Date:         Mon, 20 Jan 2003 13:29:31 -0500
Reply-To:     Warren Chapman <vwsyncroguy@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Warren Chapman <vwsyncroguy@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Taking out the dash for BEHR unit / Radio relocation

Chris,

I recently completed the installation of a Behr unit in my 90 Syncro....so
I know you're having fun.....its a big job.  Here are some thoughts from my
experience.

1. Getting the correct location for the hole that you drill into the
firewall for the evaporator tubing is important. I found this out by trying
to "eyeball" the correct location.  I got it a little off and had to
struggle quite a bit with it and keep grinding the hole bigger and
bigger...never quite got it right. I had to fight with the copper
evaporator pipes a lot while fitting the unit in.  Not sure where you got
your unit but if you pulled it from another van, it would be easy to take a
large piece of sturdy paper....a brown bag or something and make a template
for the correct location of the hole.  A template came with the original
installation kit for the dealers who originally installed the units, but
they....of course...are long gone.

2. RE: TThe original kit came with molded plastic box that mounts the radio
in a vertical position down onto the front of the heater vent cover in
front of the cover.  These are rare to find with a unit that has
been "salvaged".  I managed to locate one but I really don't like having
the radio located there anyway.  Most modern radios have LCD displays that
weren't designed to be looked at from a location "below" the unit.  My unit
works OK but I cannot read the display at all unless I lean way forward and
look down at the face of the unit.  Also, my radio comes with an infrared
remote which works line of sight and won't work with the radio in this
vertical location.   All this means that its probably worth a
little "advance engineering" to preplan a way to put the radio back into
its original location.