I've joined the dark side: 2001 Weekender

[Broseph Stalin]

[Zeitgeist 13]

I keep wondering how to get around lifting the front more than with just the torsion adjustment. The problem is that the axles end up sitting on top of the subframe at full extension. I suspect that anything beyond this will require lowering the subframe, or notching it out for clearance. The rears are a lot like a Vanagon, so there are ways to tweak it beyond a typical shimmed spring lift, but there's welding/cutting involved.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Broseph Stalin]

[Zeitgeist 13]

Proving again that I'm easily amused. Minor updates. I added a couple meager shelves to the slider door, since it's otherwise dead space. I'm thinking of making my own slider panel and incorporating three actual cubbies into the design. I'm obsessed with space.

Also, here's our local group of van fanatic's new sticker.

I'm still building the diesel heater cabinet, and should be welding on the mounting tabs next week.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[IdeaNerd]

[Zeitgeist 13]

I had a dead windshield washer pump, so in the process of diving into the engine bay I noticed a couple things. One is that the hood struts are getting weak, and I found out why:

The other observation is that the foam around the air intake gills acts like a sponge in the heavy rain we've been having here, and that it also traps a lot of road detritus in the fender well. You rust belt folks should clean this area out annually. I think I'll revisit that foam piece this summer and try to find a way to clean and reseal it with some kind of flexible sealant so as to mitigate the water absorption.

On the topic of space; now I'm looking to cleverly use up a lot of it. I'm seriously toying with the idea of converting the van to a custom full camper interior. The concept is to use the driver side for cabinets in typical Westfalia fashion, but to make my own out of lightweight extruded aluminum framing and bamboo facings. My remaining question is whether to shorten the existing sliding rear seat/bed, or replace it with a customized fixed 'rock n' roll' seat like in the Vanagons. I'm still on the fence about this, but currently leaning toward the latter option. Thoughts?

[EDIT] I guess I should mention that I'm at liberty to entertain the idea of making the van interior less flexible because we have two vans, and this one is going to become our dedicated camper/road tripper. The other van is a Vanagon with the same interior layout as the MV models without the poptop.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Zeitgeist 13]

As a follow up, I just swapped out that leaking hood strut with one I pulled from the '01 Jetta donor for the TDI in my Vanagon. Its extended length is the same, but the body has a larger diameter and the unit seems significantly stiffer. I just replaced that one for now, but you can really feel how weak the other is, so I may go ahead and do both.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Abscate]

Casey - are you sure that isn't a critter in the well area? Yuck.
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.ssS!

[Zeitgeist 13]

I should check the vacuum. There was a lot of stuff up in there.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Zeitgeist 13]

I'm in the middle of replacing the seat heaters AND installing a diesel aux. heater...AND, we're leaving for Salt Creek Recreation Area tomorrow afternoon, so no pressure.

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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Abscate]

That blue is so pretty. I was torn between that and the COLORADO red when I plonkeddown the cash for my only new car in my life, the 2002 T4 EuroMaxiBus.
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.ssS!

[Zeitgeist 13]

We had a great time up at Salt Creek, although my project delayed our joining the group by a day. The seat heaters work awesome and the diesel heater was a game changer...until it wasn't.

Because I was so rushed, corners were cut and safety was nudged down to a third consideration--sue me!

First off, my van isn't (yet) a diesel, so I had to figure out where/how to mount the fuel tank. I have a design in the works that both slides and articulates under the van, but I didn't have time to make that a thing. Instead, I screwed it to a plastic cutting board and temporarily mounted it above the engine battery. No problems were encountered.

Note that I mounted a house battery fuse panel there, so I could easily tap into that circuit without gutting the interior.

The heater is installed under the van and plumbed into the rear heater housing. One concern expressed with this approach is that the heated air could potentially blow directly on the rear heater core, which would serve as a heat sink and reduce thermal efficiency. I took this into consideration and glued a thin steel lid from a candy tin to the floor, which allows it to deflect heated air upward and away from either the heater core or the diesel heater inlet. The polyurethane glue is flexible, so the steel deflector can lean over and deflect either or both heat sources.

Astute T4 fans will recognize this temporary exhaust outlet source.

The heater worked awesome during our ~33F degree night and morning. Unfortunately it shut off after about a half hour in the morning and gave an E-01 error code.

This turns out to be a low voltage error. After I got back home, I diagnosed the battery isolator relay as defective, which explains why the house battery was dead flat.

The project items that did deliver during our trip were the seat heater matrices I installed. Very nice even heat and the el cheapo seat covers worked really well for a $15 investment.

Lots of work to be done, but overall I'm pretty pleased with these latest additions to the van.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Zeitgeist 13]

Thought I'd share a couple other updates to the updates.

I ended up using the double switch provided with the seat heaters, but the housing is slightly smaller than the openings in the dash. I cannibalized an old Audi C4 defroster switch to create a spacer that kinda made up the size difference, but it recessed the switch a bit.

Also, I've long been annoyed that my shifter gate slider thingee was mostly missing, so I decided to tackle that today. Once I opened the shifter assembly, I found the "thingee" had broken up into many smaller pieces over time. The thingee is just a bit of thin flexible plastic, so I set about to finding a suitable replacement material. IKEA to the rescue...again! An old place mat with black and white stripes was a perfect donor for the thingee. I used the good part still attached to the shift rod as a template and cut out a strip. It looks and works perfectly.

While I was in there, I found that the weird (and probably expensive) light bulb was dead, so I fashioned up a red LED replacement. It works ok, but the light output is a bit too much, so I think I need to add more resistance to tone it down.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[VAEV1993]

Thanks for sharing all of these updates. I really enjoy seeing your progress.

Related, I did see on the Eurovan Owner's Unite facebook group there was someone making replacement shifter gap cover "thingees" like what you replaced. Not that you need that info right now, but just adding for others.
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1993 Weekender - Hula
2002 Golf TDI
2017 Golf Alltrack

[Zeitgeist 13]

File this under: "As if I needed more projects..."

A couple weeks ago we drove up to Bainbridge Island to socially distance the procurement of an aquatic moneypit. It's a '53 Sunfish, and it needs work. I need work. Thirty years ago I had one of these that I had semi-permanently attached to the roof of my '67 split, when it wasn't in the water or being worked on in the carport. The EV towed it like it wasn't even there.

I don't have any new pics, but recently installed LED strip lighting in the rear sleeping area, and up in the poptop. The lower strips are dimmable, and can be switched on manually or triggered by opening a door. I also added a master cutoff switch for the house battery and I'm building an under dash console for house and start battery monitors and an additional set of USB ports. I added a set of USB ports for when we sleep up top, and underdash red lighting for night driving. This again ties back to my nautical life, as the wheelhouses all had red lighting to keep things illuminated without creating glare.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Zeitgeist 13]

So...my wife is currently backpacking with friends at the Three Sisters/ Mt Washington Wilderness Area located west of Bend, OR. Through spotty cell reception she's conveyed that the coolant level light came on when she was climbing up some steep passes, so she added water and kept going. It wasn't overheating. Just as she pulled into the trailhead the light came on again and steam came out of the vents. This seems like the dreaded heater core failure.

I keep a brass PEX connector in the door cubby for just this kind of debacle, so I've been trying to text her pics and sequence details to walk her through how to bypass the core. She's a fish biologist and yoga instructor with very few technical skills, so she's kinda nervous about tackling this task. I'm about 87.3% sure I packed a small pair of Channellock type pliers in the tool kit. She's hiking down to the van tomorrow. Good times.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Abscate]

Casey , might be better to try take the coolant reservoir cap off and top off the water and roll home or to a garage that can do that bypass. This only works if she has a goodsupply of clean water.

She will also have to baby it home to keep the heat load down
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.ssS!

[Zeitgeist 13]

She has access to lots of water. It also wasn't running hot, or at least the gauge didn't indicate a high heat situation. With the heater bypassed, it should theoretically be situations normal...if I diagnosed it correctly via text. Apparently she was hiking down to the van this afternoon, but I still haven't heard anything. Super sketchy cell service there. Anybody here near Sweet Home?
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Zeitgeist 13]

Ok, the lady needs to be more descriptive with her list of symptoms. It turns out the serpentine belt shredded because the pulley is completely disintegrated, as in melted into oblivion. Oi vey.

It was towed to a motel parking lot in Sweet Home. I’m now down here, but of course I’m having a helluva time finding a tensioner locally, at least via the parts chains’ online sites. If I could find a shop that orders from Worldpac, I can probably source one. Or maybe a wrecking yard with a 24v VR6
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Abscate]

021145299A

Shows as a T4 only part in FCP, 1997 - , 2.8 liter engine

New $240
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.ssS!