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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #15 on: July 15, 2015, 09:34:17 am »
Got a whole bunch of parts this week.......and then hurt my ankle somehow! DOH! That really slows things down. Hopefully it will be better in a few days!

In the meantime I soldered the stereo wiring harness together. There is nothing more annoying than a short or loose wire in a stereo.

Here you can see the old stereo on the left and the two huge satellite radio modules that go with it. Also notice the crimp connectors on the old harness.

The new stereo has a much smaller satellite module and a cleaner soldered harness now.

The old antenna was in the middle of the plastic dash. I'll   this one in a more appropriate spot outside the van.

The old stereo was actually pretty nice but was missing many modern features. This new one has bluetooth, USB and headphone jack on the front, and the light colors can be programmed to match the factory colors.

« Last Edit: July 15, 2015, 09:35:54 am by Cole »
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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #16 on: July 17, 2015, 04:18:09 pm »
Today was window tint day!

Unfortunately I got shorted on the tint so didn't have enough to do the two rear quarter windows.

These were done in a light 50% ceramic tint. Nice subtle tint that will be easy to see out of in the dark for years to come. But with the heat reduction properties of the ceramic tint!

I pulled the window screens to do the tint and discovered one of them was coming undone. I glued all this back down before installing it! Now there are functional screens.



Here you can see how light this tint is. Take a look at the curtain behind it!







« Last Edit: July 17, 2015, 04:24:36 pm by Cole »
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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #17 on: July 22, 2015, 08:45:34 am »
Getting closer!

Front Bilstein HDs arrived and installed.

Before



After



Despite the low miles the rockers on this van were taking a beating from rocks, road debris and grime.




The rear bumper also had some big chips and scratches.





To protect these areas and protect them from future damage we decided to use some Monstaliner bed liner. The color isn't an exact match, but was worth a try to see how it looked. Bob will have to decide if he loves it or not.

New rear bumper step. Brought just far enough over the edge to get rid of the previous damage.




Rockers and front door steps.




I also painted the rear bed supports body color then put bed liner on the tops of them for durability and to keep the rear board rattles quiet.






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Offline paul3d

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #18 on: July 26, 2015, 01:10:41 pm »
Nice !!!
What kind of paint did you use on the door rail?  I need to redo mine too (2002 MV Weekender)

Thanks

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk


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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #19 on: July 26, 2015, 02:19:52 pm »
Nice !!!
What kind of paint did you use on the door rail?  I need to redo mine too (2002 MV Weekender)

Thanks

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk


I just use Duplicolor "Wheel paint".  You can get it at any auto parts store and it's designed to put up with the elements of road use (salt/mag chloride/sun/rocks/rain/etc)

It also lays down easy and has a factory like satin finish. They have high gloss clear for it if you want it shiny.
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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #20 on: July 26, 2015, 08:29:38 pm »
Almost done!

Today I finished up the new stereo install.

If you look closely you can see the remains of the glue on the dash where the old satellite radio antenna was mounted. Not only should that antenna been outside the van on a steel surface, it should never have been stuck to the plastic dash.

I'll be cleaning up the dash later.

The hood isn't the ideal location on a car but it's about the beat the Eurovan has to offer with a bit fiberglass roof.



The new stereo had Blutooth calling no streaming, USB charging on the front, Satellite radio, remote, Pandora and Siri control, and programmable colors to make it match the color scheme of the dash and the stock radio. This is a big step up from what was in the van!



Fortunately VW left several nice grommets to run the wires through from a nice clean install.


This stuff drives me nuts! This is what the underside of the dash looked like when I started. There were several zip ties on this and it's still hanging down. There was NOTHING broken here!!! It just needed installed properly!

Before



After:

All I did was remove the excess zip ties and install this the way it is suppose to be. (No fuse cover)



The stock battery is just a normal car battery. This one looks like it was original so we replaced it with a larger proper Marine deep cycle battery. A battery that was also slightly shorter to help facilitate using a seat swivel on the driver's side seat. Ultimately I had to custom lower the stock battery tray to make it all work together.

This set up should power Bon's ARB fridge much better than the stock unit.






The stock top wasn't in horrible shape but it wasn't great either. A new 3 window will replace the old 2 window.

Original.



New top half installed. There is a tie down losing the top partially closed to give slack for the top to be installed.




The new reclaimed beetle kill pine table was finished and installed. Pictures really don't do the table justice!









Just waiting on some more window tint to finish the rear windows and this van will be ready to clean up and be done!
Cole

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Offline Itsamoto

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #21 on: July 26, 2015, 09:21:21 pm »
Nice work cleaning up that rats nest of wiring. FWIW -- mine looks just as awful with things all bunched up -- fingers crossed I can comb it out.  :D

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Offline rcowan

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #22 on: July 27, 2015, 05:44:05 pm »
That three window tent looks different than the other 3 window tents you have been installing.... trying a new supplier? I like the looks of this one from the outside but the big "v" side windows on the other tents might be nice from the inside. I'm going to need to be purchasing a new tent soon so I'm just looking at the options.

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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #23 on: July 27, 2015, 06:00:58 pm »
That three window tent looks different than the other 3 window tents you have been installing.... trying a new supplier? I like the looks of this one from the outside but the big "v" side windows on the other tents might be nice from the inside. I'm going to need to be purchasing a new tent soon so I'm just looking at the options.

Same company. This is for a 1999-2003. The ones with the big triangle windows are for the 1993 vans.

No idea why they are different. This is the tent that both GoWesty and BusDepot sell.

I called them both to ask some questions and they just B.S.ed the way through (I asked what the difference was and was told "dimensions", that's it. )

Having installed a bunch of these (mostly the 1993 version). There are some definite issues with them. For example the rope around the top/bottom is 2x as thick as the stock stuff. Making the install way more difficult than it should be. Also the corner seems are too thick on some of them to fit in the rail with the rubber seal.

I get the impression that few people have actually installed these.

I've tried many times to contact the manufacturer to set up an account and ask some questions and make some suggestions.

Nobody ever returns my inquiry!
Cole

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Offline rcowan

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #24 on: July 28, 2015, 10:22:16 am »
Weird that they have such different styles. Also disappointing to hear that the fitment is so frustrating. Thanks for the info, back to the regularly schedule Dylan build. :-)

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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #25 on: July 28, 2015, 06:37:06 pm »
Bob picked up his Eurovan today!! He was very excited about it.

 



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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #26 on: January 19, 2016, 07:48:48 pm »
Realized that there are many pictures missing from this thread.






« Last Edit: January 19, 2016, 07:50:55 pm by Cole »
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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #27 on: January 19, 2016, 07:54:16 pm »


Color matched stereo lighting.



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Offline mattMVWK

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #28 on: October 05, 2017, 06:56:05 am »
Hey Cole - I am putting in my Sirius XM receiver tonight.  I was curious how you were able to run it through to the exterior hood.  Any tips or tricks? 

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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #29 on: October 05, 2017, 11:39:41 am »
Take the vent off, take all the under hood trip offf.

That is the best tip I can give. Sorry it can’t be more detailed.
Cole