krupe93
Active member
After 3 years of lurking, slowing collecting parts, and dreaming of travelling the country in my own vanagon, I have finally begun the process of building my very own TDI Vanagon!
My love for the TDI came to when I bought my first TDI car, a 1996 Passat TDI, on eBay. I was driving 70 mi a day, I wanted some pep but good fuel economy, and I wanted to spend under 4k. With the power of a few beers I gained the confidence to place a winning bid on my first TDI. Took a bus to Tennessee, picked her up and I fell in love. So much so that 3 years later I bought another!
The white on being my first and the green one being my now daily driver as the white TDI will live on in the Vangon. (White: bought @119k, now 133k, Green: bought @ 121k, now 137k)
Ah yes the Vanagon!
I first saw one of these in person hiking around 2012. Myself being only 23, I didn't grow up seeing these vans and now there isn't many up in New England. I balked at prices I saw on decent Vanagons online. So I decided to find one I could afford and fix it up myself. And with my recent new found love of the TDI engine I figured why not have my cake and eat it too. The TDI would be perfect for long distance Vanagon travel. So I bought me a 1982 Diesel Vanagon that someone converted to a 4 cyl gas that didn't run. It was from New Mexico so rust was minimal, and it didn't run, so it was affordable.
Here you can see me driving it under the power of two reluctant friends and the motivation of a barking dog.
The van was shipped up to upstate New York where I was stationed in the Army, and sat around at various friends houses. Slowly I collected more and more parts. A deployment to Afghanistan in 2015-2016 put the project on hold, but gave me the funds to pursue it further. By Summer 2016 I had bought my green Passat TDI, it was now my daily driver, and I was ready to begin the tear down of my white Passat. I had done a TDI timing belt before so naturally I felt invincible and knew everything about my rather rare vehicle and all the modern electrical madness that came with it.
My love for the TDI came to when I bought my first TDI car, a 1996 Passat TDI, on eBay. I was driving 70 mi a day, I wanted some pep but good fuel economy, and I wanted to spend under 4k. With the power of a few beers I gained the confidence to place a winning bid on my first TDI. Took a bus to Tennessee, picked her up and I fell in love. So much so that 3 years later I bought another!
The white on being my first and the green one being my now daily driver as the white TDI will live on in the Vangon. (White: bought @119k, now 133k, Green: bought @ 121k, now 137k)
Ah yes the Vanagon!
I first saw one of these in person hiking around 2012. Myself being only 23, I didn't grow up seeing these vans and now there isn't many up in New England. I balked at prices I saw on decent Vanagons online. So I decided to find one I could afford and fix it up myself. And with my recent new found love of the TDI engine I figured why not have my cake and eat it too. The TDI would be perfect for long distance Vanagon travel. So I bought me a 1982 Diesel Vanagon that someone converted to a 4 cyl gas that didn't run. It was from New Mexico so rust was minimal, and it didn't run, so it was affordable.
Here you can see me driving it under the power of two reluctant friends and the motivation of a barking dog.
The van was shipped up to upstate New York where I was stationed in the Army, and sat around at various friends houses. Slowly I collected more and more parts. A deployment to Afghanistan in 2015-2016 put the project on hold, but gave me the funds to pursue it further. By Summer 2016 I had bought my green Passat TDI, it was now my daily driver, and I was ready to begin the tear down of my white Passat. I had done a TDI timing belt before so naturally I felt invincible and knew everything about my rather rare vehicle and all the modern electrical madness that came with it.
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