Date:         Fri, 22 Mar 1996 06:54:12 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         RGOLEN@umassd.edu
Subject:      EV toys and projects




During the past couple of weeks I managed to add a couple of toys to my EV. 
The first was the rear fog light (which I bought during the trip to 
France...btw I will be back in France if anyone wants a Rear Fog..approx 
$45). I had originally thought that the "rectangle" in the corner piece of 
the rear bumper was the exact shape for the rear fog....its not. So I spent 
about half an hour designing a template for the fog. Next I mounted the 
template on the rear bumper (after covering the "rectangle" with masking 
tape). Once the template was centered, I traced the opening with a black 
magic marker (that's why the masking tape).

Now I had the exact shape traced onto the bumper. Got out the trusty Makitta 
drill and sabre saw and went to work. In about 10 minutes I had the hole cut 
and shaped exaclty. At which point the light unit just popped into place!.

Unfortunately, the US models don't have the pre-wired harness for the rear 
fogs. So I have sort of a "Polish installation" ... the light is there..but 
no wiring. I figure once I get around to putting on the front lights, then 
I'll take care of ALL of the wiring.


The other project was to mount my airplane compass on the dash. About 8 
years ago a friend gave me one of those semi-football-shaped airplane 
compasses. I originally had it mounted on the dash of my 86 GTI. Well the 
GTI is in storage (my son is getting it when he gets his license this 
summer). It looked like this would be a straightforward job....drill three 
holes (two screws..and one for wires), pop out the little panel next to the 
center vents to get access to the area under the dash.

Well, I popped out the panel, and there is a metal bracket back there which 
aparently is used to mount an additional four switches (as if the EV didn't 
have enough room for switches already). So I had to pop out the center 
vents. It takes two screws to remove the vent. One came out easily...the 
other, well, let's just say I had to get "Mideavel on its butt (or head)"

Once the vent piece was out, the compass was in and wired in about 10 
minutes. I'm glad that I don't have to rely on the compass for precission 
navigation however. When I turn on the vent fan, the compass adds about 20 
degrees to the previous heading.


Now for my future project. I bought a book in Germany on how to convert the 
T4 into a camper (actually this publisher does one for each of the four 
generations). One of the neat little items is a large drawer which fits 
under the MV's luggage shelf between the two cabinets. So I'll get some 
lumber and invite my carpenter friend over...give him a case of beer...and 
let him build it.

Ric