Framing the Trunk Lid

You know how some ideas seem really great at first, then they don't seem as good later!!!! Well this one wasn't like that at all, ha. It hasn't been easy working through the whole thing but it really is coming together nicely and the room it gives us has been worth the effort. We been distracted with some other things and I have a new batch of kids with only 1 experienced welder so the welding projects take a little longer because I'm training the kids as we go. When it comes to welding metal stock to sheet metal it can get a little tricky. Jaxon (Junior in high school, wants to be a welder) is practicing a bit before starts some of the finish work on this project. You can see in the picture below the little end caps that Jay made are a great fit but there are some small gaps to fill. Jaxon really wants to be able to tig weld this, but we'll see. You can also see the piece of angle iron that frames the edge of the once jagged opening.



Below you can see the lid itself with the new flange around it it closes nicely and in the end it will get a rubber gasket around the flange to ensure a good seal (no fumes in the cab). In the background you can also see how nice the new rear seat fits (leather, how fancy). The lid isn't quit finished yet, but you can see how nice its turning out. With carpet you wont even know its there.



The lid will be mounted to trunk style hings and attached to linear actuators to hold it up. Makes a lot more room, we love it!!!!!!!

A Little Breathing Room Would Be Nice!!!!

We know from day one that this was a big motor and it would take a lot to get it in, but we had no idea!!!!! As you can see from the image below we couldn't use a traditional engine hoist to bring the engine into place. We ended up using a floor jack and lots of muscle.


Once we got it into position (shown below) we realized that we wouldn't have enough room to work on the top half of the engine. We needed more room!!!!! After much brainstorming and some research on the internet we had a plan. We decided to cut ANOTHER hole in our van (its starting to look like a cheese grater).



So we cut out the WHOLE rear deck. From the fuel tank wall to the back (including the buildt in cross-member), from the right side of the original engine compartment to the left. In the picture it looks crooked, but it is just an illusion. The cuts came out perfect.



You'll notice in the next picture Jay Thompson (8th grade student at the time) built a very nice torsion bar to take the strain that cross-member would have. The new torsion bar can be removed with 8 bolts to make way for the engine and hoist.


When the trunk lid is finished, the torsion bar will be the only thing in the way when we try to work on the engine. We are working on the framing and hinge-work right now but will include more pictures as that finishes.



You'll also notice on the left side we have removed the spare tire compartment. This will be framed in and made into a access panel with a 3x9x24 inch compartment for the ECU, fuse panel and other electrical. This also made room for the air filter, and most likely the inter-cooler.

Emmet grinding the welds to remove spare tire compartment

Thanks to those doing the little stuff!!!!!!

I don't always show all the little things that get done. Not everyone can be grinding, welding, and installing there just isn't always big stuff that is ready. The students are good about finding little things to do and they don't even complain a lot (as long as the music is going). Often the students will ask what to do and I'll have to just give them a section to prep, and sand, an item to clean and grind, degreasing and scrubbing, there is always grunt work to do, so thanks!!!!!!!!

Low Rider! Ok Kinda Low Rider!

Well the Van is starting to look better, I didn't say good. We still have a lot to do, more to do than we have time to do them. But Jay and I did get the front spindles in and there great.
Empty wheel well before new spindles.

Those guys at Wagenswest sure does an nice job.

Makes me want to paint the wheel wells instead of undercoating them.
I'm not liking the paint job on the brake shrouds and I think they are going to chip very easy, so when we get the powder coating equipment going I think this will be one of the first parts to do.

The new rims and tires with the drop spindles. Looks nice!! You can see how the whole thing is tipping forward a little without the rear drop in.

wow, those wheels are going to look nice!

Square Peg into a Round Hole

Well the engine is in the van but this was not an easy task.

First it was very difficult to get the engine balanced at the correct angle to go in, and there wasn't enough room to bring the engine hoist in all the way.




To make things worse there was STILL some oil in some of the return line and stuff and then on the floor, our shoes and our knees. MORE floor dry!!!!



We balanced the whole unit on the floor jack and Paul, Jay, Thor and I muscled it into place. put the 2 bolts at the front of the tranny. Then we put the 2 drive axels in place, this really helped to get things lined up.

Fun Time

Even on a work day there is still time to do a little dreaming and playing. Thor and Jay took a little time to dream about what it will be like when everything is done and we can actually dive this thing.

The Front Suspension

You may have notice in the picture with the new wheel under the front that it is just sitting in there not attached to anything. Well that is because the front spindles have been removed and sent out to WagensWest in Salem, OR (http://www.wagenswest.com/). They hand build custom suspension part for VWs. Nice guys, talk to Nate!!!!! They sent us some beautiful re manufactured drop-spindles for the front and are sending the horseshoe plates to drop the back. The whole van will be dropped by about 3.5 inches when all is said and done. The spindles came in today and we should have them back on the van in a couple of days. I'll post some pictures when they're in.

Van Tires and Seats

The new tires and seats for the van came in a few weeks ago, and everything is now coming together nicely. The tires that were purchased for the van have a very high efficiency, which will help to increase the gas mileage. We also got low mass aluminum rims to go with the high low rolling resistance tire. The two things that we we're aiming for with the tires were style and efficiency. Judging by the picture I think we did it.

























The new seats we got are out of a newer Dodge Nitro that we found totaled at North West Auto in Anchorage. They're black /grey Leather, and they're heated. So, uncomfortable seats on a long road trip definitely wouldn’t be an issue in this van.

Installing the New Oil Pan!!!

We had a Saturday work day not long ago, we worked the whole day to get engine and transaxel into our slowly progressing van. It took hours, and it didn't start well. We hooked it up to the cherry picker and up onto the metal table it went. After getting the 800 pound engine/tranny on the table, we started taking off the original oil pan. What we didn't know was that there was still a lot of oil that hadn't drained, and we had a huge mess on our hands. We had a oil spill that was running everywhere. Having a wood shop next door generally works well because we can use sawdust to clean up oil messes. The only problem was that the shop was actually clean for once and there was almost no sawdust to be found. So off to Napa to get some dry floor. So it took longer then it should have to change an oil pan. Also the bolts from the original sump and oil pump were to long to fit the new angled set, so the runner was sent back to Napa. It took a lot of patients, but its done! As you can see in the last picture Thor installed the passenger side motor mount.

Go Green or Go Home!!!

"Go Green or Go Home" is quickly becoming our moto, but until recently will really didn't have any GO. Our engine came to us late this last fall but as you can see from the picture it really is a bundle of wires and hoses to be sorted out. Well, we've recently put the engine up on the table and mounted the transaxel to it. It really is a site! To think that this modern motor will be the drive in our new van. I order to get it into the van we need to build a new motor mount for the side of the engine with the turbo. The newer turbo would not fit with the original van motor mount. This will give us the opportunity to use the milling machine to make a really awesome mount. That will be on the blog soon.