Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 09:50:23 -0600
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Parts Compatability
In-Reply-To: <003d01c524a7$b7a35440$61853842@michael1>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Michael,
Congratulations on the ownership of your new steed! and welcome to "The
List"!!
You are in for lots of mixed blessings - much happiness and heartache -
glory and aggravation.
My daily driver is an 88 GL model. I wouldn't have anything else -
except perhaps the same year with an auto tranny instead of my current
manual tranny. All that clutching gets me....... bad knees. Other than
that - the V-gons are the only vehicle for me.
Keep in mind that your machine is 18 years old. You are going to have
the maintenance problems of an 18 year old vehicle. Not those of a new
machine off the lot or even a good clean low mileage vehicle less than 5
years old. It's 18 years old, and there are many things you will face
with your 87 Westy.
Bear in mind, that if you take maintenance seriously, and preventative
maintenance even more seriously, you will get to very serious
trouble-free usage from your Westy and it will give you an enormous
amount of pleasure.
Vanagons remind me very much of airplanes (I'm an old airplane
mechanic). The REQUIRE continuous, ongoing maintenance to get good
service out of them. All early Volkswagons - the old busses, the old
beetles, all the way up through the end of the Vanagon production,
seemed to have been designed to be imminently maintainable by the home
mechanic. Those outside that group are to me a PITA.
Probably in the beginning as you begin to use this vehicle all the
obviously neglected things will come to the fore and will have to be
dealt with. But once done, you should get a lot of mileage before
having to tend to them again.
There are some immediate things that must be done to protect your
investment however.
Vanagon based machines are notorious for going up in flame due to an
engine fire.
Unless you know absolutely for certain without a doubt in your mind
EXACTLY when the fuel system hoses were replaced, DO IT NOW!!!!!!!
Don't wait. Park the machine, order the high pressure fuel line and
injector hose kit, install them, test, and then and only then, allow it
out of your driveway. I can't emphasize this enough.
After the fuel line issue is resolved, take care of the fluids in the
vehicle. Change the tranny fluid (if manual use Redline MT 90),
change the oil and install a Mann or Mahle filter (get from one of our
list vendors) and no other. Why? The internal pressure relief valve
spring is stronger than most, better holds oil pressure in the engine
oil galleries when the engine is shut down, and aids significantly in
reducing the incidence of " Wasserboxer valve lifter clatter syndrome"
which is caused by a lifter going flat when the vehicle is parked and
the engine is not run for a while. Use a good Dino multi grade oil of
20W50wt or a Synthetic like Mobil One 15W50. I much prefer the latter,
and find that I burn less oil using the synthetic. I also find that I
use less oil by leaving the oil level at half mast instead of up to the
full mark. Seems to blow it out somewhere if I fill to the mark, then
when its down to half way, it stabilizes.
Bleed your brakes. Brake fluid is notorious for being hygroscopic, and
absorbs moisture, which condenses into droplets of water in the fluid.
This causes corrosion of internal parts.
On the manual tranny version, the clutch system and the brake system
share a common fluid reservoir. The reservoir is located in front of the
driver seat, behind the instruments in the dash pod. There is a hatch
cover on top that lifts off. Sitting in the driver seat, you can reach
forward, and feel the detents for the fingers in the forward side of the
cover (windshield side) Lift up and it should pop right off. Lots of
goodies in there. Use ONLY DOT-4 brake fluid in there. It is designed to
withstand a higher heat, plus has some other properties essential to
Vanagons. If you have a manual tranny, bleed the clutch system first,
then the rear brakes, then the front brakes. The front brakes can be
bled with out having to get under the vehicle, just by turning the
wheels in the right direction. While you are there, check for brake
lines that might be rubbing. Especially on the right front wheel.
Coolant should be changed out every two years at least. If you are big
on driving a lot, you might want to change it more often. . WBX engines
have a head corrosion problem and it's important to keep good coolant in
the machine to help keep corrosion retarded.
********
The fuel hose issue is an absolute. Something that if not done
immediately could result in your losing the
Westy. The fluids are essentials, but the world won't come to an end if
it gets put off until tomorrow, but the sooner the better because it
will immediately begin increasing the longevity of your vehicle, work
towards preventing any unscheduled and inconvenient (usually expensive)
breakdowns and get you onto a routine of maintenance.
Next comes the CV's. If you don't know the history, you need to pull the
CV's and service them. The sooner the better. Could save you some bucks
if you do it now. This is not a hard task but takes a little time. For a
first timer give yourself a day. For someone who has done it before, the
whole thing can be done in about 3 hours, provided all the retaining
bolts come out the first try. If a CV must be replaced on the shaft, it
is an easy do. A pair of snap ring pliers and a steel or brass "Drift" -
a 3/8 in dia steel bar about 10 inches long, and a hammer, is all you
need to remove the CV bearing from the shaft. Once removed, grease the
new one, slide onto the shaft, seat it, and install the snap ring, slip
the rubber boot ring over the outside of the CV race and you are done.
Next reinstall the axle and you are home free.
To paraphrase a comment made by Sean Connery - "I have been to the CV
Circus many times........!"
It's an easy do!
I think that covers most things that are "must do's" to get you on the
road safely. Other things can be done as they arise.
Good luck with your new machine
Enjoy,
Regards,
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Chelsea, AL
Michael Edwards wrote:
>Hey gang,
>
>I just purchased an 87 westy and am new to the list and still trying to familiarize myself with all things vanagon. I just found a good local source for a salvage 85 and can proably get what I want from it fairly cheap. I don't know much about parts computability. I know in 86 the cooling system was redesigned.
>
>Can anyone tell me:
>
>Are there any parts that usually wear out or are particularly hard to find or expensive I should grab?
>
>Is there a good resource online that discusses parts interchange between the years?
>
>Any insight appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Mike
>
>
>
>
