New oil plug

When the gearbox is flipped upside down the air valve must be plugged. I realized that the little steel tube holding the air cap was not very difficult to rip of or knock into the housing. Not good. So I solved it by threading the hole with a standard M12 tap, made a new tube with an oversized M12 thread in one end and a smooth 12 mm dia in the other, with a cut for a large screwdriver. I filled the thread with black silicone and worked the tube into the hole. It will NOT get away from there.

To make services easier I mounted a plumbers valve. It's the high qually brand Ballofix and I happen to know that they survives decades of oil abuse. Now it's just a dust cap left and I can change oil with racing style... :-)

Gear box trimmer

Back to the T25 gearbox conversion. Finally!
Too much work this winter has affected my van projects very negative. But it is time to plug those thumbs out from the arse and make things now, the snow is gone - time for camping!

I need to cut down the bellhousing 15 mm to make the adapter fit as engineered. Tim (my English e-mail buddy) has made a table where he puts the box standin straight up. I am going another route. I made a swing arm.

Lathe/mill work to make a centre axle that fits on the gear box axle.

Welded on the swing bar.

Lathe/mill work to make a slider for the router.

Tadaa!

Not a switch. It's an add!

We bought a Prius a few months ago. Super nice condition and low miles. We actually wanted to by the new chargable Prius but when we found this one it was a too good price to let it go. To get the plugin function I want I talked a lot with a very nice guy down south who already made a few EV conversions and specifically Priuses. The other day a bunch of batter cells and a charger came via Fedex. Time to assemble the battery bank.

And of course, this is an add-on to the system in the car. Nothing removed!

Vanagon average fuel consumption

There's a thread at thesamba.com (the vanagon forum) where members list their fuel average.

I took the data and visualized it.

If the information was too incomplete it was ignored.

If an MPG was rated "x to y MPG" or if the MPG was given in city and highway driving the value in use is (x+y)/2.

If the MPG is listed in different speeds an average is calculated or the MPG closest to 65 mph is used.

There are a lot of different engines swapped into vanagons and they are taken into account.

MPG is Miles per Gallon, which is opposite compared to l/100 km. When using MPG a higher value is better.

To get a l/100 km-value out of an MPG, divide the value with 235.22 (235.22/25 mpg = 9.41 l/100 km).

Enjoy!

New injectors makes a difference

Before we went on a small camping trip I replaced the injectors (finally). I suspect that the old injectors were really bad, one was probably leaking compression too. It seems these nozzles can be pretty much Scheit and still deliver heaps of power.

Anyway, as written below the new nozzles are a tiny bit bigger. If that is making a difference or not, I don't know. But there is a uge difference...

One of the copper rings was stuck. I was forced in the end to get it out with ugly tricks. Unfortunately I damaged the injector seat a bit but I think it doesn't really matter.

How is the engine now? When running cold it still knocks a bit at idle but more distinct than before. When it's warm idling is very smooth. I had to adjust the idle as it ran pretty high.
There is WAY more ompf! It didn't smoke when giving full pedal before. Know it does for real! Remember, the nozzles aren't that much bigger.
And best of all; the engine is noticable quiter. High way is now a comfort ride even for the people in the back seat.
I'll retard the pump a tenth or two which will loose a little bit of revving happiness but it will make it even more quiet.

If you can you should replace the nozzles.

Injector info

This is very good info about injectors, check the Bosch item ID when you order new nozzles.

It's all a copy from the detailed site, http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/multi/TDI-nozzle-FAQ.htm

.158 injectors: DSLA 150P 672, OEM on the 90 hp auto transmission mk4 ALH 1998-2003 engine, actual measured size is .138mm.

.184 injectors: DSLA 150P 706 (some say France) OEM on the 90 hp manual transmission mk3 AHU/1Z (post smoke recall for the 1996 passat) 1996-1999 engine and the mk4 ALH 1998-2003 engine, actual measured size is .170mm.  Remember that if you have this size nozzle and replace them with ".184" .170mm actual size nozzle you will see an increase in power because of the size difference.

.184 injectors: (Euro market: DSLA 150P 357)/(US market: DSLA 150P 442) (sprint 357/442 or PP357), OEM on the 90 hp manual transmission mk3 AHU/1Z 1996-1999 engine, actual measured size is .185mm.  Similar to the "smaller".184 injectors used in later cars except it has a larger opening and was used in injector bodies with lower opening pressure (190 bar) used with different ecu programming pre-smoke recall in the 1996 passat.  PP357 should give about +5hp, +10ft-lbs over comparable sprint nozzles with less smoke.

.205 injectors: DSLA 150P 520 (sprint 520 or PP520), found on the 110 hp Euro AFN/ASV engine, actual measured size is .205mm.  These are the stock nozzles found on the 110hp Euro cars which also used a larger turbo and different ECU to account for more fuel.  PP520 should give about +10hp, +25ft-lbs over stock nozzles and about +5hp, +10ft-lbs over comparable 520 sprint nozzles with less smoke.

I have the second .184 injectors, hopefully getting some extra push. :)

Engine coming out soon for an upgrade

I'm ripping the power plant out soon, the new gearbox is going in and I'm going to make a new air filter box, retard the pump timing a bit and finally replace the nozzles. I have a "diesel knock" and it's the third nozzle that seems worn out or dirty. Time to change!

Winter tires setup for sale

These have been around for a while in my utility room. If anyone's interested give me call or send an e-mail.

The rubber is in very good condition.

Armrest resto

I started slowly today with the upholstery. I will make covers for the chairs but the arm rests are pretty worn so I will replace the fabric. I found out that one of the two I have is broken. Not good, but in one way it doesn't matter, two are missing and now when one is cut open I can copy it by some  reverse engineering.
Once again, here are the colours I'll use. Not really correct with this lousy camera but you'll get the idea.

Interior rework

Finally time to work on my own bus!
There are a bunch of major upgrades coming this spring. New red paint, roof rails, new trans and a long term plan to rework the entire interior. There's really nothing that is worn or bad but I miss that 'how nice' feeling. I have the sewing stuff, been doing upholstery before so I'll do it my own this time as well. On top of that I'll be in the house and not the workshop when doing it so the family will see me more often. I hope for some sunny evenings soon so I can do the work on the teracce. :-)
These are the colours, might not be correct with a smart phone camera but you'll get the idea. They are extremely tough fabrics and will stay fresh for years to come.

I really like "French stiches", which is a triple seam. Looks good, easy made and super strong. I will use this seam on all exposed areas, and then a straight double seam on all other places.
The thread itself is a heavy duty polyester thread that is impossible to break by hand.