Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 10:06:37 -0400
Reply-To: Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Sometimes it's the little things...
In-Reply-To: <173.c19e6a4.2a77750f@aol.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
I bought an '85 Westy last year because a guy called me desperate to sell
it. He said his wife would divorce him if it wasn't gone the next day. I
really didn't have the money and it was sight unseen, but I sent him a check
and a couple of days later my tow guys brought it here. He said it had a
bum motor, but it only had 132k miles on it and I figured, ' Pop a rebuilt
motor in it and use it for camping with the kids.'
The irony is that the motor turned out to be fine, but I have had to
repair/replace almost everything else and the fun is still going on.
Brake lines in the rear rusted out
Metal long coolant pipes rusted out
Rear wheel cylinder bleeders broken off
Interior came out for a full cleaning and de-miceing
Front heater blower housing came out for a cleaning (mice)
Power steering pump (rebuilt)
Power steering line (rubber) replaced
Metal power steering lines rusted (replaced today)
Pop Top Seal replaced
Removed, cleaned and added fans to refrigerator
Things still to do:
Add cup holders (shame on Westfalia!)
Fix A/C leak (loose clamps on replacement lines)
Replace pop top canvas (akin to colonoscopy in fun factor)
Replace outlets on side of van
Repair small oil leak (a push rod tube must be rusted out)
Repair broken muffler support (exhaust system appears to be recently
replaced!)
Clean and repaint propane tank
Get new tires (I have low mileage Michelins on there now, however they are
dryrotted :(
Rust repair on body and repaint
Have fun camping with family (so that hopefully all of this hard work and
money spent will pay off).
Oh the joys of owning a Westy!
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
http://www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-327-4936
Fax: (856)-327-2242
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Kim Brennan
Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 12:50 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Sometimes it's the little things...
At the beginning of the summer, I had plans for a few things to do on my
Vanagon.
1) Tiico engine conversion
2) Clean the interior (steam clean the carpets)
3) Give a tune-up to the AC...
I then went and bought a 2nd Vanagon (a Westy this time around)
So that added to the project list.
4) Replace the mufflers with stainless steel versions
5) Put new tailpipe on Westy
6) Clean interior of Westy
7) Tweak the fridge on the westy.
Then because the PO of the Westy had done a fair amount of noise
insulation...
8) add noise insulation baffles to the GoldBrick (my first Vanagon)
In the process of all this I managed to break the fill cap on the GoldBrick
one day by dropping it at the filling station when I was too tired. So...
9) Rekey replacement fill cap.
Then because the heater got stuck on after the Tiico engine replacement it
was....
10) replace heater hose valve to heat exchanger
Closely followed by...
11) replace heater hoses.
Then I broke the fill tank door on the Westy, so...
12) replace utility outlets
Previous owner of Westy had removed arm rests...
13) replace arm rests
14) add Projectzwo foglights to Westy
15) fix AC on Westy
and now because both will have been converted to R134, which don't cut it
in
the Washington Heat and Humidity...
16) replace coolant in AC with Duracool.
I've also been replacing damaged parts or parts incompatible with the
Tiico...
17) Install new trailer hitch on the Gold Brick.
18) Replace cracked tail lights and side markers.
19) put new alloys (15"ers) on Gold Brick
insert wash cars someplace in there....
ah, the joys of used cars.
------------------------
Some of the above has not yet been done this summer, but I'm still working
on
it...
PS. Could it possibly be just a little bit hotter and humid while I work on
my Vanagons?