What did YOU do to your van today?

[skemems]

[bobbyblack]

Connected, programmed, and tested my AfterBurner from MrJones!! Wooooot!
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[camperseth]

After a long bout of a no start issue I replaced the ecu and it ran then I drove ten feet and it stopped and had the same issue, looked inside the distributor and the distributor had ripped the middle connector right out of the hall sensor 🧐 luckily it was still intact so I put it back in and she’s running again. Then I ripped the dash off and removed the seized blower motor (currently waiting on one to be delivered) mine had the little tabs!!!! then I diagnosed my washer pump and arrived at the realization it was bad contacts inside the steering wheel. But I managed to break the water line tab off the motor when the reservoir slipped out of my hand with the water line still intact 🤦‍♂️ I JB welded it... we’ll see about that rig tmrw.
I also traced all the wires on the auxiliary battery with solar to determine what that was all about. I also cannibalized a tiny dc fan from a broken trickle charger and I’m going to install that in my fridge.

[bobbyblack]

Had issue with belts last week, so today I took a good look at the mounts, brackets, and can't see any deterioration of the Alt bracket. I did use a little longer bar this time to put slightly more tension on the Alt belt. Maybe it was just that I wasn't tensioning it enough in the past.

But then, I got a wild hair, and joined the Stow&Go clan. These are from a 2013 Dodge Caravan.

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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[happy2CU]

these seats are nice, they seem to fit perfect in there.

[bobbyblack]

A little update; Took the Westy on an 8 hour drive today. Seats were fine for the first leg, then on the way back, my rt hip started to feel exacerbated. To be clear, that is the one I broke 30 some years ago, and I have bone spurs in the hip, so its easy to have happen. Mrs. Black was good with the seats, except of course, no adjusters for the angle of the arm rests, and the headrest is too far back to be comfortable resting back on while lounging. Needs a cushion attachment, I guess.

Anyway, I noticed that the bolsters are not quite even from left to right seats where the seat belt receptacle gizmo had been (I removed it), so I pulled over and swapped the seats so the slightly lopsided bolster had a divot where my spurs are. Worked out really well.

I'll update at 1000 miles.
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[camperseth]

Today I received a new exhaust kit from bus depot for my 83 watercooled 1.9.
The tailpipe was missing! I called and they said it was back ordered until late February! They should’ve said something. The muffler was all dinged up too. I bought the hrdwr and gasket kit and there’s no instructions whatsoever for any of it. Anyway, I lava rock wrapped the entire exhaust today and I sprayed all the existing nuts and bolts and will be installing it tmrw. I bought the cat delete pipe and I’m wondering if the existing “donut” type gaskets are supposed to be used for that where the cat would be ? Hmm...

[jlrftype7]

Replaced the Alternator. Took a few days to ship in to me, but all is well again.
First it stopped charging while I was still at work, ready to drive home.
11.9 volts, with erratic dash warning lights. Okay, it can sit while a rebuilt unit comes to me... Not the end of the world...
Then, days later when I drove it into the shop to install the rebuilt unit, the voltage wanted to climb above 15 volts.....
All that is behind me now, steady 14.0 to 14.3 volts depending on electrical load ....whew, back to our regularly scheduled program....
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'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

[old_man]

Spare tire holder

Hopefully someone doesn't try to steal it. You never know with the skeets around here.

[4Gears4Tires]

Get some locking lug nuts on there.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[camperseth]

Installed a complete new exhaust on my 83 westy. I wrapped them with exhaust wrap and a tip for anyone else who does this. DO NOT wrap close to the mounting flanges. The clearance is so tight that the extra material won’t let you get the washer and nuts on.
Also installed the go westy printed circuit board replacement for the ribbon style, everything is working but the led for the turn signals won’t come on. You have to move around some wires in the vans pigtail connector to match with the connector they send.
They have printouts for what the stock connector looks like with the wire colors and only an okay picture of what it should look like after you move them around. But it also says as long as the colors match up on either side then you’re good. You’ll also have to splice both ground wires together into one. I did have a strange occurrence though. After I matched everything up I had a white wire left over where it should’ve been a yellow wire according to the picture. I put the white wire where i guess it should be yellow? Everything else matched up but that one so I figured it had to go there, nowhere else for it to go after everything else ... I’ve also got some new plug wires, a new bleeder valve, and some shift tabs to install, oh and some super sweet stickers

[djkeev]

What benefits does the exhaust wrap provide?

I've never used it.

I've read increased HP....... hmmm
Sone wraps keep the outside of the pipe cooler..
I've read that it holds in heat to the point the pipes crack.
I've read they hold moisture and rust under the wrap.
I've read to powder coat before wrapping?

Just curious what you gain by wrapping?

Then again, we can go back to the peanut oil discussion for preserving pipes.....


Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[bobbyblack]

I've only seen that warranties are void in some exhaust systems if wrapped.
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[4Gears4Tires]

[jlrftype7]

[jimf909]

At least peanut oil smells good!

In the motorcycle world exhaust wraps are a one of those weird fashion statements that got traction.

This retailer sells exhaust wrap tape for $30 - $100 bucks per roll and this is the best they can say about it:

https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/how-to-wrap-an-exhaust


Before we get into the nuts and bolts of how to do it, let’s just dispel a few rumors and state a few facts about pipe wrap so you can better determine if you actually want to do this to your bike.

- Pipe wrap doesn’t produce crazy amounts of horsepower. Sad but true.
- It’s hard on pipes.
- It does look crappy after a while.
- You have to remove your exhaust to wrap it.

[camperseth]

I wrapped them to keep heat down and it also looks cool. The manufacturer of the lava rock stuff I used says it won’t change color. We will see. I’m just glad to have a complete exhaust again. Mine was in really terrible shape.
I also installed the go westy printed circuit board replacement. It was weird though because I have an 83 and with that install you have to move wires around in the connector. I matched everything up and had a leftover stock white wire where the go westy diagram showed a yellow wire. It was literally the only place the wire could go so I figured ...ok ....so I put the white wire where the yellow one goes. There’s no other spot for it to be.
My illumination lights for the whole cluster work, the blue high beam light works. But the turn signals,ox’s,and oil pressure warning light does not come on. They worked with the ribbon circuit sooooo ????? I triple checked all my work and it’s all good (except for that weird white wire yellow wire thing.
I emailed go westy, waiting on a reply back.

[mikemtnbike]

^^gowesty is closed until next week. If you're impatient (I would be), you could post your question with a specific title in the main forum and I bet you'd get an answer.
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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
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[4Gears4Tires]

[camperseth]