Andrew’s Van Chat: Under The Hood
A week or so after I had done some initial small repairs/upgrades to the Vanagon, Becky was leaving for a Walt Disney World vacation with her best friend. That gave me an opportunity to spend a full uninterrupted weekend to get into some of the heavier work on the van. I received permission from the shop owner where I work to have the place all to myself on the weekend, so I got to work at 7am Saturday morning to begin the process of overhauling the suspension/brakes.
I decided to begin with the brake master cylinder ($120) inside the cab, and work my way down. That installation was pretty straightforward. I bought the more expensive OEM version of the master cylinder because I have seen way to many of the cheaper aftermarket versions fail in the past.
I continued on to to rear of the van and what I thought would be the biggest pain in the butt; the rear trailing arm bushings ($7/each x4). I was correct about being a pain. The outer bolts were rusty and had seized inside the inner bushing sleeves. After a good while of heating them with an acetylene torch, smacking them good with a hammer, & scorching the sides of the van (ugh), I got em out. To my surprise, the bolts were still useable after I extracted them. This was important because I had no new bolts and leaving our van stuck on a lift at work was out of the question. Pressing in the new bushings would be the next challenge. Using a ball joint press, I was able install them without removing the arms from the van. I practically used a whole can of penetrating oil to help those babies slide into the trailing arms. The new bushings were a very tight fit. The bushings kept “mushrooming out" once they had a good amount of pressure on them, not allowing me to fully press them in. If I had been more familiar with this painstaking process, I would have ordered a 2-piece version of the bushings. Lesson learned.
Next I was to tackle the rear coil springs/shock absorbers. This went pretty straightforward. There was a previously installed set of 1” spacers installed on the factory springs. I decided to leave them in, as well as add a 1” Go Westy spring pad ($20) to the driver's side in order to level things out with the passenger side. The weight of cabinets, etc. add much more weight to the driver’s side, therefore altering the ride height a bit. The previous owner had a set of old Monroe Gas-Magnum shocks installed. When I removed them, they compressed with no rebound action. They were shot. In went a new set of Bilstein shocks ($85/each x2) and a set of Go Westy 0” lift progressive rate springs ($164).
The rear brakes ($220 for a rear brake overhaul kit) came next. Working as an auto technician for over 20 years, I’ve replaced a lot of rear drum brakes. The drum brake design on the Vanagon may be one of the least technician-friendly to replace. The placement of the brake return springs is not ideal to say the least. I decided to replace the shoes, hardware, and wheel cyilinders without removing the hub because I like making things hard for myself (haha). It all came together nicely, however, not without a few tools/curse words thrown around. I slid on the new brake drums and installed new stainless steel brake hoses ($25/each x2) from Go Westy while I had the brake hydraulic system open.
On to the front! I started with the front control arm bushings ($299 for a full front bushing kit). The design of the Vanagon upper control arm bushings was new to me, but they installed fairly easily. I placed a stand under the lower control arms to hold pressure while disassembling the front suspension. I assumed they would be able to hold the pressure of the coil springs, but boy was I wrong. As soon as I zipped out the final bolt, the spring went flying across the shop (oops!). I’m glad no one else was around. Somebody might have gotten popped! I opted for a 2-piece design for the lower control arm bushings. I’m glad i did. This made installation a breeze.
Replacing the front coil springs ($164) was kind of a pain in the butt. There’s very little room to squeeze those stiff suckers in there. I couldn’t imagine how much tougher a taller lift spring would be. I’m sure a spring compressor would be necessary for that. I finished by installing new Bilstein shocks ($85) on the front, and the tough part was over.
I removed the sway bar to replace all the bushings at the links and frame. I pulled the bushing kit out of the box and realized that I had been shorted one bushing. "Well…I guess I will do without a sway bar until I can have another bushing shipped in." Not a big deal.
Now to put together the new front brakes ($860 for a hub conversion kit & big brake kit). I unpacked the parts of the Go Westy Bigger Brake Kit and noticed the part numbers looked familiar. After a Google search, I realized I was installing Toyota Highlander brake pads and rotors on my Volkswagen. This doesn’t bother me, but I’m sure it would bother some die hard VW folks. I skimmed over the installation instructions and read a note about 1985-older Vanagons. "Spindles from a 1986-newer are required to install the Bigger Brake Kit." Ummm what? So now I’m in a pickle. It is Saturday evening, and our van (my ride home) is up on a lift at work… a lift that needs to be usable for work on Monday morning. I gave it some thought & decided to put the old brakes back on & park the van outside. I booked a Lyft, googling on the way home trying to locate some reasonably priced spindles. Asking prices were averaging in the $300-400 range. We really weren’t planning on spending this kind of money after already dropping quite a bit on the new brake/suspension parts. I placed a wanted ad on The Samba Classifieds forum and waited. I got a few hits on the wanted ad, but pricing was pretty similar to what I had found previously.
I decided to call a local shop called Importdoktor (formerly known as Volksdoktor). They have a lot of older VWs on their lot that they use for parts cars. I left a message and agonizingly waited all day without a returned call. I decided to ring them again the next day around lunchtime & got the owner. He said they had a 1991 Vanagon Carat on the lot that they use for a parts vehicle, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to sell me the spindles because he wished to keep the van movable. I pleaded with him to sell me the spindles, and he told me he would have to think about it. I waited for a phone call back and never got it. I called back the next day around closing time and he was still undecided about me using his spindles. I then suggested he take MY older-style spindles to install on his van, so he could put the wheels back on and keep it rollable. He said Yes! He said they’d have them taken off for me the next day, and he would give me a call when they were ready. I again waited for a call and never received one. i called at lunchtime the following day and he said they have been too busy to remove the spindles. (Are you kidding me?) I asked if he would have a problem with me coming there after work and swapping the spindles myself. He said that would not be a problem. I also got a better price for taking them off myself.
I packed up every tool I could possibly need to remove old, rusty spindles off a 30 year-old van and headed down to Importdoktor after a long day of work. I jacked up the driver side wheel and began ripping apart the suspension in their gravel parking lot (ouch, my knees). Surprisingly everything came apart pretty easily. Then, I got to the upper ball joint nut. It broke loose, but once it started to contact the rusty part of the threads, the ball joint stud itself began to spin with the nut. Not good. After fighting it for 20-30 minutes, I decided to ask them if I could borrow a sawzall or cut-off tool to cut the ball joint stud to remove the spindle. They obliged and proceeded to string a number air hoses together to reach the Vanagon which was a few hundred feet from their garage. While they were doing so, I jacked up the passenger side and removed the spindle and replaced it with mine with no issues at all. Yay! I cut the ball joint nut off the driver side, and was able to save enough of ther ball joint stud to allow my spindle to be installed on their van. The weight of the vehicle would be enough to hold the ball joint in place to allow them to roll the Vanagon if they ever needed to move it. Finally, we have our spindles ($250)!
The next day I would install the spindles. I ordered new Lemforder lower ball joints ($42/each x2) to press into them. After fitting new parts at virtually every other part of the suspension, I wasn’t even going to consider installing those spindles with 30 year-old ball joints on the van. I pressed in the new ball joints and mounted the spindles. I then installed the new rotors, bearings, pads & calipers. Last to install would be the stainless steel brake lines that came with the Go Westy kit. And when I loosened the first fitting…the brake line snapped. It was already getting dark (I was working outside in our shop parking lot), so my hopes of driving the van home were crushed. It had to wait till the next day.
The following evening after work, I cut off the rusted brake line, flared a new end on it and installed 12 inches of new brake line on the driver side. I coasted into the shop and fully bled the air out of the whole brake system with our brake fluid flush machine. The next day I performed a Wheel Alignment & drove her home. Oh, man she handles and stops like a new Vanagon! All that money was well spent.
Balance of Funds: 4049.33
Brake Master Cylinder - $120
Trailing Arm Bushings - $7 each (x4)
Rear Coil Springs - $164
Driver Rear Spring Pad - $20
Rear Shock Absorbers - $85 each (x2)
Rear Drum Brake Overhaul Kit - $164
Stainless Steel Rear Brake Hoses - $25 each (x2)
Front Suspension Bushing Kit - $299
Front Coil Springs - $164
Front Shock Absorbers - $85 each (x2)
Front Hub Conversion/Go Westy Bigger Brake Kit - $860
Used Front Spindles - $250
Lower Ball Joints - $42 each ( x2)
Running Balance: $1506.33