reach the right-front and slider door locks from the driver's seat before I get out. But it's a pain when I want to open the back hatch, walk back, find it locked, and have to fetch the key and unlock it. I like to leave it locked, though, so I don't forget to when I'm parking in public places.
So, I've long wanted a release for the back hatch that can be actuated from the front area of the van, like a lot of minivans and other cars have. It will work whether the hatch is locked or not. Pull the release and you go back and the hatch is unlatched waiting to be lifted.
It will be pull-cable operated, although a remote electric version could also be worked up. Like most mods it will require drilling a few small holes in bodywork, so body purists, please hold your comments, this product isn't for you.
As a kit there will be flexibility as to where you choose to mount the release pull, for me I think I'll put in on the inboard forward face of the right-front seat pedestal, where I can reach it from the driver's seat as well as thru the open right door if we're camping or loading stuff at the home supply store or whatever.
Anyway, comment here if this is something you might find useful.
_________________
Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine. |
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jlrftype7
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018
Posts: 3574
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:06 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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Yes, and with no cabinets in my way to install that cable system( Tin Top), shouldn’t be hard to do except getting into the Rear Hatch itself with a hole.
I await your notes on this... 
_________________
'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 |
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SCM
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2011
Posts: 3114
Location: Bozeman MT
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:12 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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| tencentlife wrote: |
| Anyway, comment here if this is something you might find useful. |
I currently wouldn't find it useful since I don't have an interior release on my hatch and I almost always have bikes in the way of opening the hatch anyway. So, since I'm already out of the van wrestling with the bikes, using a key to unlock the hatch is the least of my inconvenience.
That said, what I WOULD be interested in, is a kit to add an interior hatch release so I could open my hatch from inside when my hatch is unobstructed (in camp at night). I think you made a pretty slick version that uses a lock pull just below the window glass didn't you? I would consider buying a kit/instructions to replicate that or something similar.
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'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine |
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tencentlife
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006
Posts: 10075
Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:19 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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Thanks for the comments, guys.
Actually, the parts that have to be fitted to the rear hatch itself are already figured out, that was gonna be the deal-breaker if there was one, so I tackled that first. And I usually set myself some design limitations so a kit will be more acceptable to the buying public, such as avoiding the need to do major disassembly to install the new bits.
So,you'll be happy to know, the parts to adapt the hatch itself can be installed in under 5 minutes with one screwdriver and without even removing the latch or interior trim panel or drilling any holes in the hatch. That part is super-easy!
_________________
Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine.
Last edited by tencentlife on Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:34 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Aryana
Samba Member
Joined: November 09, 2015
Posts: 568
Location: Southern CA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:26 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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| I’d be in for one. |
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tencentlife
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006
Posts: 10075
Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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| Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 10:21 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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Spent some time on this, but at the kind of price range it might sell for it's not gonna be feasible. As I said, the add-on to the hatch itself was really easy. Then, working my way upstream in the order of actions, it needs a mechanism to push against the hatch mod. That in itself is simple enough, a small bellcrank can work a pushrod to do that. That problem is, once the latch is released the hatch needs to be held ajar or its weight drops onto the latch and re-engages the first latch position. The hatch is partly ajar but the lower rim is still touching the bottom door seal so there isn't room to get a finger in there to rework the hatch mod as one would with a hood latch safety catch. So, after releasing the latch, the pushrod needs to be braced and hold the hatch ajar until it is manually lifted open, at which point the mechanism has to reset automatically. I actually worked up a simple mechanism to do it, but the working concept version needs tweaking to make it run smoothly and reliably, and to change the balance of tensions involved the geometry becomes much less workable. So on the whole it becomes more complicated and expensive than just having a remotely-activated door lock motor, which is already an available product as part of an add-on central locking system. So I'm gonna drop the project, it's not viable as a product.
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Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
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Aryana
Samba Member
Joined: November 09, 2015
Posts: 568
Location: Southern CA
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| Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 10:29 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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| Thanks for the update and candid look at the process, Chris. |
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Paulbeard
Samba Member
Joined: July 10, 2015
Posts: 2604
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 6:21 pm Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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| tencentlife wrote: |
| Spent some time on this, but at the kind of price range it might sell for it's not gonna be feasible. |
Curious as to what price point you had in mind. It does seem like an interesting mod but there's a spectrum of interest from "interesting" to "just take my money."
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Currently -> Frida: 87 Tizian Red (mostly) Vanagon GL Westfalia w/ 2.0L ABA conversion
Formerly -> Steward of a 73 Super Beetle (Beater) and 67 Beetle 1300 (Little Max) both names by POs
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jimf909 
Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014
Posts: 7455
Location: WA/ID
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| Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 6:42 pm Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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Likewise, I’d be interested in the inside rear hatch release to open the hatch from the bed to help me get over the inertia of not having done it DIY. In the meantime, I just need to place an order for your airbox flap and install that! 
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- 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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tencentlife
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006
Posts: 10075
Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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| Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 2:49 pm Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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I've been hammering away on the Redshiftt control box design. Fell into a bit of feature creep, but in the end it's much nicer than I originally envisioned. Take a look:
https://intrepidoverland.com/news/
This is the last component that needed the design finished up. I've done some preliminary prototypes to test some of the methods, now I need to build an exact prototype of this design. I'm gonna build my own vac-forming rig for the polycarbonate cover, it's actually very simple to do (lotsa Youtube vids on vac-forming if you want to see a really cool production method; it's just fun to watch).
Once I prove it can be produced by these methods I can get parts into production, and I'll be pretty close to market. Pretty sure I'll need one "unintentional radiator" test done for full FCC compliance, for that I'll need to have production copies of the production knob controller and this box.
_________________
Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine. |
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erste
Samba Member
Joined: March 29, 2013
Posts: 1110
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:08 pm Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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| tencentlife wrote: |
| I'm gonna build my own vac-forming rig for the polycarbonate cover, it's actually very simple to do (lotsa Youtube vids on vac-forming if you want to see a really cool production method; it's just fun to watch). |
Douglas and Sturgess sells a product called epoxy tooling compound, basically aluminized epoxy. It works well for making bucks for light production vacuum forming.
There's a good video of the guy who made the original storm trooper gear somewhere on youtube. He's a wizard. These PDFs are good too, particularly the first:
https://capla.arizona.edu/forms/shop/fromechvacuumguide.pdf
https://formechinc.com/wp-content/uploads/Vacuum_Forming_Guide.pdf
I hadn't seen the second one until now, and there's a project I did on page 10 though we didn't make it like they say. We cast a rubber mold off the plasticine positive and then used the epoxy tooling compound and cast the buck. No affiliation with Formech, though their machines are good and fun to use.
Nice progress on Redshiftt! don't mean to derail your thread  |
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djkeev
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Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32562
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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tjet
Samba Member
Joined: June 10, 2014
Posts: 3533
Location: CA & NM
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| Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:07 pm Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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| tencentlife wrote: |
I've been hammering away on the Redshiftt control box design. Fell into a bit of feature creep, but in the end it's much nicer than I originally envisioned. Take a look:
https://intrepidoverland.com/news/ |
That's cool. I'm currently building a motorcycle with similar tech. See link below. I understand Dave's concern, but the idea is to simplify things and reduce wires in a major way.
https://motogadget.com/en/
Link
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djkeev
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Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32562
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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vegpedlr
Samba Member
Joined: June 07, 2014
Posts: 774
Location: TBD
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:03 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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I’m with Dave here. I don’t get it. Yet.
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mikemtnbike
Samba Member
Joined: March 26, 2015
Posts: 2794
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:10 am Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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I think I read something about being able to replace the functionality of the syncro dash knobs via the redshiftt controller.
All other functionality aside, that sounds like it'd be f-in sweet (although have no actual experience with the dash knobs).
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled  https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
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2020 GTI SE manual |
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hans j
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Joined: May 06, 2006
Posts: 2714
Location: Salt Lake City UT
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 3:14 pm Post subject: Re: Official IntrepidOverland thread, home of Vanistan and Redshiftt |
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Just thinking out loud about the air flow cut off device. I'll be getting one, but I am kind of looking into replacing the cable with a solenoid that is activated when the lever is all the way at the cold position.
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