If it makes you feel better, I feel like crap now for accomplishing so
little this year!

Best of luck,

Jim

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Isaac Weathersbee <
isaacweathersbee@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello List,
>
> I am Isaac, and I have been a reader since February but now feels like time
> to begin contributing. I am a 20 year old college student and have been an
> avid Vanagon owner since January of this year.
>
> My entrance into the Vanagon community is certainly unorothodox.
>
> In January I purchased 2 1984 passenger vans off of craigslist. The first
> was blue with a running engine, automatic transmission, and non-functioning
> brakes. The second a gray 4-speed in rough shape missing the engine. My
> intent from initial purchase was to create a stretched Vanagon.
>
> For the past 7 months or so I have been slowly cutting, welding, splicing,
> and connecting the front 2/3s of the gray van to the rear 2/3 of the blue
> one. Talking notes from Otmar's stretch (http://evcl.com/vw/)   and Lynn
> and Gerry's Vanalong (http://www.vanalong.com) I have created a
> functioning vehicle.  I ventured somewhat from their processes by using
> thicker walled tubing to sit inside the underfloor channels and using
> composites to reinforce the seams over the welds, hopefully yielding an
> incredibly strong structure.
>
> As it sits today I have a seven seater van with the original driver and
> passenger seats, the original rear 3 seats were left in place and a reversed
> middle 2 bench was moved just forward to make a booth in the rear. The area
> between the rear facing 2 and the far front seats of the vehicle is
> currently undecided but ample room was left to have the spare 3 seat bench
> mounted against the wall on the driver's side should friends and I choose to
> do so.  Luckily both vans hat matching blue interiors!  I still have some
> cosmetic bodywork to complete before paint and the interior is largely
> unfinished but the vehicle is taking shape well. It'll probably be comically
> slow with the 1.9 engine and automatic, but who cares; I'll be driving a
> vehicle that I can haul whatever and whoever, while knowing that brought it
> into fruition! To me that's way better than the passing lane.
>
> Yesterday was its maiden voyage. Three friends and I tackled a lengthy
> checklist to make sure any forseeable faults were mitigated and the van was
> ready to roll. We all loaded up, copilot beside me, two others lounging in
> the rear booth, and began first drive. It handled surprising well for being
> the frankenstein vehicle that it is. Even the turning radius was better than
> I had expected for an exactly 20' vehicle. This was the first time I had
> ever driven a Vanagon. We made it a full mile and a half before our hearts
> sunk with the sound of a revving engine and a non moving van.  I tried to
> restart the engine in hopes that it had accicentally popped itself into
> neutral, but only the whirring of the starter motor was heard.  Terrible
> thoughts of a shredded transaxle and a destroyed engine flooded our minds.
> Seven months of work and thousands of dollars invested to drive less than
> two miles! I was on edge.
>
> After consolation from friends and a long, slow tow back to the workshop I
> was able to diagnose the seemingly catastrophic failure.
>
> Since the torque converter turned with the starter and the engine didn't I
> was able to put the problem between the engine and transmission. The engine
> turned by hand and still had good compression so, after consulting Haynes
> and Bentley, I had obviously sheared the three bolts that hold the torque
> converter to the engine's flex plate.  Recalling the previous owner's
> description of the Vanagon, "recent transmission work," It would seem
> plausible that the mechanic may have used low grade bolts after misplacing
> the originals when servicing the transmission.
>
> Regardless of what someone previously may or may not have done, I have a
> stretched Vanagon in ready to drive condition with the exception of three
> bolts. The anticipation of getting to drive it again is killing me and the
> fact that I'm going out of state to school in 11 days isn't helping with the
> pressure to get it back on the road.
>
> If any of you have any helpful tips, tricks, or pointers of how to replace
> the sheared bolts; I'm all ears�eyes. I'm pretty sure the transmission has
> to come out and any guidance would be immensely apprecieated.
>
>  I'm also happy to field any suggestions or questions about my project as
> well. I've taken a few pictures of the process and will take some current
> ones tomorrow and post them for you all to see.
>
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Isaac
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> isaacweathersbee@gmail.com
> -1984 Stretched Vanagon 1.9 A/T "Vinnie"
>