My New Vangon PABSIE - Build Thread

[Csanfillipo]

Hello All. A few weeks ago I posted some questions on a Vanagon I was interested in purchasing. It was a 1991 VW Vanagon Carat. He was asking $1,500. I ended up getting it for $750. I kinda feel like I stole it...

Here is some Info on the car and previous owners.

1991 Vanagon Carat (it has Wolfsburg Edition emblems?) I didn't know they made Wolfsburg editions in 1991?
Gas Motor, A/T
226,000 mile
Originally Red looks like someone painted it Blue with a chicken


It was originally from Texas, and was brought up to Minnesota in 2010. It was daily driven till 2012 where it was kept in a storage unit until Nov 2018 where it was sold to the guy I bought it from. he had plans to turn it into a camper van but never got to it, instead he would put Hay in the back and let his goats eat out of it... that's why I got it so cheap

So we pulled It out of this sketchy farm in rural MN on Thursday. And drove it to my place of work. (Im a grounds/shop Manager at a university so I have a full shop at my disposal)

On Friday the van distracted me most of the day, I don't know why I even attempted to work that day. So Friday I started the process of thinking through what I wanna do with the van and how to get it accomplished

I felt really good about it after Friday, Being able to see the it in the day, There is like .5 percent body rust which is unheard of in MN and the motor does crank (but the starter is intermittent)

I thought of 2 Initaial stages

1st stage
1. Clean it out/get rid of smells - My co-worker/Best friend Is the Cleaning and building manager here so we are gonna get out the industrial steam cleaner and steam clean all the seats, cushion and front carpet. The middle carpet is to gone and needs to be replaces.
2. Get it driveable - Needs new starter, Ive ordered the Gowesty Tune Up Bundle and all new fuels lines. The PO emptied the tank before he parked it. So I think that is a good thing.
3. Get all Accessories working and get new door cards for front doors and rear sliding door. Also Probably get new stereo and speakers in it.

Stage 2 would Be next summer I wanna drive it around for a while and see if it would be worth more of an investment. the goal would be make it a good weekender camper. comfortable for my wife and daughter.

So back to not working on Friday... I started with pulling out the seats, Flooring and side panels. I set those in a storage area so that on Monday we can get them steam cleaned and the side panels deep cleaned. Then we SCRUBBED the floor. by this time some of my buddies showed up (with beer) to help

at some Pointed we realized this thing definitely needed a new starter, so I called up to local parts store and lucky me they had one in stock!

At that Point it was about time to call it a night, Which means head back to my Porch and have a few (more) beers. This is where we started to discuss names for the van. We decided on Pabsie because 1. the vanagon was LITTERED in Pabst Blue Ribbon bottle caps, Its the perfect shades of blue and red and as a true Wisconsinite and growing up in Milwaukee I just couldn't help myself. So Pabsie it is!

Saturday not much happened but throwing in the new starter which was pretty easy EXCEPT I couldn't get it to work! I tried every thing for over an hour and a half I got the multi meeter out but I could never get the trigger wire to fire....at this point I was pissed, everything was correct and before I pulled the old starter I had the trigger wire showing 12+ volts... I was in the process of giving up and calling it a night when my buddy shows up and in 3 minutes points out that the damn thing is in Drive not neutral...sometimes its the easiest things. but now the motor cranks.

Thats where is sits as of today, Ill work some more on it tomorrow evening. All my go west stuff should be in at that point. So hopefully it will be running... fingers crossed because this thing hasn't ran since 2012...

Here is the Picture from the Original Ad for it.

Just starting to Gut to out! Man that carpet smelt so bad, it went straight into the dumpster

Starting to scrub the crap outta it!

this is around the time I found out it was in drive and why the new starter was not working

The first of many beers inside the van!

[Steve M.]

Congratulations! Welcome to the vanisantity.

I would take the distributer cap off and crank the motor just to get oil pressure up, but I'd put fresh oil in 1st. Bear in mind to not fill it to the full mark on the dipstick, sometimes too much oil will (full level) will cause a pill leak from a pushrod tube oil seal.

Hopefully Field has not turned to varnish in an injector, but since the tank was dry maybe it was run until all fuel was used up drying out the lines.

An oil pressure gauge is a good thing to have, but it also gets people to start worrying too much thinking about oil pressure. Hot engines idle oil is about 9 psi and that scares the hell out of V8 engine people! There are a lot of pages written on it in the forum. Look for "dynamic oil pressure" cause that is always a good thing to understand.

It is best to search the FAQ at the top of the forum for questions you might have, but don't be worried about asking in the forum too. I copied and pasted info like crazy because computers are good for that! Any problem you might have has been found by someone else and the answers are on the forum to build a troubleshooting list.
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This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[Steve M.]

Bumping this because it deserves better then 1 response!
_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[campism]

I was going to comment on the shocking red/blue color combo except that it matches the Pabst logo so might not need to be changed.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[joetiger]

That's quite a drastic color change. Congrats on the new van!
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Joe T.

'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

[markswagen]

Who put the magnetic tray on the side of your van, that would be a 2 hour time out in these parts if I see any of my customers do similar to their vans, they get reprimanded, doesn't matter condition of the van, it's just not right.

While I like the blue, a LOT, the red is a rare color, isn't it ?
While you have the interior stripped out, https://www.homedepot.com/p/ProForce-Waterproof-Repair-Tape-8872AW6/305175238 is a cheaper alternative to dynomat, YOU SHOULD LET IT OFF GAS FOR A WHILE, after installation, and the fibreglass insulation, get rid of it, I use this https://www.homedepot.com/p/UltraTouch-48-in-x-24-...661257-_-N spray contact adhesive to stick in on, answer seal the joints with tape, this roll will go all the way round the back, from B pillar to B pillar, twice, safer than fibreglass and better insulation, I have a customer who has 2 almost identical westy's, we stripped one for rust repair and paint, we put it back with the above mentioned insulation, an infa red heat gun showed 30° cooler in the refinished van, same color, parked one behind the the other all morning in the sun.
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markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.

619 201 0310

[Alaskaberrys]

Welcome! Thanks for posting your progress. Kinda cool color combo. Will keep my eye out for blue chickens.

I find that after like you’ve done - stripped it down, tossed the crap and made a gazzilion plans - the excitement wanes a bit (i.e. run out of beer so all the friends leave...) and the slog starts. These threads help get my ass back out there and get ‘er done!

And great to know you’ve save another Vanagon from death by goat. Horrible way to go.
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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...)

[dabaron]

[Make America Vanagon]

[newerwesty1987]

[xoo00oox]

[Jake de Villiers]

^^^^
I'll second the motion!
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'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com

[[email protected]]

Killer van. Great price too. Me likey.

[Csanfillipo]

Alright who is ready for some Updates

So after we ripped out the whole interior and scrubbed her down I was waiting on some parts to show up, So because my funds are VERY LIMITED for this project and wanting to spend more on mechanical stuff than Cosmetic stuff now (says the wifey who is supportive of my projects but also is way more realistic on what we can afford lolz) I decided not to put in original carpet in the main cabin of the van. Instead I went to the local Home Improvement store and looked at different options. My first Idea was to get some sotra indoor outdoor marine carpet, But that stuff was hella expensive, and i couldn't find a good matching grey color. So after searching the store I found Waterproof 2 x 2 Carpet Squares that where 99 cents each and they match (kinda) the gray interior. So the easiest and cheapest way to get them in was to put in an OSB sub floor, SO I put that in a few days ago. (I haven't gotten around to putting in the carpet yet but ill post pictures of that when I can)

Now just keep in mind, this carpet is probably Hopefully Temporary, Down the road I plan to rip the carpet out and replace it with the actual carpet that is supposed to work for it.

So after that my parts came, Starter, Alternator, New Fuel Lines, Fuel Filter, Plugs, wires, Cap, rotor, Oil change stuff, and new coolant. I got all that crap installed full tank of gas and BOOM. Running vanagon. Now Honestly it ran like shit... and after fighting that for 3 days trying to figure out why it was running like shit and always stalling out, my fuel pump started to make the craziest noises and i immediately new what I did wrong... the tank was so full of rust it basically destroyed the pump... and clogged the filter.

So I order up a fresh new tank and and a fresh new pump and hope that I can get the thing running good after that.

Hopefully I can start drinking beer at the campsite out of it instead of the garage!

Also I noticed on the Heads that they are stamped AMC - Is that the normal head company that VW used or are those Aftermarket? and does that mean thats a good thing or a bad thing?

Wood subfloor and side panels going back in

All the steam cleaning getting done.

Everything is back in! now it just needs to run.[/u]