Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 13:08:39 -0400
Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net>
Subject: Re: what are the essential references
In-Reply-To: <002501c0cf37$ff42e960$e382260a@wolf>
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At 12:34 PM 4/27/2001, 86 Westfalia wrote:
>What are the essential references required to maintain and tweak a Vanagon
>Westfalia? I see lots of people laud Bentley,
I don't think I've ever heard anyone "laud" Bentley, it's a horrible piece
of work. But it's the official VW-sponsored shop manual for the beast, and
the only one that talks about either Syncro or camper. It's also the only
one with full wiring diagrams, really excellent ones in fact. It does
*not* unfortunately say in detail how the wires run physically. You can
get one for about USD $100 from any dealer, or direct from Bentley; or for
about USD 75 from Bus Depot http://www.busdepot.com/ which gives a slight
discount if you request it as a list member.
Bus Depot also sell a British-edition Haynes manual for which they are sole
distributor in the US -- it is smaller and much cheaper (about USD 25) and
gives more advice how to go about things. It believes in carburetted
Vanagons, and Digijet systems without oxygen sensors; and the transmission
section says "you can't do this, so don't even think about it."
Bus Depot has also a pocket-sized reference, also based on British
vehicles. I forget what it's called.
Some folks have mentioned either Clymers or Chiltons as having a decent
Vanagon manual. I've never seen one and I find this surprising as the
Cl/Ch manuals I've seen have been useful for holding doors open, or for
emergency use in the outhouse -- but the folks alleging this have been
sober(ish) and respectable in so far as anyone on this list is.
> and something else called
>Etka.
This is the program that the dealers now use instead of microfilm, to look
up parts It gets updated something like four times a year. There have
been some bootleg copies floating around, and the ETKA people have gotten a
bit upset about it.
> I am not a "let's drop that gas tank and fix the cross over line"
>kind of guy.
Hmmm...hasn't started leaking yet, has it? Have faith, it will. :->
> However, I do like to understand how it all goes together and
>works.
When you figure it out, let us know, eh?
david
David Beierl - Providence, RI
http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"
