New wires and plugs enabled me to pass emissions – hooray! Found some velour fabric ($23 for 8 yards!) at a nearby shop to recover the z-bed. It worked out well enough for a first try, but there are a couple of wrinkles. Fabric won’t slide against foam, so no matter how hard you pull up the edge when you’re stapling it to the back, it’s not taut enough. I’ll invent something to help when I decide on permanant color scheme and re-cover the cushions. The rear cushion will be in 2 sections, on wooden rails to raise them to the height of the front portion and allowing storage of flat objects beneath them. The sink unit will be removable. I used an extra seat belt with slightly modified mounts and added it to the passenger seat belt mount points:

30 degree weather, no garage, and little spare time…yuck. Had to drop the Vanagon off with a mechanic to a) see what can be done to get a passing emissions test and b) keep it off the street till that happens. I’ve been to the guy before with “normal” (read: American) cars and he’s great, but since he’s not a VW specialist I’m sure I’ll be paying some extra labor while he figures out this strange machine I’ve saddled him with. Some day, I’ll live in a place with a garage or driveway. In the meantime, I’ve got the z-bed mounted:

Took a drive, easily riding through a foot of snow and two foot drifts thanks to German engineering. Went to Home Labyrinth, did a few donuts in the abandoned upper parking lot (couldn’t resist), and picked up some lumber. Started making the sink cabinet, which will go behind the passenger seat, 1960s Westy style (and which will quick-disconnect so I don’t have to drive it around all the time) Also ordered foam rubber to rebuild the z-bed, so I just need to find some fabric. I’ll probably cheap out and butcher some batik wall hangings for now.

I can’t wait to see if the Vanagon is as capable in the snow as my ’76 Westy was. On a trip upstate in a blizzard years ago, we made a game of counting the abandoned 4WD SUVs on the side of the road.

Pulled all the rear panels today and insulated with the foil-wrapped bubble wrap stuff. You don’t want to use fiberglass or that cool foam in a can stuff because they both trap moisture and hold it against the metal. Even the bubble wrap requires care – front doors need to be able to drain water that gets in around the window, so they’re best left alone unless you fully understand the drainage/vapor barrier setup in there (I don’t yet). The insulation was great to work with. You measure the spaces, mark material with sharpie, cut it with a plain old scissors, spray some adhesive on the back of it and on the mounting surface, and stick it on. Once the glue is dry (5 mins), use impermeable pressure-sensitive tape to seal the joints and edges so you don’t create water traps. I don’t know how you’d do this in a humid climate, but it was easy here in the dry winter. After all the walls were insulated, I popped the panels back on and turned to the evil Vanagon rear heater of death from hell. HOW I REPLACED THE EVIL VANAGON REAR HEATER (WITH A REBUILT EVIL VRH) C-clamped the two hoses coming through the firewall to seal them off, loosened the hose clamps holding them to the heater, pulled them loose (a little drippy, have paper towels handy). Unscrewed heater from the floor, unplugged the wiring harness, and turned it hose side up so it wouldn’t gush. Brought it inside and exchanged it for the rebuilt one. Collected hoses to new heater (but kept them clamped off – important!). Made sure valve on heater was open and used a small funnel to pour coolant into the heater through the bleeder valve hole. Tapped, tilted, pinched hoses, and worked the shutoff valve back and forth, adding coolant until I was satisfied there was no air in the heater. Lifted heater up a bit, so that any remaining air would rise to the bleeder valve from the hoses, and removed the c-clamps. It took a tiny bit more coolant. Screwed it back down to the floor and wiped it off so it would be easier to see if this worked or not. Closed the valve on the side of the rear heater. Started the van and ran the engine till warm, then slowly opened the valve allowing hot coolant to flow through the heater…no leaks so far! Turned on the rear heater fan and it works GREAT! It’s almost too effective; the front heater was noticably cooler with the rear one going. It was about 30 degrees out, and together they warmed the car completely almost immediately…and it seemed to hold the heat longer with the new insulation. Also, I replaced a couple of door locks so there’s some way in other than climbing through the rear hatch. That’ll be nice! While I was doing all this, the Mr Heater Portable Buddy kept me nice and toasty, running on low maybe 1/4 of the time with the sliding door opened a crack for air. I spent hours out there and the 1 lb propane tank still feels pretty full.

Didn’t have time to visit the glass guys today to have the window installed, so I satisfied myself with replacing the screen. It was easy, just like a house window screen.

You know your apartment’s small when your car has a bigger sink than your bathroom: …and now I’m off to the DMV…I’m pretty agnostic myself, but I wouldn’t mind if anyone felt like praying for me during that experience…

Super Bowl Sunday == empty auto parts store day! For once, I’m glad that so many people get their jollies secondhand from the achievements of millionaire athletes who usually don’t even come from the town they play for. Between that and the nice weather, I was able to:

• install a working horn (meep meep!)
• treat the screw holes in the floor and other potential rust locii
• adjust the alternator belt to stop the cold weather squealing
• fix overfill mistake on the power steering pump using a turkey baster (I overfilled the PS fluid the other day)
• renew and thicken the bedliner stuff on the rear deck
• pound a few big dents into small dents (I’m not a bodyman, it’ll get a pro job someday)
• design a mount for my solar panel (padded and adjustable, so it can ride the roof rack)
• hit body rust with neutralizer – for Until I Get A Pro Body Job

Also, my jalousie window came today, to go into the sliding door. On the other side, I’ll keep the stock slider because that’s much more compatible with the venting requirements of the stove, and will allow me to run solar panel wire in without cutting.

Headrests came today, looked nice after a bit of Simple Green and elbow grease (old driver’s side headrest looked mousechewed)

The bed’s in better shape than I thought; kept all the wood except for the bottom panel. I took the rotted old bottom and clamped it to a nice new plywood scrap ($2.01) to mark it for cutting… …and to duplicate the mounting holes for the l-brackets that hold the top of the bed on: Unclamped, trimmed the right side of the board to match the original. Because of the different slope of the Vanagon’s firewall, I made the bottom a bit longer in the back. Flipped it over, inserted the bolt, and marked the area to countersink by tracing the bolthead: Dremeled out the countersink area until it could almost swallow the bolt (compression of the wood upon tightening will take care of the rest) The latch engaged nicely, but there was a tiny gap and it seemed like it would rattle. Thinking that maybe a bit of felt around the door edge would help, I noticed that someone had already done this right near the latch. Factory? Who knows. I scavenged a piece of padded vinyl from an old palm pilot carrying case and glued it in place. The door now has a smooth, firm feel when it closes, and won’t clatter when I’m rolling down the road. Since it’s an old VW, this means that I have about 2,340 sources of clattering and squeaking to go. Made a coutout for the rear heater, hit the slight surface rust on the hinges with neutralizer, and assembled everything but the cushions, which I think I’ll completely redo. I need to find out where to get big blocks of foam and a bolt of suitable fabric in NYC… One cut today would provoke howls from orthodox VW nuts (if the ’68 bed in the ’85 Vanny hasn’t done so already). The front panel of the zbed was longer on the driver’s side, but the laminate was badly chipped there and there are going to be cabinets on both sides anyway, so I trimmed off an inch or two to match the passenger side. If you’re so anal that that bothers you, you would have replaced the entire panel anyway, so relax. I expected that everything not made of metal would be just a template, so I’m happily surprised I can keep the front…a lozenge-shaped door would be a bitch to make. Man, it sure is ugly like this, but it’ll be nice soon: For those of you with a z-bed in need of assembly or repair, here are some detailed photos that may help (click for full size):