RMW "Tank" Installed!

There is so much that can go wrong with the plastic coolant bottles.  For instance, my original VW coolant bottle had a crack in it, caps don't seal or maintain pressure, and the seams often split as well.  After my Subaru conversion in which I bought a brand new bottle and cap, the cap leaked several times. So, about the 4th time, I tightened it real good, which stripped the cheesy plastic threads and then NO cap would hold!   To add insult to injury, I also had a brand new sensor installed, which leaked as well.  Again, probably a stripped threads issue.  Before my important Fourth of July camping trip, I decided to call RMW and upgrade to "the Tank".  It arrived in 2 days and installed in 2 hours.  OMG am I glad I did it.  The Tank is da BOMB!!!!

RMW Tank installed (without sensor hooked up)

Overhead view: The RMW Tank is narrower than the VW coolant bottle

This product is solid A+ construction as expected from RMW.  There is no way it is leaking - end of story!

1. The package includes instructions, wiring connectors for sensor, bracket, tank, cap, and all the bolts necessary to install bracket to the van and the bottle to the bracket
2. RMW changed their sensor and the new sensor is super easy to wire-up
3. The bracket is solid and the holes match perfectly with the RMW bracket for the regular VW coolant bottle, so no re-drilling is required when you upgrade.  Well, to be honest, I had to open up the the holes in the engine bay a weeee bit for the Tank's bracket bolts to fit.  But, I didn't have to re-measure and completely re-drill new holes.
4. The bottom nipple is a standard size, so no weird reducing heater hose or adapter is needed.  Awesome!
5. The Tank is narrower than the VW coolant bottle, so fits easier in the engine bay and looks fantastic.

Total install time (removing old & adding the Tank): 2 hrs for a beginner mechanic on a mission, less time I'm sure, for a pro.

Vanagon's Auxiliary Battery Design

Here is how I set up my auxiliary battery, battery charger, and power inverter.

1. Starter and Aux batteries are connected via the Sure Power 100A battery separator (location: under driver seat) with 6 AWG cable.  Sure Power battery separator is grounded as specified in their manual, using a 10A inline fuse.

2. There are 80A fuses close to each + terminal to protect most of the 6 AWG wire from melting again on a voltage dump.

3. I bought a new 12V fuse block (location: under driver seat) for under the driver seat.  This prevents having to mess around more under the main Vanagon fuse panel when hooking up other 12V accessories in the future.

4. A 50 Amp circuit breaker (location: under driver seat) protects the whole 12V fuse block's accessories from complete melt down while each has their own fuse, of course.

5. ProSport 12 battery charger by ProMariner (location: under driver seat) plugs into the Sure Power battery separator and charges each from shore when available.

6. PowerBright 1100W Inverter (location: back of Weekender Jump Seat) is hooked up for AC outlets in van. The inverter's + cable is protected, as recommended by manufacturer, with a 100A mini ANL fuse.

Updated Cruise Control Page

With the summer camping season here and my interior completely ripped out, other projects are taking precedence over the cruise control project.  However, I've gotten several questions on it from folks, so I figured I should get it updated with my latest approach.

Tonight, I edited my Subaru Vanagon - Cruise Control page modifying the logical design diagram to better reflect how the cruise control is shaking out after getting the van running this month.   Also, I instead of using the Subaru cruise control stalk I am now going to be using the Vanagon turn signal w/ cruise control that I luckily found on TheSamba classifieds.

Installing the VSS & OBD2 Connector

I ran the VSS and OBD2 signal under the van to the front so I could do a digital, speedo-based VSS and OBD2 connector up front as well as hook in the Subaru cruise control brains up there to it.

In this video, I recorded how I made the final VSS/OBD2 connector which connects to the ECU in the rear of the van.  This connector is for the cable that runs under the Vanagon to the dash.  I wired it to an weather proof connector so it is safe from the elements in the engine bay.  Then, to ensure the aluminum shielding properly dissipates the interference it collects under the van, I wrapped a wire with an eye-let on it and connected that to the van's engine bay where it is grounded.  Finally, (not shown), I sealed it up by wrapping it non-adhesive black vinyl tape and black wire loom.

Finishing Touches on the Wiring Harness

After testing the wiring harness last weekend, I felt safe putting on the finishing touches to it.  I loomed it and detailed the end result in my video here:

Finally! Starting the Vanagon with Subaru engine

The virgin start of my Subaru/Vanagon conversion went like this...

With fire extinguisher in-the-ready, Paul told me to give it a shot.  The first key turn was a dud.  Paul asked "did you do anything around the fuse box?"  Why yes... Yes I did!  I put in high-powered head light relays under there and ended up dislodging the main power cable from the battery.  Ooops!  With his electric sorcery, Paul troubleshooted the issue and we figured out where to re-connect everything.  To my defense, the Vanagon fuse panel blows.  Haha.  Literally.

On the second key turn, it fired right up.  As we celebrated, it puked gas all over the shop floor!  Evidently, I didn't tighten the fuel return hose very well :)  Thankfully, I turned it off before we needed the fire extinguisher.

But, as they say, third times a charm!

Check Engine Light Modification for Vanagon

I followed the instructions from my RMW manual to turn my outdated OXS light (e.g., lower left LED on instrument cluster) into a check engine light for my Subaru engine.  The engine bay is modified to connect the Subaru ENG LIGHT wire into your VW round connector's 7 pin.  That's pretty easy.  For the under-the-dash stuff, though here's the photos of the steps I did for those of you, who are visual learners.

First things, first... get your instrument panel off and accessible - not covered here!

The photo below shows the 14 pin connector that goes into the blue foil on the back of the instrument cluster.  Some are different colors depending on the year of your van, so either reference your Bentley or RMW manual, which has it listed.  The pins read right to left in this photo (1 on far right and 14 on left).  My 14 pin wire color was blue/green.

1986 VW Weekender 14 PIN for Instrument Cluster

If you are still confused about which pin is 1 vs. 14 when doing this mod, look at the connector.  You can see the numbers on it.  Pin 14 is on the top in this photo.

Numbering is on the connector, if you are confused.

Following the RMW instructions, I cut the 12 pin (yellow, high oil pressure light) wire and the 14 pin OXS wire (blue/green on my '86 Weekender). Note where I cut them, to make it easier to connect during the next step.  The yellow wire on pin 12 will be left hanging and the pin 14 blue/green wire that dropped back off the connector will be left hanging.

After cutting each wire

I connected the yellow wire coming from the engine bay to the blue/green wire going to pin 14 with a non-insulated butt-connector and "heat shrinked" it with clear heat shrink.  Then, I used liquid tape to cover the end of the unused pin 12 yellow wire and did the same on the unused end of the blue/green wire that dropped off when I cut it off of pin 14.

Yellow High Oil Pressure wire connected to OXS light

There you have it.  A visual demo of how to make the OXS on your instrument cluster into your CEL light for your Subaru.  Total time: 30 minutes.

Transmission-Main Seal "Cover" Won't Fit!

This was another, albeit minor, BUMP in the road on my Subaru/Vanagon conversion (~1 hour of my time to modify it).  The part is not a show stopper to the conversion, but it is reasonably important.  It is used to cover the gap between the Vanagon transmission and the Subaru engine (under the main seal) - keeping the main seal area nice and clean.  It did not fit properly because the oil pan was in the way.  I have a stock Subaru oil pan and I would have thought the manufacturer would make a cover that fit OEM parts at least.  RMW currently distributes the cover in their kit even though it is from a third party manufacturer.  They should just start making it themselves, because if they did, I know the quality would be better and it would fit! :)

To do this little project I needed a grinder.  Had I been in my own garage, I would've been screwed and this simple thing would've been an expensive endeavor.  But, as luck would have it, Paul's shop has one!  

Mark the area to grind out

After grinding it down, it looks like this.

Sealant for good measure before installing it

Giving the Van a face lift

I took the grill off for various reasons - check radiator, wiring, check out the condition of my A/C condenser, etc. and now was as good of a time as any to give it a fresh coat of paint.  I just gave it a bath, let it dry and then sprayed it with black auto trim paint.  I had the same can from when I spruced up my '83.5 and that worked out great.

Wash'n them up good before the paint job

Never did like that chrome around the edge.

Coolant Bottle and Sensor Install

EDIT: June 27, 2014 - Install the RMW Tank.  Much of the advice below still applies to installing the RMW Tank, so read on, but honestly, I'll never install a regular VW plastic coolant bottle again.

My review of the product/install is here:  RMW "Tank" Installed!

Today, I installed the coolant bottle for my RMW Subaru conversion.  It's a standard Vanagon coolant bottle.  RMW recently changed manufacturers for their kit's bottle because the old ones had quality control issues (e.g. leaked).  Despite thinking this was a slam dunk, it turned out to be more than I bargained for and I had to do a number of modifications to install it.

First, I learned that you should drill your holes BEFORE you install the engine.  I followed the 2011 RMW manual to a "T" and this was not mentioned.  With the engine installed, a normal drill will not fit to drill the holes for the bracket.  Luckily, Paul had a mini-drill and it worked wonderfully to drill the holes despite the engine being in the way.  Also, a "right-angle" drill or adapter for a normal drill would also work.  The DeWalt adapters at The Home Depot are only $18.

Needed a small drill because engine was in the way!

Second, when I eye-balled the bracket and bottle placement, it looked a little too close to the engine lid.  I drilled the bracket holes a finger's pad lower than specified in the RMW manual (e.g., directly under the tab).  Even after installing the bottle 1/2" lower than RMW specified, it still hit the deck lid when I put it on.  Notice the black foam crusting off the deck lid after I put it on.  Always measure before you drill!

RMW says install directly under tab, but I had to go 1/2" lower.

Third, while the new coolant bottle from RMW are better than the old ones (caps don't leak and bottle is more solid), the cap screws on to 9 o'clock instead of 3 o'clock.  This leads to a weird hose routing from the overflow tank to the bottle  It has to do a wrap-around to get back over to the nozzle on the cap.  Oh well.  

Cap tightens to 9 o'clock, leading to weird coolant hose routing

Last, I have an '86 Westy, which has an old style coolant level sensor and connector.  VW released an upgraded sensor/connector for late models.  The late model coolant level connector uses a metal spring loaded wire that keeps it snug on the sensor.  The old style connetor can easily pull off the sensor rendering it useless.  Funny thing is... the new, better style sensor is cheaper than the old style sensor!  To get the proper connector for it, all I had to do is go to the salvage yard and pull one from a mid-90s Jetta ($2).  I will solder this one on to my coolant level sensor wires in the Subaru/Vanagon wiring harness.  BTW:  I purchased the new, cheaper coolant level sensor from Van-Cafe.  I'm all set with upgraded parts!  So, happy...

Connector I pulled from a  mid-90s VW Jetta

Fits great on the newer, late model Vanagon coolant sensors