pics of other projects

[dlb]

been busy with non-terc stuff lately and actually took some photos so i figured i'd put them up here for the hell of it.

first project was when we took the box liner out of my fiancee's pickup and surprise!...found it was all rusted to hell. i went about grinding the shit out of it for 2-3 hours with a crimped wire brush and then threw on 4 or 5 coats of rust paint.

before

halfway done grinding

done grinding!

sooooo smooth

post paint

you can see how mottled the metal is still. i'm sure this won't come close to stopping the rust but it was cheap, relatively quick and easy, and will at least slow it down.

i've also got an '82 westfalia camper van that i'm trying to get road-ready for some road trips this summer. i'm just finishing up the brakes right now and found this little nugget waiting for me:


we drove the vw about 1 and 1/2 hours to get it from its previous home to here. thank christ this little guy didn't give out then or it would have been a catastrophe. i took a look at all the other flex hoses and found 2 are good but another one was badly cracked and once i removed it, found that it too had a major weak point that was on the verge of ballooning up like his brother. egad.

here's a pic of the vw in my white trash garage. it belonged to a hippie and has the most ridiculous paint job, as you can see. paint, unfortunately, comes after brakes and engine work.

[Petros]

it belonged to a hippie and has the most ridiculous paint job, as you can see.

You just do not have any sense, nor appreciate of fine art! Why it looks like some hippy, high on some illegal substances no doubt, must have spent a whole hour or so, and about $6 worth of spray paint, to make that masterpiece.

I owned an old VW van once to fix up for travelling, underpowered and unreliable. We sold it before we took it anywhere far that might leave us stranded in the middle of nowhere. I have no explanation for why they are so popular (especially in So. California where I lived at the time). I have heard those old vans all restored can sell for as much as $60,000! Nostalgia is one thing, but I think the old air cooled VWs hold an undesrved place in many people's psychie. Like Tuckers, Subarus, Willies, etc.

[dlb]

yeah, i've found some good vw forums so i hope to have it in good--and reliable--shape before it goes anywhere but i'm definitely a little nervous about taking it out. i know all the rubber fuel hoses need to be replaced, as they have a tendency to rot out and turn the van into a bomb. the suspension is all in good shape, and the brakes are in surprisingly good shape as well. only needed to lube the calipers and replace the pads, wheel cylinders, and these two flex hoses. just soaked every rusted nut and bolt with liquid wrench and everything has come apart pretty easily. should have the brakes all back together and bled tomorrow and then i'm on to the engine.

my biggest problem with the van is that vw seems to be really inconsistent in the ways they choose to fasten things. sometimes they use a big phillips head screw, sometimes a small one, sometimes a bolt with two nuts, sometimes weird clips...what's worse, vw fans (like my dad) go on about the clever designs the germans use! man, it's not clever, it's inconsistent and a huge PITA for anyone working on it. oh well, i'm making headway now so i'm mostly over my hatred for their designs.

the resale value is crazy, i know! mine is an '82 and the cheapest i've seen an '82 go for is $6000 (canadian). we found ours for $600 and it runs (barely) so we jumped on it. it has all the accessories, like the tent for the pop top and window shades for sleeping. etc. shit, even if i have to get rid of it i will still be able to get five times what i paid for it so i can't really lose. unless it leaves me stranded in buttf*** nowhere on the saturday of a long weekend where there are no mechanics who've ever looked at a vw. then i'll be in a pickle.

[Petros]

I have owned and worked on VW, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, and I have worked on BMWs, Audi and other German cars. they are not cleaver, just weird-sometimes stupid. They use a very odd way to solve a problem, not "constrained" by what others in the industry are doing (often to their detriment). Often there are details that are not better, stronger or more durable, or easier to work on, they just put assemblies on the cars that cost more, perform poorly and are more trouble to maintain, go figure. Just arrogant, and I think consumers who do not know any better fall for that smug German assertion of superior engineering skills (ha! they lost the war!).

My sister used to be married to a German physicist, he used to tell me back when I had the Mercedes "Peeder, you caun't vork on dis cars urself. Only da German trained specialists knows how ta vork on 'em". I would tell his arrogant German a*s "you are so full of Sh*t!, I know as much about cars as anyone and I helped design and build a $750,000 race car that was undefeated in the circuit, Mercedes has not built a race car in over 50 years! There is nothing 'Superior' about the Mercedes, nor any other German car, they are just different"

The VW van was the original "minivan" (they used to call them "microbus"), it served a need at one time, but now this market nitch is filled with both domestic and imported examples, many of them much nicer and more reliable than the VW. The camper vans were an interesting (and expensive) variation. Despite my misgivings about the VW, you made an excellent purchase and should do well when it comes time to sell it. If I were you, I would fix it up real nice, use and enjoy it for a while, and than sell it at a profit.

Good luck with it.

[ARCHINSTL]

...underpowered and unreliable. I have no explanation for why they are so popular. Nostalgia is one thing, but I think the old air cooled VWs hold an undeserved place in many people's psyche.

AMEN, BROTHER ! ! !
I owned a '69 Bus for 13 years, right before I got the '83 T4WD.
I could wax eloquently about it - heck, I should wax malevolently about it! - but there is not enough room in this post.
How many engines went in it during 147K miles of mostly suburbia driving? Try 3 plus the OE - that I remember... Owning and living with one of those things for 13 years in even a semi-cold climate like STL was like looking back at being in the Army: "Gee, it really wasn't that bad...NOT ! ! !"

I have owned and worked on VW, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, and I have worked on BMWs, Audi and other German cars. they are not clever, just weird-sometimes stupid. They use a very odd way to solve a problem, not "constrained" by what others in the industry are doing (often to their detriment). Often there are details that are not better, stronger or more durable, or easier to work on, they just put assemblies on the cars that cost more, perform poorly and are more trouble to maintain, go figure. Just arrogant, and I think consumers who do not know any better fall for that smug German assertion of superior engineering skills (ha! they lost the war!).

See my AMEN ! ! ! exclamation above...
At least with BritMobiles - fixing their foibles was like taking care of your new, favorite, puppy that always had accidents on the carpet. I swear, they would be embarrassed and hide their rear bumper under their boot when they diddled oil on the driveway...

The VW van was the original "minivan" (they used to call them "microbus"), it served a need at one time, but now this market nitch is filled with both domestic and imported examples, many of them much nicer and more reliable than the VW.

Despite my experiences, I always yelled at the TV when Iacocca would come on and proclaim that Chrysler invented the minivan - still do not understand why this belief persists to this day...
Tom M.
EDIT:
And before anyone asks if I kept the Bus because I subscribed to the practice of hitting my head against the wall because it felt so good when I stopped... I was an impecunious bicycle shop owner with three kiddies, a mortgage, and a spouse who "liked nice things" (she had the new Civic wagon and I had the Bus). Fortunately I've had only the first of the three categories for 29 glorious years now.

[dlb]

Despite my misgivings about the VW, you made an excellent purchase and should do well when it comes time to sell it. If I were you, I would fix it up real nice, use and enjoy it for a while, and than sell it at a profit.

man, just wait and see how i clean this ugly stepchild up. it's gonna be pretty sexy, even for a rectangle on wheels. i'll be sure to post pics of it when it's done.

[takza]

I owned a couple of late 60s VW vans...both with the windows on top and I think both had the sunroof. The first I took down into Mexico and trashed the diff after getting it down below a dam...and having it rock back and forth trying to get back out on gravel. Ended up camping out in a garage in Mexico city while they dug the metal chunks out and fixed it well enough to get it home. Sheered the planetary gears in the diff.

The other was pretty much perfect except for the trans...here I was doing an R&R...and put the "new" trans next to the old one...and ended up putting the old trans back in....not sure whether I was more pissed....or more embarrassed. The van ended up getting trashed.

It's interesting that it was Japan...that also lost the war...that ended up improving the reliability of cars? Germany improved the quality? The US made big land boats?

I think hippies liked the VW van because it was different...they were practical...they were around...engine was in the back and out of sight...so to speak? Peace man.

[Don Jorgensen]

I bought a 63 beatle with a moonroof back in 1971. It had about 55,000 miles on it and I drove it another 5 years to about 110,000 miles. It made several trips from the midwest to the west coast. Toward the end of its usefullness, it was rusted so badly that the rear bumper just fell off and when meeting semi's on 2 lane roads, the wind blast would cause the front fenders to wave...a bit disconcerting in the nighttime with the headlights shooting weak beams skyward. I carried a 17' canoe on the aluminumin carrier quite often. That could get scary too with crosswinds. Tercel has twice the horsepower and way better fuel economy.
Also had a 73 westfalia. Only had it about a year...used it often ...nearly froze in the winter ..same story with the bug.
Drove a watercooled 84 Vanagon about 50,000 miles. Biggest problem with it was rust in the gas tank. Spent some very uncomfortable times changing out fuel filters. Took the family across South Dakota in winter 92 to the Black Hills for a ski trip. Coming back we got in a 30 below zero spell and had both front and rear blowers on full. Rear blower quit about half way home and the front blower control burned out with a 100 miles to go. Girls were all in sleeping bags and I was driving with a scraper working to keep the interior windshield open. It was stolen from our driveway in California 1993.

[ARCHINSTL]

Don -
Love the story about scraping the ice. But - yours was the sybaritic water-cooled Bus! Luxo-barge!
My youngest and I still laugh about the many times as a 4-to-9-year old she would stand in the footwell and cheerfully "Help Daddy out by scraping the ice from the inside of the windshield."
The big tube carrying "hot" air from the back to the front fell off and I used a piece of stovepipe to replace it - of course, that rusted out every year... I always wondered what people in Canada or Norway or Sweden or the Tyrol did in Winter; those places had to get colder than STL...
The last few years you could even SEE through the sides down near the floorboard - no lie!
Tom M.

[dlb]

holy doodle don, that's a war story and a half. i haven't done the fuel filter yet, i'll take a look and see when it was last replaced. the previous owner didn't know anything about maintenance but had her neighbor come do stuff on it occasionally. the rear shoes and drums are like new, i can tell he'd replaced a few of the steel brake lines, it looks like some of the fuel hoses have been replaced... very lucky for me! i can already imagine what a chore the fuel filter will be--i've really been spoiled with the tercel filters. almost every other car i've owned has needed to be jacked up to do it, and then there's some stupid banjo fittings... it's always a mess.

incidentally petros, on the topic of inconsistency: the rear wheels have the traditional lug stud/lug nut system but the front wheels use lug BOLTS...which are a massive pain in the ass on their own, but why change the system halfway back on the vehicle? ridiculous.

wheels, calipers, drums, headlight grills, and front grill all painted. starting to look better...

[Petros]

Don and Tom,

your stories are so funny, and typical, of VW owners. I read Don's to my daughter who laughed as well. And it is all indicative of the strangely pathological devotion that VW owners have. It is like a mental illness, a form of masochism, where you just can not stop. Years later you look back at it and wonder what were you thinking! Why the devotion to such a notoriously unreliable vehicle? A love/hate relationship? Sound more like an abusive relationship, an undying and irrational commitment despite constantly being beat up by the object of your affection.

Good to see you have graduated up to a 25 year old Toyota Tercel!

[Don Jorgensen]

"fahrvergnügen," german meaning "driving-pleasure" was a catch phrase for awhile in the early 90's. Some of the commercials were pretty good about the beatle. Volkswagons will definately float but not indefinately! was a hoot.
VW bugs speedometers were driven off one of the front wheels..can't remember which. Once driving in a cloudburst I experienced hydroplaning and the speedo going to zero was proof enough for me.
Winter driving in Iowa can put you on a glare of ice often accompanied with wind and sometimes fog. A blast of wind on 100% ice pushed me across the path of a Semi. He passed by within inches. The rough shoulder gave me just enough traction to avoid going down into a ravine. When I came to a shaky stop ...I exhaled ....took in a deep breath and put on my seatbelt. Then I thought how much that would help. Got into an ice storm with the 84 Vanagon as well. That was like a cardboard box on a frozen lake with a big wind. Farfignewton indeed!

[emmahumpfritter]

I punished myself with air cooled VW buses pretty much the entire decade of the 90's. Born and raised in Nor-Cal, I was able to find them for as little as $100 bucks (running!) and never more than $500 bucks. I once bought a 1971 Westy (arguably the best year due to front disk and dual port 1600 motors) it was bright red, had all the camp assessories down to the cot that rested up in the pop top for sleeping (sort of) the engine was complete rebuilt and ready to install, which I did with my brother in a day...all for $300 bucks. I slapped a reg sticker on the lic. plate (from a wrecking yard) drove it back to Mn. stuck a for sale sign in the window and sat in barnes& Noble reading "Celastine Prophecy". Within an hour I had it sold for $1700 bucks! which I then grabbed my backpack, walked into town and bought a 1979 Volvo wagon for $300 bucks...the adventure continued.

Another air-cooled adventure involved a rusty 1968 combie for $150 bucks, with a hole in the floor where I could watch the road go by (and toss my banana peels) I drove that one from the north coast of California to Chapel Hill, NC (in winter, bbrrrrr) lived in it for 4 months (parked in the only spot in town w/o a "no parking sign) even the local cops got to know and repect me (why not, I was working three shit jobs! I served their coffees!) I drove it back to California so over-loaded with stuff (a scooter, a full drum kit, etc.) and a headwind in Kansas at least 70 mpg strong. She finally died due shamefully to my lack of changing the oil (I did check it from time to time though. I was young and dumb(er)

I had so many of those 69-71 vans I lost count. I always said, "They're great when your stopped" loads of compact living space, a nice bed, etc. but when your moving it goes from humorous to scary.

I finally moved into 80's Toyota vans.

Fond memories of the VW's for sure.

BDN

[dlb]

what! i can't believe you could get those vw's so cheap. i guess the market has just changed a lot since then and now everyone wants them. you play drums, hey brenton? we could start a tercel concept band.

i killed my first car when i was 18. i had absolutely no understanding of vehicles at the time so i don't feel too bad but i do miss it. it was a silver '87 dodge omni. i think of omnis and horizons the same way i think of pontiac sunfires, chevy cavaliers, chevettes...: they're made to be disposable. they are garbage but the initial cost is quite cheap so the lowest common denominator can all afford them. i believe the companies that make disposable vehicles design the cars that way so that although they make very little initially, they wind up making a killing in replacement parts. but anyways, even though omnis are garbage i loved that thing. it actually drove really well, got the best mileage of all the vehicles i've owned, and had those adjustable intermittent wipers that we terc owners covet. it developed a hole in the rad though and i wound up overheating it and warping the cylinder head. my dad messed with it for a while but it was too f***ed, and that was that. such a shame that such a simple problem can cause such a massive problem.

on the vw topic, i unhooked the engine and my dad helped me remove it yesterday. i did a compression test before anything else though : 124, 108, 131, 132. also found a bunch of other baaaaaad stuff: a completely broken hose running from the mass air flow sensor to i can't remember where, resistor wires with their sheaths completely broken down, leaking rubber fuel hoses... i'm very glad that i'm ripping the whole thing apart and finding all this stuff now rather than having the insurance company find my cause of death stemming from any one of them. i'll post some more pics soon.

[dlb]

got the vw engine apart today. found a ton of mud caked to everything, it's amazing! it seems like the van was exposed to very fine dust for a very long time, and then an oil leak combined with the dust to make a godawful mess. found all 4 engine mounts were COMPLETELY broken, alternator belt about to go. reconditioning the heads, getting a new clutch disc, oil cooler bellows... might get a cylinder & piston kit, depending on the cost, since the whole damn thing is apart right now anyway and i'd rather do it now that pull it all apart again later.

check out the mud! the engine already had the majority of crud cleaned off before this first pic, it was far worse to start with.









my dad was saying that with air-cooled engines like this, it's imperative to keep the fins clean because anything coating or covering them impedes the blowing off of heat through the them. so we've cleaned it like crazy, i'll take a pic of the vaccuum after we've sucked up all the crap. should be a few pounds in there already.