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Offline Cole

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Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« on: June 27, 2015, 09:26:48 am »
I just started some work on a great low mileage(56k) 2003 Eurovan Westfalia weekender for a cool guy named Bob.

Despite being a low mile van it still needs a little cleaning up and some custom bits to truly make is "Bob's van" and not just another generic Eurovan.

Bob also has a 71 Bus but wanted something a bit more modern no powerful to travel in.

Every cool van deserves a nick name. When Bob dropped off this van it has a pile of Bob Dylan CDs in the front seat. So what better name for the van than Dylan? ;)


Here is the van the day he dropped it off!











I know most people don't car or notice stuff like this but the complete lack of paint on the two hooks drives me nuts. So I'll be touching up all the little details like this that I can .



Top seal is coming off. This is pretty typical of these vans. The seal dries up and the glue loses its  stick.





« Last Edit: June 27, 2015, 09:50:12 am by Cole »
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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2015, 09:59:14 am »
While we are waiting for some parts to arrive I stated the clean up process and fixing the little things like this missing rear hatch emblem.





The front seat bases and rear bed supports came out yesterday for some custom work.



Trailer hitch is here and ready to go on!

Cole

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Offline lotus54

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2015, 10:44:10 am »
How did you get the third bolt on the drivers side for the htich in?
Drill an access hole?
Remove muffler heat Guard?

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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2015, 11:01:22 am »
How did you get the third bolt on the drivers side for the htich in?
Drill an access hole?
Remove muffler heat Guard?

Haven't done it yet :P. Last one I did I removed the heat shield.

Here is a paint teaser on the seta bases.



Cole

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Offline Itsamoto

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2015, 04:03:06 pm »
Right on! Love these build threads!

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Offline Wisk

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2015, 07:52:23 pm »
Cole,
     Where did you get the rear emblem?  My dealer in town says they're no longer available.
Shawn

Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2015, 07:26:32 am »
Fun stuff!  I'll be interested to see how you do with those small paint divots / scratches.  I've got a several spots on my EV that are similar and on my list for attention.

I've been thinking about a new rear emblem too - can't seem to get all of the IA road dust off and back to dark black but going to take a cut and paint before replacement.  You can get them here :  http://europarts-sd.com/emblem-rearchromevw.asp


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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2015, 09:12:49 am »
Cole,
     Where did you get the rear emblem?  My dealer in town says they're no longer available.
Shawn

Fortunately it came with the van ;) As did the original broken one. Which I find interesting. I've seen 6-7 vans with the emblem missing on the hatch, all of them were inside the van though ??? Which would lead you to believe they get knocked off while cleaning the van and don't just fall off going down the road.
Cole

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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2015, 08:39:05 pm »
I know this seems like watching paint dry at this point! Mostly because that is what I've been doing.  ;)


The hitch and trans cooler are ready to go in. I started on the hitch today but needed to clean up some bolt holes to make it fit well, so that will provide some pictures soon!
Cole

Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2015, 10:22:35 pm »
Cole,
     Where did you get the rear emblem?  My dealer in town says they're no longer available.
Shawn

The part number in question is: 701853601F

You can buy them at various online dealers, and GoWesty (although GoWesty is about double the price).

I'm not 100% sure if that badge/part number fits the short nose vans, though. YMMV.

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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2015, 02:06:20 pm »
Thanks! Everyone that needed that emblem part number should vote up Christian's karma on the left  ;)(in case you hadn't noticed the Karma system)


Making progress on Dylan today.


Hitch installed....



Notice that in the process I also repainted the tow loop since the paint had worn off from the road.



To those curious how to get the third bolt in the driver's side. Just drill out this one rivet and you can move the heat shield out of the way to get a wrench up in there. I'll rivet it back together when done so it will be just like factory.



Then you can slide this up in there to put a bolt up in there.




Almost every Eurovan I've taken apart has had a spare tire so rusty it wasn't safe or useable.

The one in this 54k mile 2003 is just barely showing signs of rust, but it's there!



For comparison I pulled this out of a 1999 just a few days ago.



I've replaced the spare in several of these vans. The one from this van is still good, so I put a couple of coats of wheel paint on it before putting it back. This should keep it in good safe condition for a bit longer.





The rest of today is dedicated to installing the aux transmission cooler and some more coats of clear on the seat bases.







« Last Edit: June 30, 2015, 02:08:13 pm by Cole »
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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #11 on: June 30, 2015, 03:00:34 pm »
I still need to polish out the paint and add the side pockets. So this is just a teaser.

Cole

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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #12 on: July 07, 2015, 04:48:54 pm »
Finished up the hitch. If you remember from the first step I drilled out the rivet holding the muffler heat shield in place. Well today I replaced that rivet and added another new one a bit further back by the hitch to make sure the heat shield doesn't rattle by the hitch. Nothing more annoying than an exhaust rattle!

I've been waiting on parts to do some of the things to this van. So some of the projects have been slow.

I did address the flaking paint on the slider door rail. Some times its the little things like this that can make an otherwise nice van look really bad.



After sanding down the rail, prepping and painting it. Here is the new rail.






It's amazing how even a low mileage van can have such road tattered parts sometimes.



I made some 3/4" lift spacers and lifted the van with new Bilstein HD shocks. I only got the rear shocks installed today because only one front shock arrived...hmm...



After adjusting the front end upward to match the rear. There is still a slight forward rake so that the rear will level out when loaded.

Will look better once the new tires are installed.



All 4 wheel center caps were replaced with brand new ones today. Old one on the left, new one on the right.



I got this Aux in cable to add an aux port to the existing stereo. Come to find out that even though its the right part, and all the settings are right....it just doesn't work! After talking to Bob about it today we decided to step up to a much more modern stereo that has Bluetooth and other useful features.



Cole

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Offline kjeff

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #13 on: July 09, 2015, 05:07:11 pm »
I've got to redo the sliding door rail on mine too.. that old anodizing or whatever it is has worn away over the years

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Offline Cole

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Re: Building "Dylan", Bob's 2003 Eurovan Weekender.
« Reply #14 on: July 14, 2015, 08:41:10 am »
The new top fabric and the new stereo arrived last night.

I was ready to jump out of bed this morning and crank them out but woke up feeling like someone had kit my ankle with a sledge hammer :'(


So here is a teaser picture this morning. Maybe after some coffee and computer time I'll go get some good stuff finished on this van this week.
Cole