Hi Bruce,

Nice to get the update.  

Van color sounds great. 

On the curtains, while you have them out you might want to consider something we did on our 85.  The previous owner deserves credit, he added curtain liners, in my case tie dye.  When curtains closed it gives nice color to the white van.

But, you could use any color you like for the outside look.  Then you have the nice brown inside and clean color outside. 

The reason the PO did this was that one day he left the light on in the van and when he returned he saw right through the curtains.  So he added the linings. 

Keep the updates coming.

Eric 

> On Sep 12, 2022, at 3:01 PM, Bruce Todd <beeceetee@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Well this is a different kind of repair which I had been putting off for a
> while.  I think some of you know I am having my van restored and as a
> result have been living a very boring life without a Vanagon since late
> January.  Really missed driving it this past summer - no camping, no oil
> temp readings to share, no last minute mechanical heroics from the side of
> a highway or driveway and no beer chilled from the deep depths of my
> Dometic.
> 
> Given the van has been such a money pit (in a good way) and all the
> discussions recently about white elephants, I decided to change the paint
> colour to hunter green - which will match the tan interior quite nicely.  I
> liked the original white the van was painted, however I wanted to give the
> van a more distinct and original look.  Anyway, over the past few years I
> have noticed my tan curtain set starting to fade - primarily on the side
> exposed to the window - rear window curtains being the worst, and so I
> decided to dye the curtains a darker colour - from tan to chocolate brown.
> To do so I used Rit dye for synthetics and cooked the curtains in two
> batches, in a large 5 gallon pot on the stove for about 40 minutes.  a
> pretty good result overall - still there are some fade marks but they are
> not as prevalent as before.
> 
> Anyway here are some photos which also include the new colour I have
> selected - ( it is the lighter version of the two greens).
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/t/8EkUiIGAfJOqqUmd [dropbox.com]
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.dropbox.com/l/AABeedorab2kDCWN91Gma1fR9BDDS36QRWQ__;!!G4oVokrRG-Im!4fWJ-Z7LaupsuJQPP9ZV7Li4bEYe_JRtXQ9ttW4IPLOLBw8t3AF86uFVGsJ-NteNkZe5nA$>
> 
> Bruce