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.

I was beginning to get nervous about taking care of the rust issue on our van. We have access to a very large sand blaster, but to ship the sand to run it would cost a huge chunk of our budget. We have been treating some of our rust with various products but none of them seem to work well. In my search for a better product I found Rust Bullet LLC. which should be the solution to our problem. It will save huge amounts of time in the fact that the prep is greatly reduced, and the end product should be far better. Above and beyond making a great product Rust Bullet has decided to sponsor our project and donate the supplies to rust treat our whole vehicle. Now that's great!!!!!!
Here is a link to there web page, check it out it is the perfect product for any restoration project. http://www.rustbullet.com

Our new transaxel has arrived (Thank you Rancho performance Transaxels)

Today our custom built transaxel showed up in it's crate from California. It was like Christmas for the shop kids. They gathered around the crate while I took the screws out and opened it up. As it was opened, I heard a lot of comments like: "wow that's so awesome", and "that's the coolest thing ever". We had originally intended to use the transaxel that was with the bus, but Diesel engines run at a much lower RPM. Mike at Rancho Performance Transaxles had the solution for us. He put in a taller 3rd and 4th gear to lower the RPMs at highway speed, and help with the efficency. The original gasoline motor would have had about 70 horse power, but the new diesel engine will have somewhere around 130 or more horsepower, for this reason Mike welded 1st and 2nd gear. The tranny was also beautifully painted with stainless nuts to accent the black. He also installed a diesel bellhousing and a short input shaft to accomadate the 1.9 liter TDi engine. Mike is also doing his part to support education by donating all the labor for this undertaking, meaning we only paid for the parts and shipping. Thanks again Mike!!!!! Here are some pics of the new tranny and a 7th grader (Tim) changing over some of the brackets and the throwout bearings. You'll find a link to Rancho Performance Transaxles in the links section, check out his webpage; it's cool.