First frosts this winter

It's not weird that in december temperature in Poland drops below zero centigrade (32°F), but every year we have the same set of events that clearly proves the winter has arrived. It's cold (today it was -12°C = 10°F), 5 cm (2 in) snow fell on the ground, and we have a lot of traffic jams in most of Polish towns and cities.

I wanted to take my bus for a ride to visit my lot on sunday, but I am not sure if I will do it. I am not sure if I want to leave my apartment on the forecasted -15°C (5°F), and if I do, I am not sure if my camper will start.

I added anti-freeze liquid to my windscreen washer fluid, so I hope it didn't freeze yet. The pump leaks somewhere, so after I turn it off washer fluid remaining in the lines and nozzles flows back to the tank. Because of that I am not afraid of freezing in the lines or nozzles.

Spring cleaning of the camper

Last Saturday I did some cleanup in the camper with Ania. To be honest, it was very peculiar cleanup.

The idea was to prepare the camper to make some photos of the camping equipment. For 3 years I never had a chance to make good photos of the fridge, sink, stove, cupboards, etc. If I made any photo, there was some unnecessary stuff on it as well. So that had to be done.

First of all, we removed all the stuff that’s driving there with us:

• two foldable chairs,
• a shovel,
• a foldable shovel,
• a scepter (in parts),
• 25 liters of peat,
• two water bottles of 5-l capacity,
• aluminum fuel canister, with 20 l of petrodiesel,
• five airsoft replicas,
• helmet and protective eyewear for airsoft games,
• engine oil,
• machete,
• chainsaw,
• fuel and oil for the saw,
• blankets and sleeping bags,
• and some other stuff.

My airsoft replicas were moved to the camper couple of months ago, when we had to make some extra space in our apartment for our son’s cupboard. I go to the airsoft games with the camper, so the replicas may be stored there – I won’t have to carry them on me from our apartment to the camper and back every Sunday.

I also carry in the camper a lot of gardening tools, for a purpose, so I don’t have to take them with me every time I work on my piece of ground.
All the stuff mentioned above doesn’t have its place in the cupboards or the "trunk" (the two stashes below the bed). There’s no space left...

In the large stash I have:

• toolbox,
• two small boxes with some electrical equipment (wires, bulbs, connectors),
• air compressor,
• towing cable,
• starter cable,
• some spare parts, like fuel filter and old indicator lights,
• wires of different length,
• lift,
• bottle of windscreen washer fluid.

The small stash holds:

• working clothes,
• fuel tank (10 l of biodiesel),
• 5 liters of distilled water,
• cooling liquid,
• fire extinguisher,
• second towing cable,
• emergency triangle.

As you can see, all the stuff mentioned before has to be placed elsewhere. Mostly on the mattress of the bed or on the floor of the camper.

We threw all the unnecessary stuff out, washed the dishes along with the sink and stove, found some interesting stuff below the driver’s and passenger’s seats, made some photos and put everything back to the camper. But this time – in some order.

First drive on biodiesel

On Friday for the first time I bought larger volume of biodiesel. I bought it before twice, but only in small volumes – just couple of liters. First time during our very first camping trip, back in 2006. I found a petrol station that sold biodiesel and decided to try this fuel. Then I had no luck in finding biodiesel supply. And in may 2007 the engine broke down when all the water in cooling system was lost. The engine was not fixed until may next year.

Not so long ago on some of the gas stations named "Bliska" ("Close one" in English) they started selling biodiesel. One of the stations near place I live had this fuel – lately for 2.99 PLN per liter ($3.55 / gal), compared to 3.55 PLN per liter of petrodiesel. On Friday I drove by the station and bough almost 54 liters of biodiesel to almost empty fuel tank. Buying this cheaper petrodiesel replacement gave me over 9 liters for free.

Just after buying this fuel we had to drive some 80 km (50 miles). I didn’t notice any difference in engine’s performance. The van drove as usual. We’ll see the mileage. The odometer is broken again, but I will try to note all the trips using GPS.

I just have to do two things:

• buy fuel filter, as the biodiesel is a good solvent and will quickly dissolve all the impurities in the fuel tank and fuel lines,
• check if the fuel lines are in good shape, as the biodiesel also dissolves some plastics.

You can read more about biodiesel on my site about Alternative Car Fuels.

I washed the camper

To be more specific -- I paid for car wash. ;) I have a car wash close to the place I park my camper, so having a day off today I drove my camper there to have it washed.

I paid 25 PLN ($7.33) for 40 minutes of two guys' work. The camper looked that great two years ago, just after the paint job. ;)

From Volkswagen Transporter T3

The removed all the dirt, but they also removed some paint from the place where the two sheets of metal are connected on the left part of the camper's body.


I now am wondering what to do to protect this spot from instantaneus rusting.

Yesterday we (me and my camper) had a very busy day.

First of all we went to visit my piece of ground, I had couple of things to do. The most important was to plant the christmas tree we had in a pot on our balcony since christmas. It had to wait so long because I wanted to carry it with my VW T3, not with my Daewoo Lanos...


Then we went to my future parents-in-law home to eat some lunch. But as I arrived there with my Bus I thought that I might do something with it.

I started with the right mirror. Since I bought the bus I wanted it to have spherical mirrors. I just didn't want to wait to get them from my second, red Transporter. (The VW T3 multivan I want to sell). Since I already had the mirror glass itself, I decided to change the glass only.

It wasn't difficult, it just needed a little work with the help of screwdriver and glue.

From Volkswagen Tr...

We removed the front frame that holds the glass to the back of the mirror. The glass was replaced with the spherical one. The notch in the back part of mirror casing was filled with glue, the front frame was attached and the entire mirror was left in the sun to dry the glue. Of course with proper weight to hold it all together.



Then it was time for the CB radio. My future father-in-law wanted to sell his CB and I needed a new one. I didn't want to spend the money he wanted to get, but somehow we managed to deal. I paid for it PLN 300 ($135) and promised to mow his lawn twice. ;) I wanted to buy a CB with PA (loudspeaker) function. The speaker itself I already purchased, I just need to get it from the near post office. ;)



I also looked into the engine compartment and saw that one of the vee-belts is broken. I wonder if it is used for any important feature... Now the T3 has only one vee-belt. ;)



I found some oil spots under the camper. I made two photographs to find out where it's leaking from. I suspect it's leaking through the turbocharger...

I got my camper back!

Yesterday I got my camper back. When I called the mechanic in the morning, he told me he was repairing it till 2 AM the previous night and had to do some stuff. After work I went to his shop and got the van.

I was told that the metal part that holds spare wheel below the car is not compatible with five speed gearbox. For now I have to carry the wheel inside or replace that part. I don't know it's name, but in polish it's called basket.

The new gearbox caused me a lot of trouble. The first gear is far left and back, second is in a place that you just have to push the lever forward, third: pull the lever, fourth: push right and then forward, etc. To use the reverse gear you have to pull the lever to the far left and then push it to front.

There is one thing that may be broken. On low revs and on idle the red light that indicates insufficient oil pressure ligths. The mechanic told me that he checked the pressure with some external gauge and it was in the proper range, so this is probably caused by some failure of the indicator or pressure gauge.

We'll see how it will work. Tomek told me that I have to expect some small failures to be noticed. :)

Zobaczymy co będzie dalej. Tomek mówi, że teraz "będą wychodzić pierdoły"... ;)

The story of VW T3 failure

I have this story posted in pieces on my polish version of this blog. I wrote every time something new happened. But I think that you don't want to wait a year or so for me to post each of that posts. So I decided I'll put together condensed version of this story. Here it is!

The story begins at the end of may, 2007. I was travelling from Warsaw to Żyrardów. In order to save fuel I drove couple metres behind a large truck, When I turned from one road to another I noticed that the engine's temperature peaked almost instantly and red light started to blink. The engine overheated. It leaked fuel, the fuel burnt on the hot engine surface and smoked a lot.

Tomek took the bus to his place to figure out what was wrong and how to repair it.

At the end of june we decided that instead of repairing the broken engine we'll purchase another T3 (turbocharged, 1.6 litre diesel) and replace the engine. So we went to Germany and brought a red multivan. I mentioned this bus the last time I posted, here.

The engine we bought drove over 360,000 km (224,000 miles). Tomek thought that since he'll have the engine outside of the bus, he'll replace all the worn parts. So he disassemblied the engine and decided which parts to replace.

And this was the moment when all the serious trouble and delays started. Tomek simply couldn't get the parts he needed. When he got something, he had trouble in putting it back (piston rings, for example). He completed the entire part set some two weeks ago or so. He still has to replace oil line from engine to turbocharger, and some other parts. I am wondering, if he will be able to finish this bus by the end of february.

It is also worth mentioning, that the car had his paint done.

From Volkswagen Tr...

This photo was taken on Aug 7th, 2007. It had the old 1.6 naturally aspirated (broken) engine inside. The engine was filled with some "moto-doctor" that was supposed to glue all the holes and protect it from leaking it's fluids.

We wanted to use the bus to go for a holiday. I tried to drive slowly, I checked the oil regularly. I saw that the water boiled in cooling water tank, and the oil level remained unchanged. The engine head gasked was broken and this was the cause that the fumes from the engine appeared as "boiling water". I also found out that the engine was losing a lot of oil (left marks on asphalt), but the level remained unchanged. The water was leaking somewhere, so I thought that the water mixed with the oil, so the oil level was constant. After driving 100 km (60 miles) or so we went back and changed the bus for Daewoo Lanos and a tent.

I hope to post here some good news soon...

Volkswagen T3 Multivan for sale

You probably aren't interested in buying a VW T3 from me. It's probably easier to purchase one near you. But I thought it's worth trying. :)

I bought the car in june 2007, because mine VW T3 needed an engine replacement. We thought that we'll dismantle the car and sell it piece by piece. But Tomek and I never had enough time to do it. So the engine and gearbox were removed. Now there's 1.6 litre naturally aspirated diesel (the one that I broke and needed to be replaced) and four speed gearbox. The engine isn't operational. Both engine and gearbox may be installed or just thrown inside the trunk. Depends on customer's choice. ;)

The roof rack isn't part of the offer. It'll be the best thing to use with the one I have on my T3 when I need to move something large, like a boat. :)

Here are photos, made during that trip to Germany.

From Volkswagen Tr...

The rest of this very interesting story (how I broke the T3 on may 2007 and how we were unable to get it fixed till now) will be posted here eventually. I don't know when. If you want to see the story posted here, write a comment. :)

Bus still in pieces

The camper is still not fixed. Tomek has some trouble getting the german engine together, he can't get some parts for camshaft positioning and crankshaft / connecting rod spacers. To save the situation he's looking for any working engine that's in one piece, to put it inside the camper, without opening it up. He should do so at the beginning.

To be honest, during last 12 months I had little chance to drive my VW T3. :(

Two campers in one family

I haven't written about it till now, there was no chance to do so. I have one today. :]

My father, no longer than one month ago, bought another camper van. I remember year and a half ago my entire family (my dad included) had alergy to "I want to purchase VW T3" idea. They all thought it is too big for my needs.

When I got the camper, they all loved it. Dad said, he'd want to borrow it some day for a trip.

Six weeks ago he had an idea to buy the red VW T3 I towed from Germany from me. The idea was forgotten shortly after that.

So he bought his own, unfortunatelly not a Volkswagen, but 1989 Ford Transit. Better this that nothing, right? ;)

The beginning

This is the first post on this blog. I started it as an english version of my blog about my Volkswagen T3 Camper. Because of this I will translate all the articles posted there, starting with the oldest. I will put them on the proper date, so you could follow what happened with my VW Transporter.

VW T3 tuning on Discovery

Volkswagen busses, including T3s are tuned even on Discovery Channel!

Yesterday I saw two episodes of "Wheeler Dealers" on Discovery Channel. In those episodes the guys tuned Volkswagen T3.

It was a typical cargo van with 1.6 turbocharged diesel engine. Since the show is made in UK, the car has steering wheel on it's right side. They wanted to make a beautiful camper van out of it. It was bought for £1,100, in poor shape. The muffler had many holes, one bumper was missing, the side door was not working properly, stuff like that.

They started with the engine. They replaced the V-belt, glow plugs (the engine didn't start the each time, muffler and oil. Total cost: £160.
The door was fixed. They installed a window (one that can be opened, not like the window in my camper :( ) bought on a scrap-heap for £50.
They wanted the car to look very nice so thought about getting paint done. But instead of painting some weird shapes and patterns with the paint, they bought large vinyl STICKER! Beautiful sticker with some bubble pattern, for £1,000...

The most important thing was to replace the insides of the van. The old upholstery was changed -- they removed old one made of fiberboard and replaced it with plywood. I think they also should put some styrofoam to minimize the heat losses (important while camping in autumn or spring). They installed a folding bed (made from DIY set), the floor was covered with artificial grass. Set of camper furniture pieces (folding table, cupboards with sink and stove). The front suspension was lowered (the springs were replaced with shorter ones), the wheels got polished caps.

Totally the conversion cost was near £4,000. :)

Too bad I didn't have the chance to record those two episodes. :(

Camping stove/refrigerator

My Volkswagen Camper is equipped with refrigerator and gas stove. The refrigerator doesn't have a compressor, because it is absorption refrigerator. It's powered by heat source, not by electric motor. The heat source is electric heater or gas burner, so it can be powered by LPG from gas tank, or electricity, both 12V DC from car alternator / battery or 230V AC from grid.

The refrigerator is large enough to fit some stuff inside. But I am not sure if it works as it should. From what I saw to this moment, on 12V it does a nice job, but on gas doesn't work as good as on DC.

The stove works very fine. It has two burners. I bought a small kettle so I can boil water for tea on Warzywniak meetings. While I am driving, the kettle is placed in the sink, for safety.

All the burners are equipped with auto-shut-off valves. It protects the passengers from inhaling the gas if the flame extinguishes. I am glad that the car almost 30 years old has the technology that was introduced to polish homes couple of years ago.

Below is the photo of the cupboard that holds stove, sink and refrigerator. After folding one of the sides of the second case it makes a shelf for preparing food and stuff. The front side of this cupboard is equipped with 230 V socket. I am not sure if it does work...

After opening up the roof one can stand inside, prepare food on the stove, wash the dishes, as long as there's water in two 10 litre (2.64 gal) tanks. ;)

From Volkswagen Tr...

Window curtains

The car has curtains for all the windows. Those for back and side windows are installed permanently, but can be opened or closed. The three front are installed with naps to the window frame. The picture below shows one of those curtains, on passenger door.

They're made of dense material, so don't let sunlight through and allow to sleep long in the morning.

The camper's fold-up roof

Is a fold-up roof in camper van any good?

It is... First of all you can stand up. I am 182 cm (6 ft) tall and have at least 10 cm (4 in) above my head. I don't have to bend over the kitchen stove, sink or anything else.

The second advantage is the possibility to ventilate the car. It's back windows aren't cannot be opened, so folding up the roof gives me some fresh air that can't be obtained elsewhere.

One can use the handle (for closing the roof) to hang a towel or something else.



This is the look from inside, with three "windows" open. Those hanging cloths don't look well, but I can't tie them at the moment, 'cause there's no cord or anything similar.



That's the roof seen from the outside.

It has one disadvantage. Leaks. It has no holes or anything, that's not the cause. But when the rain is strong, the raindrops splash on the camper's roof and make the tent cloth wet. Then the water slowly pours down and pours inside. The cloth needs water repellent. One such experience is enough.

Weekend in T3

We had family meeting in our summer woodland cabin last weekend. We had a family meeting there. There wasn't enough beds or floor spaces for everyone so we (I and Ania) slept in Camper. These were my third and fourth night spent in the car since I bought it. Till that moment I thought the Camper's bed is more comfortable than the one I have at home, but now I think it is only as comfortable as the other one.

I also found out that the car is silenced pretty well. It wasn't loud inside, despite all the screams, shouts and other sound from outside. Of course when the roof is retracted, the tent cloth can't stop any noises... It is an important feature when you camp on a campsite with people who like to listen to loud museic, sing and talk a lot at night. Very typical in Poland, where people don't know how to behave themselves in public.

Spherical mirrors

On mondey I ordered spherical mirror glasses. I had the possibility of driving Tomek's Mercedes Vito, which has that kind of mirrors. The view through them is perfect. I got used to sphericals while driving my Fiat 126p. So I decided to purchase a set. For only $11*2 + shipping.

At the same time I ordered mirrors defrost heaters a small electrical heater that is to be glued to the glass on the back side, to prevent moisture condensation and freezing, hope I found the term right. Since I'll be working on them at the same time I can glue the heaters when I replace the glasses.

To Gizycko and back II

Yesterday (on tuesday) I had to drive to Giżycko again. Ania's camp was ending today at noon. Because I wanted to see her earlier, so I went there yesterday after work (at 4. PM).

The drive was quite pleasant. CB radio didn't work as I expected, the speaker in it is dying. I need to plug it to external speaker or buy a new radio. It'll be easier to get it done with the speaker since I have one installed above ashtray on the console.

I don't know what is wrong with the car, but when the speedometer shows 80 km/h (50 mph) I feel like I am driving 100 km/h (60 mph). I wouldn't be surprised if I felt I was driving slower. One gets used to speed and later treats it as something natural. The meter wasn't lying since I checked the speed on GPS and the difference wasn't big (couple of km/h). Perhaps the meter sometimes shows larger and sometimes smaller speed?

I spent the night on a car parking for $5. When I woke up in the morning before I opened my eyes I felt like I was lying in my own bed at home.

To Gizycko and back

Today Ania (my girlfriend) was supposed to be in Giżycko at noon. I decided that I'll take her there. Note that I live in Warsaw, 272 km (170 miles) from Giżycko. We took with us one of her friends. They wanted to give me some money so I asked them to give me 2/3 of the price of train ticked for the same journey. That gave me 40 PLN ($16) total.

It was difficult to start the engine, even more than the last time. I had to start the starter 8 times before the engine finally decided to work. Perhaps that's because it was only 18°C (64°F) at 6 AM?

I tried to maintain a constant speed of 90 km/h (56 mph). I was told that driving to Giżycko via Łomża takes 4 hours with a normal car, I thought it'd take me more time. So I tried to drive fast, to give Ania some additional time after getting there.

It came out that the engine didn't like the rapeseed-diesel mixture I made yesterday. The acceleration was shitty, the maximum speed barely exceeded 90 km/h. But that was not the worst thing. The worst thing was the mileage. I used 11,1 l/100 km of that mixture (21 MPG). The price of that mixture is 3,6 PLN/l (4,76 $/gal) it was more expensive that driving on pure diesel! It's cheaper to use on 100 km 9 litres of fuel that costs 4 PLN/l than 11 litres of slightly cheaper mixture.

Going back home I tried to drive 70 km/h (43 mph). I had 7,6 l/100 km mileage (31 MPG). Much better result.

But I have one important question: why can't I use cheap vegetable oil as a fuel? I will try to make a professional vegetable oil thingie that will allow me to run on pure VO, not mixture.

It costed me total 200 PLN ($70). I wanted to visit her next weekend but now I think I won't.

Second rapeseed drive

Today I bought in one of near malls five 3-litre tanks of rapeseed oil for only 9 PLN each (0,8 gallons for $3,15). I can't say it was cheap, but it was the cheapest vegetable oil I could find. I started the engine on 1:1 mixture and added the rest. When I turned the key to "on" position I heard some weird noise from under the cooler. I think those were made by electric fuel pump...



So I poured the 15 litres (4 gallons) of vegetable oil to my fuel tank and went to a normal filling station. A Neste gas station it's a brand of self-service gas stations, you pay at the pump before you pump ;) . I wanted to fuel my tank full with standard diesel fuel. I calculated that finally I had 2:1 mixture (diesel:vegetable).

I calculated also the mileage for that period, 7,7 l/100 km (30,5 miles per gallon). 1 l less than previously. I recorded distance of 793 km (493 miles), half driven in city traffic, rest driven outside towns. I assume that driving slowly (70-80 km/h (43-49 mph)) will give me even better mileage.

I can't say what was the mileage on rapeseed/diesel mixture, because I used only 5 litres of that mixture on that distance.