Space Capsule 1995: Repairs, Roadtrips, Retrofits, & Wrenching

[Saturn]

With the arrival of the new transmission mount ($40 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YB3Q7EA ), scooted back under the Eurovan to swap it in. Loosened the main bolt through the center of the mount several turns and left it in place. The next two fasteners parallel to the main bolt (18mm) were loosened several turns worth as well. Sliding further under the van, removed the rearward facing bolts (13mm.) As an FYI, these last pair are not as easy to access. The lower one is not too bad using a really long extensions over the top the the cross member. The upper one, due to its proximity the power steering rack, cannot be accessed with a normal-sized socket, a wrench must be utilized. This was a struggle when initially loosening it as the was no real space for a cheater or breaker bar and took bit of muscle to break loose. Repositioning myself under the van, fully removed the other two mounting fastener along with the main bolt. Wiggled the old mount out from the ears, the question became how to extract it out. Pivoting the engine forward and upward, the gap between the oil pan and cross member increased but not enough for the mount to pass through. Grabbing a hydraulic jack, positioned it at the front corner of the transmission to provide more upward leverage. That did the trick to get the old mount out.

The old unit had certainly reached end of serviceable life. Along with the large fissures and cracks, the entire inner rubber piece rotated inside the metal housing. To me the really interesting part was finding the 1994 date code stamped onto it. The OEM mount had almost 185K miles under its belt.

Positioned the new unit in between the mounting ears and threaded the main bolt through both of them. Installed the upper side facing fastener and then rocked the engine back to line up and get the lower bolt started and seated about half-way in place. The bottom rear-facing fastener threaded in without any issue. The top one took about 45-50 minutes to finally get seated into place. With no real sight line from the back, it has really hard to determine if the mount and threadhole were lined up correctly. Fortunately my friend Alex happened to be around to assist. He provided guidance while looking in from the wheel well and manipulating the hydraulic jack to help pivot the engine while I lay underneath. With the last fastener seated fully tightened all of the bolts into place and emerged from underneath the van.

Just like when changing out the belts and water pump, while under the van I discover another item to put on the to-do list: a new steering rack boot.

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[Joshwa]

Great write up. It can be tricky to get that rear mount out.
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93 Weekender TDI conversion (AHU)
93 MV TDI conversion (1Z)
Weekender rear cot
Late model cabin air filter on 93
Euro spec bumper install on 93

[TheOneTrueQuux]

[Saturn]

[TheOneTrueQuux]

For that drain plug, did you try heating the aluminum housing a bit with a propane torch? Sometime that can help. You don't want to go too gonzo because of the risk of charring or burning the transmission oil inside, but get it nice and hot and see if that helps.

One other thing you could do is trim that socket a bit shorter, so that you'll be able to fit the socket wrench. You'll need an angle grinder with an abrasive cutoff wheel to do that. When you're done cutting it, chamfer the edges a bit with a regular grinding wheel.

[Saturn]

[TheOneTrueQuux]

Next time you want to remove a tie rod end without destroying the boot, use one of these:

https://www.harborfreight.com/tie-rod-and-pitman-arm-puller-63684.html

They come in two or three sizes, and are cheap, and will pop the joint right off without damaging the boot. Pickle forks are for when you will be replacing the joint anyway.

[Saturn]

During all of this work, my various part shipments and deliveries were amazingly all on-time and in some cases arriving 1-3 days early. The only exception is the replacement tie rod. Amazon had initially stated it would take just 2 days to arrive. It becomes pretty clear when seeing no-change in shipping status the day after ordering it there would be a waiting game on this one. The tie rod eventually appeared two days later than promised and because of my schedule needed to wait until the following weekend to finish this job. Installation finally started by turning it 17 times onto the arm and snugging the locking nut (24mm) against the tie rod. Dropped the threaded extension into the knuckle and tightened down the nut (19mm) with a socket. Once getting the nut torqued (26 ft/lbs ) tightened the locking nut against the tie rod thus reaching completion of getting the steering operational.

While working on the transmission mount, I couldn’t help but note the condition of the fuel filter. A bit crusty looking, it is as good as time as to get a new one in there. Clamp on two Vice-grips to pinch the fuel hoses to reduce the amount of leakage/spillage. The hardest part of extracting the old filter is loosening the philips screw clamping the mounting bracket around the filter body. It is fairly rusted/corroded and only after several dousing of penetrating oil and the largest screw driver bit/socket is there success. The fastener finally surrenders with a short and woeful groan as the threads protest being rotated after years (decades?) of slumber. A new mounting screw is located and soon the new filter is plumbed into place with new hose clamps. Turn the ignition key several time to pressurize the system and no leaks are visible.

Also when underneath the engine compartment during these month or so, one other area I need to address is the mounting of the skid plate / belly pan. When initially starting the work on the cooling system, the skid plate was only secured down by a single bolt along either side. The other two side mounting points, one is stripped and the passenger side contains the remains of a broken bolt. Last summer, I resorted to using several zip ties to secure the back arms onto the cross member. While this kept things in place, it was a temporary situation at best. Looking at the stripped out mounting point, my first attempt of a repair is retapping the threads. The tap did make it through half of the threads before getting really difficult to turn. Checked it with a new bolt and it did gain purchase, although only about half way in. Decided to go with it as-is by locating a couple of spacers to put between the skid plate and the bolt.

At the front of the cross member are two rubber mounts where the back of the skid plate attaches onto (10mm nuts.) One of these was sheared off and the other one wasn’t far behind by the look of it. After some searching, found suitable replacements at FCP Euro (Meyle 191201256) and added them to my transmission mount order. In comparison the replacement ones are a bit smaller in diameter (19mm v. 17mm) and not quite as tall. Installing the two rubber mounts into place and now I felt the skid plate would be secure and not in danger of ejecting itself. Then began the ballet of maneuvering the bulky skid plate into position while trying to thread in bolts at the same time, would not say it was poetry in motion in any way. After some wrangling, the skid plate is properly bolted up against the frame and cross member. Lifting the wheels onto the hubs, thread and tighten the lug nuts, jack up the front to removed the jack stands. The van finally is back to sitting on all four tires and ready for a test drive.

Take the van on a 7-8 mile trip up and down a nearby canyon road (most famous for being the finale of the epic car chase scene in the movie Bullitt.) The post-drive inspection yields no leaks, drips or anything amiss on the van. Coolant temps are consistent, the heating system works as expected, no belts have excused themselves, and the brakes seem to be a little more improved. In less than two days, the van will be headed down south for its next expedition.

Next: Monterey Car Week and Camping at Laguna Seca

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[1994Karuso]

To get the drain plug out, run the van hard so the transmission fluid gets hot, then push an ice cube inside the hex opening of the plug. The hot fluid will make the aluminum case expand while the ice will shrink the steel plug.

When I did it, the ice worked so well that my socket would no longer fit into the plug. I had to let it warm a bit.

[Saturn]

[Abscate]

That fuel filter had been replaced before. Use some spring clamps or oetikers to firm up those connections
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.ssS!

[Saturn]

[Abscate]

Oooof

Points deducted for jacking safety. I know you have to scramble sometimes but firewood isn’t too good a safety backup. Use a spare tire.
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.ssS!

[Saturn]

[Saturn]

Updating the Audio Capabilities

Not all of the work been done on the EVC this spring and summer was centered on the cooling system and the engine/transmission/steering. One of the areas I have been incrementally improving is the stereo/sound system. The first of these happened soon after acquiring the EVC, when I installed a bluetooth enabled stereo. Two years ago the original, though thoroughly blown-out door speakers were replaced as well. Late last year discovered a great and informative post by Dean (EuroTec) around upgrading the tweeters in the dash with a a pair 3.5” speakers. (https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=742428.) The tweeter mounting areas have a slightly different design between in my 1995 and Dean’s 2003 dash, this retrofit looked to be quite do-able. In the spring I pulled the trigger and ordered a set of the Harmony speakers to follow in Dean’s path.

During one of my breaks working on the cooling system, started to dig into the dash to extract the drivers side tweeter. These housings utilize a press fit into the dash with a trio of plastic arms securing the unit into its opening. Two connectors plug into the housing, one is the direct feed from the stereo and the second provides the signal to the speaker in the door. Unplugging the main lead will disable both the tweeter and door speakers. In looking at how to mount the replacement 3.5” speaker into the tweeter hole, grabbed a Dremel and proceeded to cut out most of the center plastic leaving only the outer perimeter. Drilled two holes into what was left of the housing in order to mount the speaker. This actually fit together nicely, but the diameter of new speaker housing was almost exactly the same as the trio of mounting arms and realized they would not be able to flex enough to allow for installation into the opening.

This was put aside as I continued work on the EVC. While waiting for one of the parts shipments during the timing and serpentine belt work, turned my focus on the speaker upgrade once again. One of my aims when retrofitting things into to vehicles is to leave as much of the stock wiring in place. When examining the two plugs going into the tweeter, I speculated this is a common plug design for VW/Audi door speakers. After some searching on Amazon, locate and order a set of the correct female connectors. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PD7TB4J) Using a jewelers screwdriver, detach the male connectors out all the housings. There is a metal tab needing to be depressed to fully remove each connector. To create a jumper, on one of the harnesses snip off the male ends on each of the leads, strip off the insulation then solder the respective wires onto end of the intact connectors. These male leads are slipped back into the plastic housing. This creates a plug and play insert for both the dash and door speakers into the Eurovan’s existing wiring which if needed, can be easily removed and put back to original condition.

After creating the wiring jumpers, while test fitting the speaker into the tweeter opening, realized I can make some “small” modification to the dash and just use a set of screws to mount the speakers. To make this as secure as possible, need a set of metal clips to secure the screw through the dash piece. Mark the mounting points with a Sharpie to outline the areas needing to be trimmed. Bring the Dremel out again and the perimeter walls are thinned down to allow installation of metal clip on opposite sides. One of the clips needs to trimmed and the corner area is cut down for proper fit. The screw holes are marked and small opening are created with a drill. Be aware there is limited space due to the angle of the windshield.

Plug the two new connectors into the Eurovan’s wiring and the two female leads are connected to the speaker. Place it into the opening and tighten the screws down to secure it into place. Add some foam between the speaker and the opening to provide a better seal and fill any gaps. The speaker cover fits over without any issue and it looks stock from the outside. This was finished up before the trip to Laguna Seca and it did improve the overall sound during the drive and while at the campsite. Greatly appreciate the legwork and research Dean did to figure out what would be a good a proper speaker to replace the tweeter.

FYI….
One aspect I noted about the aftermarket speaker connectors is this is the same connector used for the lighting system in the climate control unit/ heater control panel (535919383). The tweeter housing/ males leads could be adapted when having to replace the burnt out bulb for an LED or other replaceable bulb. Reverence: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9674475

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[Saturn]

During the recent work on the EVC, I was ordering parts for all the jobs on the to-do list as well as some spare parts to either have along in the van or ready at a moments notice. When going through the rockauto.com parts catalog, I routinely check for various spares worth piggybacking onto the order which will not greatly increase the shipping costs. One such item was picking up an extra distributor cap. Since this was a spare I went for the low-cost option, an ACDelco wholesaler closeout (E387A) for $9.68 (.vs $28.79 for a Bosch 03239 cap.)

When it arrives, I sort through the other parts first then took a look to see what I just bought. The box itself has a layer of dust on it with a copyright date of 1995 printed on the side. Opening it up, I pull out the cap and the first thing which catches my eye is the black plastic cover and then see “Bosch” imprinted between the posts. Hot-diggity-damn, I totally scored on this one. Later in the evening I get on my laptop and order two more. They arrive this afternoon and like the first one, both sport a layer of dust on the top of the box. Opening them up I pull out a second Bosch cap and the third one is a plain one, no markings words or numbers on it at all. Figure I would pass this discovery along in case someone is actively or passively looking to get a new distributor cap. Not saying 66% will be Bosch units, but the chance is definitely there.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/volkswagen,199...r+cap,7120

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[Abscate]

Brother of Saturn….

Heat that fill plug with propane for 28 seconds for five days, letting it cycle cool and I bet it will spin out with your existing tool. Don’t worry about the oil inside , it won’t get too hot
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.ssS!

[Saturn]

After returning from the Laguna Seca trip, any further work stopped on the 1995 EVC as I had a few other things and vehicles to focus on. Just before heading down to Monterey, I noticed a 1993 Weekender come up for sale on Craigslist here in San Francisco. From the pictures it was not a pristine example of a Eurovan, but rather one which had lived on the streets of SF and not in a driveway or a garage with oxidized paint along with several bruised and scrapes. The ad outlines some of the potential issues; dash smoke event from the radio, it had been taken to Burning Man several times and most importantly, the manual transmission was described “as on the way out."

After finishing unpacking and cleaning from the track excursion, I see the Weekender ad is still active (now 2 weeks old.) After some consultations with my brother (Sanchius) decide to take a look at it. Just recently, his Vanagon had been involved in a collision with a motorcyclist who unsuccessfully tried to squeeze by him while in a no passing zone. (https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9909968#9909968) Decide to check out the Weekender to see if it was worth pursuing as a possible replacement or a potential project.

Talking to the current owner, he describes how he cannot shift the transmission and a replacement unit would only run around $1200. It could be started in gear with the clutch depressed but it will pop out of gear when trying to shift. He enthusiastically relates the engine has only 120K on it (body 220K) and has “no rust.” Well… no rust turns out to be spots on the windshield cowl, on the sill between the passenger door and the sliding door, and under the rear most driver side window. “Not a lot of rust” is the response after pointing these out. The rear hatch contains a large dent along the glass from “someone backing it into a tree” and the inside and outside was permeated with all sorts of alkali dust from visiting the Black Rock desert. The pop top has a couple tears in the fabric but is mostly intact. Note this one comes with ABS, a feature missing from my 1995 EVC. Start the engine and it runs smoothly and its does not exhibit any expensive sounds. Tell him I will think about it and get back to him by Saturday as the owner plans to be head out Sunday night to partake in the festivities at Burning Man.

After conferring with my brother, on Friday evening text an offer outlining what needs to be addressed on the van and the value after that is taken into consideration. This is countered a few hours later and finally we settle on a price mid Saturday afternoon. Early Sunday evening exchange presidents for paperwork and keys, my friend Alex escorts me back to my garage space and while on the drive I attempt to shift it 2-3 times and true to form it didn’t want to go into any other gear. The van makes the 7-8 mile journey without any moderate or major issues. One of the issues which pops up is a blinking coolant light which illuminates after a couple minutes into the drive and the coolant temp needle doesn’t really get above the first hash mark on the dial. Alex reports the exhaust to be “visible” (darkish) “copious" and “negatively aromatic.” We attribute this to most likely not being run very far and able to warming up over the past few months and then driving it in 3rd gear at high RPMs/Italian tune-up on the drive.

Come back to it the next evening and after doing some reading and research, take it out for another short test drive. This time I pump the clutch pedal 6-8 times to see if “pressurizing” the hydraulics will change anything. Low and behold, the van shifts normally during the test drive. Take it for an 8-10 mile drive to discover it does not want to stay in 2nd or 4th gear unless I hold the shifter in place. Looks like all the transmission will need is some new bushings rather than a replacement. That is the big gamble with this van and lucky for me, it seems to have paid off in my favor (so far.)

Next Up: Removing the instrument cluster to re-flow solder over some joints to see if it can resolve the blinking coolant warning light.

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[Saturn]

For the next week or so start to assess the rest of the van. To address the blinking coolant light, add some fluid to the reservoir and remove the instrument cluster to resolder the six joints. After removing all of the coverings around the steering column, there is a surprising discovery, a totally bare wire in the loom. This one originates from the back of ignition switch, more specifically it is the lead for the key-in switch (brown/red.) This bare wire leads to one of the blocks (H) on the back of the fuse panel as well an offshoot to a single connector which the wire is also devoid of any insulation. This is most likely the reason the fuse in slot #21 is gone. After a bit of a struggle with a jewelers screwdriver, finally extract the individual female leads out from the connector blocks into the back of the ignition and the fusebox. The plan is to see if I can reconstruct it sourcing things from my collection of wiring (mostly 1970s - 90s Volvo-oriented.)

Focus switches over to the center of the dash to liberate the stereo (modern Alpine unit with USB, bluetooth and detachable faceplate) to see if that is useable. The stereo and mounting collar pull out after a small bit of work. Turning the unit over see a large scorch mark on the corner of the bottom cover, not a good sign. Discover the main power leads are held together with a twisting wire nut, certainly not a good indicator of a quality installation. Continuing to inspect things, uncover another totally bare wire and find it is part of the offshoot wiring to the single connector discovered earlier. Remove the bottom cover off of the Alpine stereo, find the scorch mark is only on the outside, there is no evidence of anything burning on the inside of the cover or on the circuit board.

One of the other wiring issues discovered behind the fusebox are two wires soldered together (one with larger gauge, black and red colored insulation) embedded with with green oxidation (verdigris) and not directly connected to anything. Near them is a short wire emerging from a connector (Q block N block, mistake on my part in looking at the Bentley wiring diagram and in the image below two broken wires: N1 & N6 are visible 10/17 edit) and after pouring over the wiring diagrams, it looks to be associated with the AC system. After sealing the ends with electrical tape, addressing this is downgraded to a lower priority.

Concurrently, the instrument cluster is taken apart to resolder the six joints near the voltage stabilizer. (Reference: http://www.1946vw.co.uk/vwbooks/vw_info/t4_gauges.htm) After disassembling the cluster it looks like someone previously had touched up these six joints. Regardless, the soldering iron is plugged in and each of the connections are touched up and reflowed. While everything is apart, this is a good time to do a deep clean on the inside of the plastic screen. Even here, the alkali playa dust has found a place to settle. Before the instrument cluster is fully put back together, a small arrow is cut out of a white label and placed near the gas gauge icon as a pointer to which side the fuel filler is located as a helpful visual cue. The cluster is reinstalled into the dash and after starting up the engine, all looks to be working as designed. Let the engine run for about 10 minutes and the coolant light remains dormant. The van is relocated inside my garage space for more in-depth work ahead.

It takes a while going though my wiring collection, I am able to find direct matches for the two different connectors to rebuild the damaged wiring from relay connectors scavenged off of a 1990s Volvo 940. Reconstruct the wiring and since the plan is to also use this wire to power one or two USB chargers, on the branch line to the stereo a junction block is added (sourced from a 1970s Beetle) for an easy way to tap into the circuit. For the USB charger, will most have a relay set up as not to tax it too much and end up with another smoke event. The leads are locked into their connector blocks at the back of the ignition switch and fusebox and a new fuse is loaded into position 21. Hooking up the leads to the stereo, insert the key into the ignition turn it right one click and then back. The stereo lights up, turns on and starts to play music off of my phone. Let it play for about 15 minutes and no smoke appears or other issues arise.

Next: spark plugs and compression test

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[Saturn]

One of the large, PITA jobs destine for this Weekender will be the required deep cleaning inside and outside. Alkali dust is everywhere and one of the ways to deal with this is to utilize vinegar with the cleaning agent. During the extraction of the instrument cluster, most of the the vents, assorted plastic covers and dash pieces were removed at the same time. Finding dust lining the vent ducting while not unexpected, is more than a bit daunting when thinking about how to address cleaning it. In the meantime, give the Weekender a bath to remove some of the desert off of it as well as take off some of the paint oxidation to give the van a more unified look. In the meantime, need to research what is a good cleaning combo (looking at simple green & vinegar) to eradicate the alkali dust in and outside the van. Another interesting aspect are friends reaction to the Caribbean Green paint as I share its acquisition. Most like the visual boldness of it, for me it is fine, though not my first choice looking at the other color options from the 1993 line-up.

While going through the van, pleasantly discover the passenger seat has been updated with a swivel base. Find a regular battery and not a deep cycle one under the drivers seat. While trying to figure out how to extract the battery out, learn about the extra latch on the sliders to move the seat all the way forward. Optimistically put the battery on a charger, soon it is very evident this one is DOA. There is the remnants of heavy gauge wire, most likely going to some piece of long gone sound system equipment as well as wiring leading to several USB chargers for the rear seats. Under the folding table find about a dozen empty whip-it cartridges in a storage pocket. About a dozen old and semi-melted trident gum pieces are removed out of the glove box as well as a couple RV deodorized from under the passenger seat. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg cleaning wise.

After the van has dried off and back into the garage, up on jack stands it goes. As part of the overall inspection process under the engine bay, remove the skid plate off of the van. The affirmation this van has seen some adventures is evident in the creative way the skid plate has been affixed to the frame. Once that is out of the way, the inspection can begin. There does not seem to be any major leaks occurring, a good sign. When looking at this van, the PO mentioned the engine had been replaced by the PPO. I am curious to see what exact engine type has been installed and find the AAF stamp on the front of the block. Going further back the transmission mount has a date stamp of 2011 and is in good condition. Can see the torn ends of the orange shifter bushing which is on the replacement list. The fuel filter has a date of 2020 stamp on the casing so no need to change that out.

As mentioned, one of the other areas I want to check is the compression of the cylinders. This is due to the report of the visible and aromatic exhaust during the retrieval trip and seeing some blackness emerging from the tailpipe when flicking the throttle at idle. As mentioned before, this could be just build-up in the exhaust from the PO not regularly driving the car and not getting things up to temperature, or it could the the indicator of some other issue. The engine is started to get it warmed up for the test. The plan being to run it for 10 minutes, let it cool down for 90-120 minutes then perform the compression test. After a couple minutes with the engine droning away, the temp needle needle starts to move upward, but disappointingly the coolant warning light also has been activated and is blinking again. Will need to dig back into that again, first test being jumping the sensor in the round tank to see if it has gone bad or the fault is elsewhere in the system.

After letting the engine cool for an hour and half, undo the grill fasteners and that is put to the side. Tilt the radiator outward to gain access to the lower parts of the engine. Remove each spark plug wire and write the cylinder number on the end with a sharpie. Each spark plug is removed and they all have a similar light-beige coating, none are overly dark, sooty or oily. Start at #1 cylinder by threading the hose into the spark plug hole and connecting on the compression gauge. All cylinders are checked with the gas pedal to the floor and as then engine rotates, count to 15 before turning the key off. Turns out to be pretty solid numbers across the board: 165-175-175-175-175 PSI. Once finishing that test, sprayed down valve cover and other parts of the engine with Simple Green to remove the accumulated grease and grime.

Next: Brakes

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