Sleeping Vans

Syncro Heater Repair

I recently purchased a 1987 Syncro GL. It's been keeping me busy for a month getting it ready for a cross-country drive. The heater fan only worked on speeds 2 and 3, and the bearing squealed when it ran. It needed help. Add to this my impatience in removing the badly-rusted windshield wiper clamp nuts, leading to snapping off the threaded section of the wiper mount, and I am deep into the dash for some sorely-needed repairs. The wiper repair was fairly straigtforward. The heater, however, held a couple of surprises.

Carefully removing the clips that hold the two plastic sections together, I found a couple of reasonably good explanations for the poor air flow.

From Syncro Heater

That's right, folks, it's a wasp nest and a cushy rodent house. Yuck!

The heater resistor was bad, causing failure of the low fan speed, so I replace it with a similar resistor from a rear air-conditioning unit. The same AC unit also provided a blower motor with better bearings. The AC resistor supports three fan speeds, and bypassing the resistor with full battery/alternator current provides an additional highest speed, so I now have a four-speed heater fan. This one goes to four!

From Syncro Heater

For the curious, additional photos:

Syncro Heater

Windshield Frame Repair

I've move from California to New Hampshire since the last post more than a year ago. I'm finally settled-in enough to make some headway on these rust problems. I was motivated to start on this now because a crack on the lower part of the windshield caused the van to fail the New Hampshire state safety inspection. Unwilling to install new glass in the rusty hole, I chose to fix the rust first. After some consideration of various recommended methods, I chose to have the rust damage in the windshield frame area cut out and a steel patch welded in. Paying a professional to do this is expensive - this repair cost $350. Bill, the guy that did the repair has convinced me that I should buy a welder and learn to do this myself. We'll see about that. Meanwhile, some photos of the repair:

This is the worst spot on the van.

From Van Rust

Rusty metal cut out.

From Van Rust

Patch welded in.

From Van Rust

Filled, primed, and painted.

From Van Rust

The body shop only painted the repair area. I drove the van 3 miles from the body shop to my house (with no windshield!) and began prepping for glass installation. I cleaned all of the rubber and sealer residue from the windshield channel with lacquer thinner, then masked and painted the area with rattle-can white Rustoleum paint. This should keep the problem at bay for a few years.

Lots of Small Rust Problems

This is (soon to be) my only Vanagon, as I have downsized from a three-project fleet to a single camper.  Here in the California desert, it will probably take ten more years for any of this minor rust to cause serious problems.  However, I'm moving to New Hampshire in March, 2009.  I already have indoor storage arranged, but even that will not prevent the accelerated growth of the rust areas.

I drool over some of the restoration work that I see on various web sites, but I'm looking for recommended strategy and techniques for dealing with this myself.  Stripping the van and paying a professional body shop is not an option.  I'd like to be able to do small areas on the weekends, when I'm not actually camping.  I'm more concerned with corrosion control than cosmetics, but I'd like the van to remain all-white while I do spot repairs.  Precise color-matching of the spots is not important to me.

Pictures here

Van Rust

Syncro GL Camper Conversion

A few years ago, with the help of a friend, I installed the pop-top and kitchen from a Westfalia camper into a Syncro passenger van.  I posted the photos and captions on another web site, which has received several thousand page views and generated dozens of email requests for additional details. Since people find it useful, I'm reproducing it here.

Click the photo to see the whole album on my Picasa site.

Syncro Camper Conversion

Vanagon Stuff Worth Sharing

I've been captivated by VW Vanagon campers since buying a Westfalia diesel model in 1999.  Several vans down the road, my enthusiasm is still intact.  I guess that means I'm officially hooked.  I've collected some information along the way that has been useful to others.  I'll try to post the best of it here.