| NASkeet |
Thu May 18, 2023 11:01 am |
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Motor-Caravans / Campervans: Inspiration from Trailer-Caravan, Boat & Engineering Trade magazines etc
Since January 1975, my family and I have had a second-hand, British specification, RHD – right-hand drive, 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan (distinct from a campervan), which has been progressively modified & upgraded over the years, inspired by a variety of sources, including engineering-trade journals as well as books & magazines pertaining to motor-caravans, motor-homes, trailer-caravans & boats.
Over a period of many years, it was my weekly ritual at the local public library, to browse through some of the magazines, periodicals & journals to which it subscribed, including the British boating magazine, PBO – Practical Boat Owner, which regularly featured equipment reviews and DIY – “do it yourself” projects, which were potentially also of relevance to motor-caravans / campervans, trailer-caravans, goods-trailers & baggage-trailers.
https://www.pbo.co.uk
https://www.pbo.co.uk/tag/in-the-workshop
https://www.pbo.co.uk/expert-advice/tip-of-the-day-repairs-and-advice
https://www.pbo.co.uk/tag/pbo-project-boat
https://www.pbo.co.uk/reviews
https://www.pbo.co.uk/gear
https://forums.ybw.com/forums/practical-boat-owner...1684432278
The following excerpts, examine the use of leather in marine applications and a home-made alarm system as an adjunct to an engine’s oil-pressure gauge, to indicate when oil-pressure falls below a user-specified value.
Mike Coates, “Now, a look at leather”, PBO Practical Projects, Practical Boat Owner, Issue 536, July 2011, Pages 74~75.
John Tylor, “An alarm to take the pressure off”, PBO Practical Projects, Practical Boat Owner, Issue 536, July 2011, Page 74.
Leather Use
In a VW motor-caravan, there is at least one application where one might wish to cover something with leather, which is the steering-wheel rim, possibly with padding, to provide better grip as well as insulation from the metal rim (albeit painted or plastic-coated) during either hot or cold weather.
When I drove the 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 motor-caravan during the winters of 1987/88 & 1990/91, instead of my much modified & upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 “HL Special” car (amongst other things, it already had a padded, leather-covered steering wheel from a closely-related Triumph Dolomite 1500/1850 HL), I needed to wear two pairs of gloves to avoid my hands becoming numb from the surrounding cold air and contact with the cold steering-wheel rim; which was at least partly attributable to the 1968~79 VW 1600 Type 2’s ineffective heating & demisting / defrosting system.
During 1988~89, when I worked at Fulmer Yarsley Ltd in Surrey, England, which also included a well-known fire-test laboratory, I salvaged from the waste skip, some discarded test samples, which were some slightly fire-damaged, high-quality leather seat-covers, intended for executive jets, which I was told would have cost circa £500 each.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=2354865
I hadn’t then identified any specific projects for which I might use this supple, high-quality leather, but I envisage that I might eventually use it to make a 1973 VW Type 2 steering-wheel glove and some covers, for the head-restraints of the leather-covered Volvo 240GL seats that I substituted into the 1973 VW Type 2 front cab in 1989.
I might even use some leather for anti-chafe protection on the emergency tow-rope that I always carry as a precautionary measure, along with heavy-duty battery booster cables, high-visibility waistcoats (mandatory in many European countries) for all vehicle occupants, a pair of hazard-warning triangles (mandatory in most European countries) and a complete set of spare fuses & light bulbs (mandatory in France).
Oil-Pressure or Temperature Switches & Alarms
In 1989, I also retro-fitted to the 1973 VW 1600 Type 2, 52 mm diameter, VDO Cockpit supplementary gauges for oil pressure, oil temperature & cylinder-head temperature, and fitted some additional gauges several years later, including a salvaged, second-hand VDO Cockpit voltmeter from a VW Golf.
The oil-pressure gauge was matched to a VDO two-terminal oil-pressure gauge sender, with integral low-oil-pressure switch, which certainly provided more piece of mind than the original low-oil-pressure switch & dashboard warning light, but even the integral low-oil-pressure switch in the VDO gauge-sender, only activated at excessively low oil pressures, by which time significant damage might already have been incurred, unless one were regularly monitoring the gauge and had noted a progressive reduction in pressure readings.
However, it is not practical or safe to continuously monitor gauges, so it would be desirable to incorporate a supplementary system that would alert one to insufficient and/or excessive oil pressures and/or temperatures. I suspect that John Taylor’s circuit design could be adapted for this purpose.
I am aware that several water-cooled VW & Audi engines, were factory-fitted with two low-oil-pressure switches, one of which was incorporated into a circuit that activated a warning device, if the oil-pressure dropped below a given value, at engine speeds in excess of 2,000 rpm. |
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| NASkeet |
Sat May 20, 2023 11:48 am |
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For those of you who have yet to acquire a suitable oil-filter removal wrench, for your air-cooled VW (including the 1980~83 VW 1600 Transporter T3 and 1997 onward Brazilian "bay-window VW 1600 Type 2), water-cooled VW or other vehicles, the following review from Practical Boat Owner might be worth reading:
“8 oil filter wrenches”, PBO Gear, Practical Boat Owner, Issue 570, February 2014, Pages 92~93
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