1985 VW Westfalia

This will not be a proper build thread as in "I dragged this out of the barn, found that in a swamp and made...THIS! (insert Clarkson gesture)". It'll be a first-time camper owner and gear head meeting his first camper and living with it. Ask questions, make comments, reminisce - whatever.

To set the scene: A friend of a friend found a 1981 Vanagon Westfalia for $500. He convinced my friend to convert the air-cooled van to Subaru power, which was an extended project for various reasons. I kinda dug the little creature, so at one point I dragged my wife Janel over to see it and we just hung out chatting for a while. She loved it - she grew up with slide-ins, trailers and fifth wheels, and the size of the VW was just right.

We started looking. First at a bay window, then I came across a CL ad for a Subaru-powered Vanagon in a relatively remote ski down for an excellent price. We met them halfway there, checked it out and I drove home with a new camper.

Here's the initial thread: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/the-coolness-of-an-old-westfalia/42295/page1/

In November 2011, here's what I found in my driveway. Don't mind the early morning frost.

It's a 1985 VW Vanagon with the Westfalia conversion. 170,000 miles on the body, and a 1994 Subaru Legacy EJ22 stuffed into the engine room. The sellers had owned it for a while and had paid to have the engine swap done. They also owned an alternative energy company, so the van had some custom touches such as a plug-in solar panel and a charming homemade interior light made of LEDs embedded in a half cylinder of bamboo. No, seriously, it's pretty cool. The headlights had also been upgraded and there was an extra battery under the driver's seat to run the camping gear.

Otherwise, it was mostly stock.

Of course, I started to screw with it immediately.

Step 1: replace the fairly awful floor with something that makes me laugh. It's actually quite practical, too, as it's a lot easier to clean. It's a floating floor so it can all be returned to stock and took about 30 minutes to install.

I also figured that since I was now packing 130 hp instead of the original 83, I should brag a bit. I only just realized that I should have put an STi badge on the grille instead of the GTI...

It had become clear to me fairly early that this was a vehicle that didn't take itself too seriously.

Other mods:
Extended shift lever.

LED lights everywhere.

General fixing up of things like incorrect light bulbs. BTW, that's the ECU for the Subaru engine wrapped in a plastic bag behind the left taillight. It's well protected there, so I've left it alone. But it bothers me every time I access the engine.

The little wheels and tires bothered me. So I decided to pimp out the camper a bit with a set of 15" Ronal R9s. These are originally a Mercedes fitment. I needed to get appropriate lug nuts and I replaced the front wheel bolts with studs and nuts. The wheels aren't that easy to find these days, so I jumped on a set.

Tires are interesting for these. Due to the very high CG, a high load rating is specified to keep the whole rig from capsizing. Many people put on car tires and call it good enough. I decided to do the right thing and got some C-range tires. I actually installed some Nokian snow tires, as I knew the van would see snow.

If you go too big with your wheels and tires, you get door clearance problems! Luckily, I did not.

Needs a bumper sticker:

The Vanagon community is a real GRM kind of place. Lots of home-brew mods, small vendors selling stuff they designed for themselves, lots of creativity.

The van sits tall. In fact, thanks to the big tires and the ride height, it's often mistaken for a Synchro. It's not, but it looks cool. Still, the heavier Subaru engine was making it squat a bit in the rear and this bothered me. You can lift the rear of a Vanagon by putting inserts in the rear. The GRMish way to do this is to get a cheap cutting board and cut it up.

Well, I looked at the price of cutting boards and how many I'd need to buy to get 1" worth of spacers. Then I called my local plastics shop. Two days later, I had two discs of Ultra High Molecular Weight plastic cut to my own personal specifications for the price of those cutting boards. A much better solution as it's a denser plastic. Sometimes, the right solution isn't always to head for the workshop. Anyhow, they popped right into place.

We definitely do make fun of the hippy bus aspect. When we pull into a campground such as the one in Zion National Park, the big RV owners (you know, the ones with porch lights) try not to make eye contact.

Along with the wheels and rear suspension lift, I threw in some bigger sway bars front and rear. Because that's the kind of guy I am.

Now, you'll notice there have been no pictures of epic camping trips. We eased into it and did our first overnighter about 5 months after buying the van. Of course, we DID buy it in November. The first overnighter was a quick jaunt to Moab that did everything possible to validate our purchase. This is about 90 minutes from our house.

That's beautiful. My sister's brother in law has two bay windows in nice shape. One of them hasn't seen daylight in probably ten years. He cleans it up from time to time but won't part with them.

The van also made the trip to Pike's Peak, climbing epic mountains. The brown one is the 1981 converted to Subaru power by a friend, who then bought it off the owner who had him convert it in the first place. Man, that was hard to follow.

It went to Lake Powell.

And again.

It just plain got used for fun.

Through all this, we'd come home with notes about what the van needs. One thing that became obvious fairly early was the need for better headlights. While the H4s were okay, we found that we very often found ourselves in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, usually on curvy canyon or mountain roads. I threw on a set of Hella 500 lights which were...meh. I'm pretty happy with the install job, but the light output kinda sucked.

Then I installed a set of GE Nighthawk LEDs, similar to Trucklites. So much better. The van's a treat to drive at night.

The stereo sucked, distorting badly. It was a cheap 80's tape deck. So I pulled it out and replaced it with a 1 DIN cubby. I also wired a Sony amp in under the seat that had a built-in iPod interface - this was right after the Lightning connector appeared, so it was being dumped for $50. Much better.

Lots of little interior upgrades which haven't been documented, stuff like a fairly common tweak to the rear table to give it a greater range of adjustment. Most VW guys do this with plumbing parts from Home Depot, I did it with a welder. They couldn't really understand that on the Samba forum...

I lost a front wheel bearing and replaced it. The vent lines on the fuel tank cracked, which required a tank-out replumbing job that went easily enough when I finally got around to it. The shifter needed adjustment, then needed it again. You know, all the stuff that happens to a high-mileage vehicle. But it kept getting better!

There's also the fridge upgrade and solar power upgrade, which has its own build thread.

Pro tip: when going to Pike's Peak, bring a Westy. If you're spectating up top, the weather will go bad. And when it does, everyone runs to their cars to hide. That means hundreds of people cowering in their pickups. And two people chilling in a Westy, making hot chocolate and s'mores on the stove. And if you're Janel, you can try to remember how to knit.

I have so many more pictures of Westy porn, of the camper parked in front of scenic things doing fun things. Which is what this van has become, a very fun thing. We have determined that there's an unspoken contest amongst Westy owners as to who can put the funnest toys on their van. We've carried mountain bikes, cruiser bikes, whitewater kayaks, sea kayaks, paddle boards and skis on ours so far. The longest trip has been 10 days.

On the road, it's been reliable.

Ooo, almost forgot. I replaced the underdamped Bilstein shocks with Koni Sports. The rears come out with two bolts as do the fronts. Super-easy. This did lead to our only real road failure. Turns out the Bilsteins had been installed without some normal hardware, and I didn't know it wasn't there. So after being beaten around, the top nut came off the shock and the upper bushing made a break for it. When I discovered this in the middle of Wyoming, I used parts from a window winder to limp the bus into Jackson (this really deserves a post of its own), then replaced the bits with a stack of steel and rubber washers. After emerging from under the bus after doing the first creative repair, Janel was not impressed. Apparently I have led her to believe that the ability to repair your vehicle's suspension using nothing more than broken parts from the interior is a simple minimum of manliness and is thus not worthy of note.

Anyhow, this brings us to yesterday. The tent - the canvas revealed when you pop the top - was in decent shape on ours, other than a missing screen on the window. You could always leave the window zipped up, but then it got hot. There were also numerous repairs. Finally, after a warm, buggy trip, I called it. I ordered a new tent and spent my day off installing it. Took about 4 hours solo in the 100F heat, crawling around under the top. Now we have a screen on the main window and two new triangular windows on the side, allowing for a nice cross breeze. Aaaaah.

Okay, we're caught up. One more gratuitous Westy pic to sign off.

Keith Tanner wrote:

NO NO NO I AM NOT LISTENING (sticks fingers in ears) LA LA LA LA LA LA LA I WILL NOT BE TEMPTED...

Great to hear the Westy is working out so well for you. Keep the updates coming.

Potentially stupid question: does a floor slide out over the open area on the roof, to make sleeping quarters? I always imagined so, but I suddenly realize I have never seen a Westfalia up close and personal. As always, I appreciate reading about your adventures, Mr Tanner.

Nicole desperately, desperately wants a Westy.

Dammit.

In reply to Tom Suddard:

I don't see a problem here.

wheelsmithy wrote: Potentially stupid question: does a floor slide out over the open area on the roof, to make sleeping quarters? I always imagined so, but I suddenly realize I have never seen a Westfalia up lose and personal. As always, I appreciate reading about your adventures, Mr Tanner.

There are two beds. The rear seat folds flat and level with the cargo floor. Up top, there's a panel that flips out to make a second bed under the popped top. It's a bit of a monkey move to get up there as there's no ladder, you have to basically climb up the seats and cabinets.

There's also a cot that can hang over the front seats for kids. I don't have one, but the hangers are there.

The idea of camping, in a campground, surrounded by nearby campers I don't know(and probably have little desire of getting to know), all attempting to be social, has zero appeal to me. But seeing these pics of you guys out in the middle of BFE - and what a beautiful BFE it is out there - yeah, I could get into that!

I love the look of the ronal's and the legit body panel dents.

Out of curiousity; do you track fuel mileage? Do you have a picture of the new shifter? I always loved the westy's humongo shifter.

How does the chassy adjust to more power? Or how does it cruise at high speed on a highway? Did the sways help with wind buffeting at highway speeds? Anytime I have crossed the continent there have been times where I felt the need to cruise at 80+ mph.

Finally, do you have any elegant solutions for bathroom and showering? That has always been the gap between tents, camper vans and big boy RV's.

Thanks, Mike

Living the life. A westfalia van is on my short list of cars I will own someday. Glad you are having a blast in it!

Pete, I don't have any interest in the typical RV park either. I go camping to get away, not to join a mobile community. The occasional "hello" from other Westy owners is fun, but usually short because most of us seem to think the same way.

I started tracking mileage last year. I'm currently at 18 mpg overall. That includes climbing mountains, coming down mountains and a reasonable amount of high speed interstate driving. That's sucking down the lowest octane fuel available, and it seems to be a bit better of late since I started messing with some of the wiring from the conversion.

The chassis has no problem with the power level. It's only 130 hp, it's not as if I have some sort of overfed Corvette motor in a Miata At 5000' above sea level, it'll happily cruise at 75-80. The biggest issue is the gearing's a bit funky, there's a big gap between 2nd and 3rd which can be a problem on really steep climbs.

Crosswind sensitivity isn't a real problem, although I can feel the wake of a truck on the interstate if we're too close. The new Koni shocks made a difference there, and I'm still adjusting them to find the perfect setting between feeling underdamped and feeling like the springs are made of rebar.

It's actually quite a pleasant all-day cruiser. You sit upright in chairs with armrests and there's room to move around. The engine noise is muted although there's definitely wind noise. Our last trip had us travel from Jackson, WY back to Grand Junction in one day and 10 hours left us surprisingly rested.

The shifter looks the way it did before, it's just a bit taller and bent at the top. Makes it easier to reach.

Bathrooms haven't been an issue yet anywhere we've camped, you just have to be comfortable with pit toilets. I'm working on a portable toilet solution. I'll document that when it's done, but one of the goals is bathroom/kitchen separation We haven't attempted any sort of on-board shower, we usually go swimming instead. But I have some ideas there as well. It's definitely not going to be the same as what you'll have in a rock star RV, but I tend to look at this vehicle as being far more comfortable than a tent.

wheelsmithy wrote: Potentially stupid question: does a floor slide out over the open area on the roof, to make sleeping quarters? I always imagined so, but I suddenly realize I have never seen a Westfalia up close and personal. As always, I appreciate reading about your adventures, Mr Tanner.

Just came across a pic for this.

I don't have any pics of the upper bed in place, but here's how the back seat folds down - you can tuck the seat belts out of the way. I find it quite comfy, but my wife likes to sleep on her side and finds that she gets pressure points on her hips. So I picked up a high density memory foam pad, cut it to size and she sewed a giant pillowcase for it. Now it's comfy for days. We keep the pad on top of the upper bed when it's not being used, so it's out of the way.

Wow, I've been looking for a camper top for my truck and bam this showed up minutes after reading this thread.

http://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/5092768784.html

19.5k are you kidding? wow.

Mad_Ratel wrote: Wow, I've been looking for a camper top for my truck and bam this showed up minutes after reading this thread. http://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/5092768784.html 19.5k are you kidding? wow.

Worth every penny if the no rust statement is true but damn that is still high. $15k maybe?

Did this start out as an air cooled engine or a wassserboxer? I see the lower grill, but can't tell if it came that way or if it was added with the engine swap. I can see the Subie swap being a huge advantage over an air cooled, but I'm curious how much better it would be than a wasserboxer.

The Vanagons don't really rust much, actually. Nothing like their predecessors.

Prices are a constant surprise. There's always been a wide variation, but the mean appears to be heading up. Not quite 911 fast, but fast. We paid $7500 for ours - it was a good deal at the time, now it would be a very good deal with the VW engine, never mind the Subaru. The super-clean ones, especially pimped out with things like solar and real fridges (ahem), are going up particularly fast.

Woody, mine started as a wasserboxer. The one belonging to my friend Brandon was air-cooled. He obviously had to do a bunch more work to do the conversion, and didn't get heater cores into it until a few years later. As for how much better - well, it's got 130 hp instead of the VW engine's 83 so it'll climb hills The Subarus also don't have a tendency to burst into flames like the originals either, the fuel injection system is prone to leaks on those. The fuel injection programming is 10 years more advanced as well. There are other swaps done, such as TDis and Zetec (I think). Amazingly, an upright four will fit. Don't ask me how.