What did YOU do to your van today?

[elizer]

Hardwired a Onestep gps tracker and the vanagonlife battery kill switch in the console.

A little peace of mind after all the Stolen vanagon posts.

[Mckinleyvillian]

got this blue girl running is what I did today. YEEEHAW!

got drivers side head on last week after removing empi dual exhaust w/no cat that PO had put on and an already replaced exhaust stud broke.

Finally got the whole new (to me and in great shape) 2.1 exhaust on yesterday. Thought passenger front spark plug hole was smoked, but we got in in today with some serious cleaning. Will def. rethread next time... Anyways, got that plug in and there's no freakin spark. ran through whole wiring harness, checked and cleaned grounds, NOTHING. my buddy comes over and checks the same. We're both puzzled til he notices a snapped red/black wire at hall plug. SNIP SNIP SNIP, swap in some new wires, connect, and

THE VAN IS RUNNING

Gotta do coolant system tomorrow because there's nothing in there.

I am beyond stoked.

super fortunate to have an excellent vanagon teacher.
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so many roads i know
all i want is one to take me home

85 Vanagon GL 1.9 stick

[jlrftype7]

[djkeev]

[elizer]

I know! It only took me 6 years! But seriously the biggest peace of mind I could ask for.

Also a 6 year project I am wrapping up. I finally spent the past couple days cleaning the pop top and today I applied the first coat of penetrol. I don't know why I deferred doing this for so long. Next up for the weekend is swapping out the arb awning with the fiamma 45 thats been sitting in my house for 5 years.

[bobbyblack]

driver rear corner was leaking brake fluid... decided today was brakes day. Got the driver side done, but somehow stripped a lug nut on the passenger side.. No amount of heat or 150lb air hammering got it to budge (with the proper sized lug wrench/impact socket after I realized my mistake!) UGH!!!

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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[leecat]

Yuck! That is a mess!! Be a relief to get that cleaned up, I bet! Reminds me that my Jetta has a bad rear caliper bleed screw that slooooowly drains my whole system. And it's seized so bad it's going to snap right off when I try to remove it. Putting off buying a $$$ new caliper for a while.

And looking at elizer's post above reminds me to get on researching waterproofing treatments for my pop-top canvas so I can order some to apply in the spring...

[campism]

[danfromsyr]

Leecat, there are brake bleeder repair kits.
it's not really a sensitive area, some common hand tools and a drill & tap and you are back in sealed bleeder business.
just go slow and it'll be fine.. heck you've already writtenoff the caliper so what ya got to lose $25bux vs $200?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274753831373

[bobbyblack]

[bobbyblack]

OkeeDokee then. Got this off:

THEN got the passenger side drum, shoes and hydraulic cylinder replaced. So, that's all 4 corners done in the last 500 miles, Huh, good feeling!

THEN took a cruise up a local patch of highway, then to the carwash, and of course, a little shopping, you know, I'll make my kids some supper later too!! All 3 of my (adult) children have been home for about a week (-- or more, depending on the definition of Home..) My elder daughter is working hard at being a farmer(and T3 enthusiast), here on what is left of a Norwegian emigrants family of siblings who never had children, so all their lands were combined, gifted to the local Norwegian Lutheran church with the intent that a place for community for those others like themselves, finding they were bereft of family, could come together and work the land, do the chores, keep the home, and help each other to find peace in the end. The Church actually followed through on the wishes of that hope, and building intended to originally be a 52 residents Home I am now Caretaker of has passed the test of time. It is quite silly that I find relief in my children taking interest in building it back to the vast 600+ acre farm it once was, now trimmed down to less than 30, but they are willing to work hard at keeping the original intentions in play. I hope for news soon of having yet again, 4 generations of my family living here at the Home.

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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[chrismsnt]

The last couple of days have been coolant pipe and silicone hose swap days! Hard work (not as hard as the front spring and strut change will be!) but great insurance policy for not blowing a coolant line on the road!

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Chris
1989 T3 Vanagon 16" Syncro
1967 Squareback
https://vwvandiesel.com
Instagram @VW_VanDiesel

[jlrftype7]

[elizer]

UPDATE: I put a diffuser over the cover from amazon and its perfect now. Inside has the perfect amount of the light.

Today I visited Pinetreeporsche at his place to take a look at the neat things he did to his van and chat. (this sentence needs to be restructured)

I also wrapped up putting a uniwerks power point in the rear ashtray. I used blueseas power points and the light is a bolt beam from superbrightleds. I added the light so if I needed to find something at night instead of fumbling for my headlamp.

I figured id run into a problem with how the bulb is facing, but wow its like staring into the sun. I got some light dimming stickers from amazon so hopefully it will cut the output just a bit if not I can just use some touch up paint and put a dot in the middle of it. Either way if I hate it its easy to disconnect or change. I have those stick on push Led under the ac cabinet so I still have some light.

I also swapped my ARB awning for the Fiamma thats been sitting in my living room for the past 4 years. Also scrubbed the oxidation off the poptop and hit it with a coat of penetrol.

[jlrftype7]

[elizer]

It is 55 lumens. Which in my mind was a lot less than 1000 lumens. Lol. But, ya I gotta diffuse the light. It was a cheap experiment, but i'll figure it out.

Hmm... I also realized I need to clean the walkway white wood thingy.


https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-wired-bolts/bolt-beam-12mm-led-light/1494/

[elizer]

Updated the light post above. Diffuser from amazon worked.

So today I removed the bumpers to prepare for paint. Im going to take it to a shop. After this new paint, in the future Ill just bedline it.

The the hidden hitch also came so I could finally get rid of the ball hitch that came on the van. I wanted to put the bumper supports on the karma thread but as you can see... I never used that hitch. They must have ripped off the mount on the bumper and tried to fix it. I wonder if I should do the same or just run it without it...

I also noticed the leading edge of the rear bumper has left nice scratches on body. I assume when people bump into it. Im gonna probably spray some plasti dip on that area.

I also need to stop by the hardware store to replace these screws.

[jlrftype7]

Installed the RMW Rear Bumper. Very straightforward install process. Still getting used to seeing it back there instead of our ailing stock bumper…

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'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

[bobbyblack]

Cal, Wow!! Thats a good step forward for your bus!! Sweet!!
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[fxr]

Finally fixed the 'Power with key in' (SU) circuit refusing to turn off. It was the steering wheel shroud pressing on the ignition barrel that turned out to be the main cause, just filing 1mm away all round to make the 'hole' bigger did the trick. The shroud should have had clearance already, but in this case it pressed quite hard against the barrel.

It turns out the barrel has to be able to move in and out slightly, and the switch itself (and my spare) is very sensitive to being pressed in. So if the barrel is held firmly down into its surround the bit that pokes out of the end just tickles the switch enough to put it on the cusp of closing that circuit.

Another answer could have been to file the end of the switch actuator (part of the barrel) down a bit, but filing the shroud for clearance seemed the least invasive.
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300