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This is an awesome Vanagon Subaru conversion. Jealous? The interior is clean as a whistle with new, matching upholstery. The exterior looks equally as clean. I love the blacked out wheels with the color to match.
We’ve been carrying our EVDO data card with us so we can get online in the van, but that didn’t seem like a Vanagon Hack, so we decided to get a more permanent WiFi solution in the Vanagon. As you can see in the video, we wired the outlet to the stereo for on/off capabilities.
More pictures after the jump…
We decided to put a few cup holders around the front area of the Vanagon. We ordered them from GoWesty, and put some in beside the shifter, and on the side of the passenger’s seat. Now we can carry drinks for everyone in the van.
Around the shifter
Below the passenger's seat
We hate to say it but we finally gave up on the big brake kit from Van Cafe. It looks good, but it completely sucks! Messing with this kid has cost us 8 months and loads of money. The guys at Van Cafe were great to work with and they changed out parts for us (including shipping charges), but the bottom line is we still have lots of noise. We managed to get rid of the knocking sounds by changing rotors and hubs, but there is so much brake noise that it’s a deal breaker.
We do not recommend these brakes at all!
We’ll be back to Van Cafe for other goodies, but not these brakes. In our opinion, they suck!
Update: 2 days after installing the kit we had a noise problem and have not been able to solve it. We had to grind down the lower edge of the brake pads, but that didn’t do much. We’re stumped. At this point I can’t really recommend this kit. Once we get this noise issue worked out we’ll see how it goes.
Van-Cafe sent us new calipers and pads, but the problem still exists. We’re almost positive it’s in the rotor or hub. We seem to have received bad parts, but can’t be 100% positive which part it is. Still working on it…..
We bought a Big Brake kit from Van Cafe (those guys are great to work with). It came in 2 small, but heavy boxes. We had a few issues with the tight fit, and poor work previously done on the back brakes that caused a low pedal. Once those issues were worked out the Big Brake Kit functions nicely.
If you are considering the Big Brake Kit please realize that there is no noticeable difference under normal braking conditions. It feels the same while you drive. The real benefit happens under extreme conditions. I’ve noticed better braking on hills. Nothing to knock your socks off, but better braking.
We’ve been looking for new wheels for the Vanagon for quite awhile now. Why do we want new wheels? It’s all about the ride. Some people want nice looks, but we want a nice ride. The stock wheels come with reinforced sidewalls which makes the ride quite rough. We think we can get a larger rim, with a shorter tire and it will actually feel better because the sidewalls won’t be quite as stiff. We’d also like slightly wider tires for better handling.
This hack was a lot of fun. I saw another vanagon that had one of these and I just HAD to have it. I ordered this bottle opener from a company called Homebrewers Outpost and we were in business. We painted it, and then installed it.
I get so many comments about this little hack and it works great!
Probably the coolest hack we’ve tried is the green lights over the AC controls. All Vanagon owners know there are no lights for the AC controls. We got some LEDs from Radio Shack and my brother somehow managed to wire them in.
We removed the controls from the dash, drilled some holes and inserted the LEDs. The picture isn’t so good but believe me, it works very well.
Now when we drive at night the A/C controls are illumniated and it looks like it should’ve always been that way.
I tried to take a better picture without the flash that would show the illuminated lights, but it didn’t really work. Sorry.
UPDATE: Here is a better picture…
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