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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 7:05 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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My daughter and I had a lovely spring day meandering along the back roads between Boulder and Loveland.
We watched the gliders cycle at Boulder airport, lots of aerobatic skydivers at Longmont airport, and miles and miles of farm pastures greening up after a mild winter.
After awhile, Tunes got bored looking out the window from the jumpseat and curled up in back to sleep or with her head resting on the table so she could still look out.
_________________ The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
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Jamo7 Samba Member
Joined: September 25, 2014 Posts: 124 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:26 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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The Westy provided nap space for my youngest and my wife!
With the lil' one hitting terrible twos, sleep has been less than ideal. When we got to the beach today, our younger daughter was asleep in her car seat. My older daughter and I went out to play on the beach and my wife popped the top and got a proper nap in the upper bed to catch up on some much needed z's.
Yes!!!
James _________________ '84 Westy 2.1 wbx |
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dhaavers Samba Member
Joined: March 19, 2010 Posts: 7733 Location: NE MN (tinyurl.com/dhaaverslocation)
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 4:08 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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It became the "band van" for the weekend as our community theater moves venues between weeks of performances:
http://www.lcnewschronicle.com/community/arts-and-...erformance
I could have used another guy's truck, but where's the fun in that? Any reason to use the van is better than none!
- Dave
PS: 60 mile round trip; van performed flawlessly and also received good reviews...
_________________ 86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS> |
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joetiger Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2005 Posts: 5068 Location: denver
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:13 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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I had to take a day off today otherwise I'd stop accruing vacation time at work. In other words, I really needed it. I went and got new tires installed then went up to Golden Gate Canyon for a hike before the big storm hits. It was a beautiful day up there and there were only a couple of other people on the trail.
[/img] _________________ Joe T.
'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32
"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron
"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond
Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present
www.josephtrussell.com |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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bobbyblack Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015 Posts: 4332 Location: United States, Iowa
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 1:21 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Looked over Flossie, everything is fine! Imagine, letting my 16YO take Flossie to the prom, and nothing bad happened?!?!?
_________________ '87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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fxr Samba Member
Joined: December 07, 2014 Posts: 2300 Location: Bay area CA
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 7:23 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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It was yesterday - but - <sob> one of the original VW hubcaps went flying off (passenger side rear) on the freeway and got mullered by a huge truck as it tried to tinkle its way to the shoulder.
Luckily, I found a very reasonably priced one on fleabay, so priced because it had similar trivial dents and scuffs as did the original. Hopefully arriving soon.
In the meantime before that arrives, 'van' looks tattier than it should. I'm not a fan of form over function by any means, but losing one hubcap out of an original set from 32 years ago triggered an unfamiliar aesthetic reaction. I must be getting old - oh, hang-on... _________________ Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300 |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 5:32 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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My son and I pit crewed for an old friend going through vintage racing drivers school at PPIR south of Colorado Springs last weekend.
His race prepped '61 Jag MkII sedan is on the lift for some suspension work, so we took his street 1964 E-type.
It was wonderful to be back at the track with the Mighty Roar Racing Team again after a very very long time away.
This sets the stage for a fun summer vintage racing season.
Here's an extract from when I went through the same drivers school in the Jag MkII back in 1996: "...finally came the chance to take the wheel of a fully race-prepped Jaguar on a track in competition with other drivers. In the beginning you simply try to get around the track without screwing up, tentative and apprehensive as you do your best to absorb all the new things unfolding around you so quickly. It takes a bit to set your cockpit procedures, gauge checks, the best shifting/braking methods, spotting corner workers while working out your driving lines and braking points. Then you start to push the car with more and more more certainty as it begins to click and you get a glimpse of what the all fuss is about. But an instant later, you miss the line or blow a shift and find yourself all tied up in mental knots again, juggling aggression and caution, pride with fear, your skills with the unknown. Before long, your confidence is back, everything becomes right again and you transition into a wonderful world-without-time where life reduces down to a 3-second stream-of-consciousness window of total focus on setting up the next line just right, late braking into the curve and late apexing out under acceleration, winding it out in the straight, shifting and winding it out more, then braking, braking HARDER as the wall rushes up to you, downshifting and pushing into the next tight corner hotter, accelerating out faster, passing that Alfa, dropping cars off your tail, then getting smoked by a someone even faster on the long straightaway, transitioning into the next curve, settling deep into the suspension and smoothly taking the wide sweeper in slow-motion at 70mph just inches off the bumper of the vintage 911 in front of you, trusting the Jag, trusting the other drivers, notching it up lap after lap, pushing it harder and probing your limits before suddenly it's over, the checkered's out and you're pulling into the pits with muscles trembling and a huge grin on your face..."
_________________ The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
Your gold star membership keeps this awesome list going!
Last edited by sanchius on Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:00 am; edited 3 times in total |
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dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16473 Location: Brookeville, MD
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22568 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:45 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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I could smell the fuel, burning brakes, and rubber just reading that prose.... _________________ .ssS! |
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benandmj Samba Member
Joined: October 29, 2012 Posts: 550 Location: Atlanta
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:00 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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joetiger wrote: |
I had to take a day off today otherwise I'd stop accruing vacation time at work. In other words, I really needed it. I went and got new tires installed then went up to Golden Gate Canyon for a hike before the big storm hits. It was a beautiful day up there and there were only a couple of other people on the trail.
[/img] |
What kind of tires did you get Joe? I've always dug your van! _________________ 85 Westfalia Weekender
91 Syncro Westy |
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joetiger Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2005 Posts: 5068 Location: denver
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:42 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Thanks! Likewise on van affinity. I decided to dance with the date that brung me and got another set of Geolandars. _________________ Joe T.
'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32
"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron
"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond
Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present
www.josephtrussell.com |
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landkholdings Samba Member
Joined: March 11, 2008 Posts: 250 Location: N. GA
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:04 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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I spent the weekend at the bottom of the s-turns at Road Atlanta for the Mitty. Thankfully, my friends arrive as soon as the gates open on Thursday, which allows me to arrive leisurely on Friday afternoon and occupy one of the best spots on the track!
_________________ Kevin |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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midmo81 Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2012 Posts: 114 Location: Columbia, Missouri
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 6:00 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Perfect spring day. Loaded kayak and headed for water.
_________________ 1981 AC Westy |
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pathao Samba Member
Joined: November 01, 2012 Posts: 289 Location: Montreal, Canada
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 6:32 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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More of something our van didn't want to do.
I had to cheer him up : "come out ! I know you liked it in there, but come out. You spent wayyyyyy too much time in there !"
and here Thao "new look"
well getting there _________________ 1982 AC P27 - 2.0 FI FED - 091 - BA6
English is a second language to me |
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sanchius Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1446 Location: IN
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Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 2:30 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Parked at the end of a remote weather station service road to get away from everything and catch up on some reading
On one side, a 50-foot drop-off and on the other, miles and miles of beautifully empty tallgrass prairie
Cold, windy and wet outside; warm, quiet and calm inside with a nice background mix going
All stretched out in back, lounging against a big pile of pillows, laptop on the table
Tunes the Husky curled up and fast asleep in the front seat
Wireless internet signal stable and strong
Phone ringer set to mute
Perfect
_________________ The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
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B.O.B.Wanders Samba Member
Joined: July 22, 2014 Posts: 351 Location: Atlanta, GA USA
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 7:57 pm Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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BOB took us on a 5,661 mile journey from Atlanta to Los Angeles (Laguna Beach) and back. We took 16 days and tried to avoid interstate highways as much as possible. We meandered generally along the I-40 corridor most of the way but our route is really difficult to describe and, for that matter, to even remember. We sketched out a general axis but by the second day we were, of course, making impromptu changes. We went through Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California outbound, and Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on the way back.
We went out to Laguna Beach for a Mother's Day skateboarding event (Mighty Mama Skate-o-Rama) and stopped by a few skate parks along the way. We camped a lot, met lots of great folks along the way, and provided several obligatory Westy tours. Some of the highlights of the trip were:
Natchez Trace Parkway (Jackson to Starkville, MS)
Palo Duro Canyon SP near Amarillo, TX
Joshua Tree NP
Santa Fe NF near Las Vegas, NM
The Mogollon Rim Road in central AZ (wow!).
[edit] Almost forgot "the High Road to Taos"
Mechanically BOB ran great with only a few issues. My oil pressure light began coming on and off on the first day while driving through a heavy rain. Everything else seemed fine (oil level, temp, power etc.). It would slowly come on and then fade out after a couple of minutes. We stopped for a while and it stayed off after that. Once I got a chance to crawl under, I discovered that the wire to the oil pressure sensor was in pretty bad shape and I think it was shorting out due to the rain. No more problems after replacing the wire. (More diligence on engine wiring inspection before the next trip).
We also had a flat near Holbrook Arizona on one of our rare interstate sprints at 9:30 at night. The tire stem got cut by the dang trim ring. Know this: Fashion is danger. So BOB now has 3 BFG's and 1 Nexen SV 820 which seems like a really nice tire. (Still pondering the next move on that...). My spare is one of the under-rated tires that came with BOB, so replacing it with a decent tire was a definite must-do. It turned out that the tire place right across the street from the hotel had exactly one 14" LT tire on hand so I was all set. I have to say that while the BFG was toast after running flat, it allowed me to make a safe and graceful exit from the traffic lanes. The incident, of course, prompted a route change to drop from I-40 through the mountains down towards Phoenix. Had we not stopped for the flat, we would have just continued on towards Flagstaff.
On the way home, near Prescott, AZ, BOB rather suddenly began running rough and had a noticeable loss of power. I thought I had found the problem with the aux air hose which had become disconnected. It got better for a while and then started again. I swapped the O2 sensor thinking that maybe that was part of the problem (I need to get better at troubleshooting that kind of thing) but the issue came back after a while. Eventually, I discovered that the real culprit was the #2 fuel injector connecter. It was missing the wire clip and was vibrating its way out just enough to make the engine run really rough and I would inadvertently, but temporarily, "fix" it while poking around trying to figure out the problem. All four connectors are wired in place with a bit of copper wire now.
Before the trip I swapped out the original fridge for one in a little better shape and did the full R&R job. Propane works great now. My old one had a burned up 12V circuit and decided it would be easier to swap the fridge than to fix it. I also replaced the old tent with a new three-window tent from BD (very nice!). The additional ventilation is definitely worth the effort for us warm weather folks. This was our first real trip with the new Pergo flooring. We found a package on clearance for $10 at HD, which was just enough. It is very easy to sweep out and seems to be holding up just fine. We did run out of propane while overnighting in a great little old-school motor lodge in Springerville, AZ but as luck would have it, there was an Ace Hardware with propane right across the street.
OK so this is the crazy part. I did not see another Vanagon/Westy on the road between Atlanta and the west coast, but once we got to the hotel in Laguna Beach I saw two Westy's within five minutes, but no more the rest of the trip. We did pass by two different shops in rural eastern Alabama with a ton of old bugs, barn-doors, and bays rusting away out back.
All-in-all it was a great trip. I still hate the seats, but BOB did not let us down _________________ 83.5 WBX 2WD Assuan Brown Westy, B.O.B.
"It feels good to be lost in the right direction” - unknown |
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Waldi Samba Member
Joined: February 28, 2014 Posts: 1752 Location: Germany
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Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 5:37 am Post subject: Re: Things your van did recently |
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Here a part of the 13km offroad pist on Corsika.
Went with some friends for fishing on Lotu beach and for fun was driving in 2-wd mode. With Hankook MT.
https://youtu.be/eGG5kxJkpV0
If you like more gime a call. Need to upload it.
Edit:
how i do it to see the youtube start screen with the start pic ? |
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