Life with Leonard

[dlb]

that does look like a bit of a project. my wife and i bought our westfalia off a hippie on galiano island out here and it was sheer luck we got it home. it was out in the woods near the ocean and had been sitting for 2-3 years with only occasional use during that time. it took a ton of jumpstarting to get it going and then when it did run, we had to drive it like hell and offroad it back to a main road. once we were on the road it ran ok on flats and downhill but would backfire, lose power, and often die on hills. every time it died we had to use ron to jump it again and that involved parking side by side with the van since the battery is behind the front passenger seat--not great on narrow, windy roads. got a new used battery from the PO's friend so at least we didn't have to jump it each time. we were then smart enough to avoid the steep malahat portion of the highway by taking the brentwood/mill bay ferry. the van barely made it to our house before completely giving up. in hindsight, i believe that if i had just changed the fuel filter (a 20-minute job on the van), it probably would have run almost fine. it did need considerable work but at least it wouldn't have popped and lurched and died on every dang hill.

seems like there are always good deals on camper vans though. i look from time to time because i could really live without ever doing another job on a VW again. my ideal camper van would be a diesel camperized toyota van. there was one for sale here last year for $12k--way too much for me. also a nissan one recently, same price. i'll just keep looking. one day when i'm 60 i'll find one at a fair price.

here's the van when we got it, complete with ridiculous hippie paintings all over it.

[danzo]

Just for possible future reference - what in blue blazes did you use to get the 195 proof pot smell out of that sucker?!? Something made by NASA?

[ARCHINSTL]

Just for possible future reference - what in blue blazes did you use to get the 195 proof pot smell out of that sucker?!? Something made by NASA?

Are you thinking of selling your T4WD...?
Tom M.

[Jarf]

Van looks pretty cool DLB

Restore can be had at canadian Tire
Moly products at Home Hardware
At least thats how it is in Ontario.

[Petros]

Is this another project VW van.? Didn't you already have one, that had the mermaid painted on the side (now dark blue)?

I would never own even one VW again, once was enough for me, 35 years ago. The 2wd version of the Toyota van are pretty common, that would be a better intrim camping vehicle than a VW.

[GLet71]

Haha, love the van David, you could probably get 20 grand for it from some long hair out here! Oh wait, I'm a long hair... Bet you don't cross the border with that thing too often

Back to Leonard. Why would my float level site glass be empty every morning? Marlinh seems to think I must be leaking fuel, and I thought it was because my float is set too low. When the car is warm, fuel is showing in the float window.

[Petros]

Your carb needs to be cleaned out, it should not drain out overnight. Likely it is the jet that adjusts with the plunger, it should seat when the engine is off. If you carefully remove the top (watch out for the small parts! especially the tiny clips) and than clean out all the passages with carb spray, blow it out and put the top back on it, should work fine. You can even do it without removing the carb, but it takes only about 10 min to remove the carb (12mm socket and an extension is all you need). Carefully study the pages on rebuilding the carb from the FSM before you open it up. It is not difficult, but if you leave one check valve out, or some other tiny part, it will not run properly.

Rockauto has carb rebuild kits on sale for $7 plus shipping, I just bought one.

[Petros]

When I was in collage in California, I bought a 1958 VW window van $600. Six volt and no fuel gauge. Some climbing friends and I were going to drive to Canada and climb mt. Robson. Everyone dropped out over the summer because of other commitments, so we never went. After cleaning it up I think I sold it for $900. I met a guy in Port Townsend last year with one just like it, perfectly restored like a new van, even had new rubber floor mats. He said they would sell at auction for about $60,000 in that condition. Go figure, what idiot would pay that much for an underpowered, underbraked awful old van?

[dlb]

heavens,no. no more VW's for me, ever. that's the current van, those are pics from long before we painted it. and funny danzo would mention it because we did find roaches in the ashtray when we cleaned it out. golly, what a surprise that was! (some irony there.) the van is rad for camping now that it runs well and all the accessories like fridge, stove, and sink work well too, but that van is living on borrowed time with me. when i find a good camper van that is not so maintenance-unfriendly, that thing is hitting the road. luckily, they have a ridiculously high resale vale around here.

have you checked the float level when cold? i think peter is on to something. something is not seating properly. also, have you checked your AAP? fuel could be leaking into the vac lines if the diaphragm is ruptured.

[GLet71]

Brand new AAP installed, and a fear of carbs more genuine than OEM parts! I will have to suck it up, and give it a try one of these days. I now have a parts (jury's still out on that decision) car, so I can easily swap carbs and give rebuilding a try. I'm not sure why I keep asking these questions, I know what I have to do at this point, but it would feel better if someone just said hit it with a ball peen three times and it'll fix everything!!

[dlb]

ahhh, they're not so tough. i find any job i haven't done yet intimidating but i've learned that i'm not dumb so as long as i take things apart carefully, try to understand the basic principles behind what i'm working on, and look for clues as to what could be causing the problem, fixing stuff and putting it back together isn't that hard at all.

my advice is to get a carb rebuild kit, rebuild the carb in your parts car, and then throw it in leonard. that way you can take your time rebuilding it and learn a heap about carbs, and old leo will only be down for an hour or two when you swap them over.

[marlinh]

If the carb on your parts car runs better than Leonard's I would try that one in it and rebuild Leonard's. No sense fixing something that isn't broken.

[GLet71]

If the carb on your parts car runs better than Leonard's I would try that one in it and rebuild Leonard's. No sense fixing something that isn't broken.

That is exactly what I am planning to do. Hope your time in Fernie went well and you're flush with cash to continue on your projects!

[dlb]

If the carb on your parts car runs better than Leonard's I would try that one in it and rebuild Leonard's. No sense fixing something that isn't broken.

That is exactly what I am planning to do. Hope your time in Fernie went well and you're flush with cash to continue on your projects!

this isn't a bad idea but i would personally do the rebuild first because the carb can have problems that may not present themselves immediately. it might take getting it good and hot or going through a few tanks of gas before finding the mileage is still sub-par, making any problems obvious. carb rebuild kits are cheap enough that i'd rather do the work first and know that the carb i'm installing is in good working order. that's only my personal preference though.

[GLet71]

Considering the '88 (Perry the parts car) I bought off of marlinh starts and runs like a dream, I will do the swap just to check it out; it can't be any worse. While out, I will rebuild Leonard's (I already have a kit for it) and play it by ear. For giggles, once rebuilt, I may throw the newly rebuilt carb into Perry just to see if it runs. I need the practice to gain the confidence in this, carbs will not be leaving my life any time soon!