Jason's 1976 VW Westfalia Deluxe Camper ("Pod")
Aug. 11, 2003: These are photos taken the day I brought it home.

Replacing charcoal canister hoses on Pod
Sep. 9, 2003: I decided to replace the charcoal canister hoses after noticing the loose canister hoses while looking for vacuum leaks.

Throttle boot leak on Pod
Sep. 27, 2003: I've been searching for a nagging vacuum leak that has been causing the engine to run quite poorly. I pulled the air cleaner and AFM, and lo and behold...

Clean pop-top
Oct. 18, 2003: A clean pop-pop!

Vanagon seat belts for Pod
Nov. 23, 2003: Today I retrofitted the Vanagon seat belts I scored at the junk yard yesterday. Vanagon belts are retractable, and thus a lot nicer than the stock bay window belts. This process should work for any '76-'79 Westfalia.

VW logo mudflaps for Pod
Jan. 7, 2004: By sheer luck, I ran across a set of reproduction VW logo mudflaps for sale by Bug Auto in Salinas, CA. just before the new year. They arrived today. Here's what was in the box.

Seat restoration for Pod
Jan. 10, 2004: Today I started the process of restoring the front seats on Pod. Pod came with ugly gray seat covers that were providing the padding that was missing from the original seat stuffing after almost 30 years. I finished the passenger seat on Jan. 18 and installed it on the driver side so I could enjoy it while restoring the other seat.

New tires for Pod
Feb. 9, 2004: Picked up some new tires for Pod today. Got them at the Firestone shop on University in Berkeley. They're the right size (185R14), load rating (C), and load index (99 - 1710lbs) for a Westfalia. Speed rating is P (93 MPH). Got them for $50/wheel + mounting and balancing + tax, etc. They drove really nicely coming back across the Bay Bridge. Here are some photos of the spare in case you're interested in picking up some for yourself.

Open up the belly pan
Feb. 14, 2004: Today I opened up the belly pan to take a look at the sloppy shifter. This is a work-in-progress; I am waiting for some parts from OE Veedub to arrive.

Center console for Pod
Feb. 15, 2004: After taking a short trip, I realized that my Bus lacked one very important thing: cup holders. But I wanted them to look good, not some generic plastic things that hang off the dash. I always liked the Westfalia camping stool that came in the late bay window Westies, so I decided to have a pseudo-replica made, with one very important upgrade...

Seat pedestal carpet for Pod
Feb. 28, 2004: The rubber mats on my seat pedestals were shot, and I couldn't find any place that sold replacements for a Westfalia. So, I decided to replace them with some low-pile black carpet instead. I purchased some "Universal Trunk Carpet" from JC Whitney (it's really sort of a felt-like material), along with some adhesive-backed rubber-asphalt sound dampening panels (sort of like Q-Pads, but a lot cheaper).

Mallory HyFire Ingition System
Nov. 21, 2004: I decided to install a capacitive discharge ignition (CDI) system in order to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions.