Marzivan- 1995 EVC journal

[mikemtnbike]

I decided to start a thread dedicated to my van. I like Saturn's posts a lot and have been dropping my stuff in other threads, so making something dedicated. I also really enjoy looking back sometimes and this will make it easier.

For example, I love having this thread from my vanagon years:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=720006&highlight=

I got Marzivan because of this unfortunate event:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=

First day:

Pretty soon after I got the van home, I realized I had missed something major when looking at it- subfloor rot in the camping equipment. This led to total removal of the interior, floor replacement. I also cleaned the crap out of everything, did some sound deadening, updated the electrical a little bit, replaced all the water lines, and just got a great understanding of how the interior is put together. I didn't regret doing this work when I was done- ton of photos here:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=765908&highlight=

Finished product- wall to wall on the vinyl:

Before I got the van, I had the CV's, tires, and ball joints replaced as terms of sale- the old ones were obviously shot. The PO had replaced the fuel pump and distributor/ spark plugs/ wire in the past year. I knew I needed to do a lot of deferred maintenance and wanted to get it done before road trip season. The following followed:

- Brake overhaul.
- New shocks- bilsteins.
- Replace radiator, thermostart, some suspect hoses.
- GoWesty AT cooler install/ AT service. I replaced the ribbon cable because the speed sensor was leaking later, after fussing with the dipstick tube and it's o-ring way too much thinking that was the leak source. Also noting here that re-setting the transmission helped a lot.
- Serptentine belt, timing belt, water pump, engine mounts, transmission mounts. I paid Asheville VeeDub for this job group.

The van felt road safe now and it was spring, time for some camping!

First trip, Cove Creek group campground, it was amazing, lucked into it being available, bunch of friends there too.

Paint creek Campground near Hot Springs, NC. This is one of our favorite spots, the pictures I took were for my dogs- we lost the little white one Thanksgiving weekend, 2022 the greatest dog ever, 17 years of amazing.

There were some other short trips and one weeklong trip into Virginia, but I haven't uploaded any photos from those, maybe I will later. Had one incident of stalling in Virginia, cooled off and hasn't happened again. I decided it might have been the coil (resistance was above spec, barely) and replaced it, so maybe?

Sometime after this, I replaced the catalytic converter that was rattling and I knew was clogged some- turns out it was clogged A LOT and this really improved the van's performance!

Paint Creek again, with some close friends we camp with a lot.

Edisto Island.

Random dog shot after a hike.

My favorite picture with Marzivan so far.

That's it for now, instead of using the "adventures" thread I'm going to use this one. There's a lot of other stuff I've done (remove dash/heater core and flaps, fridge removal/building a cabinet for my 12 volt cooler, increasing storage, truck bed liner bumpers and rockers, and more) and I still have more plans, so I'll add photos and words as I feel like it.

Inspiration for name:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtLyT6Bw0Z4&t=75s
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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

[Saturn]

Nicely done with redoing the floor on your EVC. Looking forward to seeing what other adventures you and your van get up to in the future as well as the work and maintenance to keep it on the road.

[Scottn59c]

Very cool!

I've got a long way to go before I get my own van into similar shape, but it's nice to see someone really enjoying theirs and using it the way it was intended to be enjoyed.
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Farfignewton!

[mikemtnbike]

I've been knocking out a list of things I wanted to improve on before this year's camping commences.

One of the things that bugged me about the EVC was the rear 1/3 of the bed. Maybe it was just age, but the abs supports around the battery and furnance did not feel strong- they bowed and creaked.

I built a 1x2 stud wall in each. The first photo shows the aft end of the battery compartment, there's one at the front too. It also gave me a good mounting point for the accessory fuse box I added, so happy with that.

The second photo is on the vent side of the furnace surround.

Really happy with this project. You can sit on either side, or the middle insert, and it feels solid, like a bench. No creaking when laying down on it, rolling over.

I put wool behind the panel on the passenger side, rear and behind rear closet too. Going to do slider door, behind rest of galley today. No photos of this, nothing unique to show, but definitely seems to be helping with creaks and rattles ( my main goal with the insulation).

Other spring improvements:

1) Added cleats to the rear closet to attach the back panel too- much more secure.
2) Swapped out the rear 12v outlet to USB.


Still to do:
Remove front door panels, figure out why power door locks don't work (it's not the wiring in the hinge gap or a fuse), fix, insulate.
Mount a small mirror to outside of medicine cabinet.
Build a storage organizer for extra space in battery cabinet.

I think that's it. Van running AWESOME. Unfortunately, I've discovered it likes premium gas- better mileage, little bit more power.
_________________
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

[mikemtnbike]

Just posting a simple thing that made me happy.

My rear hatch has never latched. It closed and stayed closed, but would not latch or lock.

I had done all sorts of things to try and fix it- taken the panel off, messed with the connections, moved the latch around to see if would connect better. No success, everything seemed to be hooked up the way it should be...

And then last night, I just sprayed a bunch of lube in the mechanism and hit it with a hammer several times. BANG. Works great. Something was frozen. I'll monitor and repeat as needed.
_________________
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

[mikemtnbike]

First long weekend trip of the year! Petersburg Campground near Augusta GA. Simple and one of my favorite places, lots of trails and disc golf nearby.

Loaded!

Obligatory.

Campsite opens on to this rock lake access, paddle board launch site and official dog play zone.

_________________
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

[mikemtnbike]

2023 Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race. 200 racers, been volunteering or racing this for 20 years, one of my best friends is the promoter. I rode my bike to a point where the racers had to ride miles of incredible trail (Brevard, Black Mountain Trail to Buckhorn Gap/top of Clawhammer if any readers know the Pisgah) to me to get a passport that told them what 5 points they had to semi-orienteer (legal trail only) to that day. Super fun times with a great party after.

I somehow rock starred my way into the best possible camping spot. Pictures don't do it justice. There's a staging area with music, beer, and people 100 feet away, but totally private. There had been a bunch of construction around the parking and this was a new area.

Great times!
_________________
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

[Stripped66]

Nice, Mike!
I set up two checkpoints for Eric on Friday!
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[mikemtnbike]

[Stripped66]

[shirk]

[mikemtnbike]

2023 paint creek. Photo is packed up and ready to go home because I didn’t look at my phone all weekend. Some hiking, amazing biking, great private creek access with a nice small swimming hole. Two of our best friends with us, no rain. Marzi ran just like a van is supposed to.

_________________
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

[mikemtnbike]

2023 Lower Cove Creek Group Campground, Pisgah Forest, NC, 3 nights. Couldn't have had a better time. Crazy number of people using a swimming hole nearby was only negative. 5 couples and some teenagers, all great friends. When you're in the middle of the woods with a clear night sky and no internet, Starlink passing overhead is freaking freaky.

Double rainbow...you can barely make out the second.

_________________
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

[mikemtnbike]

Spent last weekend at Camp Grier in Old Fort NC for the Pisgah Enduro.

https://www.pisgahproductions.com/events/pisgah-enduro/

I'm a volunteer/staff these days, not a racer, but still got in a couple great rides and fun camping with my wife and many friends. Strongly recommend this event/venue. Old Fort/ G5 trail collective is building something really cool in their community, miles and miles of new trails going in every year.

We got a new dog at beginning of June, he's been camping at least 4 weekends and is just the best at it. 22 weeks old and 33 pounds, going to be a little bigger than we thought, but we won the puppy lottery otherwise.

_________________
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

[mikemtnbike]

Sacrilege.

Lovely paddle on the French Broad after work with some friends, glad to have a shuttle vehicle that can move 4 people 4 boats no problem!
_________________
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

[mikemtnbike]

Edisto Beach 2023. Beach is the other side of those trees. Beautiful beach with surprisingly fun biking options inland. Campsite was private but deciduous trees vs palms at other sites meant loose dirt surface rather than compacted sand at others- won’t get this campsite again.

Mojo’s first beach trip!

Wife drove the 5.5 hours home no problems. She wouldn’t have felt good doing this in the vanagon.
_________________
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

[mikemtnbike]

2nd trip of the year, first was two weeks ago to a favorite local place, it was a great weekend too took our year old dog for first mountain bike rides and slept amazing.

The official kick off is our annual spring trip with friends Petersburg Campgrojmd near Augusta, another of our favorite places to camp- beautiful lake front sites and endless mountain biking options.

Anyway, party at our site first night!

View behind me of campsite with the sunset in front of me.

Packed up and ready to roll home. Van ran the best.

_________________
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