Category: Auto

Deep in the Heart of Texas

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This year we returned to Big Bend National Park for a few days of camping in Olly. On the way out we stopped over in Del Rio to visit Melina’s parents. The trip was uneventful with the exception of picking up a speeding ticket in Bracketville. Yes, a speeding ticket in a VW Vanagon.

We arrived in the park the next day to find it full because, for whatever reason, the entire state of Texas has Spring Break all in the same week. Since both Plan A (campground campsite) and Plan B (backcountry roadside campsite) fell through, we were forced to look outside the park. I wasn’t terribly worried since there’s a number of RV parks in neighboring areas, plus there’s the State Park nearby as well.

Ultimately we settled in a bare bones RV park just east of Study Butte. That’s the nice thing about camping in the Vanagon: close the curtains and you can grab a night’s sleep just about anywhere. At any rate, staying outside the park turned out to be a good thing. Since we were so close to Terlingua, we decided to hop over to the Starlight Theatre for dinner. Performing on the night we were there were Markley and Balmer, a singer-songwriter duo with a flair for jazzy chordings. The food was delicious, and the music was a treat. When we were done, we went back to our campsite, popped the top, and settled in for the night.

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We had decided to try our luck at getting a campsite in Big Bend, so the next morning we got up early and headed to the Cottonwood campground. As luck had it, a couple spots had opened up as we arrived, so we pulled in and staked our claim for the next few days. The campground was quiet (generators not allowed!) and spacious. It also has limited water resources, but fortunately we had filled Olly’s freshwater tank up at the Chisos Basin campground the previous day. After setting up our new Bus Depot Ezy Awning we dug in and did absolutely nothing. Well, Melina turned a few pages in a book, but for me even closing my eyes was too much work, so I did it once and then kept them shut.

IMG_9194That night the stars were proverbially big and bright. I tried to do a bit of astronomical photography on a dying camera battery. Sadly, the 40D isn’t cut out for night time photography, but it was fun nonetheless. The moon sank early and the sky was clear. It is always wonderful to see the Milky Way be the dominant feature of the sky.

IMG_9253The next day we were much more ambitious. After a brief bike ride to the nearby concessions store for a bag of ice, we took a longer ride from the campground down to the Santa Elena Canyon River Access where we had a picnic lunch. The Rio Grande was very low, and neither grand nor much of a river, to be honest. On the way back to the campground, Melina decided to try out not one, but two flat tires on her bike. I had one spare tube, and switched out her rear wheel for my good one so that she could ride home with relative ease. Never let it be said that chivalry is dead. Although after pedaling about four hilly miles on a flat tire I nearly was.

IMG_2287In the morning we tore down the campsite and took Olly up the Old Maverick Road to the ruins of Terlingua Abajo. The town was a small agricultural village inhabited in the first decades of the twentieth century. Now it is nothing more than the tumbled piles of stones and bricks where walls once stood, and a few graves to mark the lives that were spent there. We ate lunch at Cantina Abajo (wonderful views) and then climbed up the ridge that stands behind the town. Along the way we found lizards, butterflies, and blue bonnets. Later Olly took us back to the campsite. Melina made some tasty burritos (as always) and we lazed about through the afternoon.

On Friday we packed up our gear and headed back to civilization via a brief layover in Del Rio. Barring the flat tires on the bikes, the trip was without incident, which is pretty cool considering it was done in a vehicle that’s nearly a quarter century old. The Bostig engine plays no small part in that, and I can’t praise it highly enough. Our food was good and we received many waves and praises for our “cool van.” My only disappointment was that I didn’t see even one other Vanagon or Microbus on the road.

There’s more pictures. And video, too.

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Gas Can Carrier Mount Improvised

I’ve got a Gary Lee rear hatch rack with bike load bars for Olly. Mainly I use it for carrying bikes, but I wanted to see about mounting a jerry can carrier on the rack. Gary’s got a removable gas can carrier for the multipurpose rack, and it looks like a quality piece of work. Unfortunately, it’s pricey, especially when shipping is added. I was able to find a bracket through Summit Racing, and with the help of a modified mailbox mounting plate from Home Depot, I achieved a similar result.

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The Smittybilt carrier and the mailbox bracket I got from Home Depot.
The van with the fuel carrier mounted in place. There's still plenty of room for bicycles
The van with the fuel carrier mounted in place. There’s still plenty of room for bicycles

 

Bostig Installed

A month later than originally intended, the Zetec is installed in Olly. The delay was due to hold-ups on Bostig’s end, but to be fair, I had quite aggressively high expectations about the timing of the project. When I expressed my frustration to Jim about the teasingly slow trickle of parts, he was quite apologetic about the whole situation, and from then on Nate then kept me posted with progress updates. Unfortunately, my summer travel plans revolved around a completed engine conversion and a deadline, and so therefore fell through.

Even if Bostig had shipped out on their timetable, I realize I probably would have been pressed to complete all aspects of the install in just under three weeks. It wouldn’t have been impossible, but converting an engine is a Very Big Thing, and even in as well documented a system as the Bostig, there’s going to be some quirkiness that varies from vehicle to vehicle that just needs to be worked through. And that doesn’t include rework when you fuck things up due to your own personal level of ineptitude. Mine wasn’t terribly high, but sufficient to keep things interesting. Like when I over-torqued one of the transmission mount bolts. My advice is to avoid doing that.

Another factor that slowed progress is that I did the conversion completely solo. For most of the process that’s perfectly fine, though there are a couple of points when an extra pair of hands or eyes can be helpful. The real problem with working alone was that I had to be my own supervisor, which meant a lot of double or triple checking to make sure everything was right. None of the install is complicated, but I am not an auto mechanic by trade and I hate fixing things I should have gotten right the first go around. Since there was no one to catch my mistakes but me, I took my time.

And that’s how it is supposed to be. Because let me say this: doing the Bostig conversion was tremendous fun. Okay, working in 100 degree Texas heat was not so much fun. And being covered with grease and grime was not particularly entertaining either. But that aside, the whole system is so so well designed that it was delightful to assemble and install. And when you turn the key (and it starts, after unsticking the injectors) it is pure joy. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Of course, that would involve buying another Vanagon, which isn’t the worst idea I’ve ever had.

For what it’s worth, driving the van is fun. It’s got decent pick-up and drives 70 with power to spare. I admit that I’ll miss the chugging sound of the boxer engine, but the Zetec definitely sounds confident and ready. And the engine’s got just enough low rumble to let you know that while it may have been born in a Ford Focus, you should not mistake it for some wimpy girly motor that can’t carry it’s weight. It has found its place in a Vanagon.

There’s still a handful of things to do. I’ve got some parts coming, including a brake booster line attachment, which will need installation. I’m still doing some road testing to make sure everything is in specification. Electrically, everything’s fine. Fuel trims seem good. The cooling system is working, but is running much hotter (210-225 degrees F) than the WBX did, so my stock gauge and idiot coolant level light are quite angry. I know there’s some air that still can be bled out of the system, which should help bring the temps down slightly. And I didn’t switch the radiator send and return lines as Bostig recommends. Jim says that shouldn’t be a problem, and has even assured me that my temp ranges are fine, but I’d still like to see what I can do to cool things down. In any case, I definitely need to examine the gauge and temp sender, as right now they’re effectively useless. Eventually I’ve got to find an A/C guy who can make some new lines. Things to do, but they will get done.

Originally I thought I’d drop the Zetec into the van in a weekend, tune it up, and then roar off to the mountains of Colorado. That didn’t happen. I didn’t get the vacation I wanted this summer, but I did get the van I wanted. There will be more summers (and Texas autumns, winters, and best of all, springs). I’m quite confident that when those seasons arrive,  Olly will be up to the task of taking me to the places I want to go.

 

Bostig Installation

I awoke this morning at 4:00 am, likely due to the fact that the remainder of the Bostig engine conversion kit is scheduled to arrive later today. I’ll admit it. I’m anxious. I don’t just want the parts, I don’t just want them in the van and running. I want to be in the fucking Rocky Mountains, my top popped, cool beverage in hand, listening to the wind blow through whatever few ponderosas the pine beetles haven’t yet ravaged, knowing that I climbed that last hill at 70 miles per hour in fourth gear, with power to spare.

The real problem here is that the kit is arriving on my doorstep nearly three weeks late. That wouldn’t be a problem except that, well, it’s a problem. When I considered doing the conversion, one of my original questions was Bostig’s estimate of the likelihood that a delay could happen. I was told that a delay could happen, but wasn’t likely. A few days, tops. Well, it happened. The kit was supposed to ship on the 28th of June. It Shipped on the 13th of July.

I should be clear that I’m not mad at Bostig. It’s just that I made a whole set of plans based on the idea that I would have the parts sometime during the first two weeks of July, not the end of the third week. As a result, I’m going to miss my 20-year high school reunion (that’s tomorrow) and my vacation time, flexible though it might be, is slowly being eaten up.

So I’m stuck here, waiting for parts to arrive, hoping that the boys from Boston got my order packed and shipped correctly, that UPS doesn’t fuck up the delivery, AND that it all fits together in the van without a hitch. Yes, I choose to be optimistic.

But enough about me, what about the engine?

I am really excited. I found a low-mileage (29,000) Zetec at a nearby salvage yard in Lockhart, and though I paid too much for it, I got to pick it myself and pick a few brackets and suchlike off of other Zetecs they had lying around. Also, I didn’t have to mess with deliveries, and learned first hand that I would need a cherry picker to just get the thing out of the van. I’m sure there are strong, resourceful folks out there who could get by without an engine hoist. I am weak, and decided that my back (and bank account) would be far happier if I spent $250 on a hoist rather than $500 on chiropractic bills.

I prepped the engine to the extent that I could, including swapping out the white dongle for the purple one on the fuel injection electronics. I also got SK-A from Bostig ahead of the rest of the kit, so the adapter and clutch are also now installed. All of that happened in textbook fashion, although I wonder if there are any other textbooks out there that require slicing a chunk of engine off the block.

Extracting the wasserboxer and its various lifelines has so far been the toughest task (aside from the waiting). I’ve never fully dropped a WBX from a van before, and if you thought it’ll be just like an air cooled with a few more hoses, well, you’d be wrong. It’s heavier, bulkier, and infinitely more messy. I know I never put that much coolant in the damn thing. When it finally came free I danced triumphantly, like I imagine my paleolithic forefathers might have upon pulling the moist warm heart from a wooly mammoth.

That being said, there is a part of me that grew nostalgic as I was removing bits and pieces from the engine. It IS like an old air cooled engine in that it is very German. Which is to say that I know it like I might know appendages that are actually attached to me. Which twists the simile of the previous paragraph very strangely.

In any case, the WBX is out, cleaved from the transmission, and now sitting desolately in the corner. Meanwhile, the Zetec is slouching next to the van, coolly waiting for the arrival of parts, parts, parts. Olly’s engine bay is clean and ready.

My spies tell me that the shipment went “Out For Delivery” at 6:03 this morning. I’ll try to not squeal like a schoolgirl when the UPS guy arrives.IMG 1793

Olly and the Zetec get to know each other.

Sliding Door Lighting in the Vanagon

I’ve always thought that one oversight of the Vanagon is a lack of lighting in the passenger cabin. Obviously in Westfalias there’s the galley lighting, but that’s not triggered by opening the door. A closer inspection of the B pillar and the sliding door revealed that clearly it isn’t a complete oversight of VW: there is a cutout for the door switch, indicating it must be an option somewhere.

Adding the light wasn’t overly difficult, but did require a bit of experimentation. First I ran wires, tapping into the existing cabin lighting so that all the lights would be on the same circuit. This was made easier by the fact that I have already installed a light over the front passenger seat. Ultimately I got the wires in place using string and some bailing wire. That done, I had to engineer the trigger for the switch, since the door doesn’t fit flush where the switch mount point is. This I accomplished with a hex bolt and few nuts which allowed a fair amount of precision adjustment.

After that, it was just a matter of cutting the hole for the new light fixture in the right side air duct. I used the standard VW dome light for uniformity of appearance. Now I can see what’s going on when I open the sliding door, and the dome light provides some additional lighting when camping. Easily one of the best mods I’ve made on Olly so far.

The pieces of the adjustable trigger.
The pieces of the adjustable trigger.
The trigger installed, making contact with the door switch.
The trigger installed, making contact with the door switch.
The hole cut.
The hole cut.
And then there was light!
And then there was light!

Vanagon Instrument Cluster Rewire

A couple of weeks ago I managed to fry the dashboard light circuit on the instrument cluster. Not that it wasn’t in sad shape already. I had patched various sections of the both the light circuit and the ground on the circuit sheet where the copper wiring was damaged. As a result, the need to replace the circuit sheet wasn’t a surprise, and I had been thinking about it for some time. I figured I could create a replacement wiring harness, using connectors from the original and sold 24 gauge wire instead of the plastic circuit sheet. First, though, I had to map out the circuit.

That took the longest, even with Bentley’s assistance. Eventually, using my digital camera, a lightbox, and Omnigraffle, I managed to create a circuit map which would serve as a guide for my new wiring harness

With that as my guide, I began using a DB25 connector and 24 AWG wire from Cat5e cable. The idea for using a DB25 connector came from a fellow Vanagon owner’s solution (link updated! Thanks Edward!). When complete, the new connector looked quite good. I was quite happy with my soldering.

Moving on, I used ring connectors for the fuel and temp gauges, and actually used the connectors to the tach, voltage regulator, clock, and oil pressure control unit by removing them from the original circuit sheet. This meant that I wouldn’t have to come up with adaptations in order to make the connections. On the original circuit sheet, there are a number of capacitors and resistors. These I decided to move to a circuit board, which I bought at Radio Shack. Finally, I soldered the lights (which I changed to LEDs) into the harness.

Overall, the result is quite good, and preliminary tests seem to indicate that I got the whole thing right. One thing I don’t like is that the dash lights are not easily serviceable. I may have to revise that to use some wire disconnects of some sort. For now, however, I can once again see my gauges at night.

ADDENDUM 03/08/2013

I’m clearly not alone in that I have received a number of requests to build something like this for other Vanagon owners. Unfortunately, while this is in concept a relatively simple wire-up, there are a number of complications which prevent me from being able to take on such projects at this time. First of all, I used parts from my old flexible circuit to manufacture the new wiring harness. I don’t have a stock of these parts, nor are many of them commercially available. Secondly, this isn’t a drop in solution, as I had to cut off the existing plug in the van to install the DB25. Unless you want to transport me directly to your house, you would have to do this yourself, and that requires a certain amount of wiring skills. There are other minor reasons why I can’t build these for others.So while it would give me great pleasure to help my fellow Vanagon owner out in this regard, I have to decline such offers. 

I will happily answer any questions you have, should you decide to undertake this yourself. I am currently investigating the possibility of producing these commercially, but I cannot guarantee anything will come of that at this time. Thanks, and good luck.

-J

Interior Lighting

The light generated in the cab of the van by two LED-fitted dome lights.
The light generated in the cab of the van by two LED-fitted dome lights.

The single driver-side dome light in the Vanagon tends to leave one in the dark, particularly when camping.  I wanted a passenger-side light that retained the style of the original, and which could be controlled by the doors or switched on and off independently of the driver-side light. Fortunately, dome lights are cheap and easily available, and they’re easily installed.

I also wanted to replace the interior lights (both fore and aft) with LED lights which would generate less heat and consume less power when running on the battery.  Two drawbacks to using LEDs is that they tend to have less light output (owing largely to their directional nature), and the light they generate tends to be colder than monofilament bulbs.  I felt the “cool” nature of the lighting could be offset by having multiple light sources.
This project wasn’t difficult, but it was time consuming.  Removing the headliner (Bentley 75.7) isn’t fun, as it requires the removal of both the left (Bentley 76.4) and right (Bentley 76.5)curtain rails on late-model vans.  I recommend following the Bentley procedures, as they take the guesswork out of what you need to disconnect.  I would have saved myself considerable time had I done so.
The original bracket (bottom) next to the new one (top) before cutting.
The original bracket (bottom) next to the new one (top) before cutting.

After removing the headliner, I had to construct a metal bracket to hold the light, and cut a hole in the headliner.  To make the bracket, I salvaged some sheet metal from an old computer CD-ROM case.  It was a slightly lighter gauge metal, but was rigid enough to work.  Measurements were taken from the existing bracket, easily visible with the headliner removed.

I cut the metal using an angle grinder for the outside and a Dremel tool for the inside.  I shaped the bracket using pliers and a ball-peen hammer.  When all done, I tested the fit of the dome light fixture before riveting it into the headliner.
…more to come…
The new bracket and dome light fixture fit together perfectly!
The new bracket and dome light fixture fit together perfectly!