Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:53:10 -0700
Reply-To: neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Hello! We have some questions...
In-Reply-To: <296870.93239.qm@web37308.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
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Hi Kyle.
Re: 3
going to air cooled doesn't make too much sense. IMHO. I own an air
cooled 81 Westy. It is just too underpowered with all that extra Westy
Weight.
Re: 7
There's tons of info in the archives regarding the fridge. (assuming
you have a Dometic 182B or 182A) There's also a Vanagon Wiki. Here is
some info on the Dometic from the Wiki:
http://vanagonwiki.net/index.php/Dometic
Basic idea of Dometic operation. Heat applied to chemicals contained
in tubes at rear of fridge, causes a chemical reaction. This reaction
cools a "dead end" tube inside fridge. This tube has an aluminum
finned unit attached to it. Obviously this cools down the fridge
interior. Heat can come from 12V, (vans' 12V electrical system) "shore
power" 110 AC (the plug on exterior side of van. This provides a
SEPERATE 110AC electrical system) or propane (the tank under your
van). Hence the term "3 way fridge".
Cheers, and congrats!
Neil.
Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia -
"Jaco" (Bustorius)
http://web.mac.com/tubaneil
Please send fav Vanagon/Westfalia links to me at:
musomuso1963@hotmail.com
On 9/25/07, Kyle Davis <davis_family_46168@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hello!
>
> At last, my long-time dream of re-obtaining a VW
> to proudly display in my driveway (and hopefully use
> as transportation) has come to fruition. I'm an
> air-cooled type of guy, but this 1984 Westy was crying
> out for some love and attention.
>
> As I've stated, I've only ever owned air-cooled
> vws before, but I don't seem to know too much about
> the vanagon line. I could've sworn they were still
> making air-cooled in 1984, but I guess I was wrong.
>
> I didn't know they made diesel, either, but there
> you go.
>
> Anyway, I took my wife to look at this, and she
> fell in love with it. It supposedly has cracked
> heads, and the previous owners (one of the many favors
> they didn't do for me) was dissasemble the engine
> partway. I haven't had the time for a visual
> inspection of the heads, but I am taking them at their
> word.
>
> The first order of business was to clean up the
> vanagon. It was disgusting! At least they didn't
> trash the popup top or any of the mattresses. The
> passenger sunvisor is trashed (this is the one with
> the lights), the front passenger bucket seat has some
> sort of weird stain or something on it, and the van
> has the usual fair amount of rust, but underneath
> looked blissfully rust-free. It's a full camper. For
> what we paid for it, I could make a profit off of it
> by parting it out to ebay, but I don't want to do
> that. The plan is to get it running first, then just
> continually sink money into it until it is 100% again.
>
> We haven't named it yet, but I am tempted to name
> it Richard or Lieber, after the guy who came over from
> Germany to Indiana to start our State Park system back
> in the middle 1800s.
>
> He is a 1.9 water cooled manual transmission full
> camper. Now, I get down to the brass tacks and
> questions, in order of importance from greatest to
> least.
>
> 1.) If the cylinder heads are indeed cracked,
> will the 2.1 heads work on a 1.9 engine?
>
> 2.) If I am correct in understanding this,
> cylinder head cracking is fairly common. Where does
> everybody else get theirs, and, if you don't mind me
> asking, what have you been paying for them?
>
> 3.) Would it be better to just get a new (to
> Richard) engine? I may be able to lay my hands on a
> 2.1. I am not that mechanically inclined, but a buddy
> of mine is a professional auto mechanic, and I do know
> my way enough around a garage floor to make myself
> dangerous. So, this would leave out most non-VW
> solution engines. Has anybody had any experience in
> going from water-cooled to air-cooled? Or from gas to
> diesel?
>
> 4.) Does anybody happen to know where I can get
> an exterior sliding door handle for cheap, especially
> in Indiana?
>
> 5.) I also wouldn't mind finding out where to get
> a replacement passenger side sunvisor (the kind with
> lights.) VW wants about $300 for those, if they can
> get them.
>
> 6.) Is anybody aware of where to locate the Westy
> Tables? Ours is missing the sliding one for the back
> bench, and I guess there may have been one for the
> middle as well?
>
> 7.) How do the middle seats come out? I would
> like to really investigate the fridge closer, but I
> couldn't figure this one out. Also, how do the front
> seats swivel?
>
> 8.) Are there any other Westy owners in Indiana
> that I can pester, or maybe hang out with at a state
> park once this thing gets campsite ready?
>
> 9.) Eventually, when we get enough money, we
> will want to seriously re-paint the car. Until then,
> can anyone recommend a good solution to bring back a
> more shiny version of the dark brown and tan two tone
> combination paint job? Also, I was toying with the
> idea of keeping a 2 tone paint job, but have the top
> half white and the bottom half red, like on some of
> the older splitties.
>
> 10.) Speaking of paint and rust, we've noticed
> that the bolts, eyelets, and other hardware for the
> pop top externally are rusted. Some of the rust has
> found it's way to the fiberglass top. Can anybody
> recommend a good cleaner for that? Some guy on ebay
> was selling stainless steel replacement bolts and
> claiming you couldn't get them anywhere else, is that
> BS, or really true?
>
> 11.) Last question. This popup business
> intrigues me. What is the maximum load capacity of
> the top bunk for the Westy campers?
>
> I, along with my family, eagerly await answers to
> any of your questions. We are located in central
> Indiana.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Kyle
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