hi Alistair,
There's a guy in Canada making a foil replacement... Is that you?

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763460&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

On Sun, Oct 23, 2022 at 8:35 AM Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:

> I can answer that.
>
> Was a couple years ago Greg came by my work to see about some work work we
> could do for him. He saw my van , he was driving his van… we got to talking
> about vans.
>
> Somewhere in the conversation I mentioned that I’m using a borrowed dash
> cluster with the South African foil replacement system. You know the one, I
> forget who sells it in North America but it’s basically a small box that
> plugs into the wiring harness and then wires to the various dash
> components. I think it predates go westies copy. I was saying to him how it
> works ok, that I had to secure the box to the harness as it tended to
> disconnect. And also said how that I had always wanted to make my own
> version.
>
> He’s an electronics guy , so of course I was asking him for advice. He
> then casually dropped the fact that one could just have a new foil made.
>
> I had no idea that was possible .
>
> I said to him I thought that was a much better replacement format than the
> wired type kits in the market.
> I said I’d buy one.
>
> So he started the design , and had the foils made. Has been a longish
> project as he has a full time job, and has gone thru a couple of revisions.
>
> And I have a foil now. In the Workshop. I now can fix up my old cluster (
> lots of plastic repair needed) and install the foil.
>
> This new foil is a way better version of the original. As rick mentioned
> it’s made of Kapton, not polyester/Mylar that the original was made of. The
> Kapton is a much more durable material but still conforms to the dash as
> the original.
> Another difference is that the circuit traces are on both sides. Greg
> explained that back in the day it was only possible to have the traces on
> one side of the foil, hence the seemingly more complicated trace routing
> compared to this new one.
>
> Yes there are other options, the hard wired type. And they work, as I
> mentioned I’ve been using one for a couple of years. But I think there is
> room for a stock type foil replacement.
>
> Alistair
>
>
>
> > On Oct 23, 2022, at 12:18 AM, Jeff Palmer <w.jeff.palmer@icloud.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > I’m curious why he is developing this product.  Aren’t there at least
> two other manufacturers out there? I bought one years ago and have been
> happy with it.
> > Jeff
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> >> On Oct 21, 2022, at 9:23 PM, Rick Cooper <rick@webleaf.ca> wrote:
> >>
> >> A couple of months ago Alistair Bell mentioned that his friend Greg
> had developed a new dash foil replacement.  Alistair's note was mostly
> about Greg's dimmable, drop-in replacement for the vanagon kitchen light
> but I was more interested in the foil.  Two of my instrument lights have
> not worked for ages because I had damaged the foil in that area by trying
> to force the wrong LED bulbs into place.  A local supplier had sold them to
> me as suitable for an 1987 vanagon but they clearly were not.
> >>
> >> It turns out that Greg lives not far from me and when I contacted him,
> he asked if I was willing to beta test the new foil.  Indeed I was.  So a
> few weeks ago, Greg installed one of his foils in my van and I can tell you
> that it is a thing of beauty.  It's made from a very strong, probably
> indestructable, material called Kapton.  It is very close to the stock foil
> in size and shape and is truly 'plug and play'.  Installation was dead easy
> and took less time than removing the old foil.
> >>
> >> The new foil comes with LEDs for the center lights (turn signal, high
> beam, oil, alternator and O2 sensor) already soldered in place.  Apparently
> vanagons for the Canadian market did not have the O2 sensor light, so Greg
> simply snipped it off and that was that.  But other owners of Canadian vans
> could probably re-purpose it as a fog light indicator for example.  The
> main difference from the original foil that I could see is the main
> connector which Greg designed and produces on a 3D printer.  The connection
> feels more solid and secure than the stock approach.
> >>
> >> The only quibble I could find with the foil is that the blue hi-beam
> indicator LED is on the bright side.  Not a problem night driving in the
> city but out on a dark country road it could be annoying.  Greg says he
> will try to dial it down on the next build.   The red LEDs for the
> alternator and oil pressure are equally bright but they are only on
> momentarily.  The green LED for the signal lights is perfect.
> >>
> >> Greg says there is still some testing to be done but he hopes to get
> these into production later this fall.  The initial run of 25 will be for
> 1986-and-later vanagons, with other versions coming next year depending on
> demand.
> >>
> >> Rick
>