April 19, 2006

  • Van Update

    It is with great pleasure that I now report the following: The van has a working gas gauge, and also has a fully-refurbished ventilation/equalization system.

    The pictures are on the other computer, and this post may be updated in the near future with visuals.

    The process: Remove the tank, rebuild the vent system, put in the new gas level sender, put the tank back in, hook it all up.

    The gas tank itself was completely covered in dried caked mud on top. Which is kind of amazing, actually, because there's really no place for it to get in. I had to excavate the top of the thing before I could start messing with the vent hoses.

    The vent hoses were in shreds. The ones I could see were pretty bad, but the ones out of view were bad as well. None of the grommets had deteriorated, however, and the 'balance tube' that connects the two lobes of the tank was in good shape. I could have just replaced the hoses, without removing the tank, and been OK. But I could only know that after removing the tank. Oh well.

    There was another patch on top of the tank, as well, in addition to mine which is on the bottom. That tank will get replaced when I get back to Seattle. I tried to find the part here in Houston, but no one, not even the super-duper expert Volkswagen guy here, could tell me where to find one. Even the junk yards don't do gas tanks, which makes sense, I suppose, but still...

    Mine is the only Vanagon I've seen in this town. None on the road, at least; there's only one other that I've seen, and it's a Westfalia parked in somebody's garage down the street from my parents' house. It's a loud blue color, and probably air-cooled. I wonder if anyone ever takes it anywhere... It seems like one of those things someone might have used a lot in the past, but can't bear to get rid of it even though they never use it any more. Maybe I'll work up the courage to knock on their door and ask about it.

Comments (3)

  • Sounds like maybe the van was in a flood?

  • Oh, man.. Don't tell me that.

    But if it was, it came out without any rust or flood-related damage, other than some caked-on mud. I'm assuming that when the guy told me he took it camping a lot, he wasn't lying. Maybe he went up some dusty forest service roads and so forth, and maybe forded some streams.

  • ah, you're probably right... I s'pose dust and dew could get up in there and stay for the long haul

    So is that the extent of the van-related horrors for the trip? Man, your prior post had me expecting to read about how you woke up surrounded by flames!

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment