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.