Best use for an IKEA towel rack

Found myself the owner of a towel rack from ikea.  No idea where it came from, it just showed up in my garage.  I was looking at it for a number of months before it hit me - the perfect use for that thing.

Attached it on loft shelf above my sandblast cabinet.  Out of way, but convenient as well.  Holds 12 rolls of varying gauge wire. 

Radiator baffles

In efforts to lower wind noise in the Thingamajigger, I thought I would try to add some OEM equipment into the van to alleviate some possible sources of noise.  The first was the radiator baffles.  I have never had any on the van.  If it were not for the Samba, I would not have know they existed. I don't remember them on earlier vans of mine.

Anyway - bought the Go Westy aftermarket version.  Nice pieces.  Some sort of recycled material.

First step was to remove the upper and lower grilles.  Also, you will need to drop your spare tire clamshell.  

Test fitting the pieces will ensure you understand the fitment before you start.

I started with the left baffle.  Used a stainless carriage bolt, washer and loc nut to hold lower portion in place.  Then adjusted the upper tab to fit in to cross support.  The upper tab is held in place with a push clip.  Mine were still in place from when original baffles deteriorated (or were improperly removed).  These clips need to be carefully pried up and pinched together to remove with out breaking.  

Next, I went for the lower baffle.  Upon looking underneath, I found the mount points on the radiator.

The 'newish' radiator has never had anything attached here.  I had some 1/2 inch 8-32 stainless screws in screw bin.  So I grabbed a tap and a tap handle and put some threads into the radiator mount.

Placing the baffle into place, and using a pair of stainless finishing washers, I secured the baffle into position.

Finally, the right side.  It's similar to the left, but without the same access.  You cannot reach up from underneath to tighten the loc nut.  On this baffle you need to reach in from the radiator side of the baffle to get a 1/4 in drive ratchet to secure the nut on the carriage bolt.  

Cannot really see them here, but they are there.

The other thing I am trying is to replace the functions of the grille air dam pieces that are also missing from my van.  I suppose the better option would be to just cave in and buy the South African grille as the space that I intend to block would already be covered by the secondary lighting.

I grabbed some pieces of lexan I had in my basement.  Cut them into exact opposite pieces for each end of the grill, drilled holes for clearance over the stock location pins. The 'heads' of these need to be carved off.  These were preened over with a hot iron to retain the original blocking baffles.

Once I had my pieces created and modified for clearance, I adhered them to the back of the grille with 5 minute epoxy. 

My only caution I have to state when doing this is to leave enough access to the bleeder screw on top of the radiator.  When I need to bleed the radiator, I never remove the grille as I can reach in with a 13 mm wrench and perform the bleed.  Too much of the new baffle would remove this easy access.

Now I shall go out and try the air flow and noise reduction.

Jersey Shore

Thingamajigger found its way to the Shore this weekend. 

Very late decision to go.  Left at 7pm Friday.  Saw two on the way, and another down there. Passed a two toned early tintop on Rte 84. 

4.5 hours later, we were pulling into Point Pleasant.

Van ran well.  Transaxle was smooth and the shift was like a warm knife through butter.

Many compliments and questions on the van itself.

Medic! Need a medic!

The hike I had with my kid and his Cub Scout friends got me thinking. (Uh oh)

I need a better med kit in the van.  The small generic box was fine for cuts and scrapes, but we are better than that - we are Scouts.  

I have a full Med bag that was graciously donated and will be maintained by a local Ambulance Service.  That does go on most all outings with the Pack. But what if I forget, or what if I have a couple kids who fall?

Needed a better kit.

Bought this kit online: Largest self contained box I can fit into the space I had planned. 

If there was one kit that was one inch smaller in height, it would be perfect. This one barely clears the hatch and I may have issue with curtain movement, but should be ok. 

Since I did not find it perfect - I did not want to perma-mount it, I used some high quality 3M double sided tape. 

Will give it a 6 month test. 

Also in this picture you can see my record system for maintenance and major component replacement. Available in one place, at a glance.  Also have listed my part numbers for preferred plugs, wires, belts and such.  Can't see it when door is closed. 

Works for me. 

Propex

Just plunked down the coin for a Propex HS 2211 heat system from Karl at Westyventures.  He is the importer for these systems and I felt a better choice for purchase than the usual suspects.

With so much work (good thing as I can afford more bits for the van and bad thing because I cannot enjoy it) this year, I have not camped as much as I would have liked to and without adequate camp time, I will be unfulfilled going into the winter season making for an intolerable winter.

With a safe heat system, I will have option to camp much later and continue to wander well into late autumn - early winter.  Once there is snow the Thingamajigger goes away.

http://www.westyventures.com/HS2211%20flyer.pdf

Transaxle

Given the length of time I had to wait on the transaxle, I was able to assemble the bits to do a proper install:

Powerflex bushing from T3 Technique, Swepco 201 lube, new clutch kit, shift linkage rebuild kit from Van Cafe, couple shift rod bushing boots / new shift rod bushing, and a new clutch slave cylinder.

With all the bits in hand, I propped up the van.

Inspecting underneath and I get to thinking (Warning - I suffer from a serious case of "while I am under there syndrome") I think that I should also exchange out my coolant pipes and since it's easier to do it with fuel tank partially dropped, and since I am going to do that I am going to adjust the fuel sender so it reads correctly.

So,with the Thingamajigger propped up at door to garage ( garage is too short to fit van in and jack it up the height I need), I started draining fluids.

Cleaned the floor of any debris that will catch the creeper, and then decided to put a half sheet of plywood there to aid movement.

After fluids were drained (coolant and fuel), I got to disassembling the transaxle from the engine.  With the Zetec setup, it is imperative to support the motor.  I used a custom cut piece of 5x5 PT that I have used before.  Was nice to find it again as usually my kid takes that sort of thing and 'creates' stuff.

Removed the shift shaft and mechanism (marking the placement of the shaft versus the clamp), removed the starter, removed the bolts for the CV joints, disconnected the clutch slave cylinder and then supported the tranny while I removed the three remaining nuts that hold the transaxle to the motor.  Then (with tranny supported) I removed the front transaxle mount bolts and ground strap from the body.

Carefully lower the transaxle a bit (too much and it binds - or worse, bends the studs the transaxle mounts upon).  Now you can start to wrestle the transaxle away from the motor.  Pull a bit, lower a bit, pull a bit and lower enough to clear trans mount.  Slid right off.  

The plywood came in handy to slide the old transaxle out easily.

Now with transaxle out, I slid under and assessed the rest of the plan.  I was able to sit up under the transaxle cavity and tear out the ancient matting that was still in a solid form, but the foam part was wet and it had not rained in a couple weeks.  Good thing the plastic backing was in tact as the metal behind it would have been rotted to hell if it was not.

With that gone, it brightened up the work area.

Made sense to drop the tank now.  Dropped the rearward side enough to spin out the sender and corrected the angle of the float (a best guess).

Then I got to pulling the coolant lines.  My coolant lines were really not that bad, as I know they were replaced about 13 or 14 years ago by prior owner Bill.  But my precautionary side got the best of me a few months back and I bought the stainless steel coolant pipes on sale from Rocky Mountain Westy.

Having them in the garage, and transmission out, it just made sense.  I was not trying to save the pipes for any reason, so I cut them in two pieces each and removed them.

Was a fairly straight forward installation.  I made sure to notice the bends in the old one and their position relative to the new ones and marked them with a sharpie. 

Within 30 minutes I had the new ones installed.  I used some rubber from a coolant hose to surround the SS pipes anywhere they may contact with body metal (abrasion resistance) and since I did not have a rear mount for the pipes, I fashioned one from some SS strapping and a piece of 1/2 inch fuel line slid over.  This I bent to appropriate position and used factory mount holes to support the rear portion of the pipes.  Also since I had all the coolant out, I also took the opportunity to re route the heater lines and tightened them up to the bottom of the body. Everything is close, tight and beautiful.

I though I took a picture, but I will have to get back under and take another.

Next was to prep the transmission for installation.  The older mounts had to be removed off the old transaxle and all the periphery stuff as well.  The front mount needed to be further broken down to remove the metal sleeved rubber mount.  No matter what configuration I tried, I could not get it to work in the press.  

Went old school - hammer, chisel and a vice.  Drilled through the rubber in order to provide clearance to thread a hack saw blade through.  I cut through the outer metal sleeve in two places to relieve the outward pressure and hammered the bushing right out with chisel.

I pulled it all, cleaned up with degreaser and did them up in the sandblaster.

In the picture you will see the clutch slave cylinder mount, the clutch actuator arm, the front transaxle mount (two pieces).  

While those dried, I started disassembling the shifter linkage arm.  Removed the pin that hold the lever arm on the shaft and then removed the lever itself.  This needs to come off in order to replace the bushing.

Here you can see the condition of the bushing and the housing.

These pieces got degreased and then popped into the sandblaster.  Painted and set to dry, my transmission mounts were dry to touch.  I built the transmission mount with the new Powerflex bushing and attached it to transaxle.  Slid the clutch slave cylinder brackets on the transaxle and then the actuator lever with its circlip.

I found the rearward slave cylinder support bracket on ground so I needed to repaint it, so it's not in this picture.  But you can also see the rebuilt shifter arm in the foreground.  

Here it is again with some chrome button head bolts as I could not find the stainless ones I bought and I do not consider it an issue here. Painted that as well, although in New England this sort of thing does not last long. Even powder coating does not last long - one chip and the water gets in and it rusts underneath. C'est la vie. 

So now that I had the new clutch installed and new support bearing, it was time to install the transaxle.  Remember to fill your transaxle prior to installation, it's just easier.  Current VW board suggestions are to use the Swepco 201 for applications under 150hp, and Swepco 210 for over 150 hp. There are huge debates over this no matter what vehicle forum you peruse, I went with what Rancho suggested.  

Slid it under on my creeper and rolled it off.  Got it lifted into place with assistance of a floor jack and got it up there with some more wrestling around.  

Installed transaxle, time to reinstall the starter, shift linkage, new slave cylinder, all the mounts, CV joints, Zetec specific speed sensor, ground strap, etc.

In this photo you can see the next project - resealing the HC oil pan.  Will do when I perform next oil change. I was also grabbing tools to connect the CV joints here, and grease to repack the joint.

Transaxle installed, connectors all checked for proper torque, I went to cooling system and checked all those connectors and clamps, then reinstalled my fuel tank.  Time to check for leaks. 

Filled with coolant and refilled my fuel.  Fired right up and shifter worked, but was finicky.  Assumed that due to my 'new' parts, I would need to play around with adjustment. Took me a half dozen tries to get it where I was somewhat pleased.  Still think it needs additional adjustment. Will use a bit and correct after break in period.

Cub Scouts

Rocked the Thingamajigger for a Cub Scout hike this morning.

Today's adventure

Started at a Limbo members house. A number of VW folks gathered there last night for a night of fun prior to today's Volks Fair in Shrewsbury MA.

Even a few Vanagons on a trailer destined for Virginia based collector who has over 400.

Headed over to show site. Helped do some set up and watched the cars roll in

This white 67 was my favorite of the show.

Then it was time for some fun with my kid

Bought him a kayak last year, just gave it to him today as I felt his swimming skills were good now.  He took to the kayak immediately and was paddling quite well.  Slid the kayaks back into the van (on a tarp) and headed for home.

Good day in the VW.