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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3549 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:13 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Behind the trim panel is 14ga galvanized sheet metal that I added as mounting brackets for the folding all mounted hinges. Hinges lock in the up right position. You just depress a tab to release them.
_________________ '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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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3549 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:16 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Second table is pretty loaded with hardware. Extending table supports from Rockler that brace the two tops, mating part of cam lock that pulls the tops together, table alignment pins that mate with female cups on the other table, and finally, the locking hinge for the Table Leg.
_________________ '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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4Gears4Tires Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2018 Posts: 2982 Location: MD
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:16 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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That looks great. Did you take any pictures of how you attached the sheet metal behind the trim panel? _________________ '87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition |
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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3549 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:17 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Now of course, my carpet looks even more shabby with the new tables next to it....
Finish is 1 coat of Festool Outdoor Oil, 3 coats of Epifanes Rapid Clear and 3 coats of Epifanes High Gloss Varnish. _________________ '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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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3549 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:33 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Glue-up- I don’t use these Cauls that often, but was super glad I had them for this face gluing.
_________________ '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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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3549 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:34 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Oil finish applied as the starter coat, and trying out the fit of the tables joined with cam lock hardware.
_________________ '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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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7404 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 7:30 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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^^^Nice work! It's fun when interests or passions overlap. Vanagons and woodworking in this case. Extra points if you use your Vanagon to haul wood for the next woodworking project. _________________ - 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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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3549 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 2:58 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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4Gears4Tires wrote: |
That looks great. Did you take any pictures of how you attached the sheet metal behind the trim panel? |
Yes- I’ll post them shortly _________________ '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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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3549 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 3:05 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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4Gears4Tires wrote: |
That looks great. Did you take any pictures of how you attached the sheet metal behind the trim panel? |
14ga galvanized strips, either 2 3/4” or 2 3/8” wide ( I have my build sheet somewhere.... )
Made wood spacers to correct the curve of the trim panel, pre-drilled them on the hinge mounting holes, to act as templets or drilling guide into those galvanized strips with the trim panel reinstalled.
What’s not clear from the picture is the 90 degree leg that goes under the mid side reinforcement, being riveted from underneath . I used VWs practice of bending the lip down at the top for a flat surface to attach to. _________________ '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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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3549 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:57 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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jimf909 wrote: |
^^^Nice work! It's fun when interests or passions overlap. Vanagons and woodworking in this case. Extra points if you use your Vanagon to haul wood for the next woodworking project. |
. Thank you, and yes, it’s much easier to carry home sheets of plywood and solid wood in the Vanagon any day... _________________ '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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BrownEye02 Samba Member
Joined: August 03, 2008 Posts: 86 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 9:48 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Hello everyone. Been on here for years but am new to this section of the Samba as of about 3 weeks ago. I picked up a 89 Vanagon GL for 3,600$. I honestly was going to pass on it as it was in a rougher shape then I had originally wanted but when I was able to talk the kid down 1,700$ I couldn't pass it up. Especially since the motor had just been swapped out with a 10,000 mile 2.1L engine. Original sale post can be found here.
https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/7536659387...l%7D%22%7D
Long story short I picked it up from a collage kid, had a nasty knocking sound coming from the bell housing/motor and the cause was unknown, has a Maaco paint job, stains galore, cut springs that do nothing as its on the bump stops, and the list goes on. Its a 20 footer basically.
Last weekend I was able to find and fix the knocking sound. The culprit ended up being a bad drive plate. I a post in this section of the forms on it if you want more details. Thanks again to those that helped me!!! This also included cleaning out my disgusting brake cylinder reservoir and bleeding the brakes.
Oil was changed too since the car had been sitting so long.
This weekend was buttoning up time to get the car ready for the maiden voyage from my parents house to my house. (130 miles). Here is the laundry list of things I knocked out.
Fixed the speedometer cable
E clip had just busted so the cable had fallen out of the center cap. Staples are good E clips if bent right.
Fixed the climate controls and turned off the heater
The foot vent and heater on off controls were not working. The foot vent ended up being the internal sleeving of the cable had come out not allowing the cable to go back in. Was able to slide the insides back in and re-sinch the cable down. The vent itself is still binding on the passengers side when you try to close it so I'll have to look into that later. For now it can be motivated by hand to close. The heater on off control ended up being a broken cable. I was able to climb under and reach up to the valve behind the radiator and turn it off manually but will need to see if I can fix the cable or if it needs replacing. The cable broke in the right spot where I think I can take a welder and pop it really quick to re-join the metal wire together.
Repaired shady fuel pump wiring
The original owner, not the collage kid decided to splice into the fuel pump wiring using cat5 Ethernet cable, run it through the inside of the van and put a toggle switch next to the drivers seat. I have no clue why but luckily the cable was easy to pull out since it wasn't tucked away at all and I soldered the cables back together.
Repaired wiring near stereo
Since the van didn't come with the stereo I could see the lovely wiring that was left over. Cleaned it all up and sealed each wire in heat shrink and electrical tape. In doing this I found two crimped connections that were loose and the copper wires running to them exposed. Repaired these as well and this resolved all my dash lights. I was having issues where the climate controls and fan lights were not coming on or would turn on if the dash got bumped in the right way even with everything off and the key out. The crimped end was lying on top of the cigarette lighter outlet shorting out.
Vacuumed and cleaned out the trash
Collage kid, was REALLY BAD!!
Shampooed the floors
Tried to get a couple of the stains out. It helped but didn't make as big of a dent as I'd hoped. Will probably pay to have it professionally detailed by someone who has the proper equipment to really dig out the stains.
Attempted to fix power steering pump
After swapping out the motor the kid just left the power steering pump disconnected. The previous week I tried topping off the reservoir but the ATF just starting seeping out of every part of the pump. I noticed I was missing a couple bolts and the ones that were there were finger tight. I came back this time with the bucket of bolts I got with the old motor. Found everything I needed and started re-torquing things back down. But when I did this the pump locked up and couldn't be turned at all. Tried a couple more things but no dice. As soon as I lightly tightened any of the outer four bolts to the pump it would lock up. I'll need to attack this again at a later time and do a full rebuild or just replace it.
Did a quick alignment
Nothing crazy but tried to correct the van from pulling to the right and center the wheel. Got better but still slightly pulls. I'll need to go through the full process once I get the air bags to replace the cut springs. I would like to be able to lower the van back down to where it is now when its parked but want it to be able to go to full OE ride height or close to while driving. Planning things out now for this.
I was feeling confident in my trip for the following day and called it.
Which brings us to Today. Road trip time!
The drive was great! 70-75 most of the way at 4000-4200RPM. After driving for a bit at 75 I heard what I think were the lifters clicking a bit so I'll need to check the valve adjustment here soon. I backed off the gas for a bit and the noise went away.
I was about 20 miles out from my house cruising 70 mph down hill when the engine just cut out. No sputtering, nothing. Just went from 4100RPM to 0 instantly.
Luckily I had my sister in her truck and my dad in my truck following me. We were able to get the van in a safe spot and started digging to find the issue. The cause was no spark but we couldn't figure out why. Fuses were fine, ECU fuse was fine, tried the extra ECU from the old motor. Nothing was making sense then noticed the distributor connector was very loose and I could see exposed wire on the inside. Figured this had to be the issue. We didn't have any tools with us. My tools were at my house including the old motor and all its parts, which included a distributor we could try. Hopped in the car to pickup everything.
On the drive some light reading was done on the forms to see common causes just to try and confirm our suspensions. Grabbed my tools and the old distributor. I was contemplating grabbing my the old ignition coil from the left over parts I had from my 65 bus but wasn't sure if it would work and we were pretty certain the distributor was the problem. Well, that was a mistake. Got back and swapped out the distributor with no change. Ran through the Bentley Manual troubleshooting steps and it looked like the ignition coil was bad. Test light showed we were getting nothing out of the coil yet ground and hot wires were good. Testing the resistance showed things were slightly out of spec. At this point no one local had a replacement and it was better to just tow the van home then drive there and back again on a hope the coil would solve the issue.
Got the van home and in 5 min I had it back up and running. The ignition coil I had did work but is not correctly specked. Have a green label bosh on the way from VanCafe. I still was able to drive to a friends house a couple miles away with 0 issues.
Cooling off at home I decided to dig into my interment cluster to fix my oil light and odometer and trip as they were not moving. The oil light was missing the LED entirely so I just nabbed the batter LED for the time being as I would rather know I have no oil pressure vs low voltage. Should be able to scrounge up another red LED from work or something too. As for the odometer, its metal gear at the end of the shaft was spinning. Bent the end with some pliers like others have done and everything was golden.
NOTE: Don't over do it!! Took me for ever to get the shaft to slide back through the gear.
In the end I've put in a lot of work but am still happy with my purchase. I'll be buttoning things up for quite a while but hope to have the van super reliable before winter. My plan is to be able to use it as a sleeper, tow my stand-up jet ski's, dirt bike, or go hit the slops in it. Massive thanks to my entire family as I could not have done any of this with out their help!!!! |
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joetiger Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2005 Posts: 5068 Location: denver
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:15 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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BrownEye02 wrote: |
Hello everyone. Been on here for years but am new to this section of the Samba as of about 3 weeks ago. |
Welcome! I'm so glad that van went to a good home. It was for sale in the mountains a few years back and I considered it, then saw that Fbook ad and almost, almost went to see it but couldn't justify another purchase right now (no space.) Keep us posted! _________________ Joe T.
'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32
"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron
"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond
Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present
www.josephtrussell.com |
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campism Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2007 Posts: 4485 Location: Richmond VA
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:49 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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BrownEye02 wrote: |
Repaired shady fuel pump wiring
The original owner, not the collage kid decided to splice into the fuel pump wiring using cat5 Ethernet cable, run it through the inside of the van and put a toggle switch next to the drivers seat. ](*,) I have no clue why but luckily the cable was easy to pull out since it wasn't tucked away at all and I soldered the cables back together. |
That sounds like a kill switch for theft prevention. No power to the fuel pump, no drive away. _________________ '87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic |
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mikemtnbike Samba Member
Joined: March 26, 2015 Posts: 2780 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 8:14 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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The battery LED light also alerts you if your alt belt has broken which equals no water pump which can equal sudden death overheating. I'd replace that soon...
you can catch the failure before your temps climb catastrophically using this light. _________________ 1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7404 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 9:42 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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New horn ring, turn signal switch (w/ horn contact) and ignition switch...
Here's the old turn signal switch with worn horn contact. Once the horn ring is worn through and the contact is worn like this replacement seems to be the only long term solution. The ignition switch needed replacement because the "Key-in" switch was getting stuck in the on position.
_________________ - 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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4Gears4Tires Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2018 Posts: 2982 Location: MD
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 9:49 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Wow, you got that for $1700? What a deal! Instantly putting some much needed maintenance into it too, awesome job. _________________ '87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition |
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BrownEye02 Samba Member
Joined: August 03, 2008 Posts: 86 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 12:34 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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joetiger wrote: |
Welcome! I'm so glad that van went to a good home. ...... Keep us posted! |
I hope it did too. And will do. Plan to be posting in here quite a bit for the next couple of months.
campism wrote: |
That sounds like a kill switch for theft prevention. No power to the fuel pump, no drive away. |
Originally thats what I thought except for the part where the cable and switch were staring you right in the face when you opened the drivers door. You couldn't miss it. The kid noted it was something used for the old motor and hadn't had to use it on the new one yet. Not sure if the old motor flooded itself or something.
mikemtnbike wrote: |
The battery LED light also alerts you if your alt belt has broken which equals no water pump which can equal sudden death overheating. I'd replace that soon...
you can catch the failure before your temps climb catastrophically using this light. |
I'm hoping to nab a replacement LED today so it was mainly to make sure the wiring/ribbon circuit was still good for the Oil LED location. It was as it lit up really quick when the key is turned.
jimf909 wrote: |
New horn ring, turn signal switch (w/ horn contact) and ignition switch... |
Yeah, I need to a new horn contact. Mine's snapped off.
Looks great! Looks like I have to pickup the whole turn signal assembly to fix it though from your photos. :/
4Gears4Tires wrote: |
Wow, you got that for $1700? What a deal! Instantly putting some much needed maintenance into it too, awesome job. |
No no no. That's the amount I talked him down from his original price. Payed $3,600. Sorry bad wording on my part. I'd of put myself in jail if I stole it for that price. |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7404 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 8:37 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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BrownEye02 wrote: |
jimf909 wrote: |
New horn ring, turn signal switch (w/ horn contact) and ignition switch... |
Yeah, I need to a new horn contact. Mine's snapped off.
Looks great! Looks like I have to pickup the whole turn signal assembly to fix it though from your photos. :/
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That seems to be the case. I found some threads where folks tried to make replacements and they didn't seem to last long. See tencentlife's post here (if he can't make it work that says a lot)...
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=413516 _________________ - 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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bobbyblack Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015 Posts: 4333 Location: United States, Iowa
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 6:49 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Was asking some advice on Throttle Body options, heard that if I could find one done by Phil Eslin, I'd be going in the right direction. Did a bit of homework, asked the right Mike, found out Phil has done his last batch and is retiring.
So, here's one of Phil's last TB rebuilds. Got the hall cam TPS replacement for good measure. Hoping to get these installed this weekend.
_________________ '87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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dhaavers Samba Member
Joined: March 19, 2010 Posts: 7733 Location: NE MN (tinyurl.com/dhaaverslocation)
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 7:09 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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^^^ You always get the coolest stuff...
- Dave _________________ 86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS> |
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