Archive for March, 2010
1987 US dealers Vanagon sales video
Bathe in the hyperbole…
Vanagon lighter socket
April 1, 2010… I edited the original post. I must have been all hepped up on goofballs first go round as I based the instructions on a bench disassembly rather than the “real life in front of the dash how the hell does this come out” situation. Apologies to all who may have been misled.
Quick post showing the Vanagon stock lighter. Its a little tricky to remove from dash when you want to replace it (I found that accessory plugs do not fit as tight as I wanted, especially the iPod dock on a stalk gadget I use).
Warning, disconnect electrical power before mucking around lighter! (either main battery cable or fuse #3 which serves to supply juice to door lights, radio, and lighter in ’86 and up vans).
Really, don’t do any of this with power supplied to lighter.
The lighter has a plastic plug electrical connector on back. Go ahead and remove that first, accessing from behind glove box (and yes, spill of all that stuff you have collected over the years when removing the glove box).
You can see the socket comprises of two parts; the illuminated green plastic ring, and the metal socket proper. The green ring has to be slid down the shaft of the socket first, or rather the metal body is slid out forward from dash. It is held in place by 2 tiny tabs that can be depressed from the inside of the socket. Once the metal body is out, the green ring can then be wiggled out of the dash, from the front, it can be tilted to get through hole.
In the pictures I have pointed out the slot in the metal socket that the green plastic tabs fit into. Its the slot beside the 2 elongated slots. Again, you depress the green plastic tabs from inside the socket and pull the metal socket forward and out.
I hope this helps, I know the assembly and fitment can be a bit puzzling first go round.
Making aluminium shavings
Posted by albell in metalworking on March 10, 2010
To make about 2/3 of a garbage bin of shavings, take a lump of 8″ aluminium round bar, and lathe away half of it over a cold afternoon in the workshop. What an inefficient way of doing things, but I ended up with a solid one piece flywheel for a non-vanagon project.
Note: I had to drill and tap two holes to bolt the stock to the faceplate, formed the “hub”, then could unbolt, flip it around and grab the hub in jawed chuck to finish other side. I feel compelled to say that I am by no means a machinist, just a home hobbyist.
Return of the escutcheon
Posted by albell in vanagon mods on March 8, 2010
I hear you ask, “when are you going to make a door handle escutcheon for a pre-86 Vanagon?”
Oh, get a life…
Those original style doors had longer handles (the door mechanism is so much more clunky than the ’86 and up models) and it seems a different style escutcheon. This time its hard plastic with a little tab that keys into a notch in door skin. So onward to the pictures… this is handle from my ’82 westy (the one pictured in the blog header.
lock info
Update, April 6 2010 : good info on this page on lock R&R, and in English!
lock rehab
Images found on a German Vanagon site, and I can’t recall the URL so forgive me for lack of attribution other than any text on images themselves.
Handy references for some lock work.
