Tag: vanagon

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!