What did YOU do to your van today?

[leecat]

Yeah the seats are in great shape for sure! Like TominAlaska, above, I'm working on installing all the new interior seat foam today too.

AND finally got my Apollo 10' awning installed. I drilled out the aluminum brackets and upsized the bolts - pretty tiny bolts on the brackets from factory and that's not a light awning. Then had a hell of a time clearing the drip rail with the bolt threads - I see why they went with undersize bolts in the first place.

AND got the new bumper ends on - bleed the cooling system, install the solar panel/interior headliner, and put the spare tire clamshell back in and I think I'm ready for camping season!

[Jamo7]

This is a very specific solution to a problem that maybe none of you have, but this problem has been bugging me for a very long time now.
I have a GoWesty water hookup box, and the Melnor hose attachment to connect to the hookup box nozzle. It all works fine with the garden hose to fill up the water tank from the side of the van as the hose's high water pressure depresses the hookup box's internal spring ball seal.
My issue was that I modfied a soft-sided bucket to have a hose at the bottom so that I could fill the water tank from the side of the van at campgrounds as the top of the water tank is always buried under all of our stuff once we are out camping. I had seen and read about this kind of set-up on a fancy van years ago. However, since the bucket only holds a few gallons, the water pressure from the bucket was never enough to depress the hookup box's spring ball seal.
After a few iterations I came up with the simple idea of drilling through the middle of the Melnor hose attachment to accept a #6-32 screw about an inch and a half long. I then threaded the screw up through the hose attachment with a nut to hold the screw in place on the inside of the hose attachment. Now as the hose attachment seats on the hookup box nozzle, the screw on the inside depresses the ball seal, and water from the bucket should be able to fill up the water tank from the side of the van.
I'll check it tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
James
_________________
'84 Westy 2.1 wbx

[leecat]

Finally got onto shortening one of those ubiquitous rear cargo carriers - I wanted it narrow enough to see the tail-lights on each side, as we don't carry a lot of cargo anyway. Easy as pie to reduce the width and super pleased with it.

I do things like this to avoid doing the actual important stuff.

[175grams]

Finally got around to cleaning up the front edge of my headliner. Well, kind of, more covering up with a DIY piece of trim.

[BCE56]

Received my Syncro today: rebuilt transaxle & shift linkage, clutch assy and related items.
Also, some wiring gremlins and a particularly obscure harness fault overlooked by P.O.

Work performed at Vanagon City by Adrian Caro, the "Harness Whisperer."
Located in Torrance, CA, he offers Subaru conversions and harness mods, solar installations and other services as well.
A good resource in So Cal.
Contact:
adriancaro59 (at) yahoo dot com
_________________
=BCE56=

'86 Syncro tintop
EJ22, OBD II early SC adapter plate conversion

Side project: '69 Frankenbug "It's alive!"

[jlrftype7]

[jlrftype7]

[BCE56]

[jlrftype7]

[fxr]

Added a greywater tank a few weeks ago, and added a solenoid valve last week - tested on a trip to Oregon, worked a treat. Next will be adding a timer relay that'll operate from a momentary switch, and switch on the solenoid for 10 minutes - long enough to drain the tank while on the move.

_________________
Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300

[12Paths]

Fancy suspension

[bobbyblack]

Replaced broken speedo cable.. So, I guess personally I've added 9 tanks of fuel while driving without the odometer rolling. BTW, my fault, the previous speedo cable replacement was poorly routed, and began to rub til it fractured.
_________________
'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[Cobra88]

Took my Bus for it's annual inspection (MOT)

_________________
84 (85) model year Caravelle GL 1.9 DG Auto WBX Bronze Beige Metallic w Steel Sunroof

[weekendr]

I think I found a simpler, cheaper way to mount my Stow and Go seats.

I have a swivel on the passenger seat, removed my drivers seat swivel to lower the seat and access the area underneath.

1. For the passenger side I used parts from the base of the donor seat to extend the donor slider rails forward, attached crossbars using existing bolts, and bolted those to the top of the swivel base, lining up the bolts with recessed areas for clearance. I mounted the swivel top backwards for easy access to the battery without turning seat. Installed swivel mechanism and bolted at corners, plenty of room to access bolts with seat partially swivelled. Easy peasy.

2. For the drivers side I didn't need to extend the donor sliders. I bolted on longer crossbars and attached upper slider rails (with hinges ground off) from my factory seat. I adjust the seat with the stow and go slider mechanism and use the factory sliders to remove the seat for access to the stuff underneath. I drilled holes in the factory sliders at the front for easy access to 1/4" pins which lock the factory sliders securely. Sits as low as you can go, folds flat easily,
and adjusts all the way back to the jump seat for leg stretching on long drives.

_________________
Early 1986 Wolfsburg Westy Weekender 2WD GL manual with KEP EJ22

[weekendr]

New Gowesty zero lift springs and Bilstein HD shocks all around. One 6mm front spacer to level. 215/70/16 Michelins.

_________________
Early 1986 Wolfsburg Westy Weekender 2WD GL manual with KEP EJ22

[BCE56]

Last week-
Washed the Van (first time in months...) Applied tire dressing.
Friday-
Filled fuel tank w/ mid-grade. $114.00. Ouch. 14.2 MPG
Ordered diff lock vacuum hoses and seat track slider bushings from Buslab.
Yesterday-
Changed oil & filter.
Tested model airplane cement on recently acquired A/C condenser housing. Seems to work better than other products I have tried.
Previously ordered expansion valve and receiver/dryer should be here soon. Will tackle inop A/C next.
Today-
Drove down to the beach. Lookin' good if I do say so!
_________________
=BCE56=

'86 Syncro tintop
EJ22, OBD II early SC adapter plate conversion

Side project: '69 Frankenbug "It's alive!"

[leecat]

Installed the headliner, sunvisors (inside locking clips are broken, naturally), interior map light, and modded battery tray cover.

Was so happy that I got the temp gauge up and running - ten minutes later, the fuel gauge stops working. Almost like it's a Vanagon.

Next up - lock down some rattly tin at the rear of the engine, fix the damn fuel gauge, add some Subaru coolant conditioner, and start re-upholstering the rear seats. Beautiful day up here to be working on the van, and the 'to-do' list is getting shorter rapidly!

[BCE56]

Replaced the diff lock vacuum hoses.
And the driver's seat track sliders. Struggled to reinstall the seat- RH latch would not cooperate.
Fixed Inop. MP3 player- cable to aux port at rear of stereo had worked loose.

A/C parts have arrived.
_________________
=BCE56=

'86 Syncro tintop
EJ22, OBD II early SC adapter plate conversion

Side project: '69 Frankenbug "It's alive!"

[jlrftype7]

My sister's coming from DC to visit starting at the end of this week, and plans to Kayak with us, since she's bringing her own Kayak. So, time to check over the Vanagon for the extra hauling and driving it's going to be doing in the next few days with July 4th holiday fun.
Checked Coolant Level, Oil level, Transmission/ATF level, Diff Oil level, vacuumed out the Sand around the Rear Seat from the Dog shaking off Lake Michigan fun when he gets back into the Vanagon after being at Dog Beach.
Topped off Washer Fluid, pulled and inspected the Engine Air Filter, wiped down the Dash and Center Console Storage Unit to clean things up. Checked Altn Belt tension and looked over the engine.
Filled up the Gas Tank, and cleaned the Back Hatch Glass.
Now to assemble a new Kayak J-Bar set for my spare Thule Square Bars for that 2nd Kayak on the Roof. I guess we're ready....
_________________
'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

[siolence]

Dry mounted new to me Tiguan wheels on my 84 tin top Suby convert.