Screwing around with a Eurovan!

[Cole]

A little Eurovan progress today.

First off I accidentally bought another Eurovan:coffeedrink:

1993 5cyl MANUAL transmission van. I figured I could take a couple of key parts off of it for future use and part out the rest of the van. The manual won't work with my VR6 but it will work with a TDI or I can use the lever and pedals for a future manual swap with the VR6.

The late model van like mine don't have a glovebox! Just a knee bolster. From what I have read you can mount the early glovebox in place of the knee bolster. Wish I had known that before letting the glove box go to the crusher with my first donor van.

This van also has a desirable crankshaft from the 5 cyl that I hope one of my Audi buddies can use for a turbo stroker build.

Or.....I could do a sold axle swap, lift it up high enough to stuff a longitudinal driveline in it and go wheelin!

I did do some very important mods to my van today!! I installed the bottle opener!!!!

Found an idea spot inside the sliding door. Puts the bottle opener in easy access from the outside of the van, or seated on the backseat with the door open. Should also drop any foam outside on the ground!!

With the door closed it will also be accessible even with the bed pulled all the way forward!!

The mount used one of the existing interior panel screws and one new one screwed into the door sheet metal. This location put the opener just a touch too close to the weather stripping when closed. So I had to trim the opener just a touch to make it clear.

I also replaced the broken stock cup holders with some from ebay for $4.50 each. They didn't fit perfectly, but they will work fine for the moment.

 

[The Swiss]

Here is the piece I trimmed out of the door opening. You can see how thick it is. The grey strip is part of an adhesive backing that interlocks the pieces.

The shipping weight was 37lbs. That included 2 boxes and all the other packaging. So after trimming I'm guessing it added about 30-33lbs to the van. Should actually help dampen road noise.

I used the same stuff for the floor in my Casita trailer. Appears to be very good quality, easy to work with, love it so far, but definitely not lite weight.

 

[Cole]

That looks pretty sweet!

 

[Cole]

Just a little quick shock/bungee cord tech for a cheap quickie DIY.

While camping in the Eurovan we have discovered that there simply are not enough places to put little things. So working to make the existing storage space more efficient got put on the to-do list.

There are all sorts of little indents, cubbies and unused space inside the van. There just needs to be a way to attach stuff to it.

Here is my solution. I stopped at the army surplus store and bought way too much shock cord in two different sizes. Stuff was cheap so I got about 60 feet of it.

Simply drill a couple of holes, tie a couple of knots, and the pictures tell the rest of the story. Could easily be used almost anywhere on any rig.

The back of the seats had these great little cubbies, but no way anything would ever stay in them.

After a couple of holes and knots.

Nothing fit in or stayed in this little cubby on the dash. So now maybe I'll find a new use for it.

This center console is an oddball thing. Stuff doesn't stay in it great and small things pile up. (mainly kids toys in my case)

This should help keep a few things in it and I can now stick some things, like a map for example, to the outside of it, or to the insides of the console.

There are a dozen more spots like this on the side of the seat that could be better used for storage when camping. A little pocket of shock cord here would be great for sunblock, flashlight, etc. I didn't do these today because I needed more time to take the seat base out to drill the holes where I want them.

 

[bknudtsen]

Awesome work Cole! Now go drill some holes in the Cayenne.... :sombrero:

 

[Cole]

Awesome work Cole! Now go drill some holes in the Cayenne.... :sombrero:

I've actually had that thought already :sombrero:

 

[Cole]

Well.......the Eurovan didn't feel right with only one dog in it! It was missing an Aussie.....so we installed a new one.

 

[bknudtsen]

Cute!



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[bdog1]

Congrats on the latest family member! They add so much to our lives.


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[96Delica]

What a score on those vans! One day I'm going to trick out the inside of my Delica the same way, get the guts out of a wreck westy and pop 'em in!

 

[Cole]

 

[Cole]

What a score on those vans! One day I'm going to trick out the inside of my Delica the same way, get the guts out of a wreck westy and pop 'em in!

That should be pretty cool!

 

[Cole]

Harmonica storage.....duh!


(Cause nothing else on earth fits here so this is obviously what VW van engineers had in mine)

 

[Cole]

Been too busy to mess around with the van much.....hang with me here for a second.....

A few weeks ago I sold the original 1993 Weekender jump seats for $50. They had been for sale since I started this project. I wanted the extra room and I was missing the key "cool box" that went under the drivers side seat anyway. You might remember from an earlier post where I eliminated the mounting points for them anyway.

About a week after I sold them I stumbled upon the factory cool box I hear that it doesn't work "great" but I'm willing to give it a try. Might even look into modifying it for better performance. :snorkel:There is some extra room in the back of the case! If you don't know these slide under the drivers side jump seat.

The funny thing is the guy that bought the jump seats from me has an MV that wasn't equipped with a coolbox. So only one of the jump seats would actually work for him.

Then a week ago I also stumbled on a guy selling the factory rear pull out bed seat for $75. I emailed him about it and he replied with "I just want this gone I'll take $25"....DEAL! I wanted an extra one to modify while leaving my current one in the van to use.....we will come back to that project later.

When I got there he also included another jump seat......strangely.....the jump seat that the guy that bought my jump seats really needs instead of the one I gave him with the coolbox space.....ugh......so I traded him back to acquire a seat base I'd tried to sell for a year and all of the sudden needed......:coffeedrink:

Short story long now.....I got the cool box plugged into my half torn down KTM to test it. It's the only vehicle inside in a heated space with a plug to test it on.

Tore down the jump seat and ground off the seat mounts. My plan is to put a steal platform on the top of it and mount another swivel. (probably just take the one from the drivers seat at the moment. Then I can mount the Recaro child seat to it. Which will accomplish a few things.

-Create one more seating location in the van.
-Move my daughter up closer to me and my wife when driving.
-Move her away from the dogs sitting on the seat next to her. (the aussie steals a toy now and then).
-She can sit facing forward (in a few months) when driving, or rearward to face/sit at the table, or out towards the door of the van to see the view if desired.
-It will also make it possible to put the rear seat into the bed position without having to remove the child seat!!!!! This has been a pain camping. Have to move it and store it out of the way.
-This base has a few more pockets on it so that is added storage, and of course the cooler.

....that is the thought anyway.

Cooler testing.

Rear facing cooler box jump seat. (missing the armrests cause I kept those for another project before selling it the first time)

Coolbox seat frame stripped down, mounts ground off and ready to mount a platform on it.

 

[bdog1]

Never knew they had a cooler. Those camper vans didn't miss a trick! Is it just a solid state cold plate deal? Like 40* below ambient temp? It might benefit from one of those circulation fans for RV fridges that power off a couple of AA's.


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