Crawled under again

The shift linkage issue was bothering me.  When I examined it more closely, I noticed the nylon ball at the end of the shift mechanism that sits in the cup on the end of the linkage.  The ball itself has moved due to being worn over the years.  I ordered one from Van Cafe.  Should be here when I return from this weeks business trip.

Also have a couple chrome marine style cup holders coming.  The ones that swivel and render a beverage spillproof.  Those, along with the others I have already installed in the 'cockpit'  should provide the wife with plenty of refreshment options.

Really busy day today.

And the maiden voyage for the family as a whole.  Was only about 20 miles, but with all the work done to the van, I would rather work my way up to a 200 mile trip.

Anyway, today we picked up the 3 point harness parts from a MKII Jetta.

Install is fairly straightforward and directions can be found on the web to do this modification.  Now my kid will be safe in the back seat.

Also got my second battery from a local battery supplier.  Wired up the second battery kit from Go Westy and came to conclusion that wiring may be too small for adequate charging.  Will need to do some more research.

Added my ghetto bumper to the rear of the Thingamajigger.  Need one to get an inspection sticker. Its a $7.00 Lowes PT 4x4 (well as PT as Lowes sells anyway) Have a real one planned, made from 2x2 steel with integrated trailer hitch receiver, and a modified cover made from a stock unit which are made from tin foil. Want to be able to support a bike rack I have, and a cargo shelf to carry a cooler.

Installed a new wiper fluid pump.  Easy to do.  Hard part was getting the new tubing I bought to replace the old brittle one installed.

Horns are now working.  Its all about the grounds in this van.  I have been cleaning every ground I come across in attempts to avoid any issues.  They are badly coated.  The horns themselves are an aftermarket version of a low and high note combination. They do not sound German, but since I really want the Cadillac 4 note horn setup, I will deal with this until I can procure the set.  I installed behind the upper grille rather than the stock location underside.

Transmission is back where it belongs.

Was a minor pain in the ass, not as bad as I had expected. 

Flywheel O ring was hard as a rock (probably my source for the leak), and the felt pilot bearing was deteriorated.  Clutch disk was disintegrated but it came out fairly easy and went back in with minimal amounts of aggravation.

Once it was installed, the Thingamajigger would not start.  Could not figure it out and it was pissing me off, then it started raining, and I needed to walk away.

I went through a bunch of tests, then did them again.  Fuel pressure and delivery is good.  Sparks was good in the morning, but not good before lunch, and then good later.  Figure there is something funny with the coil due to intermittent issues with spark.  Read on The Samba about some having problems with coils in cold.  Guess that is as good a place as any to start ruling out options.

Got it going again about 4pm.  Started right up and ran great.  Turned it around so that I could install the new horns I got in the mail today.

Clutch is great.  Shift out of reverse was a bit funny, so I will need to get back under and readjust.

Surprises

Sometimes, surprises are fun, sometimes they are not.

Surprises with a Vanagon are more common than I would like, but chance does favor the prepared mind.

Sure am glad I decided to pre order the clutch kit.