Date:         Fri, 12 Aug 2005 22:21:52 -0500
Reply-To:     Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: Friday topic: what is your favorite low (or no) dollar
              modification?
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

>>What is your favorite CHEAP modification of your vanagon?

-leather steering wheel cover:

the best i have found is the Wheelskin brand, and you can get it in a
BX style which is thicker and for larger thickness wheels. be sure to
specify the steering wheel diameter (as well as the year and model of
car). why put one on the bus? cause (IMHO) it makes the steering wheel
much more pleasant to hold on to, both in summer (it doesn't get as
hot as the plastic) and in winter (you almost don't need gloves).
costs about $30 including shipping, but after having gone through
several other wal-mart and generic types, it is worth it. the cheapest
place i found was http://www.autotoystore.com/ ...
if you really want to go crazy, the covers come in all sorts of crazy
colors. i just got black for mine.

-dash-lights-reflection-on-windshield:

perhaps because of my height (head to butt), i kept noticing that
when i had the dash lights turned up bright, i could see them
reflecting in the front windshield. didn't like this, so i got some
body-side-molding from an auto trim shop ... the stick-on type, about
three inches wide ...and glued it to the front edge of the instrument
'pod' top. i got the wide kind so it would have enough overlap to stay
in place ... you really need to add only about 3/4 inch to eliminate
the reflection. works pretty good and doesn't look too terribly tacky.

now all i have to do is figure out a way to eliminate the same sort of
reflection in the drivers side window. so far, the only way is to turn
the dash lights down much dimmer ... which i don't like.  i have heard
of some stuff from 3M that sort of 'polarizes' the light ... lets you
see it from only straight above, not to the side angles ... but when i
called about it, they told me it was $50 per square foot! well, i
won't need but one square foot ... but they don't sell direct. great.
haven't found anybody who sells it retail yet.

- installed a second courtesy light over the passenger seat.

 it seems that there is already a hole for it.  you have to feel
around on the
headliner. what you will feel is a little black plastic cover. i made
a cut in the center of that cover ... then i could reach my fingers
through the slit and pry the cover out.  that allowed me to finish the
cut in kind of a  >--< fashion, and i got some headliner glue and
glued the headliner into/onto the edges of that hole.  take the light
fixture out of the one over the drivers seat to see what it should
look like. then, a duplicate fixture can be installed into the hole
over the passenger side.  the wires are not too terribly hard to feed
down the a-pillar ... they come out behind the 'glove compartment'.
then "all you have to do ..." is run the wires over to the drivers
side and connect them.  i also spliced the ground wire into the
passengers door button.

- grab/pull handle on the driver's side

this is a bit  i wanted a pull-up handle
(like is already on the passenger side) for the driver ... on the
a-pillar. well, it turns out you have to be real careful when you
drill holes into the drivers a-pillar: there is a big bundle of wires
running inside. so what you do is this:  take the grab handle
completely off the passenger side, so there is nothing but holes in
the metal visible. the last little plastic 'packing' comes out if you
wiggle it front to back while pulling on it. don't pry it with
anything
... you will scratch the paint. now get some wide masking tape and
smooth it down on the a-pillar, covering the holes where the handle
was. mark where the holes are (for the grab handle) and also mark
where the edge of the a-pillar is (the corner edge ... the a-pillar
cross section is kind of a square). also measure down from the edge
of the headliner to the topmost hole ... to help make sure that the
two handles are pretty much the same distance down from the roof.

now peel of the masking tape, invert it and move it over to the
drivers side. measure that same arbitrary distance from the headliner,
mark it on the a-pillar, and put the edge of the hole mark here,
aligning the edge marks with the a-pillar 'corner' again. check it out
as to distance from the roof, see if the holes look 'right' as to the
amount of metal between the holes and the windshield seal.  then drill
a small hole into the top most hole ... DO NOT LET THE DRILL BIT GO
DEEP INTO THE HOLE. drill slowly if you can. using a coat hanger
(or some such), poke around in this hole to push the wire bundle back
out of the way. now drill the other hole. be careful.  when you get
all the little holes drilled, you should be able to see the bundle of
wires ... push it out of the way while you re-drill the holes with
the proper size bigger bit ... 7/16ths or 1/2 inch. check the holes on
the passenger side to be sure.  messy, cause there will be
shavings all over the console pod and steering column, etc. i used a
large magnet to clean up afterward ... a sheet or some such cover
would probably be a better idea.

when you get all the holes drilled, you might want to put some paint
on the edges of the new holes ... just for rusts sake. let it dry,
then put the new 'packing' in (hint: since the other one is
disassembled,
you forgot which way the things went. there IS a top one and a bottom
one. the smaller end goes up on the top, and down on the bottom). then
just put on the new handle and screws ... and you can go back and
put on the old one, too.

i also added another handle to the sliding door: i got one of the
handle to match the one on the b-pillar (in front of the sliding door)
... and put it on the door itself, but i didn't use the little plastic
'packing' that adapts the handle to the curvature of the b-pillar.
i just added the handle to the front 'pillar' of the sliding door,
up high enough to miss the body handle (so you don't mash your hand)
... works great for the middle or rear seat person to close the
sliding door. now they have something to grab hold of.

i also added two more of these type grab handles in the low overhead
side above the rear seat ... like the one that is over the left middle
seat. i figured that the rear seat people needed some Oh-My-God bars
also :) the handles also come in very handy for hanging things on.
i stretched a clothes hanger bar between then, and secured it with a
long bungie cord (stretched from one side to the other, and kinda
wrapped around the pole

i also put the camper hanger straps (which, by the way, are exactly
the same ones as used to be in the beetles!) in place of the little
round coat hanger 'knobs) ... the little black things on the c-pillar
(behind the sliding door, and in the same place on the opposite side
of the bus) mostly, i did this cause i wound up using the overhead
grab handles to hold the clothes bar.

- extra storage boxes

 i needed some extra little get-things-up-off-the-floor storage boxes,
and
finally found a place for them: right in front of the seat affixed to
that little
metal rim ... in front of the under-seat storage. i used ordinary
ice cube bins (from Wal-mart) and just fixed them on with a couple
of stove bolts.  now i have a neat place for road maps, ice scraper,
etc.  don't look all that great, but i couldn't find them in black
... had to take pale blue.

also: if your bus does NOT have the fold out glove compartment, you
can install a second map pocket on the passengers door.  i found it
helps a lot to make a cardboard template of the back of the map pocket
... to mark where to drill holes in the door liner.

- extra visibility out the rear window:

3M has a thing called Vangard. it is a fresnel lens that allows you
(in the driver's seat) to see things right at the
bumper. well, almost. you really can see things close up much better.
they come in three sizes:
part number: 07950  Vangard          8"x10"
             07951  Super Vangard   11"x14"
             07952  Vangard 2        6"x8"
costs about $10 for the middle size ... mine is the 6"x8" one ...
and i find i really can't do without it now. same with the little 3"
round fisheye stickon mirrors that i added to the big outside rearview
mirrors. on these, i found that the ones offered by NAPA are the best
for staying on, and also the best for clarity of image ... some of the
Wal-mart and local parts place generic ones are kinda distorted.

- odds and ends

 i have a habit of re-arranging stuff in the bus to fit
my preconceived notions of how-a-car-should-be-built ... example: roll
the window glass all the way up, then remove the crank handles and
re-orient them such that they are pointing straight up. then screw
them back on.
just makes it easy for me to see if the passenger window is completely
closed ... just by looking at the position of the handle.

i also flipped the fresh air outlets in the dash ... just take them
out (there are four little tabs that have to be gently pried up ...
all at
the same time ... while you pull out), and flip left to right. why?
cause then the on-off knob is on the drivers left (not right as it
originally was) ... and i don't have to reach IN behind the steering
wheel to flip it off/on. i found that in the original position, i was
looking at the damn thing trying to find it. in the new position, i
don't have to look at it. i flipped the passenger side as well, just
to make them the same ... passenger doesn't know the difference.  also
fits in
with my philosophy of switches: Oben macht Offen ... Up means Open/On.
i rearranged all the courtesy lights to reflect this also ...
switch in up position turns on light. whatever. some people's kids,
right? flipping the passengers side also helps a little bit when the
driver wants to reach over and open that vent ... he doesn't have to
reach quite as far (well, four inches shorter anyway).

hope it helps. good luck!
joel