Things your van did recently

[campism]

Something of a milestone.

I knew it was coming up and planned to get a pic of the rollover but it occurred during a HoDepot run for drywall and lumber and hardware, so there was some distraction. Besides, the odometer was broken when we bought the van in '06 (the week that Pluto was demoted) so it would not have been accurate anyway. However, the PO was scrupulous about recording her gas fillups and I spitballed the mileage calculations from her records over the years and when I finally got the odo fixed I set it at my calculated number. I made a fair estimate at about 17.25 MPG average for each of those fillups.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[Royb]

My van developed two new quirks- the vent fan went from strange sound to stopped entirely. And my sliding door stopped latching. Both dumb mechanical things I don’t want to deal with, like the fridge, that limit usability. Ugh. I’m still driving it weekly, locally, but tired of new issues.
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1991 Westy

[jlrftype7]

Another weekend of moving a Relative out of her Apartment, over to one of her kid's place. Basically, downsizing. Two trips on Saturday, Furniture moved, then another load of Furniture plus Box Spring and Matteress on the Thule Bars/Roof.
One funny spot in the late afternoon. My wife wanted a Coffee, so we rolled into a Starbucks drive-through. The guy at the window exclaimed," Sick Van Man". Then paused, "Is that a Mattress and Box Spring on the Roof"?.
Yes, we said, yes it is....
Much less to move next weekend, thank God....
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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

[Kdj]

Found someone with the same addiction at Stoneycreek kayak fest!

[dhaavers]

Three distinct camping opportunities, all public, all free, all on the water . . . two Wyoming, one South Dakota.

Guess which?

- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[jlrftype7]

[WillRB]

Took me out to the southwest. OH - Albuquerque - Sedona - Grand Canyon - Lake Powell - Zion - Mesa Verde - Albuquerque - OH. All with out any “major” issues. About 4400 miles

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1984 Vanagon Westfalia w/ Subaru Conversion (99 Legacy 2.2 Phase II) 2WD 4speed 4.57 R/P (.828 straight cut 4th) GT TBD

[jimf909]

Hauled 40" x 80" solar panels (405 watts, not for the van )10' Unistrut pieces. I had two pickups and the Vanagon available for this chore and the Vanagon was the easy choice for comfort and ease of hauling. The solar panel guys said this was the most luxurious ride for solar panels they've seen. And then the van moved the ladder.

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- Jim

[indianpeaksjoe]

We went for a ride to go ride.

-Joe

[Klister]

Wow - what tires are you running there? Those are huge. I guess that helps with no shocks.

[campism]

They installed speed humps on a neighborhood street and the Westy proved it can glide over these as if it were a limo. The one on my side (southbound) is actually taller than the other one, meant to slow this lane more than the northbound side. What you do is plant the left wheels in the center of the road and let the right wheels take the bump. When the bride is along I let the left wheels have the bump. Smoooooth compared to our other vehicles.

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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[indianpeaksjoe]

[Klister]

[16CVs]

T

urned 446000 thousand miles. I just keep rolling them off.

Stacy
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1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[Robsmaze]

She got a ride home tonight! Luckily only 20 miles from home.
Starter would not spin and was toasty warm, no problems with neutral switch or ignition. Bummer. Kids and I played Simon says for 45 minutes till the tow got there!

When I got home, the cool summer breeze had cooled things off enough that she started right up, but I’m pretty certain a new starter is in the cards for this weekend.
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‘87 2WD 2.1L Westy
‘87 2WD 1.7L Diesel Doka (euro spec)

[indianpeaksjoe]

Took one of my pups down to the lake for a dip.

[bobbyblack]

Multiple reasons we needed to be in the Metro area today. Left at 2AM to be able to go slow, and sleep some before a Dr visit in the late AM, then a couple other stops, one being at the clay place my dad got his mix done for the last 2 decades. It was interesting seeing how the '87 handled an extra half ton. I was a bit apprehensive on the rough road (many construction projects, and potholes needing repaired still). The whole rig did just swell, even with the AC on most of the time. I'll get a gallons use difference for trip slow on the way up, vs keeping up with anxious Friday night traffic on the way home, plus an extra half ton load tomorrow when I fill the tank. ODO turned 343K mi on the trip.

I should have found a scale to get my weight, oh well. Something like 5800 lbs

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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

[Klister]

Quick hike in the Cascades near Seattle- had afternoon chores

[fxr]

Set off yesterday for a quick visit to the in-laws. 100 yards down the road smoke started pouring from the dash - up around the cluster, out by the ashtray and everywhere. Quickly pulled over, Mrs fxr grabbed the fire extiguisher, but I'd switched off the battery by then - the big switch is just by the passenger seat-belt clip-thingy. Warning triangle deployed, and started investigating. I didn't have any tools in the van, but I did have my trusty Swiss army knife, so removing the instrument cluster was easy. The culprit was readily apparent - the bulb-holder for the rear fan switch panel had come adrift, and the positive grey/blue wire had shorted to chassis. It had melted all the way back to the dimmer switch. Cut it all out, and carried on to the in-laws without further incident.

Now I've just got to re-wire enough to get the dash lights working again, and we're golden.

It was still a "shit, shit, shit" moment to start with though!
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300

[deaddrift]

I drove across Oregon, pulling a raft trailer for a float on the Grande Ronde, a couple weeks ago.

A roadside scale put the vehicle weight at 5950 lbs, including the trailer tongue weight and three people plus their personal gear; the same scale put the trailer axle at 1500 pounds.

So ~ 7500 lbs total... that's heavy. However, Stan the Van pulled up the Blue Mountains grade east of Pendleton on I-84 like a champ. I was able to keep it at ~50 mph in third gear thanks to the EJ25.

Here is Stanley in camp:

Here's a partial pic with the trailer at the take out:

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Nat

'91 syncro Westfalia, 2nd and 4th owner

Ò,ó