1991 Multivan TDI build

[Multiman mv]

Here’s the little 12 volt recessed I’m going to use.

[coqcitywesty]

I am thinking that these are the same ones that I used when I did my electrical make-over earlier this year (See forum post here: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...p;start=20 - starting on July 3 2018)

So far I am loving them in terms of light output, low draw and 'stock-like' fitment within the Westy environment. If any questions as to the install, PM me and I can advise accordingly.

[Multiman mv]

[Multiman mv]

My 5 year old son woke up yesterday morning and said, “hey dad, do you want to draw vans?” I of course said yes and helped him by drawing some of the corners but he did the rest. We were looking at a picture of a van but this is his “dream van” that he’s going to build when he’s old enough to drive. Disclaimer: (I drew the mountains and ground and his sister drew the flowers.) I must admit the little bugger did a great job. We spend hours drawing together as he has really showed a lot of interest and we have a lot of fun together.

[Multiman mv]

I finally got around to mounting my ceramic coated exhaust pipes. Pretty tight quarters back by the turbo but did managed to get everything tightened up even with one of the engine mounts offering up almost zero space to tighten the top nut. I can actually hear the turbo spool up more clearly with the new set of pipes. I guess they are just so clean inside that the sound is coming through the tailpipe more clearly. It will be interesting to see how long this set holds up though I do plan on laying up the van for salt season which should add some years to the pipes and the rest of the van.

Afterwards we took the van for a run down to Edgartown for a little lunch, Christmas shopping and a little afternoon treat for the kids. (One has to take advantage of the places that are still open for business this time of year because as of January 1st, many of the business shut down and don’t reopen until May.

The entire family has been enjoying having the van back after a long, two week period of it being off the road.

My wife always reminds me that I tend to center the van in the photo when I take family shots. Well, she’s part of the family too. “Now you know where my loyalties are.”

[Multiman mv]

So apparently the Recaro grey leather seats I ordered from Gowesty were mislabeled in the box and were the grey leather with Nardo cloth. I opted not to buy them as I really want all leather. Hopefully it was just a mix up or they sold the grey leather ones that were listed as in stock to someone else. In any event I ordered a pair of the lxf s in all grey leather from 425 motorsports and they originally gave me a probable ship date from Recaro of 2 to 3 months. I just got an email yesterday that they are going to be shipped on November 28th. So if anyone is looking for those seats it seems that Recaro has done a production run of the lxf S specialists. The price was great too.

[Multiman mv]

We took the van off island for thanksgiving and while we didn’t do any camping, we put at least 500 miles on her visiting family all over the eastern half of the Bay State. The van ran beautifully. We had one, non mechanical incident on route 3 where the flexible solar panel went flying off the roof. I had a catastrophic failure of the zip ties. Luckily there wasn’t anyone directly behind us and it flew off to the side of the road. I should have checked it because of the high winds and because every minute or so we were hearing an odd tapping noise. The theories as to what it was ranged from the door lock actuator in the rear hatch going poltergeist, the skylight flapping even the theory of a mouse chewing away. At one point I pulled over and heard it (it was blowing 30-35 mph that day.) it sounded like it was coming from the rear passenger side panel. I never thought to check the solar panel. After realizing what had happened we were too far down the highway to retrieve it. Amazingly, the next day we were back on the same route and we found it on the side of the road in one piece but missing the vital connectors. At least we retrieved our litter. I already have another 100 what panel and I’m definitely going to make some improvements on how it is attached. I’m just glad no one was hurt this time.

[Steve M.]

[Multiman mv]

[quote="Steve M."]

[Multiman mv]

Getting into the Christmas spirit.

Still no salt on the roads on the Island as of now, but I’m sure that will change soon enough. For now, we continue to use the van for family outings.

[GreggK]

Hey Nick, The wheels look GREAT! I was wondering if you were able to get the drivers side front center cap to fit. I noticed it missing in one picture and I remember reading something on the Van Café site instructing to drill a hole for the speedo cable. I don't see it on the site anymore.
I thinking of going with the "Carrots" as well.

[ThankYouJerry]

[Multiman mv]

So I was able to get the center cap on the front driver side wheel. It took a little bit of finagling but I did get it on there. I had to grind the center post just beyond the E clip ever so slightly. I’m not sure how long The cap is going to stay on there as it is not fully seated. I didn’t want to take any chances grinding any more than I did. I have ordered a set of center caps from T3 but they are on backorder and I’m still waiting for them to arrive. I like the look of the carats (carrots) and it was mainly a decision based on appearance though I have also heard of some reports of the euro alloys cracking. I think those reports are from people who have over tightened the lug nuts and I don’t believe it is a flaw in the wheel but with precious cargo I figured I probably shouldn’t take any chances.

[GreggK]

Ok so you can get the stock cap to work. That's good. So Nick, which cap did you order, the shallow one or the deep one? Pretty sure I'll go with the Carats (Carrots) and probably get those T3 caps as well. I also saw them on the Van Café/RMW site but they didn't mention a depth option. Thanks!

[Multiman mv]

I ordered the shallow center caps. I Suppose I could always drill them out if needed. It’s just the front driver that has the e clip holding on the grease cap. I’ll let you know how they fit if they show up soon. I ordered them a while ago so they should be coming in soon.

Unfortunately the things I’m really waiting for, the Recaro seats, won’t be shipped until early February.

Anyway, I hope your conversion is coming together. Any luck figuring out the gremlins?

[DuncanS]

I went with the Mercedes 16" wheels. Since the overall body shape has a quasi military look, I wanted something that wasn't too "car" looking. I remembered som Redline wheels form dozens of years ago with rivets and bolts and very industrial looking, but couldn't find anything like that so settled for the 7 spokes

to look like sprockets of a tracked vehicle--well maybe that's a stretch. Plastic Merc grease caps on the rear for the time being and

on the PS, I painted the cap silver and seems close enough. The DS definitely needs something because of the speedo cable which lets grease through the hole and so paint won't hack it on that side. There has to be a rattle can cap or something that fits perfectly. Lusted after Christopher's T3 caps but after the almost 18 hundred for the mounted aluminum and rubber, I have taken a break.

[GreggK]

Love the wheels DuncanS ! Its a good look for sure. As for the Gremlins... some how the engine was using the oil supply as fuel. Jon traced it back to the tandem pump so I'm happy to know the van is on its way again! Hope to have it back home and running sometime next month. Then I'll be digging into the front end rebuild. I'll work on updating the progress on my thread.
Cant wait to see your new Recaros in place Nick! That's another "must have" on my list as well.

[elizer]

I have t3 centercaps and love them. really cleaned up the look.

[DuncanS]

MERRY CHRISTMAS--Nick, Pippen and your entire family. Please post pics of the presents that Pippen got and what the plans are for them. My car got the early Christmas of new wheels and sneakers and a star to put on the top of the rear mounted Christmas tree. Gotta get it up as there isn't much of the season left. I usually strip after the 12th day of Christmas.

[Multiman mv]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and holidays. With a 5 and 6 year old, it was pretty fun around here.

My kids bought me a pretty cool scale model tintop in Orly blue.

We’ve still been able to occasionally enjoy the use of the van after some recent rainstorms that have washed the roads pretty free of salt. We’ve taken the van out on the days after the rain when the roads were dry but I know those days are numbered. With the van sitting longer in between outings I’m remaining vigilant with the rodent prevention and constantly monitoring for any activity. It’s amazing how quickly they can cause damage. Fingers crossed that I can fend them off for another winter.

I finally got around to installing a few Christmas gifts I bought a while back. I mounted the sewfine, leather door cards and slider panel. I’m pretty happy with them though they are a little baggy in spots. They look good but I would have liked panels that had leather bonded to the door panels instead of just stapled around the perimeter. I really shouldn’t complain because as many of you already know, Sewfine does great work. The grey leather that Sewfine uses is definitely darker than the Recaros but they should mesh well enough. My Recaros are still probably 6 weeks out if I’m lucky.