Date:         Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:45:05 -0600
Reply-To:     Jarrett Anthony Kupcinski <kupcinski@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jarrett Anthony Kupcinski <kupcinski@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Various repair reportings
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

After about 3 weeks of various ongoing repairs, Oly is no longer levitating 2 feet above the ground, i.e. on jack stands. Having a hover van was cool, but not very practical, as such the hovering qualities were limited to the confines of my garage. What has been done?

1. Exhaust system repair. Late last year Oly started got really loud due to a hole somewhere in the exhaust system. Also was running like complete crap. The pipes were in pretty bad shape, so I opted to replace the whole thing, from header pipes to tail pipe. The result: much quieter and much better running. I filled up the tank yesterday and can't wait to see how much that alone should improve my mileage.

2. Motor mounts replacement. These were in really sad shape, so since the exhaust was out of the way, I was able to replace these. Also POR-15'd the engine carrier bar while it was off.

3. Cleaning and rust treatment of rear part of engine bay. Again, while the exhaust was removed, I was able to clean and POR-15 the rear panel of the van. Topcoated it with a brushed-on matched automotive paint. Should slow the decay somewhat, in those areas.

4. Passenger and rear hatch power lock actuator replacement. It is so nice to be able to lock and unlock the whole van with a single key turn. I feel so decadent every time I do this.

5. Front door wires soldered. So while tracing wiring demons in the doors, I discovered by unwrapping the electrical taped-wire harness that the previous owner had done the bone headed thing of clipping the door wires, and then splicing them back together with crimp wire connectors. Some of the wires were not matched up correctly (power locks don't work well with power mirrors). On top of that, my poking around managed to finally disconnect some of these poorly made connections, giving birth to yet more electrical gremlins. So last night I cleaned things up as best I could on the driver's side, cut out the crimp wire connectors, soldered and heat-shrinked the re-spliced wires. Turns out my anemic power windows were due in large part to poor door connections. Oh, and fixing the wires solved the mystery of .1 amps of draw when the locks were unlocked. Tonight I'll redo the passenger side. Seriously folks, if you have to remove one of your front doors, put down the wire snips. Disconnects are behind the fuse panel on the left and the glove box on the right. 

6. Bumper brackets POR-15'd. I pulled the bumper off while doing the exhaust and rear-rust treatment. Man, those brackets were in sad shape. Bad, as in, chunks of rust coming off. Most of the brackets are still solid, though, so I cleaned them up and painted them with POR-15. Tonight I'll finish up with a topcoat of rattle-can black paint, but already they look way better, and I feel better knowing that the bumper isn't going to fall off while driving down the road.

7. Random acts of cleaning. While waiting for things to dry or set or my frustration level to go down, I managed to clean and inspect quite a bit of the engine compartment. I can't say I liked all I found, but I have a better idea of what's going on in some of the nooks and crannies.

All considered, it's been an exhausting few weeks, but preliminary driving seems to indicate that things are good. Can't wait to take the old beast out for some camping this spring.

-Jarrett
Oly, '89 Westy