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broncoisl Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2018 Posts: 24 Location: Iceland
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Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:29 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Finished rebuilding my 36 year old 2 piston Girling brake calipers
Before:
After evaporust and light wirebrushing, ready to paint:
Painted with high temp paint:
One hour on the grill at 160 C if you want them well done:
Lightly cleaned up the pistons with 1200 grit paper:
Ready with new seals:
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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3582 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 2:45 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Removed 2nd gear band piston cover to install new seals on the piston.
Reinstalled Valve body once that was done. It went really smooth and the larger seal was both flat and fairly hard. New seals definitely softer and have the flare outward. _________________ '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 |
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B.O.B.Wanders Samba Member
Joined: July 22, 2014 Posts: 351 Location: Atlanta, GA USA
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Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:47 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Earlier this week I replaced my left rear CV joint with my used but good spare. Old CV was beat to hell. It had been making noise on right-hand turns for a while. No surprises or issues and nothing picture worthy - too hard with all that grease anyway.
Today, as my first project for the new year, I installed GoWesty's 1.9 to 2.1 conversion exhaust hanger brackets and rehung the exhaust. Much nicer!
It all started back in May 2015 on our first big road trio (ATL to LA). As you can see the exhaust is a complete disaster. I had installed the GW SS exhaust and unsuccessfully tried to rig something with what was left of the old 1.9L hangers. It failed on us somewhere in Alabama on the outbound leg. I think this was the morning I used the 3rd coat hanger to keep the mess together. As bad as it looks it was still more or less working at this point. (Outside Nelda's Diner in Lake Isabella, CA)
When we got back I rigged a much more reasonable hanger system from a few bits from Home Depot and the 2.1 style cradles. This system has [surprisingly] been working fine since then, but was never intended to be a final solution. I had one strap around the muffler and one around the Cat.
A couple of months ago I saw that GW was now selling an actual, no-kidding conversion bracket for the 1.9L and decided to go for it. Installation was straight forward and the instructions were pretty clear. The brackets fit perfectly. I goofed and cut more of the heat shield than needed, but no worries. (A template would be nice, GW).
Rock solid! Test drive went well. Happy New Year! _________________ 83.5 WBX 2WD Assuan Brown Westy, B.O.B.
"It feels good to be lost in the right direction” - unknown |
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bobbyblack Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015 Posts: 4353 Location: United States, Iowa
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Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:33 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Was inspired to take another look at the tow bar pin points on Flossie as there was such a good discussion in the last couple of days. I got it all spiffed up, and put some theSamba stickers on the shin guards.. Pix later.
But, while under the front, looking up at the radiator brace, I saw a bit of coolant drip. Maybe one drip a minute, and I believe that was under pressure from running it a bit. I'll have to assess it with a drip pan while it sits cold for a few days, I guess. Not pleased. Looks to be above the hose attachment point, but will require removal sometime in the near future to tell for sure. No known information on when of if it has been replaced in the past.
While out turning Floss around to nose into the garage though, I was inspired to check how much the slave cylinder had been leaking, and yes, again it had resumed dripping for whatever reason so the res was low. So, after poking around up front for a while, I turned her around again, and got back to work in the rear.
Foremost on my mind of course was the clutch slave. I had a thought tho... If I really wanted to do the job right, I would see about getting a lot of new brake fluid run through the whole system. So, I filled it overfull up front, and proceeded to let the longest brake line bleeder drip while I ferreted the old clutch cylinder out. Sure enough, that brake fluid draining out a clear tube had a tan color for a while. Back to the front, filled to top again and proceeded with the clutch slave. Not my favorite job, but I've been through a remove/install before, just takes patience, and some well picked tools. I didn't loose much fluid going from one slave to the other, but back to the fill up front again and drain/bleed the slave on install.
Then proceeded with the other 3 corners until all ran nice and clear, and finally a top-off in the reservoir, and done.
Then it was time to clean up all the tools, and sort them back into the proper boxes, and stash appropriately.
Can't wait to get the kitty filled up enough to buy the radiator and coolant lines kit(s). That will be a weekend on it's own, if not more.
-bobby _________________ '87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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covelo Samba Member
Joined: February 20, 2005 Posts: 825 Location: Fairfax, CA
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Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 4:31 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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I finally replaced my brake pads, which was long overdue. I had been experiencing some grinding and the new pads took care of it. Otherwise the 40-year old Girling calipers and the disks seemed to be in good shape.
_________________ '80 Vanagon Westfalia
'72 Bay Window Westfalia (with 2L AVP engine and dual solex carbs) -- sold in 2009 |
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singletrackrod Samba Member
Joined: January 14, 2011 Posts: 77 Location: Southern Oregon Coast
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 12:18 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Installed aux back-up/security lights under the back bumper. I have these switched at the dash for use as needed. They are WAY brighter than they appear in the daytime photo. Source: oznium.com.
One note, the taillights shown are also LED powered and lots brighter than stock. _________________ Ella '89 Full Camper - bit by bit I'm importing the pieces from my wrecked '87
Louise '87 Full Camper - bought her new - zero hours 2.5L subie conversion. She had more add-ons and mods than I could ever count. (lost in an accident 10/25/2020)
'08 Stage 2 STI (sold)
'04 Forester XT
'00 4Runner Limited (sold)
Last edited by singletrackrod on Fri Jan 10, 2020 1:53 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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yellowjacket Samba Member
Joined: January 14, 2007 Posts: 141 Location: NCWA
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 4:54 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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I've been looking for something like those lights. Are they the warm white or cool white lights? Adhesive mounting? _________________ 86 Syncro Westy - Bostig RG11
71 Squareback |
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noslencb Samba Member
Joined: December 03, 2013 Posts: 45 Location: south east Idaho
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 5:29 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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I drove it, after replacing the crank pulley seal, oil pump cover gasket, changing the oil and filter, replacing the plastic coolant tower with a stainless steel one, and purging the cooling system. No leaks! yippee!!!!! |
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singletrackrod Samba Member
Joined: January 14, 2011 Posts: 77 Location: Southern Oregon Coast
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Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 5:40 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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yellowjacket wrote: |
I've been looking for something like those lights. Are they the warm white or cool white lights? Adhesive mounting? |
They are available in either temp, and do have a double-faced tape backing. _________________ Ella '89 Full Camper - bit by bit I'm importing the pieces from my wrecked '87
Louise '87 Full Camper - bought her new - zero hours 2.5L subie conversion. She had more add-ons and mods than I could ever count. (lost in an accident 10/25/2020)
'08 Stage 2 STI (sold)
'04 Forester XT
'00 4Runner Limited (sold) |
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cellerdoor Samba Member
Joined: July 10, 2012 Posts: 403 Location: Fairfax Virginia
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 6:25 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Had some spare time so I decided to do the maintenance on the sliding door by changing the bearings, soundproofing the interior, replacing the bumpers, sanding and painting the rails, and lubricating the locks.
All when smooth until I tightened the nut on the main center roller a bit to much and sheared off the threads. Actually the new nut I bought was miss threaded and caused it to shear but I should have been more careful.
Had to buy a whole new hinge and GW was sold out. Ended up buying it from another vendor (new German made) and received and installed it, but the hinge is manufactured incorrectly and has the rear of the door about 3/4 of an inch higher and the door wont close. It may be german made but its not OEM.
So what turned out being a simple maintenance item is now turning up to be a wait for an OEM hinge or JB welding the nut onto the original hinge for at least the short term. _________________ 1986 Westy |
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LemonCove Samba Member
Joined: July 29, 2010 Posts: 324 Location: Henderson, NV
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 3:31 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Determined the cause of lack of power on my Bostig Westy . . . .
Vermin had a nice cozy spot in my filter box. Part of life on the farm.
Vacuumed out, blown out with compressed air, new filter. _________________ '88 Bostig Westy |
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vanis13 Samba Member
Joined: August 15, 2010 Posts: 3100 Location: ABQ NM USA.... Except when not
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 3:42 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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thank goodness for the metal mesh of the filter. never thought of that as a benefit/differentiation on air filter purchases. _________________ 83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace
www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make |
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campism Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2007 Posts: 4492 Location: Richmond VA
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 4:19 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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More troubleshooting on my no start/stumble issue. New BP6ET NGKs with some antiseize on the threads ready to go in, and a compression test completed and in spec. I'll get to the grounds next.
The van had been parked right next to a knee wall out of the way and, once I found out it would not start for a move to the garage, access for troubleshooting became problematic. Since the plugs were out anyway I decided to test the old "crank it in gear" theory and was able to move it forward a few feet on the starter, then turn the wheels and back it up to a spot with more favorable access so now I can slide in from the driver's side if I need to. Pushing it would have been a hassle on that gravel. _________________ '87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic |
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bobbyblack Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015 Posts: 4353 Location: United States, Iowa
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 6:54 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Today was a lot of time in my cluttered and admittedly junk filled shop.
First, I was wanting to finally get done with a few pesky little kits I've accumulated. One was a 10C Flapper I had been avoiding on the awesome cabin air recirc/ fresh air kit. I had been totally fine with the air box sucking air up from the rear cabin area for a handful of months. Well, I decided today that I would clean up a bit in my shop, and found the flapper in the original box, taunting me.. I had to decide on recycling the box and Karma'ing the flapper or completing that part of the job. Turned out to be a fun exercise in making use of tools bought specifically for that project so long ago. Those hole saws are $'s, and everything went well. I didn't break any of the old plastic bits, etc. and at least spent some quality time with my VW.
Next on the list was to test the spare ECU from an '86 that's been hanging around, I don't have many pictures of it on my gallery, but it has offered up a few key pieces from time to time, and today was 'test that old ECU' day. Functions well, as far as I can tell. No hiccups, engine starts and runs fine, so I believe I have a good 'Spare'. Funny thing tho, and what was really driving me to tinker: What had the PO done in the ECU department? I knew from lots of other indications that he had many surprises for me, and today was one of those days I got to find out a bit more of his work: He had replaced the 1987 ECU at some point with a 1990 "D" version. GOLD NUGGET!!! Oy Vey, now I need to find out how the chip mod works.. I didn't open the case yet to see if he had beat me to a chip mod, but I am not going to be surprised if he has. The engine he left me has always seemed strong, so I will not be a bit surprised to see evidence of his work inside the ECU case.
Anyway, I will have to dig a bit to see what the "D" ECU guts look like stock, and with an added mod chip. Go figure, fun day!!!
Cheers!!
-bobby _________________ '87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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4Gears4Tires Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2018 Posts: 3054 Location: MD
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Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 5:36 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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I already knew the rotors were frozen to the hubs, so I ordered a pair of wheel bearings, rotors, and pads. The passenger side took me maybe 5 minutes of hammering the crap out of it for it to release. The passenger side had a bad bearing to begin with, so I replaced that and put the strut back on the Syncro.
Then came the drivers side... ffs. I think I spent an hour. I beat it so badly the wheel bearing, which was good initially, could barely rotate. And it was very difficult to remove. I think I took enough pictures to write up a tutorial on the front wheel bearing replacement, but I am sure there is a guide for it already. If not, and if there is any interest, let me know and I'll write it up.
Check out this carnage. The rotor face gave up and split off at some point. Eventually I cut the slit in there and hammered a chisel into it and that finally got it to come loose. In the future, since I knew they were already frozen before I started, I think it would have been helpful to spray PB blaster into all the wheel stud holes for several days before starting.
_________________ '87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition |
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bobbyblack Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015 Posts: 4353 Location: United States, Iowa
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Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 8:00 am Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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It looks like a good day for a noon hour nap... Last night was not very restful, and I really wanted to put the 'spare' ECU to more of a test than just a quick start and shutdown in the garage. So, I fired Flossie up and headed up out of the valley on the gravel at 5 mph (about 1.5 miles). Got a Sunrise shot at the top of the hill as the sun came up. Then, with the engine running at somewhat warmed up (probe in engine compartment sitting over the #3 cylinder) read 91F, I opened it up from the stop sign to my marker line (about 1/4 mile) and everything behaved as close to the same as I could tell. No issues came up on the 6 mile drive.
-bobby _________________ '87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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campism Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2007 Posts: 4492 Location: Richmond VA
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:28 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Took advantage of a warm dry day to do some more on my no-start issue. I'd already done the compression check when changing plugs, so replaced the coil, distributor cap and rotor and have new wires to go on. Cleaned up the ground running from below the A/C compressor to the side wall near the coil.
Man, I hate working in that engine compartment. You guys might love it but I find stuff to be badly placed and damned near impossible to work with much of the time. I must have wasted an hour or more trying to do stuff that was simply impossible to get to; one-handed access for jobs that require two. I'll probably replace some fuel lines and clean some more grounds tomorrow. Gotta make the most of the nice weather. _________________ '87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic |
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4Gears4Tires Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2018 Posts: 3054 Location: MD
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 5:18 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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You're not the only one. Making it worse is the incredibly poor layout of the engine harness, fuel lines, and coolant lines. I honestly don't think they thought about it at all. Hans just drew a diagram and Frans pulled a wire across the engine bay. Would it have hurt them to route things with covers and channels? _________________ '87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition |
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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3582 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 10:14 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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4Gears4Tires wrote: |
You're not the only one. Making it worse is the incredibly poor layout of the engine harness, fuel lines, and coolant lines. I honestly don't think they thought about it at all. Hans just drew a diagram and Frans pulled a wire across the engine bay. Would it have hurt them to route things with covers and channels? |
HAH, try a modern European vehicle....
Okay, a bit of a mess with everything on top of each other, but Soooo much simpler than a modern engine bay.
I stop by a friends shop every now and then, Horrendous amount of labor to get to items on a new Audi in the Engine Compartment .
Hans and Frans got their revenge on your comments... _________________ '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 |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7479 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 11:13 pm Post subject: Re: What did YOU do to your van today? |
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Iowa (and IL, WI, MN, etc.) has some of the best sunrises and sunsets on the planet. Thanks for the trip back home. _________________ - Jim
Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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