Date:         Wed, 19 Oct 1994 19:42:01 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         CLAYDO1@aol.com
Subject:      Many newbie questions.

Last summer my wife conviced me that what our life lacked was a Westfalia.  I
was slightly skeptical about this, but finally gave in and bought a '71'
hardtop with a tight motor and no rocker panels.  We took camper out to the
mountains the following weekend and several other weekends,  but one day in
October we were cruising the redrock canyons of southern Utah when I realized
how much I liked this bus,  it was as if the clouds had parted and I could
exclaim "I have seen the light, and it is air-cooled".

The following winter I replaced all the rusted out sections, pounded out the
major dents, and sprayed it the original red. The engine runs great and all I
have done is replaced the distributer (the old one stopped advancing), and
put on a Euro 4 tip exhaust (the best clearance I found).

I am now in need of some advice on a few things that I would like to do. I
tried to gopher to the archive but AOL has a fit when I try, so please excuse
me if the questions have already been covered.

1. What kind of Bike racks are out there that mount on the front or the rear,
I would like to keep them off the top. Can you mount a rack on the rear cargo
door?

2. Oil filters. The thought of not running an oil filter makes me nervous.  I
have seen a setup that runs the oil out of the pump and then back into the
gallerys somewhere, so it doesnt need any machining.  Does anyone run such a
unit? Recommendations?

3. Where can I get new straight bumpers?

4. Ceramic propane heaters? I have seen these at RV stores and was thinking
that it would be really nice in the winter, but where can you stash the
propane canister.

5. Seat belts. I have read alot about swapping seats, but what about the
seatbelts. I would love to have retracting belts instead of the -strap em in
tight- models.

Thanks in advance for your comments

Clay