Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2011 07:14:21 -0800
Reply-To: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Advice request; 1986 Vanagon automatic
In-Reply-To: <C14AC218F89D4FADABEE4F68837C02C5@Artwin>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Art,
Congrats on finding a van you want. We've had ours for five years and it has given us a lot of fun times. Ours is a manual trans so no personal advice there except to report that the autos are supposed to be more reliable long-term than the early manuals that tend to have trouble with an internal part at some point, and the autos are even owner-rebuildable which the manuals are not.
Tires are a big issue and you'll get lots of feedback here. The most important thing to have is the proper load range tires at the correct inflation. I'd love to have 15s or 16s on some stylin' wheels instead, but there's other stuff to spend money on while these are still good.
I'm a big fan of A/C that works, and here in Virginia it's essential for a third of each year. There are several threads on thesamba.com about refurbishing the Vanagon system and if your system is complete it makes sense to at least try to get it going before you give up on it. Ours was complete but did not blow cold and I used a simple R134a conversion kit from Advance Auto that worked to make it blow cold, but our system does leak and needs a thorough refurb to operate at peak efficiency.
Good luck!
Stephen
--- On Fri, 11/25/11, Art <awa0330@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
From: Art <awa0330@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Advice request; 1986 Vanagon automatic
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Date: Friday, November 25, 2011, 7:12 PM
Hi all,
I’m not an experienced Vanagon owner...yet. I’m investigating a 1986 Vanagon with 108,000 miles on it. If I buy it, I’ll probably replace the fridge with an electric model from GoWesty. This unit has the built in stove and fridge. My plan is to take a couple of months and simply travel around. I have 3 questions that I’d love some help with;
It’s an automatic. should I run like hell? I haven’t found any serious warning signs on bogs or in research so far.
Many recommend upgrading from 14” wheels & tires to larger. It’s a heck of an expense. Any thoughts?
AC has been disconnected because it is barely adequate anyhow. I seem to see that this is a condition of these units. any solutions other than simply dealing with the lack of AC that makes sense?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Art.
