Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 20:00:47 -0600
Reply-To: "Frederick M. Wasserstein" <vwvan@CORNHUSKER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Frederick M. Wasserstein" <vwvan@CORNHUSKER.NET>
Subject: Re: Nice Blue 90 GL
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I purchased "Sammy" in August of 2000, She had been trucked here to Nebraska
from California. She was never titled in Nebraska and sat for 5 years as the
P.O. was always going to fix her up and never got around to it.The P.O.
decided one day to go back to Ca. and since he worked with my wife he gave
her a good price, if we would remove it from his property in a hurry. When I
first saw her I thought what a wreck, one window was broken, the windshield
was smashed. There were multiple animals calling the Van home, The front
grill was gone and there were holes in the radiator.I had my doubts whether
it was a junker or not! We towed her home with "The Beast" and my wife went
to work cleaning the inside. I removed the radiator and sent it to the shop,
went online and joined this list! Lots of people helped me learn what I need
to do to get it running! (Thanks to all of you, you know who you are!) I
got new air cleaner, new fuel filter (OEM), no phosphate antifreeze,new oil
filter (OEM), oil, (all from list vendors)and waited for the radiator to
return. Meanwhile back at the ranch as we cleaned up and threw away junk we
relized the inside was in great shape. Before we could get much more done,
the weather closed in on us and each nice day we got a few things done,
replaced hoses and got radiator in. Changed oil added antifreeze and change
filters. As money permitted I bought a new battery and alternator (it was
apart and bad). Then we waited for better weather and more money and
replaced the windshield and rear window. Put diesel in and watch as it
drained out, the P.O. had diconnected the diesel tank, probably a good
thing-I don't know what diesel would be like after 5 years! Reconnected the
diesel tank used a blower to pressurized the diesel (I put some in first!)
tank loosened the enjector until diesel came out and after cranking for
about a hour I finally got her to run! She sounded great! Amazing! We ran
her for 1.5 hours at idle and bled the cooling system! No leaks! When the 2'
snow drift around her finally melts we will run her out to get titled!
During December I decided to go though the paperwork and I found reciepts
for a brand new motor, clutch, brakes and lots more. The total was $3600.00,
I looked and the milage on the ticket showed it had been done less than 500
miles and 5 months before she had been parked. The P.O. forgot all the
improvements he put into it! :-)) So now I am just waiting for some more
money, I bought a Berg short shift kit a few days ago, then when the weather
breaks I will start to work on her again. I grew up owning air cooled VWs
and loved to work on them, so I am back to my first love in autos!
The story of "Sammy" so far!!!
Fred
1982 Vagagon Diesel Westy "Sammy"
1984 GMC Suburban Diesel 4 X 4 "The Beast"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donna Stewart" <DStewart@chrm.com>
To: <vwvan@cornhusker.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2001 6:18 PM
Subject: Re: Nice Blue 90 GL
> I can't remember Rocky Mountain's website but if you use a search engine
such as Yahoo and search on "rocky mountain motorworks" it should come up.
I have had good service from them. I like our 82 diesel but between the
engine rebuilder and my local mechanic I have had some trials with her. At
one point my mechanic set the timing wrong. Right now she seems to use a
lot of oil; we're using Chevron Delo 400 but now my dad thinks we should
switch to 20/50 - what do you think? (We got her for around $200; previous
owner had fried the head). She is two-tone brown in color (seems to be
common for diesels) and her previous owner bought her in Maine; she was
originally sold in Pennsylvania, so has a little rust but not real bad. I
have put new tires on her and a CD player/radio; we replaced the front door
panels with others from the junkyard (that had the original speakers so
looks much better). We have put a "z-bed" backseat in her from a later
model Vanagon, but it is blue. We are thinking of trying to find matching
blue middle and front seats (the velour from the later models). It
originally had brown cordoroy type seats that we almost completely devoid of
padding, so we got the entire interior out of another brown 82 in a
junkyard, except it was leatherette, which is ok except it's real hot in
summer and cold in the winter. We also covered the carpet with a full
coverage rubber mat from the same 82 in the junkyard. This is handy for
hauling plants, kids and pets because you can just wipe it out. I wish I
had a Westfalia diesel; I'd love to hear about yours.
>
> >>> "Frederick M. Wasserstein" <vwvan@cornhusker.net> 02/22/01 04:06PM >>>
> Do you have any information on Rocky Mountain Motorworks? How long have
you
> had your 1982 diesel? How do you like her? I think "Gert" is a fine name
for
> her! What color is she? Mine is white! I am at work now but if you are
> interested I will tell you all about "Sammy".
> Fred
> 1982 Vanagon Westy Diesel "Sammy"
> 1984 GMC Suburban Diesel 4 X 4 " The Beast"
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Donna Stewart" <DStewart@chrm.com>
> To: <vwvan@CORNHUSKER.NET>
> Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2001 4:43 PM
> Subject: Re: Nice Blue 90 GL
>
>
> > He could be talking about Rocky Mountain Motorworks, though I didn't
know
> they sold heads for Vanagons (they may now, however; I think they keep
> adding to their parts line). The 1990 blue is a very pretty color.
> >
> > Donna, 1987 Wolfsburg (LolaLola), 1982 Diesel (may name her Gert)
> >
> > >>> "Frederick M. Wasserstein" <vwvan@CORNHUSKER.NET> 02/22/01 01:37PM
>>>
> > I was running around in "The Beast" today and what did I spy. A
beautiful
> > 1990 GL ahead of me, a two toned blue. Well being a Vanagon fan, I did
> what
> > I had to do. I followed it to its house :-). I think I worried the
owner's
> > wife by following them, but when I explained they understood. They have
> > owned the van since it was new and have had to replace the heads two
> times.
> > The told me they got the parts from some distributer in Colorado? Can
> > somebody get me an address or something? Anyway his wife said he was
about
> > to do another head repair, so I offered to come help (I have a diesel
and
> > have not had the joys of head gasket failure). I hope he calls and lets
me
> > help! But what the list could help with is he cannot get his O2 sensor
off
> > to replace it. Do you need a special tool? Also what is involved in
> > replacing rings at the same time as replacing head gaskets? Cost? Can he
> do
> > the ring job without pulling the clylinders I hear pulling them back is
a
> > major PITA! I can't work on mine right now because it has 2 feet of snow
> > drifts around it, so i may as well help someone else!
> >
> > Fred
> > 1982 Vanagon Westy Diesel "Sammy"
> > 1984 GMC Suburban Diesel 4 X 4 " The Beast"
>
| 
