Finally installed the solar charge controller in the van, with a fuse block for accessories running off the second battery, which at the moment is small 10ah one from an uninterruptable power supply. I salvaged a plug from an old phone charger to fit the 12v dc in on my flourescent light and it worked great. Put the solar panels on the roof and they pivot perfectly on the u-clamps: Also finished another curtain rod and covered the old Zbed armrest in blue fabric. It’s almost too narrow to be useful, but until the side cabinets happen it’s something. This is one of those days that test one’s determination to keep the vehicle essentially stock and intact underneath the improvements. For the solar panel wires, 120v hookup, and maybe water, I’ll be making an insert for the sliding window, but it’d sure be nice to just get some rubber grommets and drill a few holes. Then I’d like to put a couple of vents in the roof, and westy-style utility ports…just screw the darn solar panel hinges to the roof itself…bolt that playground ladder I dumpstered onto the rear hatch for rack access and a place to hang bikes… But it’s still 99% O.G….Even the curtain rods are mounted to utilize/hide whatever TF the previous owner had screwed on there. Next weekend I’ll try it all out on a 3 day camping trip with a bunch of friends…

Before:

After:

Now if someone has one of these, I’ll have whole doors: And finally, the obligatory dog photo. Twilight at the dog beach in Prospect Park

Replaced both upper ball joints today. I was a little worried, not having done this job before, but the most difficult part was finding a 24mm combo wrench. Three local hardware stores didn’t have one that big, and Home Labyrinth only had it in a $70 set of a dozen wrenches. Strauss Auto ended up being the place wit’ da goods. Time for first one, including F-ups, research, and tool hunt: 3 hours Time for second one (ie, once I knew what I was doing): 30 minutes Time quoted by local mechanic to do both: 4 hours(!) labor @ $69/hr Mechanic quoted something like $75 each for the BJs. Busdepot provided them for 19.95 each. Here’s the procedure I followed – this guy describes it perfectly except for a few small things: -

• the nuts on my old and new ball joints were 24mm, not 22 as stated at the link above
• even with the 12 point wrench, you must turn the wheels all the way toward the side you’re working on to reach the nut on the bottom of the ball joints.
• any time after you remove the bottom nut, the whole brake/hub/knuckle assembly may decide to make a rapid descent toward your crotch; prop it up or you may end up sounding like Danish heavy metal singer King Diamond.

The wheelcovers were bothering me since I got the van – horrid generic ones trying to look like alloy wheels and failing miserably: …and of course the lack of curtains can be bothersome when camping, but I got what is basically a toy sewing machine from Target and cobbled together the first set…they need some tweaking and retaining straps, but I’m pleased. Wild purple on the inside: …and a less conspicuous blue on the outside (you can also see the proper chrome hubcaps here…sortof): Some day, maybe I’ll paint the van purple and reverse the curtains, since the interior is already blue. Finally, the previous owner tragedy of the week…the same guy who sold me the wheelcovers sold me some proper Vanagon front speakers, which matters because non-stock ones protrude and interfere with the glovebox and window crank. The VW speakers were brown, but I used Forever Black plastic dye and they looked perfect. YAY! Outside with a screwdriver to remove the old ones, which had already drawn blood. Whatever genius put the wrong speakers in accomplished it by enlarging the holes in the door panel with a saw. The VW speakers, which should snap into place and sit perfectly flush, go through the hole and fall into the door. I’ll need to find some door panels in the boneyard or invent something. Sonofa….

Just stuck this together with iron-on “fusing web”. Tried it in the van, fits perfectly. Now I just need to do some sewing, and find long-ass springs or something for the bottom straps. The blue faces out, to match the van and be discreet, and the wild irridescent purple goes inside where the party’s at

I found my curtain material at a great used stuff store called “Junk” in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I’ll do all purple if there’s enough for two thicknesses, otherwise the outside of them will be the blue. Some kind of insulating material will go between the two pretty layers. Gonna get one of those $30 “as seen on TV!” sewing gadgets and try my luck…I mean, it’s only one project, how hard could it be? Yeah, I know, I’m totally gonna end up hiring someone to do this for me :-\

Lights! I ordered some bright white LEDs to see how they work as lighting. Made an array of 7 of them and replaced the driver’s interior light…pretty bright, but I think I’ll add a few more bulbs and more diffusion Juice! Got the solar panel mount finished. It’s a sheet of plywood with two 2×3 cross-pieces. The one with the notches will be held to the rear luggage rack bar with u-clamps so it can serve as a pivot to set the panels up at a good angle. The other one will be attached to the front bar, but behind rather than on top of it, so the wind pressure will push down on the panels rather than tearing them from the roof, though I don’t intend to drive long distances/high speeds with them up there anyway. The wooden frame is covered with spray-on truck bedliner to prevent rot, and there’s industrial carpet between the panels and plywood for padding. Instruments! I’ve been dealing with the lack of instrument lights for too long, so I dug into the dash. How to disassemble the Vanagon instrument panel: Reach around the windshield-side of the plastic cover over the instrument panel and find the two grooves. Pull toward you and it will pop off. Then there are 4 screws holding the instrument assembly to the dash. The two nearer the windshield are easy. Of the other two, the left one wasn’t accessable until I unplugged a wiring harness, and the right one was hidden until I removed the hazard light and defroster switches (pinch the clips on either side of them and rock them out). Another wiring harness comes off the right side (just rock these off), and then there’s the speedo cable. Feel around behind the speedo for the cable; there’s a pretty obvious retaining clip dealie you pinch to disconnect. I spent about 30 fruitless minutes trying to find the failure; the bulbs were good, they made good contact with the flexible circuit board, and everything else on there worked fine. I ended up running a red wire directly from the “out” post of the dimmer to one of the bulbs, which completed the circuit for all 3. There’s just too damn much spaghetti in too tight of a space to mess with until I have a better reason to tear the whole thing apart. Music! The radio had been bothering me too – some bastard wired it up properly…I hate that! I want to be able to use it regardless of the state of the ignition switch, so I ran the main power wire to an always-on fuse box connection that already held the other power wire, that keeps the clock and presets when the car is off. Eventually this will live on the second battery’s circuit, along with all interior lights and some cigar lighter plugs for doodads like the sink pump and 12v vacuum cleaner. Speaking of interior lights – I found a small flourescent light at Home Labyrinth for $11 that takes 8 AAs, meaning it’s 12v. Not as nice as the stock Westy ones, but at 1/5 the price I’m not complaining. It’s the middle one in this (sloppy) panoramic. The rear one is stock and the front one is the LED dealie detailed above. You can also see two of the new curtain rods in this pic. Cabinetry! OK, it’s not electrical and actually happened last week, but anway…spotted a set of drawers put out for ‘big garbage day’ that was pretty close to the size I needed for the left-side cabinet. Trimmed a few inches off the back, put on latches and handles, and drilled holes to bolt it to one of the middle seat mounts on the bottom and to the holes for the side trim panel. The top is exactly the right size to hold my Coleman stove, which fits inside it behind the drawers – the last few inches of the top now lifts off to access that space. Eventually I’ll build something nicer, but it’s great for now and like everything else it can be removed/installed in a few minutes.