Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:56:59 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Elemental Mods Report
In-Reply-To: <FAA9459B-8513-4E3D-8146-3E32C930A1CA@xochi.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Now that you have converted the system to R-134a, and the proper
plumbing and valves are in place, why not go one more step and install
Freeze 12. It gives back to you almost 100 percent of the efficiency of
the old Freon 12, and similar lower head pressure on the compressor,
similar to Freon 12. 134a requires much higher head pressure on the
compressor, leading to compressor failure a lot sooner, unless you
changed the compressor when you converted to 134a.
Regards,
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Michael Diehr wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Just got back from watching the perseids at Joshua Tree, awesome
> show! I'm happy to report back on a bunch of modifications / fixes:
>
> Fire: Fuel Injectors:
> Had these refurished/cleaned at http://witchhunter.com, and the van
> definitely runs better now. I would seriously recommend this
> maintenance to anyone who has never done it. Remember that even if
> you have a "new" rebuilt engine, injectors are typically just re-
> used, at best they have been visually inspected, but not actually
> flow tested. I think there's no way to really get them clean while
> in the car. After 150k miles, mine were not working well at all.
>
> Air: A/C :
> Had this converted to R-134a last year. 12 months later, most of the
> gas has leaked out. Had it refilled by a shop, which was
> surprisingly expensive ($100 for 48 oz of R134). I though the point
> of R134 conversion was that it was cheap!?!? Maybe next time I'll
> use the DIY can from flaps. Has R134 gone up in price?
>
> Water: Sink:
> Did the ShurFlow sink mod as described in this thread:
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2403691
> and
> <http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?
> resultCt=1&jspStoreDir=wm51&catalogId=10001&productId=26355&keyword=2964
> 77&y=0&x=0&storeId=10001&ddkey=SiteSearch>
> Excellent mod -- the sink is now a pleasure to use, no more fumbling,
> easy to fill tall bottles of water, and it looks better than stock!
> Highly recommend this mod.
>
> Ice: Fridge / Cooler:
> It was HOT out -- over 105 during the day. We didn't even try to
> use the dometic, instead we bought a coleman xtreme "6 day"
> cooler. This is a great cooler. It only kept ice for about 72
> hours, but to be fair, it was 105 and the cooler was not always in
> the shade (Coleman says "6 days" in 90 degree heat in the shade).
> http://www.coleman.com/coleman/ColemanCom/subcategory.asp?
> CategoryID=8550
>
> Sun:
> Installed a solar panel from the flaps. Kragen had a sale on the 15
> watt Sunforce model ($89, includes a 7 amp charge controller). It
> fits nicely in the luggage rack, and the charge controller wired into
> the westy fusebox behind the driver. It's not a very powerful panel
> (I think others can get 2x the watts at that size) but it's
> inexpensive and did the job:
> http://www.sunforceproducts.com/english/details.asp?id=89
>
>
>
> Enjoy!
>
>
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