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Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export!
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jhax
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 10, 2021 5:03 pm    Post subject: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Greetings Fellow VW Nerds,

My partner and I just got married and have planned to spend a month traveling Europe for our honeymoon. At first we had planned on using the excellent public transportation to get around. I am a huge VW enthusiast and have built and owned VW TDIs for years. She has, in the past told me that I am not allowed to own another VW (currently own 2, and owned 3 for a short time) unless it was a VW Camper Van.

I put two and two together and floated the idea of buying a T3 while in Europe and driving it as opposed to using public transit and she liked the idea. Fast forward to now, I have found a wonderful gentleman who is selling us his T3 that has been in his family since new in 1987. His grandfather bought it new, passed it to his son, and then it was passed to this gentleman and his brother who have no desire to maintain it. I told him our story and he has decided to sell it to us, as well as help us get it plated and insured for international travel.

We will spend a few days in Portugal, fly to Basel, train to southwest Germany and pick up the van. I plan on using this thread as a log of our adventures. But first the last hurdle, we are taking our first COVID tests tomorrow and will hopefully get a negative result in order to be permitted to enter Portugal. SO fingers crossed, this will be a grand adventure.

Please feel free to suggest, comment, read and enjoy this thread. I will be very happy if I could meet some of you international folks on our adventure.

Cheers,
Justin
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jhax
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 11, 2021 9:22 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

So one of the first things I want to do is aquire some LT truck mirrors. Me being the diy penny pincher I am, I would normally go to a auto breaker. Does anyone know of any breaker yards or auto salvage yards in the Freiburg area of Germany?

Cheers,
Justin
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jhax
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:39 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Woohoo! After 16 hours of being on 3 aircraft, they let us into Portugal! Seems like a wonderful place this far. Just finished my first galau and now, on to the wine!
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jhax
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 11:46 pm    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

We made it! The owner picked us up from our hotel in Saint Louis, France and drove us to his place. The first drive was a success and beer consumption ensued. We are going to fill out the paperwork to transfer ownership and change plates today.

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joetiger Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:49 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Congratulations!

You should post over in the Vanagon forum. And more pics of your T3!

Cheers,
Joe
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jhax
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2021 9:19 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Thank you!

Well, we got as far as Füssen Germany, I accidentally ran him out of fuel. We attempted to get it back alive by changing the fuel filter. But I managed only to get about 200m until the issue started again. The motor runs well if you hold a bottle of fuel above the injection pump, otherwise it idles rough, dies and when it dies a lot of little air bubbles flow back out out of the IP toward the fuel filter. I asked the mechanic to install a small 5gpm online fuel pump. I can think of worse places to be stuck. I'll post a link in the Vanagon forums to this thread.

Trying to find the second VIN plate for validation of existance. They placed the fresh water tank right where the VIN plate is located on the frame.
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First night sleeping in Otto
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Füssen Germany, the place with the castle Disney based all of his castles on. I can think of worse places to be stuck.
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campism
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2021 3:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

I rode my bicycle right up to the front gate of that castle in '74.
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jhax
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2021 11:08 pm    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

campism wrote:
I rode my bicycle right up to the front gate of that castle in '74.


Ha! Well we are going to ride rented bicycles to the parking lot then walk up to that gate today!
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dobryan
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:53 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Awesome!

I would love to follow your travel (travails?) in the Vanagon forum.

Perhaps you can ask a moderator to move this topic there if you wish.
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jhax
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 24, 2021 10:39 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Thank you, well, looks like we are still stuck here. We made it about a mile and it died again after they drained the tank. So now we are sleeping across the street. Needless to say I am pissed off and tired. The rust off n this tank is too bad. The mechanic has a used tank that has a crack in the top that I will be replacing usimg their equipment. Word to the wise, listen to the folks you buy 30 year old vehicles from. I am kicking my self so hard. Hopefully I can get this tank swapped tomorrow. I will likely buy a new tank from VW classic parts and maybe pick it up there if that is a thing.

The Ehefrau is pissed and sad, so I will do my best, I have reached my limit.


We toured the castle today. Great tour, weird history. Ludvig was a loner and it was build in the 1800s because FOMO.

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Our sleeping quarters, the used car lot across from the garage. I have to admit, these guys have been very amenable. He really does feel our pain.

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jhax
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 12:48 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

We made it to Salzburg! I installed a less rusty, albeit leaky fuel tank. I'd rather not have to not fill the tank and go places than not go places. We slept in the van last night and toured the fortress this morning. There are way too many church bells for my liking.

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Steve M.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 3:25 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Even with the breakdowns you are still having a great trip!

Here is a source for a fuel tank, 160€.

https://www.vwbusshop.de/epages/GuenzlClassicParts...51201075AH

Double check specifics of your tank as they show 3 different tanks based on year, diesel vs. petrol and 68 vs. 48 mm hole.

Recommend you also get new new fuel vent valves and grommets etc., etc. so you are only dropping the tank once!
They are fast with their shipping and are located near Frankfurt.

They also have the LT mirrors at 129€ per side which is how prices are now...find your salvage yard!

Another source for a fuel tank at 140€.
https://www.vwbulliparts.de/en/vw-t3-tank-for-the-2wd.html
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 5:54 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

How about more photos of the Van?
Also is it gas or diesel?
If gas, fuel injection or carbs?
4/5/or automatic?

Fuel tanks are readily available. Just a pain to install. Get the new rubber bits for the fill pipe, the saddle vents and the roll over valves. It would be wise to get a new saddle cross over pipe too for the plastic ends often break off.

Rust is probably clogging your pickup screen and/or the inlet of the fuel pump.

If gasoline powered, install new fuel lines before the engine fire happens.

Dave
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jhax
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2021 2:38 pm    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

My apologies for the cryptic mature of my posts, travelling hinders internet connection. The low down...

1987 VW T3 Caravelle sent to the Teca Camper company at some point where the roof was chopped and a big hunk of plastic was slapped on and their kitchen/bed/storage package was added on. JX engine with a 5 speed transmission (lucky me). It was purchased new in 87 and the guy passed it to his son who passed it to his son and brother. They listed it for more than we could afford but after telling him our situation (VW enthusiast honeymoon) he was willing to sell it to us at a discount, since he knew it would go to a good home.
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Currently in Trieste, Italy. Going back to Slovenia tomorrow to check out the castle and cave situation, then on to Croatia.
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jhax
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2021 2:45 pm    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

As for the mirrors I suspect I will end up going with the Defender mirrors as the piece to affix them to the doors is easy to weld and they are cheap and effective mirrors, thank you all for the quick advice. I wish there was a company who made the fuel tank out of plastic. That would save us a lot of trouble moving forward.
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2021 2:49 pm    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Resorting to google ......... So it is a 1.6 Turbo Diesel.

Dave
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jhax
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2021 10:41 pm    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

That is correct. We bought it with 187k Km on the clock and so far have put another 1000 Km on it. After thinking about it I would really like to get a set of truck mirrors, and if they are readily available from junk yards, that would be my best bet. However, I am not sure about how parts yards work in Germany, nor what they are called. They don't seem to have websites where they list what vehicles they have or what parts are available. Would anybody happen to have more information? Ideally I would like to just be able to stop by one, pick up some already removed truck mirrors and leave. I don't know how to speak German so that doesn't help me either.

Thank you,
Justin
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 28, 2021 7:32 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Can you still reach the crack on top of the fuel tank? If you can find some jb weld putty and stuff it there, at the very least it'll cut down on the diesel smell when your are sitting/camping/sleeping. If you clean it well enough to get a good adhesion it could be a fairly permanent repair.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 28, 2021 9:09 am    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Thanks for the advice, I was thinking the same thing but it's just not worth it at this point. Just made it into Rovinj Croatia were we will now indulge in seafood!

Photos to come!
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 28, 2021 12:05 pm    Post subject: Re: Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export! Reply with quote

Enjoying this thread!.

jhax wrote:
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It looks like you just crawled out from under a van or something.
---->Happily. Wink

Regarding leaking fuel.
In Europe you can pay big fines for leaking fuel on the ground.
If you park it on a slant/hill etc and it leaks fuel while you're away, and someone reports it....
I'd do the epoxy repair ASAP.
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