Play time

I decided to paint the wheels back to their original color. I love black wheels but I actually think this looks better.



I hated the switch that came with the driving lights. It was big and really bright. So I went with tihs one.


I really wanted to mount them inside the lower grill but I was more ok with drilling holes in the bumper rather than cutting up a perfectly good grill that I can't find anymore if a situation arose.


They turned out ok I suppose. Here you can also see Richard Cabessa in the drivers seat.

This is what it looked like with the black wheels.

Let there be light...but no washer fluid

The stock low beams on the van have been killing me. 2 Maglites taped to the roof would put out more light. There's about 1/2 a volt drop from the battery to the headlight connector and that doesn't seem like a whole heck of a lot. I considered adding in 2 relays so that more power (always the answer right?) could reach the lights but I'd have to tap into the wiring harness inside the steering column and that's always dodgy. The real decision was made at the parts store when they told me that each Bosch relay was gonna run me $12. After connectors and wire I'd be close to $45 and I figured I could get some driving lights for that. I'm not a fan of drilling holes in bumpers (particularly this one) but I didn't have any other options. So I mounted up some lights last night.

After messing around with the main fuse panel to get power, I went to button everything back up and noticed one wire hanging there. So in a sea of wires I needed to figure out where it's home was. I decided to call it quits around 10. While having coffee and pouring over wiring schematics this morning, I realized that the wire in question controls the front windshield washer pump. The bugger of it all is that now I have to figure out how to make this work again. This is one wire in a plug that contains 15 different wires for various things in the front of the vehicle and I'm going to have to get the connector out from deep inside the plug and then repair it. I have a few ideas so we'll see how that goes.

Whilst monkeying around under the dash I did find another connector that wasn't plugged together. I have no idea what it controlled but I'm hoping it will equal about 47 more horsepower at the wheels. If so then I might be close 90.

I know you're dying to see pictures of the install so I'll appease you later.

Salvage yard

The van has quite a few dings and dents from the previous owner and probably the worst one is right on a wheel well and would take a lot of work to fix and then you gotta deal with the paint. You can get flares out of South Africa and they would cover this little mishap perfectly but they are well over a hundred dollars. So I walked around trying to come up with an idea that would work. The problem is that the arches on the van are longer (front to back) than the Passat, Jetta and Golf so that's not gonna work. I did find a really nice set of GTI mud flaps and started to pull those off when I realized that the inner lip of the wheel well is different on the van and that these wouldn't fit. The Vanagon is the bastard child. Again...you can find flaps out of South Africa but I think the last time I checked they were 50 for one set. Flaps are so Rally though. This yard didn't have one Vanagon! It had a couple of GTI's and about a dozen mid-90's Jetta's and Golf's.

What there were a lot of was ABA 2 liter motors in those Jetta's and Golf's. This is the 115hp motor. It wasn't anything special but it would be more reliable than the 2.1 in the van. I stood there thinking about it for a while because they are a dime a dozen. It could work in the van if you use diesel parts to connect it to the trans. After a bit of research when I got home I found that the 2 liter head sits 17mm higher than the motor that's in the van. and that would interfere with the bed. BUT......if I use a 1.8 head it would shoehorn in the engine bay since the head is shorter. I love looking around the yards at all the older cars that I've owned.

You're also gauranteed to see lots of interesting people at the junkyard too which is another reason to go. Yesterday a guy approached me. This guy was limping towards me and I noticed him out of the corner of my eye. There's a lot of people that limp at the junkyard only they normally can't even pick up said leg so they let it drag on the ground behind them as they approach unsuspecting people. As soon as he got close enough he let fly with the tried and true junkyard banter: "There sure is a lot of junk here". I put this one right up there with being in a sauna and having some jackass comment about how it feel's like a sauna in here. Anyway...this guy slurred like he had already had several pulls off the Ripple or 20/20 and then it came; "Hey brah....can I borrow some tools?" This bothers me. People that come to a junkyard are there hoping to find something for a vehicle. Generally, these parts are not just randomly laying around. There is some disassembly required. Now the only reason this is a real problem for me is that I once had a guy run off with some of my tools and that's just shitty. So in my head I'm thinking, "Fool me twice....shame on me?" So.....I told him no. Immeadiately this was a problem and I was the mean guy which is perfectly fine.

Working it out

This past week I started putting together a workout routine. At this new school, they have a crap ton of free weights so I'll be doing a lot of squat work. The football coach has been helping me out with coming up with stuff to really work the core muscles and the legs. He did call me a pussy because on day one I told him there was no way I was going to try and squat over 300lbs. but that's ok. He also kept staring at my legs until I finally broke the ice and said we could talk about leg shaving if it would help. It's ok...I'm pretty sure I'm a real man.

He's got some interesting thoughts about working out. He's come over to me a few times and said, "That's not doing shit ya know?" I told him I will be his guinea pig as long as he makes my core super strong and doesn't put any weight on me up top. I don't really care if I gain some lbs. on the legs. So he's makig some changes to my routine but he's got me working out Monday and Tuesday and then again Thursday and Friday. He said that Monday, Wednesday, Friday crap is old school. What do I know. I just want him to think I'm cool.

New rubbah

I finally got around to fitting the van with some proper tires. A lot of Vanagon afficianados are a bit like the older air cooled guys. They're a bit eccentric and, while they mean well, they can some times get a bit carried away. The Vanagon originally came with a tire size that is extremely hard to find now and if you do it'll set you back a pretty penny. A lot of guys install Nokian tires but the cheapest I've seen them is a bit over a hundy a pop. To make a long story short...I opted for a lesser expensive tire and while it doesn't have the load rating that some guys think is absolutely mandatory, it is a better tire than what was on there and so that's a good thing. We're supposed to get some snow later this week so I'll be eager to see if they help. They sure as hell can't hurt.

As you well know, I love the van, but I have been mulling over a possible trade. I don't know if either of us are all that serious but if it does happen...I'll be road tripping. Fortunately, it'll happen in St. Louis so we'll get to visit some friends.



These look a bit like Blizzacks with all the crazy siping but they can be fitted with studs. Although that sounds like a pain in the ass it's nice to know I can do it if need be.

Carnage....again

He looks like he's actually a good dog.



He's truly a magician though. Somehow...he got this entire sweater into his crate (while he was in it mind you) and destroyed it. It's important to keep in mind that the holes in the side of the crate are maybe 2" in diameter. There wasn't just a portion of the sweater in the box but the ENTIRE sweater. The jury is still out on how in the hell he got it. Dharma and him may be working a scam. I told Heather she could still wear it just so long as she doesn't turn her back to anyone.

Like my rack?

Yesterday was really nice up here. Temps were about 55 so I decided to go and check out some areas that I hadn't been before. I knew about where I was when I hit the third hour. This area is supposed to have a nice population of mountain lions and as I was riding along I caught a whiff of something dead. Normally it's not a good idea to check out a food cache but this one really stunk so I figured it was probably pretty old. I walked for a few hundred yards before I found it. Both of these antlers had barbed wire twisted all around them and there were 2 fence posts that were 6" in diamter that had been broken off. By the way the wood looked, you could tell that it hadn't been like that for long. The bull was 20 yards or so further into a drainage and was mostly gone. I suppose someone could have taken a poor shot and it eventually bled out in the drainage but based upon what the area looked like I almost think a kitty may have been chasing it or even gotten hold of it. Maybe the bull fought as much as he could until the antlers broke off after getting tangled and then he was defenseless? Either way it's sad. After sitting there for 30 minutes or so trying to play out what may have taken place, I headed for home. I came back later in the evening and retreived the rack. They are in bad shape. The barbed wire really did number on them and there's even a few chips where it looks like he was fighting for his life. Nature sure is beautiful but there are definitely times when it can be really depressing.