The Zinger

1985 VOLKSWAGEN WESTFALIA

"The ZINGER"

(Named after the Hostess dessert because of the striking resemblance)

I.  HISTORY-  In the earlier part of 2011, We had decided it was time to look for a future in traveling.  Ever since we met in 2006, we each had expressed the desire to own a VW van and not only own one, but live and travel in one.  Our endless searches on craigslist as well as a few dismal stops to look at broken down busses were exhausting but one day, it appeared.  We had seen it posted on craigslist months prior but without a transmission- This time we looked, the transmission was in-tact! Within minutes of responding to the add, Gordon (the awesome guy who owned it at the time) got back to us and plans were in motion to check it out!  Once we arrived and took it for a test spin, we knew it was "THE ONE!" Gordon had found a donor transmission and got it installed a couple weeks before.  He also put in a new motor in 2006 and Catalytic Converter in 2011.  Not only that, but the van was an automatic which meant Kim would be able to drive it! haha. 
As for the name, the zinger- well it didn't always start out as that. When we first got it, all our friends called it the twinkie because of it's shape and color. We laughed and thought...but what about the white roof-top? And that's when it clicked...this van was not the twinkie, because twinkies didn't have frosting on the top, but Zingers did! Up until Hostess went out of business, we always had a box handy to give friends and helping hands along the way. Now- we just have a pack of three given to us by Kim's cousin Abbie that we will keep as long as we can and with all the preservatives, we're sure it will last a lifetime, just like the Zinger!!

II. TRAVEL PREPARATIONS-
After buying the van, our favorite repair guys at Craigs VW did their magic to kick it into gear:

• Replace rear brake line due to rusting out
• Instal rear-view mirror, side view mirror, rear wiper blade
• Replace the fuel hose so it wouldn't overflow when filling up
• Replaced front and rear shocks 
• Installed an aux. battery
• Found a dead mouse while cleaning the park shifter

We even got Mastertech Automotive to fix our air-conditioning. Now, a lot of people think that getting that fixed was silly, but one of the main reasons we got it fixed was so that they could fix the SMELL that was coming out of it, and that they did! Here's how they put it in the invoice: "Removed A/C housing assembly, to find mouse nests and droppings etc EVERYWHERE! Cleaned all out, disinfected. Added A/C odor out."  Thanks guys!!!

Curt also installed a roof rack (with the help of Kiesha's husband Dave!!) so we would have more space via the Thule box to pack "stuff" in! We traded Kim's old hookah for the thule box!  

READY TO ROLL!

III. VW REPAIR ALONG THE ROAD-  We've decided to keep a list of the VW repair places we used while on the road. Not only for our record keeping, but for anyone out there in cyber land who needs information and reviews.

Craigs VW Repair- 96 Elm Ct. Colchester VT 05446 (802-951-5977)

Noah

Noah did a great job with all the above repairs and got us feeling comfortable taking off on our journey. Not only was Noah good at what he does, but both Noah and Craig are really friendly! We had to get a picture before we left!

BUG BARN- 1507 South Patterson St. Valdosta GA 31601 (229-247-8838)

Jesse and Chris checked out our van after it just died. For a VERY good price, their diagnosis and repair on the air-flow-time was just what we needed to get back on the road. They even told us to go to their friends down the street to repair our flat tire for a good price!

A good sign when there's other VWs around!

Sunshine Auto- 1724 Snug Harbor Place, Sarasota FL 34234 (914-365-6684)

After about 3,500 miles- we decided it was about time to get the Zinger a check-up (January 2013)! We found Sunshine Auto Garage online and their website captivated us- Click on the link and check it out. It took us 3 hours to get there from Fort Pierce and when we were 5 minutes away- we broke down. After an hour, we were able to get it to the garage and Ron went to work! He changed the fuel pump filter and had a fuel pump overnighted to us. When we went back the next day he fixed the following:

• Installed a new fuel pump(it had the German original from 1985!)
• Changed the spark plugs
• Changed the belts (cracked)
• Changed the air filter
• Changed the automatic transmission pan gasket
• Added 3 quarts of new ATF fluid
• Rotated the tires

Thanks Ron! We highly recommend Sunshine Auto Garage to anyone in or out of the Sarasota Area! They really know what they are doing- Ron has had over 25 years of experience with VW's and he will save you time and money. Francis was also a cool guy to talk to while we waited for Ron to work his magic! Thanks Guys!

The Zinger in Sunshine Auto Garage

European Cars- 707 Aris Ave, Metairie, Louisiana 70005 (504-837-0608)

Once we left Pensacola on our way to New Orleans, the fuel line attached to the fuel pump came loose and we lost power. Curt re-attached it and we were on our way but wanted to have it double checked. We also realized we needed an oil change so we made an appointment with European Cars on our way out of Louisiana! This was great because Cedric looked over our repair job and complimented curt and he also gave us an oil change with directions on what to tell future shops who do our oil change. Supposedly, there have been some "not-so-good" oil changes in the past which led to a finicky oil cap and worn out threads. Thanks Cedric! 

European Cars Office

Shell Gas Station- 2451 W Broadway, Needles CA 92363 (760-326-2526)

We broke down in the middle of the desert and were brought to this gas station as there wasn't much else around. After the 50 mile tow, we were happy to be somewhere. One of the gas lines (not the one Curt had fixed  back in New Orleans) had not been connected as tightly as we would have liked and it burst out and we didn't have a long enough hose to connect it back to together...so we ended up here. If you click on the link above, you will notice that these guys are known for tire scams and we took the bait but not because we didn't know any better, it was because we actually did need new tires and the price he gave us was indeed on par with the price of the tires online! So, we left feeling not great but OK after the day of craziness. They also almost broke our Thule box/dented our camper top from lifting it too high on the jacks (woahhh...there were some raised voices going on at this place for sure). Note to self: TRY NOT TO BREAK DOWN IN THE DESERT! We did leave fixed and with a new set of tires though. 

This was before we put the Thule box back on...

Align Tech- 148 South Vinewood St, Escondido CA 92029 (760-738-4848)

After the debacle in Needles and our new set of tires, we realized we needed an alignment BAD! So, after calling around to a lot of places as many don't do the full body frame alignment and many don't take vans as old as ours, we found Align Tech. This place did a GREAT job and we've feel like the car is running and driving straighter than ever!

Luke Baars- Midpines, CA

We got Luke's number from a local musician named Tom who had a VW Syncro van.  I don't think the somewhat elusive Mr. Baars has an official shop or anything but he used to work for GoWesty and seems to be a local legend in the Midpines area.  When the Zinger started smoking and had a worse than usual engine shakiness we brought it to Luke, who luckily was only a few miles down the road from where we were staying.  He diagnosed the smokiness as a leaky power steering hose (dripping on the muffler) and got the engine running super smooth.  It seemed to come at the expense of some low RPM engine stalling but he did some more tinkering and for the most part ironed out those issues as well.  He gave us an oil change, some killer new headlights, and flushed our coolant in preparation for the hot desert driving we were about to encounter.  He also regaled us with plenty of stories of him and his friends crazy adventures in the surrounding mountains, showed us all sorts of cool old vehicles he owns, and even showed us the gold he found in the old river beds on his property.  Great service and great entertainment!

The Foreign Aid- 574 25Road Grand Junction, CO  (970-243-4354)

After heading out of CA, we made it as far as Green River, Utah. After resting up for the night we got an early start and thats when we heard what sounded like a massive bag of rocks just grinding something up somewhere in the mechanics of the van. So, we called up AAA and got towed 112 miles to The Foreign Aid in Grand Junction CO. We got a recommendation from Kim's friend Seth who lived in Rifle CO and had brought a VW bug here years prior. That's when we got to know Steve (the owner) Dan (who worked on the fix) and Sean (another mechanic) very well. We stayed around for two weeks pondering the option of selling the van because both transmission and engine were in need of getting replaced. Steve found a working 1988 van in the back of his lot and it passed all of the tests they gave to the engine and transmission.  After much consideration we opted to save the van. Dan did his magic and transferred both of the "new-old-parts" from the 88 donor vanagon into our beloved Zinger. A hefty $4,900 fix (even more than what we bought the van for)! They did a great job and we're crossing our fingers the donor parts have a long life ahead of them as with used parts, there really is no guarantee. 

Jackson Hole Express Lube- 1007 S US Hwy 89 Jackson WY (307-733-9636)

Since the big breakdown we made it 3,000 miles and were due for an oil change. A guy who was from Waitsfield VT did it for us! We were pretty happy with it

All Tune & Lube- 3209 South Marion Rd Sioux Falls, SD (605-371-2760)

We made it from our last HUGE breakdown in Colorado all the way up to Montana, back over to California and then heading east again to eastern South Dakota with no breakdowns! Then all of our belts fell off and we lost a bunch of coolant. We brought it to All Tune & Lube because they were the only mechanic shop that could fit us in that day and we figured it was probably an easy fix. They replaced the belts and sent us on our way. We broke down again, this time only one belt fell off so we got towed back and they told us it was our air-conditioning belt that was very shaky and knocking the others off their pulleys. So we just told them to take the belt out and that was it. We did head over to a place that specialized in VW's afterwards (The Monkey Wrench) just to have them double check and make sure things were looking okay. They gave it a once over and gave us a thumbs up so we went on our way. Those VW guys are so nice!!!

Belltown Tire & Service- 80 E High St. East Hampton CT (860-267-7222)

Time for another Oil Change! Since Jackson we had put about 2,800 miles on so we figured we'd get the oil changed and tires rotated while we had some downtime visiting Curt's parents. We even brought Curt's Subaru in to get it fixed for winter- the center exhaust pipe needed replacing.