Bruce Vanner! Long, Slow Vanagon Transformation

[vwhammer]

Hello all,
I have had my van for 2 or 3 months now and have slowly been working on a concrete game plan to turn it into a truly overland ready vehicle.
Unfortunately I am not independently wealthy so I have planned to build the van in stages.
First and foremost is getting the van running and driving reliably.
Of course I am not going to take a bunch of parts off and just put a bunch of plain old stock stuff back on when there are plenty of upgrades available.

Anyway before I get into too many of the upgrades lets take a look at what I am starting with.

This is Bruce Vanner.


It is a relatively rust free 85 tin top Vanagon with 81000 miles on the odometer.
I got it for what I think was a deal and drove it an hour to get it home.(for those not "in the know" that is a pretty big deal for a seemingly forgotten-about old Vanagon)
I even drove it for a couple weeks before I decided it needed a little maintenance.
The mileage may be low and it may have been garaged most of its life but it seems that it might have been abandoned for the greatest part of its life.

So the name came almost instantaneously from my wife when I told her I was looking for a good name for my van.
Oddly enough it made total sense.
I knew what was in store to turn my lowly old van into a truly worldly expedition ready rig.
It would seem to mimic the transformation (although not as violent) of the decidedly milquetoast scientist, Bruce Banner, into the unruly beast that would become known as THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

Stay tuned for more details of the transformation as well as actual footage from the transformation itself.

Until next time...

 

[Jb1rd]

Welcome, V-Dubs are a crazy rabbit hole, hope you are ready!! Have fun!!!!:sombrero:

 

[vwhammer]

I've been a VW guy for 20 years now so hopefully I don't come across anything too surprising.

Anyway, I mentioned that this build would have to happen in stages so I thought I would cover a bit of that.

Stage 1 involves repairing and replacing stock parts with a few very minor upgrades in the process so the van is running and reliable for use this spring and summer.
I have already started on some of this and will get to that in a minute.
I bought a bed for the rear so once it is running and reliable I can start camping right away using some of my existing camp gear.

Stage 2 will be the addition of some fabricated parts and systems to make it a little more useful for what I would like to eventually do with the van.
This will include some bumpers, a spare tire carrier and a skid plate or 5. I will also add a solar set up with auxiliary batteries, maybe a water system of some sort and some interior upgrades to make it real cozy for camping anywhere at anytime.

Stage 3 is where things get pretty involved.
I have been researching and designing tirelessly to come up with a suitable combination of parts for a 4x4 diesel conversion.
I am not super excited with the reliability, durability and availability of the stock VW Syncro parts.
With that being said I want to use some of the more tried and true 4x4 parts to do the conversion.
The primary objective with this is to keep as much of the stock van as possible and possibly even make the majority of it a bolt on affair with the only a few extra welded on bits and very little cutting of the van itself.

I understand that stock setups usually make the most reliable expo rigs.
However, given that my van is only 2wd and the stock Syncro parts are not really cost effective or all that durable, I am confident I can make something that does what I want by using a bunch of stock parts from other brands and keeping the overall design stone simple.

I would be happy to elaborate on the combination and set up of the parts I would like to use but that is a ways out and may change a bit.
I figured I would wait until I got to that point before I get too excited about it.
I will post up some drawings that I have been working on for the suspension set up once I finalize them.
For now we will all just have to live with the documentation of my stock parts replacement and fab work of stage 1 and 2.

So I have been doing some work on the front suspension and brakes.
I had a bum tie-rod end, wheel bearing and a couple of ripped ball joint boots so I decided to just replace all of it at once so I know it is good for a while.

Here's a little pile of parts I bought for the front end.


Also pictured are the studs that I bought so I can mount my new wheel and tire package.


for those that care they are 225-70/16 Hankook dynapro ATs wrapped around a 16x7 Sparco terra wheel.
I still need spacers for the rear wheels but with a slight bit of trimming here and there they should work out nicely.

I will be topping of the suspension build with a new set of Bilstein HDs to replace the crusty, leaky stockers

Speaking of crusty, here is a crusty pic of my crusty front suspension as purchased.

Some of you may notice the grossly undersized brake set up that these vans came with.
I understand that these things are not fast.
However, some versions weighed almost 4000lbs (1814kg) and with that kind of weight plus any gear you may pack the slightest of long downhill grades can become a white knuckle experience.
My van is one of the lightest of any of the Vanagons made but even the rotors on it were warped beyond use.

With that said I decided to upgrade the brakes right away.
There are plenty of companies that sell upgrades using readily available parts but they are a bit on the pricey side for all that they are and I still don't think they are big enough for the weight of these vans.
As I mentioned, I am not independently wealthy so I figured I could come up with my own upgrade containing some used bits and save a lot of bucks in the process to be used for other things.
I will be using a set of 2002 Audi Allroad Quattro front disks measuring 320mm (12.6 inches) in diameter and 30mm (1.18 inches) wide.
I scored the rotors from Rock Auto on closeout for $18 each.
I will also be using the 2 piston, 4 pad, sliding Girling caliper that some of these models came with.
I picked up the calipers for $25 a piece from a Euro recycler in PA.
From what I understand this is the set up that came on some of the early Audi S4s as well.
The Allroad Quattro weighs a bit over 4000lbs and has a moderately powerful engine so I figured these should be adequate to stop my lowly old van.

Of course to use these parts there is some fab worked involved.
First to chuck up the old rotor to machine the rotor part off and turn it into a hub.






Then to machine it down to the right diameter, clean up the backside and give it a good blasting.



It should fit like so.

I will have to make a bushing to keep the rotor centered on the hub but that's not really a big deal.

Here is a good comparison of the stock rotor to the new rotor.


That should be enough mass to really absorb/dissipate some heat and keep the brakes working.

I had thought about a rear disk upgrade as well and I may do that in the future.
However, since I may be ditching all that stuff in the not-so-distant future and the fronts do the majority of the braking anyway, I don't think I will waste the money on it.

Here is the set up coming together.



Still have to fab up some adapter brackets.

Here the comparison of the old caliper and the new caliper.



Anyway that's about all I have right now.
Hope to get the brake fab work done this week and order my new shocks so I can clean every thing, put a bit of paint on some parts and put it all back together.

Then it is onto rear wheel stud installation and bolting on the new wheels and tires.

This will be followed by new fuel lines and filters, tracking down and repairing some engine leaks and a much needed headlight upgrade among other things.

Until next time...

 

[tgreening]

Two things.

1). When you get all that mounted and take it for its maiden, make sure you're wearing your seat belt because compared to the old setup that one is liable to send you theough the windshield!

2). Crusty? Man, coming from Ohio you should know that hardware is downright PRISTINE, compared to what you usually find around here. again.

 

[vwhammer]

Well I made it a little further with my brake upgrade and about have this whole thing wrapped up.
I got my brackets laser cut and slapped it together with some half finished standoffs to make sure all my bolt holes lined up before continuing on.
Everything seemed to be in the right place so carry on I did.


I cleaned up one caliper so I did not make a big mess during mock up but I thought I would show you what I started with.


After a little dis-assembly, some time in the parts washer and some media blasting I was left with this.


After bolting it all together with the wheel it was apparent that I would need to remove some material from the outer part of the caliper so I did just that.
Ended up removing 3.5mm of material to make sure there was plenty of space.


I also needed to make a notch on the caliper to clear the stock Vanagon caliper mounting point when the new caliper slides in due to pad wear.
I didn't feel like machining a fixture to hold the caliper in the mill so I just hacked at it with the band saw and finished it up with a file.
It's not pretty but it works and no one will ever see it anyway. (well except for everyone on here that bothers to check out this thread)


Turns out after mounting it all on the vehicle and doing a little lock to lock turning I needed to mod my brackets a bit to clear the lower ball joint stud and nut.

Once again a little time on the band saw and a file and I removed the necessary bits.


Then came time for the moment of truth...
Bolt it all together and see if it turns and the wheel fits.
Praise the baby whomever you believe in! It all fits and nothing hits.




I just need to fab up a couple of hard lines.
Then all that's left is to tear some of it apart, weld my standoffs to my brackets and put some paint on a few parts and it will be ready to roll.

It's not perfect in that it is not as "bolt on" as I wanted it to be but it is functional (well, hopefully)
Also, as I may have mentioned, this is only meant to be a temporary thing until I move on to my 4x4 conversion.

 

[dcguillory]

some good looking work

 

[spencyg]

Very cool. Any project that involves legit machining is ok by me!

SG

 

[Bbasso]

not to be a wise *** but what happens when you need new rotors are you going to go to the whole thing again?

 

[spencyg]

He has converted it to use factory rotors from a different car....now it is just a matter of purchasing the right thing and bolting them on. Bada Bing.

SG

 

[vwhammer]

Yep. What he said.
I was trying real hard to just modify the van parts so I can use off the shelf wear items.
Unfortunately the calipers did not work out that way but I also don't really consider them "wear" items.
Rarely have I ever had to replace a caliper during ownership of any of my vehicles.
I also suppose that if you needed to replace a caliper while on the road most of the mods done to the caliper could be done with nothing more than a grinder and a hack saw in a pinch.

 

[Bbasso]

Sweet.

 

[syncroluvr]

This looks like an interesting thread and I will follow it, to see where you take it I do question your statement about "stock Syncro parts are not really cost effective or all that durable," though. For sure, there are parts that wear and some that suffer heavily from lack of maintenance, but for the most part Syncros like mine are still pulling strong and doing what their owners want. Perhaps a visit to "Project Crunchie-87 syncro tin top overlander" on the Samba might give you cause to rethink that statement, either way, I will follow this thread!

 

[mdmead]

When I first started reading, I thought "wow, this project is a bit ambitious and isn't likely to happen"... but then I saw the machine work going on, I changed my tune! I'm in!

 

[vwhammer]

I do question your statement about "stock Syncro parts are not really cost effective or all that durable," though. For sure, there are parts that wear and some that suffer heavily from lack of maintenance, but for the most part Syncros like mine are still pulling strong and doing what their owners want.

Perhaps maintenance is the biggest issue with reliability but cost is still a concern.
I have been pricing syncro parts and one gentleman wanted $700 just for a set of Synco front spindles.
I can purchase a set (front and rear) of solid axles for that price.

For the price of a Syncro front diff and transmission I can buy the entire drivetrain I have in mind.
This includes engine, transmission, transfer case and axles.

 

[WAND3R3R]

Great Platform for your plan! I love the VW Van, my family has a 1976 with pop-top and we did a road-trip from NE Ohio to Cali and back one Summer. I caught the wanderlust-bug on that trip!
-AK