Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 00:31:58 -0800
Reply-To: Patrick Harris <harrisvanagon@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Patrick Harris <harrisvanagon@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Lowering a Vanagon
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
William,
Sorry, this email is a bit aged. But, I don't have a digital photo of the
van. But try and picture this. 81 Vanagon, plain jane.. nothing fancy, not
a westy, not anything. Just a van. Two tone brown/tan. 14" steel wheels.
Engine is wore to the ground. Main seal is shot to hell. Drinks as much
oil as gas. Doesn't burn it, just leaks it... I guess anyways. Got the
engine out and I'm slowly going through it. It's more hashed than I
originally suspected. I'm doing a little extra to the engine to make it a
little more "oofy". My brother, "the head man" is port and polishing and
putting a 4 angle grind on new valves. New springs, etc etc. So I'm, in
the mean time, have been stripping the body clean and ready to go and shoot
it with primer. Repainting it Midnight metallic black with a Argent
Metallic Silver stripe in the center channel that runs the length of the rig
mid-height on the body. Limo tint black windows from the side windows back
including the rear window. (Wa. state law requires at no more than 35% on
the side front door windows and wing.
Interior *was* in great shape. All brown vinyl. However, that's being
changed. I have the fabric, and waiting on a buddy to get done with his hot
rod to get to my seats. I ordered through an old bug vendor that I went
through when I rebuilt/restored my bugs I've owned. It's hard to explain,
but if you've seen a 1997 VW Golf interior of this color, you'd understand.
It's black with a blue and silver confetti look to it. All velour and
directional. I might go with a charcoal headliner and carpet kit. However,
I'm not to sure if it will look right. My 66 bug I had, it looked real
trick. But, on that I used fabric from a 1994 Honda Accord. All black.
Being it's a large rig, I don't want to over do the black, but I don't want
it to look funny either. It may be just hit and miss, but I'll try a sample
carpet patch to see what it looks like. Headliner will be a guess
completely and hope it will look nice. Like to find a velour headliner for
these rigs, but haven't yet. On bugs, it deadens the sound something else
and gives it that very custom look and feel. But, can't argue with the
versitility of vinyl. :)
Anyways, I have been looking at having some fun with the wheels and
suspension. I have a friend that owns a local machine shop. I kind of
played with the idea at first then he said that he might.. *might* be
willing to give it a shot and change the bolt pattern on the drums and discs
if I give him some old ones to plug around with. If it all passes on the
load test on his press, than we're going to change it to a more popular bolt
pattern such as 5 on 4 1/2 (Most older ford) or 5 on 4 3/4 (Most older GM).
We're going to hold off until we find the right rims that look right. My
other option is to take some rims I want down to Willamette Wheel in
Porland, Or. and have them fill and re-drill the bolt pattern on the wheels.
Boocoo dollars. Or, I can find some Camaro Rallies and have them
redrilled to 5 on 112mm., or whatever it is on the vanagon, which is cheap.
Plus I can dictate what width on the rim I want. I just don't know if I
want chevy rims on my vw though. My friend has some on his 62 custom bug.
Looks good. But, I want to lower it just enough to get that "hugged" look.
Just to reduce the gap between the fender and the top of the tire. I'm
working on getting a small electronic scrap book of the project together to
put on a personal web site. I realize that it's not the first major Van
project, but I hope it will be somewhat unique since I'm willing to go
against the grain and do something different. Perhaps have a show-off rig
or something. It's funny, this project started as a detail and tune-up to
sell. Then had to change the starter. Ended up deciding to have fun since
I hadn't had any bites. Yanked out the engine and tranny, gutted and
stripped it. So, here I am. Figured to do something with it since it just
sat. However, I'm having a fast and furious lesson on this injection. Not
much upgradablity to it I've found. Maybe looking for info in the wrong
place. If the cam, heads and pistons I'm using are going to work, I need to
refine the fuel delivery... otherwise I'm at square one. But, that remains
to be seen. I've yacked too much... sorry.
Cheers!!
Patrick Harris
Longview, Washington
1981 Vanagon (Project "Bessie")
1987 Vanagon GL
>Would it be possible to see a photo of your van to see how high it is now?
>I'm curious about why you want to lower it.
>
>William P.
>
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