Westy Rick, the making of

Warning, contains entirely boring mechanical themes which will not be interesting for most readers.

Here we briefly detail how Westy Rick, our 1987 VW Vanagon Westfalia came to be the man that he is today. Strictly from a boring technical standpoint with very little for you to gain by reading this.

Our van became our van in late September 2017, just after we became a married couple. It was an unmolested, original machine with no rust but mechanically a little tired and leaky. We managed to squeeze a couple of camping trips in before the snow came which was more than enough to assure us that we could happily make this van our home for months on end.

It was settled, the trip was going to happen, but the van would need some serious prepping before attempting such a journey. Getting a 30 year old van to the southernmost tip of the America’s was going to require a full overhaul and muchos pimping. However, winter was closing in and it wasn’t going to be much fun lying under a van in 2ft of snow changing an engine. Some work was done in places it shouldn’t have been, like rebuilding driveshafts in the kitchen sink… but we were truly stuck without a workshop in which to live out the winter.

And then to the rescue, the most generous souls of them all offered us use of their workshop. Jelmer and Linda put up with us coming and going for over 7 months, with patience comparable to saints. For five of those months the van didn’t move, and for three of them there was the donor Subaru also squeezed in amongst the mess we continually made. Without this space, tools, coffees, advice and encouragement, we wouldn’t have the trustworthy steed we currently reside in.

We picked up the engine donor in the depths of winter. In the middle of a snowstorm the Symes and two sets of Bakers drove out to drag a written off Forester down a hill and onto a trailer. The mission was a success, and our engine was obtained. This would replace our leaky, ancient 1.9 with a modern 2.5 with very nearly twice the power.

Much work began, with the brake system rebuilt, suspension overhauled, hoses renewed and the old engine torn out. To survive the onslaught of power and torque the gearbox was given some gentle TLC too. Our tasty new motor was stripped apart, new seals, head gaskets, water pump, timing belt blah blah yawn yawn. Even the fuel tank was removed, painted up real sexy and black and wedged back in.

One of the real challenges was the wiring harness, one million, billion, trillion wires were removed from the Subaru over a whole day of aches, pains, blood, sweat, tears and mostly swearing. This spider’s web then proceeded to occupy a large portion of our house as slowly wires were stripped out, then sometimes replaced, then stripped out again until we were left with the bare minimum for running the engine.

Finally, in mid-March, the van was hoiked up and the powerplant lifted into place. Oh how happy it looked nestled up in there.

That was the easy bit, the next month was consumed with plumbing in the coolant, fuel, vacuum, power steering, wiring and exhaust. Extra pressure was felt as a leaky hose or popped off connection could spell disaster up a mountain in Peru three hours from the nearest human.

But finally, finally, five months after rolling into the workshop, our little vanahome drove out to roam around wild and free. We even managed to drive through some snow just before it all melted.

But the pressure was still on, with only two months until departure day there was still lots to do to make it our home.

Back in the workshop. Wrapped up like a Christmas present, the lower sill was painted with bed liner to help protect against the terrain and to look more badass. To further boost the badass aesthetic, the original 14” wheels were replaced with 16” Mercedes rims freshly power coated black and wrapped in mean looking offroad hard-core go anywhere tyres.

Roofbars were designed and made, solar panel installed along with an auxiliary battery and new improved electric only fridge to replace the non-ideal original propane coolbox. This new fridge was put through its paces on several occasions.

The final piece of the puzzle, the 100% DIY bumpers were finally installed. From CAD model to reality. Giving us a way to carry our big pimping spare and a secure box for spare water, fuel and oil. And bonus storage inside the bumper itself for greasy tools etc. Oh, and the towing eyes for when we do get stuck.

And that is how, over 8 months our simple van evolved into mega, world conquering uber van. Whilst one of us typically had greasy hands, the other was slaving away picking up nursing shifts left right and centre with hands often covered in things much worse than grease. This was certainly a team effort, and with lots of help from friends and family too. Thanks everyone!