How it began....

This first post is a little lengthy as I've got some catching up to do!

9/21/14
After a great deal of research and hunting I won an auction on eBay for a 2003 Eurovan MV Weekender that was located in Ft. Meyers,  FL.    The van had a good service record and the owner was very forthcoming about any issues that might need attention.

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9/25/14

The title was transferred to my name.  My Westy was insured and I arranged for it to be picked up by a shipping company for transport to Richmond, VA.   The former owner was very helpful in ensuring that the pickup went smoothly and it was on the way to me on 9/26/14.

9/28/14

The driver called and informed me that he would be unable to deliver the vehicle to my house as there were too many trees showing on Google Street View.   My family and I arranged to meet him at a local mall.   After a few drinks and some appetizers at a local Brio's the call came that he had arrived.  I left my family and went to meet the driver and my new old Westy.  It had arrived in great shape.  I paid the balance for the transport and took my first spin around the parking lot.   All was well except for a noise in the steering system during a hard turn.   

9/29/14

I dropped the vehicle off at my local VW dealer for an initial inspection and major service.   They recommended that the steering rack and tie rod ends be replaced as they were showing some wear.    I had the work done and drove away with my Westy in great working order on 10/2/14.   

9/30/14

Installed my first upgrade for the Westy today.   I found a set of floor mats at  EuroCampers.com and they fit well and look great. 

3836620-140 1 Piece Front Carpet Mat - fits all 2001 - 2003 VW EuroVan MV, Weekender & GLS Models #140 Grey

3836780-140 1 Piece Passenger Area Carpet Floor Mat for 1999 - 2003 VW EuroVan Weekender Models #140 Grey

3836710-140 Cargo Area Carpet Floor Mat fits 1999- 2003VW EuroVan Weekender & MV Models #140 Grey

10/16/14

After hunting through a few blogs I decided to purchase and install a set of new shocks.  I found a great set of instructions on how to perform the installation and ordered a set of Bilstein  shocks for the front and rear.

http://europarts-sd.com/1992-2003shockabsorberkit-bilsteinhd.asp

Rear:

1. Jack up van, put jackstand under it, remove jack.

2. Remove wheel.

3. Support trailing arm with jack (find a good spot to prop it up that doesn't damage anything).

4. Undo shock top-to-body bolt (19mm I think, maybe 18mm) and lower shock to trailing arm bolt (13mm I think, maybe 14mm). The upper bolt tends to be a bit tight so use whatever gives you leverage and it sometimes helps also to use an extension to get your wrench outside the wheel well, although I did snap an extension this way. I have also used the lug wrench handle from the car and slid that over my ratchet as a cheater bar to get more length and leverage.

5. Remove shock.

6. Installation is the reverse of removal, use your jack under the control arm to help line up holes for you to make threading bolts easy. Note any lower doughnuts on the old shock (if they came out w/the shock or if they are still in the control arm). If they're in good shape you can re-use them. If not, buy new ones (inexpensive). Lower shock bolt may or may not be the same size; if new bolts came w/the shock, use the new ones.

Front:

1. Jack up van, put jackstand under it, remove jack.

2. Remove wheel.

3. Prop up suspension assembly so that there's little/no tension on the shock.

5. Remove long lower shock bolt (21 or 22mm I think). It's sleeved so the entire thing isn't threaded. It helps to have a mallet and a screwdriver to help sort of punch it out sometimes or after the nut is off, try to angle your wrench slightly and pull on the bolt as you turn and it'll slide easier.

6. Unbolt upper shock-to-body plate (17 or 18 or 19mm I can't quite remember but something like that). Remove shock and plate together.

7. Remove plate from shock, noting any rubber doughnuts and noting where/how the metal upper shock boot/cover is positioned in the "sandwich" of plate and doughnuts. Buy new doughnuts if they're worn (cheap).

8. Bolt new shock to plate with rubber doughnuts in the same position as before. Also note that the old shock had a metal upper boot/cover most likely and the Bilsteins have a silicon boot, but the Bilsteins do have a large flat washer in lieu of the cover. You must use this washer in the same place as where the old shock's upper metal cover was resting, as this washer then sits on the shock and distributes the weight.

9. Reinstall shock-and-plate assembly into the van, using the jack under the suspension to fine-tune positioning of the lower bolt hole.

10/7/14

After reading a few posts related to the transmission's potential issues with heating up under certain loads I decided to purchase and install an external transmission cooler.  While I was doing this I also installed a transmission fluid dipstick kit to make it easier to check fluid levels.

10/8/14

Installed a transmission service kit from Blauparts today.    VW doesn't recommend servicing the AT (and didn't during my major service on 9/29/14) in these vehicles but anyone with real world experience does.  From what I can see its a good idea to replace the filter and fluid every 15,000 miles.

10/22/14

Came across an interesting Yahoo Group today named EurovanTDI.   I've been a VW TDI fan for a long time.  This group is moderated by Justin Soares who runs a garage in Oregon that specializes in converting Eurovans to TDIs.   I've joined the forum and am learning more about what's involved to perform a conversion.  Mu engine and drivetrain are in great shape but I would love to have a TDi badge on the rear of my Westy.

12/2/14

I got great news today.   My local VW repair shop owner, Glenn Burton of DeltaV Motorsports sent me an email that he has hired a mechanic that has worked on Westfalia's for over 20 years.   Glenn is great to work with and is willing to work on vehicles at a level that far  surpasses where a dealer would go.   My Westy project just got easier.   

12/9/14

I started on a new project today to equip my Westy with AC power.   

I ordered:

1. New auxiliary battery from Interstate.
2. Inverter, cables and fuses from Amazon:
3. A tie down strap today from GoWesty.com

Here's what I started with under the driver's seat. 

12/29/14

I covered the steering wheel with a leather cover from Amazon.  The cover was not easy to stitch on but it fits really well and feels great under my hands while driving.   Installation took about an hour.   

1/5/15

When I purchased the Westy I noticed that the bottom of the sliding door interior panel was loose. Today I took the panel off to determine what the issue was.   In order to remove the panel I had to do the following.

1. Unscrew the lock knob and remove it.   
2. Remove two small caps and the screws they covered that were about a quarter of the way down from the top of the panel at the front and rear of the door.
3. Purchased a door trim toolkit at Harbor Freight.
4. Started to remove the panel from the bottom of the door and worked my way up to the top using the trim toolkit.

While the panel was removed I took the opportunity to lubricate the locking mechanism with lithium grease and I also replaced the plastic connectors that join the rods from the door lock and door rod to the actuator and locking mechanism. 

Once the panel was removed I noticed that many of the clip holders had popped loose from the door panel.  I elected to remove them all and cleaned the old adhesive off of the holders and the door panel.  I then glued the holders back on to the panel using Gorilla Glue Epoxy.   A few of the clips were slightly damaged so I decided to replace them all.   The clips I used were these from Amazon.

I replaced the door panel by starting at the top of the door and carefully popping the pins back in to the door as I worked towards the bottom.  I reinstalled the screws and hoped the caps back on.  I ordered a few new caps while I was at this stage as I noticed that a couple were missing elsewhere on the trim.