They say there are two types of VW Vanagon owners. Those who have taken their engine out, and those who haven't taken their engine out... yet. Last year, I finally made it into the second category. When the original engine gave up on me in late 2011, I anticipated that the van would sit in storage for a few years while I saved my pennies for a more exotic engine swap (Subaru EJ22, Bostig Ford Zetec, etc). The van sat for less time than I originally thought.
In early 2012, I stumbled upon a local Craigslist ad for a used, running 2.1L VW waterboxer engine. It was dirty, and had sat for a year after being pulled (running) in favor of a Ford Zetec swap. I spent months of what little spare time I have replacing hoses, gaskets, and cleaning the engine up. As it came from an automatic Vanagon, I also had to swap over a few parts from my old engine to run this one with my manual transmission.
Anyhow, I crossed my fingers vis-a-vis the head gaskets. I could see that the passenger side had already been replaced. In July, I got the van to start, run, and drive again. I've driven it sparingly in the past year, but learned early on that the driver's side head gasket had a leak. I tried a few stop leak products that only slowed it down.
So, now that the Outback is on the road and reliable, I'm starting in on the head gasket job. I'm going to try replacing them without taking the engine out again, and hope to have the job done in under a month. Once again, I work slowly and have limited time to do the job. The new engine does run well otherwise. The leak is external, and the oil and coolant weren't mixing. I can't wait until it's done and reliable again, so I can take it camping.
Hopefully, I'll have it done before Memorial Day. I bought the Vanagon in late May, 2003, so next month will mark ten years. I can't think of a better way to mark the occasion than to drive it again.
Well, with the Outback all taken care of and the garage cleaned out, it's finally time for me to get to patching the Mercedes floor. First, I had to wake the car up. I charged the battery last week (strictly as a precautionary measure), so I hooked it up, and the car started on the first bump of the key.
I backed it out into the sunlight for the first time in 2013. The name of the game this weekend was patchwork, so I started by making straighter cuts in the floor:
Once I had the holes cut, I made some templates and started cutting patches out of my donor panels. First victim, a dented door from a Jeep Cherokee - given to me by a co-worker when I helped him bolt on some straighter doors.
Once I had the first patch cut, I fitted it (roughly) with a few pop rivets...
...and then started welding.
I worked through the weekend, and have the passenger side of the floor almost 2/3 of the way patched up now.
Hopefully, by the end of next weekend, I'll have the floor patched up, and will then move on to make the rest of the repairs to the rocker panel and wheel wells on the passenger side of the car. It's nice to see those holes finally starting to close up.
Now that the work is basically done on the Outback (well, I do want to clean up a few rust spots, but that needs to wait for better weather...), I can finally get back to work on the Mercedes project.
I was busy yesterday with installing new fog lights in the Outback, as well as repairing the gas grill, installing a new bathroom light fixture (in the house, not in the car), and installing a new in-sink garbage disposal (same story there). So, it wasn't until this afternoon that I was able to turn my attention to the diesel.
Unfortunately, a long winter of working on the cars left the garage a complete mess. I couldn't walk across the garage without tripping on something. I couldn't get to the car without pushing stuff out of the way. So, before I could work on it, I needed to do a bit of spring cleaning.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
It may not look much different, but I got a lot of trash out, reorganized a bit, and most importantly, have room to move around and work again. I did do one thing though... I pulled the battery out of the Mercedes and put it on the charger. After sitting for a few months, I'm sure it needs it.
Well, it's been a longer road than I would have originally thought, but I'm just about done with the Outback now. Although the car ran well when I bought it, I needed to catch it up on a lot of maintenance and tune-up items, most of which I detailed in this blog.
Recently, I finally installed the new steering rack boot. As the passenger side boot was still intact, and it's still cold here, I opted to only replace the torn boot.
I also finally replaced the missing exhaust manifold stud. I was going to replace 2, but one hole had apparently been drilled and tapped to a larger size. So, that bolt had to stay in place, for at least the time being.
Next, I replaced the cooling system hoses, which looked original to the car, and then washed the car and cleaned the engine compartment.
Then, yesterday, I got the fog lights working. The factory ones didn't work. I put a new bulb in the driver's side, and it worked for a few minutes, but the passenger side light was corroded on the inside past the point of no repair. Given how hard these lights are to find, I opted to install a pair of aftermarket lights which also use H3 bulbs. I'm pleased with the new lights. They work well and don't look too out of place.
So the next time you drop in for a read... I'll try and have some Mercedes stuff for you. I'm glad to be getting back to that project, and that the Outback is now solid.
I'm certainly missing the Mercedes, but we keep getting hit by snow. This has had the unwanted effect of slowing down the work I've been doing on the Outback.
I did have a bit of luck. I found out that I didn't need to replace my starter. I had some difficulty trying to get the old one out, but in the process, I cleaned the electrical contacts. Thankfully, that seems to be all it needed. I've been driving the car for over a week with no weirdness at all from the starter.
I also (finally) changed the rear differential fluid. Unfortunately, I damaged the magnetic drain plug in the process and had to revisit the job a week later to install a new drain plug. Luckily, I was able to install the new plug without losing more than a few drops of gear oil.
I also managed to polish the headlights and clean the windshield (in and out) to improve visibility while driving.
BEFORE
NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE, BUT... AFTER
I'm probably forgetting a few items, but I still need to replace the exhaust studs in the cylinder heads (and the manifold gaskets) and the cooling system hoses. Once that's done, the remainder is all cosmetic, and I'll be able to devote my free time to working on the Mercedes again.
So, I've been delayed in getting back to working on the Mercedes. I've been putting the Outback together, but mostly have been delayed by weather. It's snowed pretty much every weekend for the past month. But, I try to do at least a little something each week.
So far, I've done the following:
transmission fluid flush
changed front differential fluid
changed spark plugs
new air filter
new PCV valve
fixed interior lighting
installed stereo from my old car
fixed/replaced broken/missing interior trim
replaced missing alternator tensioning assembly
replaced accessory drive belts
replaced valve cover gaskets
replaced vehicle speed sensor 2
replaced battery
I still have a few more items to take care of, but the weekend weather has slowed me down significantly. But, I'm daily driving the car and am getting closer to having the car caught up on its maintenance items. Once that's done, I'm getting back to work on the diesel.
Here's a few pictures of this weekend's work (the speed sensor replacement):
I'll leave you with a few videos I've done of some repairs to the Outback:
I've been away from the Mercedes project for a few weeks now. The daily driver Subaru took a turn for the worse and lit a fire under me to get a replacement car sooner rather than later.
I hadn't seen any promising Toyotas or Hondas in a while. I came to my senses and pretty much scratched Volkswagens off the list after I went to see the Jetta that wouldn't start. Pretty much every Volvo I looked at needed a lot of expensive work. I even got to the point where I was considering rear wheel drive Mercedes, just to have something reliable.
Well, as I said, the Legacy kept getting worse. The check engine light was constantly on, and blinking with alarming regularity. Plus, the engine's idling was getting even choppier, and I believe it was using oil at an increasing rate.
Two weeks ago, I saw an ad for yet another potential replacement car - a 1995 Subaru Legacy L... Outback. This was a 2.2L car with an automatic transmission. Based on the ad and a phone conversation with the seller, it sounded like the car was in decent shape. So, that Saturday morning, I packed my wife's car with an assortment of tools and we drove an hour to see the Outback.
It was a first-year Outback and even the same Mica Ruby color as both our other Legacies. It wasn't perfect by any means. It was wearing beat-up alloy wheels and had a green hood from an old fender bender, and had bumps and bruises all over. Plus, it was sitting on an ugly set of beat-up alloy wheels. But, my philosophy is that an old Subaru should look used, much like an old truck. The interior had been cleaned - something I hadn't seen in a used car in quite some time.
The car started right up and sounded pretty good. The test drive went pretty well, so with the seller's permission, I pulled out the spark plugs (old, worn-out, and nearly seized into the cylinder heads) and ran a compression test. Compression was healthy across all four cylinders, so we made a deal and I drove home in my new daily driver.
I spent most of the rest of the weekend swapping parts over from the old car, starting with the correct Mica Ruby hood and my wheels. Then, I put the old car up for sale on Craigslist. Unfortunately, with winter weather and street parking bans, I had to get rid of the old car quickly. In its condition, the only interest I had was from junkyards, and for a lot less than I wanted. But, the car was getting needier by the day. At the last moment, a co-worker who was painfully aware of the car's mechanical condition showed interest and I let him have it for scrap value. He intends to repair or replace the engine. So, the old car will live.
I've been driving the "new" car pretty much every day and handling maintenance and repair items as time allows. New spark plugs are now installed, which is a good thing, as the old ones were worn to twice the recommended gap. I also flushed the transmission, which made a big improvement in the way the car shifted. I'm still trying to properly dial in the fluid level, but it's close now.
Overall, I'm happy with the new car. Once it's caught up on needed repairs, I'm going to move back to the Mercedes project.
