Vanagons do very well in cross winds. In thousands of miles of driving one all over the country, I've never been bothered by them.

good to hear, 'cuz my '73 bus was murder in crosswinds.

Volkswagen Vanagon Cd= 0.44 Frontal Area = 32.9 ft2

Renault 5 Turbo 0.46 20.4 (respectively)
BMW 3-series 0.47 19.6 (respectively)
928, Cd = 0.44
- these are 1980s data

Cd, bullet = 0.25

so for that particular figure of merit the Vanagon is not so bad

a Westy will be worse for Cd, and surely worse for Fr. area

Any vehicle will get pushed around if winds are high enough. My Westy is not more affected by crosswinds than a typical car would be. It is a heavy vehicle which helps. I think I have read on TheSamba that if you are bothered by crosswinds or other handling issues, suspect bad shocks and consider Bilsteins. Don't quote me as I may not be remembering right.

ok, I had a local shop flush with new VW coolant...

I had to replace the m/c on this thing. Brake fluid was brown and looked like it had mold growing in it. That was AFTER I paid the same local morons to fix up the brake system completely.

I tore the dash off; filled the cracks in the vinyl & sprayed it with SEM cleaners and color paint. What I should have done instead was to pay somebody to recover it entirely, but this looks quite a bit better & I ain't taking it apart again.

Based on advice from the Samba forum, I bought some MB wheels for it - I hope they fit. Note that the one wheel on the left doesn't quite match the other 3. They were only $80 and I suppose any MB wheel is TUV approved (so I can bash it into rocks & ruts w/o being stranded...)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1261102510.jpg

Apparently, you need to modify these things to get them to fit, so I'll add that to my winter project list.

I'm thinking I might get them powder-coated instead of painting them.

Loogy, as he's known on the samba site, can fix you up with some spacers that will make the wheels fit.

yes; but not sure what else they will need

Don't most alternative wheels also need the centers enlarged? I seem to remember that, anyway you have the wheels right there so you can see for yourself. Nice wheels, I think powder coating would look great. Or polish them up for that "let's go around the world in my van, baby" look.

When the time comes: Vanaru - Subaru Vanagon Conversions - Turn-Key subaru engine conversions for Vanagon!

I think the MB wheel centers will fit over the VW stuff. It's the lug holes, studs, etc. that seem to be the issue.

The Samba bbs really makes you appreciate the Pelican board...

The MBZ wheels will fit just fine on your van. You will need to remove the bolts holding the rear brake drum to the hub. As far as the lugs go, use Porsche aluminum lugs. They work perfectly.
I had MBZ 8x16" wheels on my 87 Syncro and they fit just fine.

The 3 wheels on the right are very likely made by..... Fuchs and are forged.

here is the old brake fluid - I'm sure it was changed back in the 1980s. BTW - the true color is a dark murky brown - I back lighted it to show the mold colonies, or whatever the flocculation is, and that made it a pretty golden color...

It has also been diluted with a few cans of new fluid -- it was a LOT NASTIER when "pure"


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1267579386.jpg

wow - what a rat's nest of hoses and wires...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1267746921.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1267746938.jpg


any ideas on what the labeled things are?

Y= Idle stabilizer valve bypass hose
U= Air flow meter
Z= Alternator
X= Reference mark sensor conector. (for VW test equiptment)
Y= Power steering pump
W= No idea. :)
A= ECU
B= Heater valve
C= Brake vacuum hose to booster
D Coolant purge line
F= Fuel inlet line. (I think)
L= Heater hose
H= Idle stabilizer valve
I= Fuel pressure regulator
N= Engine ground point
O= Fuel rail
P= Fuel injector conector
J= Oil separator
G= Oil separator vent hose to intake
K= No idea. (its been too long since I had my vanagon)

thanks!!!

for Z, it is the frayed cable bundle (?? is it cables) that are just above the Z and alt.

If that is the alternator harness then there should be one large gauge red wire. (30 = live battery power), One small gauge blue wire. (DF for the idiot light to tell you it is charging. aka the feild wire), and one or more brown wires. (Gounds for the alternator)

Slow going but...you know you can drop a Porsche 3.6L in there, do you? :D
The board will help ya :cool:

We had that exact Westy in orange with a 4 speed. Very cool but a dog on the highway. Long hills, crosswinds, and passing semi's were always interesting.

my goal with this thing is to not spend too many $$ on it, so a 3.6L is out out out

definitely a dog on the hwy - this one is water cooled* so would do an SVX if I want 6 cyl power...

* and speaking of water cooled... I just drove it back from the body shop and discovered "steam" water vapor coming from the front radiator area. I hope I'm not going to have more trouble with it!

Already have a problem where the alternator can't charge the battery - alt. itself is fine but damn VW used some funky crap foil flex circuit to tie everything into the tach. It bends over a plastic tab on the back and some sort of plastic clip holds it all together. The clip is AWOL, and the tab has its corners broken off, so no D+ connection, no tach, no water temp gauge, and no fuel gauge.

Hummm, cold Beer! Yummy;).