Trip Report - Running Springs

[Blakesinclair]

Trip report and sort of an intro for me and the van. Mostly lurking and learning, but here it goes...

Late last year an old family friend was selling a Eurovan. I was kinda looking for a van to add to the family, and it was in good shape for a good price. Called some VW friends and literally every single one of them said "do NOT buy a Eurovan." I'm pretty sure "heart breaker" and "money pit" were tossed around too. Which led me to switch gears to looking into Vanagons.

So back in February I impulsively bought a 1985 Weekender. No real maintenance history, no paperwork, no inspection, just showed up at night off a one way train from 3 hours away. It started and idled fine, shifted smooth with very minimal bucking or lugging, didn't show any major signs of leakage or weird noises. For the most part, it was in decent shape. This is my second van, first being a 1978 transporter that I had in high school (over 20 years ago), so my expectations were pretty low.

Since then, I've done a bunch of catch-up work. Oil change/tuneup, got the speedo/odo/tach working, flushed/replace gear oil, replaced vac lines and cleaned up the AFM and throttle body. And yes, replaced all the fuel lines. Also had the CV joints replaced. Still has an ever growing list of things it needs, but these seemed like the major issues for safety.

Everything I've done along the way gives it just a little extra spring in it's step. But considering it has well over 200k miles on the engine (odometer was broken and is still pretty sketchy), I've been hesitant to really put it through the paces. The main goal for this van is local surf trips up and down the coast with the family.

About a week ago, got a call from some friends to join them for a quick night away in the mountains. I've been occasionally driving the van to work (about 20+ freeway miles), and I haven't had any issues. So figured this is a good time to see how it handles up in the mountains. After my sons (seemingly never ending) little league game on Saturday, we hit the road.

The spot was about 75 miles away, maybe 20 of which are really steep curvy mountain climbs. Van was great on the freeway, Cruising along at like 60-65. Once we hit the grade, I ended up in 2nd gear for most of it. Luckily the speed limits for the turns are like 30-35 anyways, so I didn't feel that bad holding up traffic, but I utilized pretty much every turnout to let traffic pass.
The age and limited power of the 1.9L taught me how important it is to take deep breaths.

My friends are big 4x4 nerds. The leader promised I'd be fine up the dirt road, even in the van. Worst case, he'd bust out the tow rope for some of the sections. Turned out, there was only one section that I needed a little help. Mostly because the little tires kept slipping in the muddy gutter. But honestly, the van did pretty damn well.

Here's the section I got stuck heading up. Coming down I at least had gravity on my side, but was still a little hair raising. Especially for my 7 year old son sitting shotgun.

Eventually we made it to camp. About 7600' elevation overlooking Big Bear on one side and San Bernardino on the other. The kid and I ended up sleeping on the bottom bunk with the top collapsed to contain some heat, and we were surprisingly pretty warm. It was really windy that night, and maybe 32* so I was happy not to be in a tent.

Some things I learned:

My oil buzzer/light does work! I had never heard it go off before, and the original wire going to the sensor was hanging disconnected when I bought the van. So I figured it was broken. I replaced the sensor, fixed the wire and I still hadn't heard or seen a peep from it. Until like 45 minutes of climbing 4000rpms in 2nd gear, I heard this buzzing and a little flicker of the red light. It happened when I got to town, and I was through with abusing the engine, so it shut off and hasn't turned on since.

I really need to dig into the vents and weather stripping around the dash because the whistling above 50mph is annoying as all hell.

Anyways, the kid and I made it home safely and I'm stoked to take the van out for more this summer.
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1985 Weekender Vanagon 1.9L - Manual

[dobryan]

Awesome report! Welcome to the madness.

But considering this philosophy you've set the bar where it should be when you start out....

[4Gears4Tires]

[Blakesinclair]

RE: Eurovan. Basically yes. I prefer the money pit and heart breaker experience to last longer, and be a little more DIY friendly.
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1985 Weekender Vanagon 1.9L - Manual

[thatbaldwinlife]

Thanks for posting that up. Looks like a fun trip
nate
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1987 Westy
Insta: @Thatbaldwinlife
Vanagon Adventure and DIY videos:
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[SSWesty]

Nice report, looks like you're on the path to making many more great memories.

[Slimvest]

Nice report. I like seeing a stock van going up roads like that.

Van from Canada? Saw the speedo is in km.
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'87 GL w/ Reimo top

[Blakesinclair]

Thanks! I’ll cut a video edit of the journey. Includes the towing help from a friend. They seem pretty confident I would have been fine with better tires. Of course, I wouldn’t mind bigger wheels and a peloquin. But the fact is, the majority of the vans life will be on long concrete roads.

It was registered in Idaho when I got it, but the carfax history says it came from Washington then to Idaho. Now it’s in California. I’ll probably replace the metric odometer, mostly because it’s really wonky. Sometimes
It’ll work for a few hundred km, then it’ll stop for maybe 40, and then work again for like 50. No rhyme or reason so I’m guessing there are some busted teeth in there.
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1985 Weekender Vanagon 1.9L - Manual

[erste]

Nice little adventure!

[4Gears4Tires]

Removing the dash and putting sound deadening and sound insulation on the nose helped a lot too and everywhereinthefreakincab. It's still not quiet but the noise from the back of the van is louder now. I hadn't considered how a new seal would help, I will look into that.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[shadetreemech]

Nice pics, very good narrative.

I'm about 40 minutes away from Running Springs. Nice change in elevation.

Nice job.

Dan
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'84 GL 1.9
'01 Volvo V70 T5
'88 Westy - "MZDRTHY"

[campism]

[Blakesinclair]

Cool I'll keep digging. It was broken at first (speedo cable), then the little numbers rod kept slipping out. I found that nifty 3d printed bracket to keep it in place, which definitely helped. But now it's doing the intermitent thing. So good to know hope is not lost!

And thanks for all the info about the dash noise. The weather stripping in the van is pretty rough, so it's all due for a refresh anyways. Gonna bump all that a little farther up the list.
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1985 Weekender Vanagon 1.9L - Manual

[sanchius]

Nice and my experience is that those roads are always WAY rougher than they appear in the posted photos...
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[Blakesinclair]

I time lapsed the journey up, but the roads were so winding that most of it was kinda nauseating to watch. Also, who needs to see footage of the right lane and a bunch of turnouts.

Anyways, here's a quick clip I made for the 'gram with the little section that made me think "hey maybe I need a Syncro". Sound on for commentary.


Link

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1985 Weekender Vanagon 1.9L - Manual

[joetiger]

Great video and what a beautiful road! That kind of loud moral support is crucial for success on any extraction/tow.
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Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

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[frankflynn]

[dabaron]