Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 22:55:41 -0400
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject: Re: New Cheap South African Grills are Here! (Also Cheap Mud
Flaps)
In-Reply-To: <web-28030590@california.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> Well, I got my mudflaps. A few things of note (Ron, you'll have
> to help me with some, I'll have to call for some others):
>
> - The rear mudflaps came without any installation instructions or mounting
> screws.
> - The rear mudflaps won't attach unless they are carved out some
> more on my '87 Westy GL. Is this normal?
> - The front mudflaps instructions were hard to read at best (a single hand
> drawn photocopied sheet (which says "Kombi or Caravelle" on it)
> - Both mudflaps will not stand vertically because the end of the
> wheel well sits diagonal instead or perpendicular to the ground.
>
> Any ideas anyone? Did I get the wrong flaps?
You got the right mud flaps. I can give you a little bit of info but I'm
afraid you may have to look at the archives for more. You need to
understand that most of these South African VW parts (i.e. grills, mudflaps,
trailer hitches, etc.) were intended to be dealer installed, so they
generally come with no instructions at all, or rudimentary ones if you're
lucky. Moreover, this stuff is getting more and more scarce, as it is
nearing end-of-life. In fact, the discontinuation of the Vanagon in South
Africa will only speed up this situation. For example, I have been told
that the price of the genuine VW trailer hitches may go up significantly as
of my next shipment, both because of inflation in S.A. and the fact that
VW/SA simply is not buying them in much quantity anymore.
The front mudflaps (for now) come with some basic instructions. The rear
ones used to, but haven't for almost a year. (If anyone has an instruction
sheet from an old set, please fax or email it to me and I can include it
with current stock; if I'd known VW was going to stop including them I'd
have kept a copy!) The grills and trailer hitches never came with
instructions at all, as it was assumed that the VW dealer installing the
part would know what to do. Doubtless there was once an "official VW
instruction sheet" provided to dealers for these items, which was not made
available to us mere mortals. :-)
Fortunately, there are so many listmembers who have put South African
accessories on their Vanagons that there should be no shortage of advice in
the archives and elsewhere. If you haven't already searched the Archives,
that would be the place to start. Plus, you can generally figure out what
to do just from common sense. This is how I figured out how to install the
mud flaps and trailer hitch on my own '89 Westy, without any instructions.
After examining the contents, it became apparant that the trailer hitch
included one set of brackets for metal bumpers and one for plastic bumpers;
I messed around with them until I figured out what was what. Similarly, it
became apparant that the rear mudflaps were designed to clip on, which I
didn't much care for, as it just didn't seem too secure to me. So I
constructed a simple bracket with a piece of angle iron that allowed me to
bolt the mud flaps to the wheel wells, a design which has lasted me two
years so far and counting. However, I believe that many people have simply
clipped them on, so I suppose that works as well. The bottom edges on the
set on my Vanagon are not completely parallel to the ground; I believe that
this is intentional, as this is the only way they fit that makes sense, and
they do look fine that way.
If anyone cares to add suggestions/ideas, be my guest. It's been a few years
since I put these accessories on my own Westy, so my memory is a bit fuzzy.
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
(215) 234-VWVW
www.busdepot.com
_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders by Part # 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
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