What did YOU do to your van today?

[PJ Snow]

Today I replaced the ground wire between the body and transmission. Then I cleaned the connection between start battery ground and body. Strangely enough the van runs better now.
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1980 Riviera EJ25 swapped
1986 Tinny EJ22 swapped

[bobbyblack]

Looking like snow in the near future here in Northern IA - Southern MN, but decided that I am going on one last weekend run with Floss. While warming her up and loading tools back into the bench, I smelled gas. Cold weather shrinking the lines yet again. And again, torqued them down. Getting much closer to buying the crimps and tool.

Started her up again, and no leaks, so drove to work, and will head North after that!
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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

[danfromsyr]

be aware that cold weather also increases the risk of blowing out the oil cooler O-ring..

I like to change them about every ~3years. during an oil change.
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[AZ Landshaper]

Secured the gas tank. PO had secured the tank with stereo wires. I removed those and installed the proper metal brackets w the correct VW bolts.
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85 Weekender w/ EJ22
Previously
64, 71, 72, 73, 76, 81, 84, 85 & 87 Campmobiles and Westfalias
and a 67 bug.

[fxr]

[AZ Landshaper]

Pulled my friggin howler of a fule pump. Cleaned the crap out of it and ran it forward and back and forward and back and ....... you get the point. Reinstalled it to absolute silence. For 6 miles and then the howl returned.

My daughter swears it never went away. Ahh what does she know
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85 Weekender w/ EJ22
Previously
64, 71, 72, 73, 76, 81, 84, 85 & 87 Campmobiles and Westfalias
and a 67 bug.

[AZ Landshaper]

Today I will install speakers in my doors.


Need to drown out the fuel pump noise.
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85 Weekender w/ EJ22
Previously
64, 71, 72, 73, 76, 81, 84, 85 & 87 Campmobiles and Westfalias
and a 67 bug.

[Abscate]

[AZ Landshaper]

After remounting the fuel tank and recovering the speaker wire, Ive got enough wire to set up the wall of sound behind my bench seat.
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85 Weekender w/ EJ22
Previously
64, 71, 72, 73, 76, 81, 84, 85 & 87 Campmobiles and Westfalias
and a 67 bug.

[4mymalamute]

Finally got the two rear axles installed in the syncro. Also all new brake hardware and lines all around. Now to just bleed them again.

[Alaskaberrys]

Decided to pull the doka's tow bar to aid in restoring/repainting the body behind it. A few days of PB blaster beforehand. Today a breaker bar broke the bolts loose and they came out without a hitch. A few whacks with a double jack and the tow bar broke loose (with a hitch )

A bit of work to get it all the way out...brought some crud with it

Of course I HAD to look inside the frame rails (the horror!)

Yup, both frames were FULL past the tow arms. 20 mins of brushing, scraping, picking, blowing and vacuuming - got enough pure German soil to start an embassy here.

Plenty of REALLY packed dirt. No arrowheads or flint tools tho... Not much signs of rust inside surprisingly - plenty on the tow bar. Inside frames will get a BIG dose of fluid film before re-installing, probably clean and re-paint the tow bar.

Then on to cutting out a newly uncovered body rust...oh joy!

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'91 Westfalia, Bordeaux Red Pearl 2.1L 2wd Auto
'91 T3 Syncro Doka, Escorial Green 1.9L TD AAZ “Gremian” (to provoke, irritate, exasperate, vex...)

[jlrftype7]

Finally seeing the end of the Tunnel with regards to my Fuel Line work. Replaced both the Fuel Rails finally with new Van Café units, and the rest of the Rubber Fuel lines forward of the engine, going back to the Tank.
Installed new Fuel Pump Mount and corrected the Fuel Filter Mounting for the moment[ have metal bracket for the Filter on order]
Then discovered that there's probably something in my Gas Tank, blocking it pretty bad. I removed the outlet hose and the return hose from the tank to replace them, thinking I'd see fuel from my tank, which had 2 -3 gallons in it, no gas came out.....
Added 5 gallons of gas later in the afternoon, I had perfect acceleration for about 5 minutes, then got the classic fuel starvation issue that I experienced earlier in the morning before adding the gas. I'm betting the gas moved things around for a bit until the fuel pump's suction pulled it all back to the pipe in the tank while at a stop light , waiting...

Previous Owner installed a used tank, I was worried about that from the start, so now a new Tank is on order with all the Reseal Parts as well.

Enjoy the pictures of my Fuel Rail, no leaks ,but WOW, that's some creative engineering on that one rail....

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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

[dabaron]

i have no idea if the radiator that came in the Vanagon was the factory original, but since i'm going to rebuild the engine, i might as well make sure the coolant system is up to spec.

as part of the process of removing the engine for the rebuild i fired up the shop vac and sucked out 3 gallons of coolant and then replaced the radiator. my Vanagon has factory a/c and that added some extra "fun" to the process.

i managed to lose a clip nut in the frame opening when i was removing the radiator. i only noticed after i had everything in place and the bolt had nothing to screw into, doh.

replacing the radiator is not an easy one-person job, today my shoulders and neck are sore.
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1991 Vanagon GL Camper
i had no idea i wanted to be a mechanic
"burnin oil and cookin coils" -- Destructo

BiWerks Design, LLC

[campism]

Since the Mopar minivan surprised me with an expired inspection sticker and I do not want to risk a ticket (I'm that guy who always gets caught) I prepped the napping Westy for about a week of daily driver status. Snugged up the three belts, added new wiper blades, did a general neatening and straightening, moved over all the driver essentials (clip-on sunglasses, assorted hats, toothbrush, gum, etc.) and will take it for a spin this afternoon to pick up an appliance dolly, then off to the dog park for the fun stuff.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[jlrftype7]

Replaced the gas tank, compared the interior of the OG tank to the new one. The old tank was fairly complex inside with screens and tubes, the new one is simple , and hopefully will last. The old tank was very rusted internally..... And crumbling at the corners like they do.

Found a broken crossover plastic fitting at one side, so that explains the whiff of gas I kept smelling.
New tank got new evap/tank kit of aluminum cross pipe fittings and new grommets and hoses, so of course the original coolant pipes haddddd to get jealous and spring a leak when I touched one of them with a wire brush while the tank was out and I was applying some a Rust a Converter ....
At least I wasn’t driving when the pipe sprang a leak.... Yet another cookie from Van Cafe is on its way to me..l
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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

[AZ Landshaper]

Installed the VW coolant temp sender in my suby conversion. Now we are riding at the light bulb and can finally tell if the van is cool running..
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85 Weekender w/ EJ22
Previously
64, 71, 72, 73, 76, 81, 84, 85 & 87 Campmobiles and Westfalias
and a 67 bug.

[mikemtnbike]

Two weeks ago, my high-rpm oil pressure flickered and buzzed at me a couple of times on the highway. Yikes!

Got home and immediately found that sender wire by block had rubbed bare, fixed that but also knew I had a worsening leak at my oil pump cover. Mechanical oil pressure, driveway testing at this point ok-ish- 10 at hot idle, 22 at 2000, 34 at 3000.

Went ahead and changed oil pump for high volume, put in washer for oil relief spring a la tencent, and changed out the 15w40 for 20w50. Also put in a dash mount oil pressure gauge.

So, yesterday- hot extended highway run for first time since the flicker. No flicker, hot idle 11-12, 2000rpm 28psi, 3000 44psi. All under load #'s.

Success!!
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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

[jt69]

Continued research on removing my gas tank ('85 Westfalia). Leaks gas when I fill up. Lines in wheel wells were crapped out (I'd probably previously used some rubber hoses not ment for gas...). Now I want to drop the tank and ck the others. Never done that before... cheers, jt

[jimf909]

[Paulbeard]