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Wolfsburg Westy Sewfine Upholstery Project
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joetiger Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:18 pm    Post subject: Wolfsburg Westy Sewfine Upholstery Project Reply with quote

After years of trying to figure out what to do with my shredded interior, I finally decided to take action. It was time. I waited as long as I could, letting the kids and the concert/festival/camping passengers trash it for years. Honestly, the most damage was done by my kid's car and booster seats. Even with a towel for protection, years of plastic gouging into the corduroy did more damage than anything.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Notice the nice, round stain on the jumpseat. That's the result of a kid smashing a piece of lemon meringue pie into it during a Festival last year, and me sitting in it later that night while deep in conversation with RMW Mike. And nobody telling me I had pie all over my butt from then on.

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I decided on Sewfine. As I mentioned in another thread, they were extremely accommodating, giving me a tour of their shop and showing me a bunch of different swatches, matching things up in the Vanagon, and generally just being cool folks.

I placed my order a couple of weeks ago, and everything was custom-sewn and ready for pickup last Saturday.

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They gave me some valuable advice about how everything should go together and wished me luck. The most important thing, they said, was patience. Do not be in a hurry to finish this project. Considering that I have to squirrel away time here and there in order to work on my Vanagon, I told them that taking my time would not be a problem.

Here's the back bench and front seats. I am very pleased with the quality of the materials and craftsmanship. The material is top-shelf and the padding is thick and high-quality. I had considered making my own upholstery, but now seeing everything that goes into it, I'm glad I went with professionals.

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The backside of the bench covers. Notice the stitching and high-quality padding:

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I decided to start easy and do the jumpseat first. As weekender folks know, only ten screws separate the cushions from the bases. (Sub, amp, and tools ride in the jumpseat box.)

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I got my trusty screwdriver and needle-nose pliers and went to work on the cushions, pulling out staples. Many, many staples. The cushions were in surprisingly good shape, so I dry-fitted the new cover, made sure everything looked good, took it apart, glued, and quickly fitted it all back together. I stapled it down, and after all was said and done, I have a nice new jumpseat in Mocha.

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Next I removed the rear bench. There are several spots under and around the bench where stuff falls down, never to be seen again. I found some of the usual goldfish, M&M's, and pieces of toys from my kids, as well as a few rather surprising things that I won't be writing about. The bench is very easy to remove, just a few bolts and screws.

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Today I took the two bench pieces off and removed the upholstery, and I've found something unexpected.

So let's back up for a second...I ordered a couple of these headrest bracket kits from vwbusshop.de a few weeks ago:

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The brackets are designed for the plywood back of the full Westy seat. You cut a channel in the top of the plywood and bolt in the brackets.

However, I've just discovered that the Weekender seat is different. It has U-shaped steel braces tacked on to the top and bottom of the upright plywood piece, precluding one from simply cutting channels in from the top to facilitate the brackets.

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They obviously put that steel there to strengthen the seat. Now I need to figure out how to mount these brackets without weakening that setup.

I'm not sure what to do here. I'll give it some thought and perhaps get a few suggestions from the group? Very Happy

Off to Bicycle Master Mechanic class for the evening. More updates when I get more done.
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GreenMachineVW
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sewfine covers are looking good! I just did the front buckets, and had a couple tips for you:

Use strong wire instead of string on seat back.
Use zip ties instead of hog rings on bottom.
Trim the excess off the seams on the armrests.

If your foam is not so good, I noticed Van Cafe has NOS bottoms for swivel seats, at under $90.

I hope to do a little write-up like you did with my experiences, but those are the main points that made it easier for me. Nice to avoid the hog rings altogether: unless you have an expensive tool, and experience, it is not easy for an amateur to get a good result with them, I find. The zip ties and wire allow you to patiently make adjustments till it fits nice, the hog rings seem to be a one shot deal at getting it right.

It also looked like your jump seat is solid espresso fabric, whereas the rest is espresso with tan. Interesting. Why not do the jump seat like the rest?

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing the rest!
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

GreenMachineVW wrote:
Use strong wire instead of string on seat back.
Use zip ties instead of hog rings on bottom.
Trim the excess off the seams on the armrests.


I completely understand this now and am very appreciative of the zip tie suggestion...I'm about 2/3 of the way through one of the front seats. I still need to cinch up the top cover and put the seat back together. Talk about over-engineered! It's coming together, though, slowly but surely.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I messed around with an armrest last night as well, I am puzzled over how the new one is going to fit. SewFine told me I might need access to a steamer to soften up the foam.

This weekend I'm hoping to make a lot more progress.
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'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Those seat covers look sooooo nice. I have the same interior and love seeing what people are doing when they upgrade. Keep us posted.

Bill
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

wildenbeast wrote:
... love seeing what people are doing when they upgrade. Keep us posted. ...

In that spirit, and to perhaps help joetiger, here are some pictures, and few words ...

Here is the seat bottom:

The seat heater pad has tape holding it to the foam, and the cable poked out the side. The zip ties have been placed, ready for the cover. I placed the frontmost zip ties as far back as possible, so they would have minimal pull on the wires. I also used super glue to repair any tears in the foam.
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I secured the rear of the cover to the left to right wire in the back first, as this determines where the side zip ties end up. I then snugged down the sides, little bit at a time to get it even and properly placed.
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Connecting the covers to the frame is straightforward, and will look like this:
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Here is the top:

I used 16 gauge wire, similar to baling wire, for securing the top cover. This picture shows aluminium wire, which is not strong enough. I ended up with steel wire.
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The cover is underneath the top here. You can see where the wires were secured to the frame in the center.
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A close up of the wire.
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The top cover was inside out, and I roll it down onto the frame:
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All the way on, the wires end up like this:
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I then wraped them aroung the little daggers on the bottom of the frame, making sure to keep the wire as flat as possible to the frame:
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The armrests:

This is how much I trimmed the inside seams all around on the armrest. I did a first attempt without this, and even after letting the armrest sit for over a month I was not happy with the result. Given the way the foam is molded, there is a small channel for this seam. However, if the seam is more than about 1/4 inch, the size of the channel, I did not like the fit at all. My foam was very supple, so I did not have much trouble getting the covers on. In fact I did not need to use a plastic skin, or silk, as Sewfine suggests, as I wanted the armrests to remain breathable.
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This is the excess I removed from all four armrests:
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Once I pulled them into place, I stapled as such:
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And as such:
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Not quite as good as new, especially on the frontmost part. Looking from the side, the top fabric does not site parallel to the black plastic.
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The whole nine yards:

All in all, I am more than happy with them. I went with standard Vanagon seats (non-Westfalia), as they are a little bigger, and I found them to be more comfortable, and did not pose a problem with steering wheel clearance.
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I got my covers from Sewfine when they were having their last sale, so I got free armrests and stain protector. Including shipping, the price was just over $300 for the pair. I also bought a set of seats at the junkyard ($50 a pair), and picked up a pair here that someone had parted forward. Between the two sets I got the best combination of parts. I had the seat track hardware powdercoated, other than the actual bucket and top-frame. The seat heaters are from eBay, for about $60 a pair, as I did not want to pay the $100 each for reputable seat heaters. I hid all the wiring in the hollow of the bottom of the seat top/back, and have a three wire connector coming off the heater that will connect to the harness near the seat belt, with switches in the dash, under the radio.

For those of you with bad foam on swivel seats, I did see that Van Cafe has OEM replacement foam at under $90. This is the correct foam with the retaining wires molded in like original. Those of you re-covering the seats on a Westfalia might want to consider this if your foam is less than optimal.


Last edited by GreenMachineVW on Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:15 pm; edited 2 times in total
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

those look really nice
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent job! who's seat heater pad is that? I need some replacements.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tristar Eric wrote:
Excellent job! who's seat heater pad is that? I need some replacements.

Those were just some eBay Special for $60 a pair. Cheap, but on my one trial so far, they did get my butt warm!

I edited my post above to add just a few words.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
The brackets are designed for the plywood back of the full Westy seat. You cut a channel in the top of the plywood and bolt in the brackets.



I thought that too until I measure the center of the head rest " holes " to the back of the seat of my tin top with the Z-bed. It is about 30mm. If you cut a slot in the ply wood, the holes will be less than 20mm from the back.

Does the head rests kit come with instruction telling you to cut the slots in the ply wood ?
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just finished the front seats and am enjoying a cold Abita Turbodog Ale.

I'll post more pics tomorrow, but I think they came out really good. The first one took me a good six hours, but the second one only took me three or so. The armrests (old style) are another matter entirely. Thus far, trying to get those covers on that old, hard foam is the like the opposite of having a baby (or so I would think.)

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Stevie,

The photos on the busshop website show how they *should* be mounted:

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The photo shows a short full Westy back seat, which apparently doesn't have the metal brace across the top.

I'm going to jump into that tomorrow and see if I can make it work.
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'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, Joe, nice work! I pity the fool that smashes lemon meringue pie into these seats. Laughing
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was able to finish most of this project over the weekend. I'm surprised at how involved the front seats were. They seem a bit over-engineered. I had no idea that this much was going on under there.

Here's a photo of my driver's seat before...Interestingly enough, the corduroy cover was still really doing its job in terms of the foam just underneath the fabric; I was surprised to find that it was thicker than the fabric on the passenger's seat (a velour one from a full Westy.)

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I used some stainless steel wire I had lying around to replace the old wire in the top part of the seat:

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Hog Rings are the minions of lucifer. I was happy to have the suggestion of using zip ties instead.

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These foam strips that had been glued to the side rails of the upper seat did not want to be reglued and kept getting out of position when I was sliding on the new cover...I ended up wrapping them with tape in a few spots so they'd stay put.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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Regarding the front seats, I will say that the first one took me much longer mainly because I didn't follow SewFine's disassembly instructions. I took the entire seat apart instead of just removing the bottom of the seat from the rails. The second seat took me half the time once I figured out what I was doing.

Noooo! Seat rail grease. Thankfully I was able to get the stain out later.

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'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On to the bench seat. The bottom portion was very straightforward. Re-glue the foam to the plywood, wrap, dry-fit, remove, spray adhesive on the cusion, re-wrap, staple. Plastic bags were a major help in getting the new covers to slide onto the foam. (I used my old foam because it was in surprisingly good condition.)

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Bottom bench bolted back up.

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I then re-attached the back plywood to line everything up for the head rests.

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(While this is painfully assymetrical to some, I decided to only go with two head rests on the bench. The closet really gets in the way of the third, and I've already got a crappy-looking yet effective solution there. I'm having SewFine make me a cushion that matches, though.)

From there I cut notches into the plywood with a jigsaw and mounted the brackets from busshop.de. I was very into the saw and drill and didn't get pics of the brackets mounted up Embarassed but they look like the busshop photos, but with about another inch of cut to allow the head rests to settle in deeper:
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I couldn't figure out how to re-attached the top steel piece. With the headrests brackets in the way, I couldn't see any way to reinstall it and keep it in one piece. The wood is thick and strong, and while that top bracket definitely added more rigidity, I think we'll be fine without it. The decision came down to whether I wanted head rests or that steel channel, and I went with head rests.

Here's the back of the bench all wrapped up. I had to remove and restaple a few parts of it twice to get it right:

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What I realized *after* I'd installed the headrests and gotten the entire bench together is that the center sections didn't like up perfectly, nor did the headrests. The headrests are lined up well with the bottom cushion, but not the top. I think I stretched and pulled too far to one side and not enough to the other. Like most of my projects, it's functionally fine but visually off. I'll have to live with it.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


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I still haven't done the arm rests. I have a few ideas on how to do them so that'll be a project for this week.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Yesterday I did three coats of Scotch Guard on everything and called it a day. All in all, I really enjoyed this project because I'd never done anything remotely like this before, and because for the first time in a long time, it was a project that didn't involve me lying underneath the Vanagon. Very Happy

It ain't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than it was before and my Vanagon has new car smell for the first time in 26 years.

GreenMachineVW, thanks for the photos. To answer your question about the jump seat, I wanted it to be dark and solid for a few reasons. First, the top of it is generally used as a foot step for my kids to get up to the second floor and I figured the dark color would hide stains better (god forbid.) Also, I thought two-tone would be a bit busy for such a narrow seat. I've always considered the jump seat to be kind of an auxiliary seat and I think it deserves a simpler pattern. Just a matter of preference, I reckon.
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'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the step-by-step! I have been contemplating whether or not I want to go the Sew Fine route for my '85 Weekender, and after seeing the whole process I think I'm going to have an upholsterer re-do the front seats. (I re-did the jump seat and rear myself already.) I don't have more than an hour at a time to devote to working on the van, and it's not that much more expensive to have a local upholsterer do the whole process. It does look great, though!
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looking good, Joe!

I also had a left to right line-up problem, but with the front seat backs and the headrests, However, since it was slight, and opposite on the two seats, it still looked OK and symetrical.

I noticed that stain, but did not dare mention it! I'm sure you were disappointed, until it cleaned out. Good thing! Brake Parts Cleaner will often take care of that: it is almost the same product as dry cleaner chemicals.

I looked at the old style armrests that I got with some seats. Those do look like a pain in the neck, and I see what you mean about hard foam. I hate to mention it belatedly, but for the next customer ... I had sourced newer style armrests before ordering the covers, as I like the multi adjustments and the longer support. Had I considered the extra work involved for the early style armrests, I would have upgraded for that reason alone.

I also completly dismantled the seats. I did this to powdercoat the metal: I did everything except the actual seat bucket and backrest frame. That way I have no greasy stains on my carpet as I work in the comfort of my living room, and it cleaned up those rusty dusty parts nicely.
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The armrests are freaking impossible. I've been wrestling with one for the past 30 minutes and I'm worn out.
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'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Inspiring. thanks for the post. I'm in the midst of some heavy interior renovation (carpets, panels, A/C housing), and wondering what I'll do with the seats once time and budget allows.
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

joetiger wrote:
The armrests are freaking impossible. I've been wrestling with one for the past 30 minutes and I'm worn out.
What would Les do? Wow Joe. Unbelievable thread. Great detail. Applause
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

joetiger wrote:
The armrests are freaking impossible. I've been wrestling with one for the past 30 minutes and I'm worn out.


Great thread. Time for a Turbodog.
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, it looks great!

It might help give you a touch more space on the arm rests if you *Grade* the seams.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


If they are still not fitting and are really curved, I'd clip them too. When you clip, you cut close to but *not* through the sewing line. I'd leave at least 3mm (1/10) inch of space from the sewn seam to where the cutting ends.
http://www.fiber-images.com/Free_Things/How_Tos/free_how_to_clip_curve_grade_seam.html

tam[/img]
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1987 Vanagon Westfalia GL Automatic

Making it special:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545885
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