Something a bit different... T3 VW Camper

very swiss indeed. I have even bought some quick release number plates, to swap over easily. at vast cost of course.

unfortunately also in the "very swiss" camp is , not modifying cars, driving at (but rarely over) the speed limit, massive speeding fines, not using indicators, and doing things at random on the roads. Really is the lowest level of driving skills I have seen. And that include the belgians. But maybe not the italians they are in a league of their own. (N.B. I am aware that all of this is a massive generalisation. Please do not be offended)

I'm over the other side near Zug, so don't know that area. There are some amazing places to drive, and some scary ones as well.

I think driving this will allow me to see a bit more of the views as well rather than my normal car.

Club 80-90 and The Brickyard were the two I used the most.

 theres a few US based forums worth reading like the samba and also vw vortex can be a mine of info (if you can find the correct sections )

if you could modify then tdiclub forums have some interesting rear-engine mods listed

 I fancy a panel with a mid-mounted v8 but thats just for the soundtrack

Rich.

We had 3 of these rear engine w/c transporters as commercial vans for our business, the later turbo one was the most troublesome but the early ones were tanks.
The first one we bought brand new and cheap from the Republic of Ireland, a broker sourced it, we paid him in punts (or whatever the pre euro Irish thing was), he then drove it across the border to Belfast and delivered it to us at Liverpool docks, this was in the early 80s, I drove my stepdad up there to collect it in my Moggie van. he drove the VW back to Wiltshire on false NI reg plates, one in the windscreen, the other stuck on the back with gaffs tape. Once home we registered it in the U.K.!!
Bizarre, the days before ANPR were joyful!!

So... Gearbox, or more specifically 2nd gear...

It kept popping out, which I knew about when we bought it, and so had factored in a reconditioned gearbox at some point.
I stupidly forgot that it was 2.7m tall, and I wouldn't be able to do it myself. The drive slopes too much, and from what I have heard you are not allowed to work on cars in public - not sure if that just means in the road, but anyway. Couldn't do it myself.

So I took it to a vw camper specialist to take a look. My German is still not great, but I got across with the help of the receptionist (who had slightly more English than I have German) exactly what the problem was.

I was assuming gearbox rebuild, or recon unit. 'no', they said 'it just needs a new gear stick linkage'. I wasn't convinced, but said three times 'are you sure? Will this fix the 2nd geat problem? Isn't it something more serious?'. I was told 'yes, absolutely' every time...

So I let them do the work, and I took it home. Then we went to Lugano for the weekend (which I can absolutely recommend btw), and second gear still popped out AND I couldn't get it into reverse.

So I took it back and told them this. So they worked on it.

And then I went to pick it up, and went for a test drive, reverse gear was fixed, but second gear still popped out.
So I told them this, and they seemed to have completely forgotten that second gear was an issue in the first place.

So we had a long conversation, with the service manager, the mechanic, the owner, the owner's mother (either that or he likes more mature ladies) and the receptionist.

After much part German, part English, part drawing, part hand signals... They said 'oh yeah, that is definitely the second gear synchro causing that problem'...
So, after much arsing about, they agreed to do the work for parts only. Which is a good deal based on the ridiculous labour rates here.

A few weeks later, I have it back. And it works. Yay!

There were a few things I wanted to do before putting it in storage, and I started to look at it and I scared myself with how many parts were bad (for example: warped rear light clusters, those horrible vampire clips on the rear lights to attach the tow bar electrics - both of which had allowed water into the rear lights).

So, I just threw it into storage. That I have been paying for for the last three months even though the van has been in the garage for most of it.

Anyway. After Christmas I should be able to do some work on the mx5. Woop woop.


There have been no pictures in this, so as a bonus, here is an art Bentley:

Doing some winter camping...

Heater is being a little bit temperamental though. May be a chilly night.

No, it's the erbersprächer petrol one.

Have investigated, and been told spares don't exist. I took a look at it, and I just don't want to be needing about with stuff that could burn the van down with us inside it. I think I'll get it replaced with a more modern version. All comes down to cost again - I think it will involve a trip to the UK or Germany to get it done.

Basically, the heater stopped working and it was Canoeing cold. -10 out side, and pretty much the same inside. Everything froze. About an inch of ice in inside of Windows, water tank froze, even the water inside the kettle that was inside a cupboard froze.

But apart from that it was brilliant. Waking up in the snow and mountains was amazing. Stepping onto the cross country tracks and straight off. Can't beat it.