Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:03:36 -0700
Reply-To: Michael Diehr <md03@XOCHI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Diehr <md03@XOCHI.COM>
Subject: Elemental Mods Report
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
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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