Hello list,

I have been away from the Vanagon community for some time. I joined back in
2001 when I picked up an 85 Westy. Since then I also had an 87 Syncro and
an 82 Westy all of which I had to sell due to 2 job relocations.

Things have settled down and I recently picked up a 90 Carat Automatic for
a project vehicle. I believe I am the 3rd owner. The last one purchased it
in 1998 and only drove it 7k miles in 14 years. It is pretty much bone
stock with 125k miles, even has the factory radio. My plan is to simply fix
all the little broken stuff and do as much preventative maintenance as
possible so we can take it camping and hit the VW shows. This is my first
automatic, so that in itself is a bit of a new adventure.

So far I have done the tires (proper Hankooks), shocks (Bilstein HD), rear
hatch struts, and am fixing all the various lights that aren't working due
to burnt out bulbs or rusted out housings. I have it at the local shop
right now getting the ATF & diff fluids changed along with the Foreign Auto
Supply transmission cooler being installed.

The next big thing for me to tackle is the dash removal as the front blower
fan is inoperable. This is a first for me, as I never had this problem on
my previous Vanagons. I have read through the step-by-step on Ben's website
and I don't think I will have too much trouble.

My question is what is the exhaustive list of things that need to be
replaced while the dash is out? So far I have:

Blower Fan
Heater Core
Heater Core Valve
Heater Box Clips
Ignition Switch
Brake Master Cylinder (no clutch MC since it is an auto)
Wiper Motor

Is there anything else I should tackle if I plan to drive this for the next
5-10 years? I don't want to have to do this more than once.

Thanks for the help! It is great to be driving a Vanagon once again.

Nathan,
Now in OKC.