Date:         Sat, 10 Aug 2002 15:08:49 EDT
Reply-To:     KimBrennan@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kim Brennan <KimBrennan@AOL.COM>
Subject:      15 inch wheels and radios
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I finally got around to mounting the SA 15 inch wheels on the GoldBrick
(Weekender Syncro). I'm using BFGoodrich 215/75 tires. Man that looks good
(raises the GoldBrick about 2 inches compared to the 205/70R14's I was using.)

Also took a moment to glance at the front brakes. Not surprising (I've never
had them done since I got the brick a couple of years ago) I'll have to get
some brake work done soon...preventive maintenance. Probably replace the
rotors up front and drums and shoes in the rear so I'll have a solid
benchmark as to the age of these vital components for the future.

On a different note, I spent many hours last night putting a new radio into
my Westy (replacing the "premium" VW one.) Hours, mainly because I took my
time to do a very clean installation, soldering the new radio wires to the
OEM wires, and shrink wrapping the solder joints. For the ground and power
connections, I also used fusion wrap, because the shrink wrap didn't quite
cover everything.

For this project, I installed a JVC KD-LX111 Kameleon head unit. Since this
radio was going into the Westy...which has a black dash, this unit is just
right. The kameleons present a black blank face when the power is off, which
looks just about invisible. This unit fits, quite nicely into the stock
placement. Cost was a reasonable $200 at Best Buy, where I probably could
have had them do the installation, but there is something satisfying about
doing it yourself...and making SURE it is done right.