Oh no! Another Vanagon TDI swap

[dieseltdi]

Been busy with a lot of little things around the house as well as working on the Coleman Versa trailer I bought. I found a company to make me a new canvas for the thing so I can actually use it like a little camper at times. I finished off the interior by lining it with high density puzzle foam pieces from Harbor Freight. These are the dark grey "antifatigue" mats they sell for the floor. On the inside, I covered these with a tan indoor/outdoor carpet from Home Depot. This is the same stuff I used for the ceiling of the hightop. Now that that is done, I can move on to other things. BTW is was 88 degrees F today with high humidity (a "cool" Texas summer night temp) so I decided to give a proper test to the 12 volt AC unit running on the convertor plugged into 120 volt house current. Now the air temp was 88 at start and fluctuated a bit between 86 and 88 during the 3 hour test run. Van was in full shade for the test, sort of a stand in for night time use which is when I intend to use it while camping. I set it for max fan and max cooling for the test. Final temperature was 66 degrees! That is much colder than I would actually want it to be when I sleep but shows that these 12 volt units can work. I do intend to do the same test in full sun at some point just to see. I need to wait for a typical Texas summer day of over 90 to see what it does. Either way it exceeds my expectations. Enjoy the pics.

_________________
When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus. — Turkish proverb

Those who will willingly sacrifice freedom for security, deserve neither.

Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion with Coast Mt. Hightop - SKYE
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!

[OlisGarage]

Those are some solid results!!
Having some nice cool, dry air to sleep in is ideal. Nothing nicer than being able to cool down and dry out after a hot day working (or camping) in the sun or summer heat. Let alone Texas.

Keep us updated!

Your intercooler setup also looks great. I plan to do something similar! Thanks for always giving updates.
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1981 VW Vangagon TDI (in progress)
1984 VW Rabbit Convertible (daily)
2003 VW Jetta Wagon TDI (recovering from a hit and run)

[1988M5]

[AndyBees]

[1988M5]

I re read my comments and wasn't clear about what I was attempting to ask. By Elephant ear I meant the replacing the optional D pillar intakes that stick out from the body but mounting them backwards or rear facing in hope of creating a vacuum and drawing air upward effectively reversing the flow from top down to an upward flow. In your case the polarity of the DC fan would need to be reversed to spin the other way, push instead of pull.

BK
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1991 tin top GL
2002 Winnebago Vista. VW VR6 24V Eurovan front clip powered class C 21' RV.
Some BMWs.

[dieseltdi]

Just spent the last week or so pulling the dash to work on my Behr AC. It wouldn't drain through the built in drains but instead would leak out some place into back and all over the floor. I discovered a couple of things, both of which were really my fault. 1) because I didn't cut the hole in the "firewall" for the freon pipes to go through in the correct plane, I had inadvertently leaned the AC unit away from level and the drains. I then compounded this by putting some shims under the left side to allow me to get the dash on, because I was actually installing the dash wrong. I installed it from windshield side and tried to force it downward over the AC box. This also cause it to lean even further towards the front of the van and away from the drains. Anyway, I made the hole for the pipes taller, removed the shims and installed the dash from the bottom towards the window (AC unit actually has a recess for the lower part of the dash to fit in). Anyway after the purchase of a new set of ICON AC gauges to replace my broken old set (would show a vacuum when on the vacuum pump but not with it turned off even thought a vacuum was definitely present), I vacuumed down the sytem and installed 33oz of R134a and got 38 degree air out of the center vent. Pressures were right where they should be AND water was actually draining out the drain hose! Big win! That unit has amazed me since I installed it with the Go West parallel flow, high efficiency condenser. I will be receiving my Smalll Car front big brake kit early next week and when it arrives I will begin the entire front end bushing rebuild. Well everything with exception of the sway bar with already has new bushing. Pics as the process continues.
_________________
When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus. — Turkish proverb

Those who will willingly sacrifice freedom for security, deserve neither.

Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion with Coast Mt. Hightop - SKYE
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!

[dieseltdi]

Wife and I are headed to Santa Fe and Taos, NM for some time away. When I get home, I will be attacking the entire front suspension (except for the new swaybar) and installing the Small Car larger front brake setup. Thanks to T3 for having everything in one place for the rebuild. Here is the stuff laid out on the garage floor minus the new hardware. Big job but just one side at a time. I am just absolutely fed up with the squeaking, moaning and groaning (from the van.. ) So dive in I shall. I have decided to not do the rear yet as I am not sure if anyone locally knows how to do the adjustments necessary to align the rear.

_________________
When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus. — Turkish proverb

Those who will willingly sacrifice freedom for security, deserve neither.

Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion with Coast Mt. Hightop - SKYE
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!

[?Waldo?]

Here's a great thread that outlines how to do an alignment at home: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=396113

With relatively simple tools you can do a better job than an alignment shop. I also like knowing that someone didn't forget to properly torque a critical component...

[dieseltdi]

I have read that thread but I don’t have a large flat place to do it. Also just too complicated for my old brain . I need to check with my local firestone. My biggest problem is finding a place that can handle the clearance for the hightop!
_________________
When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus. — Turkish proverb

Those who will willingly sacrifice freedom for security, deserve neither.

Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion with Coast Mt. Hightop - SKYE
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!

[?Waldo?]

That's understandable. A relatively flat place to work is necessary and it took me a bit to get my head around the first time.

[dieseltdi]

Ok after a week off in Santa Fe and surrounds, I got home and finished SOME of the front end work. Actually only the passenger side is finished and that took a week! Why a week? Well let me tell you a story....Got up on a Monday to start the process, removed passenger side wheel and discovered that, despite having a drawer full of Allen wrenches and Allen sockets, I didn't have one large enough to work on the upper control arm. They were either too small or too large. Off to HF. Got back and removed the upper control arm and brought it to my vice to grind off the spot welds and push the old bushings out. I had watched a couple of videos so I first tried to simply knock them out with a hammer. Simple the video said but no such luck wouldn't budge! Struggled for about an hour before I finally threw in the towel and after resting up a bit, rented the ball joint removal tool with all the different size cups to press out the old ones. Struggled a bit more but finally go the old ones out and fitted the new ones. END day one, Back can only do so much. Next day started by unbolting the lower control arm, pressing out the bushing with the GW tool and installing the new ones. Replaced the radius rod bushings. Things were going great. As I began work on removing the shock absorber, I began to feel a strange pain in my lower right back so I decided to quit for the day. With in an hour, I was in extreme pain like I have never felt before. Shaking, sweating and just horrible. Can you say KIDNEY STONE! I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Two days off to get over the pain and soreness and see the doctor. Finally tried to get back on in on Friday and got the new XTRA heavy duty shock and all new bushings and bump stop installed. Saturday started the Small Car front brake installation. What do you mean I don't have an 9/16" drill bit! Well off to Home Depot for that. By the time my back was complaining again so....Sunday road trip to Houston, Monday finished the installation. Today I just finished some torquing of bolts and did a preliminary bleed of the system. Tomorrow the whole process begins again on the driver's side but with all the right tools in place AND hopefully NO kidney stone!!!!!

_________________
When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus. — Turkish proverb

Those who will willingly sacrifice freedom for security, deserve neither.

Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion with Coast Mt. Hightop - SKYE
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!

[dieseltdi]

forgot to post this up earlier but I finished the complete rebuild of the front end and installation of the Small Car front brakes. I have an appointment tomorrow to get it aligned. I haven't driven much just a bit to start the brake bed in but it is so nice to not have ANY squeaks, knocks or other noises from the front end! So that is a major problem solved. I do have one gripe. Both tie rod end boots and the boots on my 2 year old ball joints are completely perished. I have found some replacements for the tire rod end but the ball joints are just too complicated (can we say too hard) to do at this time. I do live in an area with high ozone levels during 9 months of the year or so, so maybe that is the cause. Or maybe it is just cheap imitation rubber. Oh well. Wife and I intend to take it on a camping trip to a local state park in a couple of weeks so it will have a great shake down. With that said, unless something changes or breaks, this may be the last post on this conversion. That is unless I do that methanol injection thing.........
_________________
When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus. — Turkish proverb

Those who will willingly sacrifice freedom for security, deserve neither.

Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion with Coast Mt. Hightop - SKYE
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!