tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39395655502694904382024-03-14T02:14:11.225-07:00A VW for EverybodyMinniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-26404797079643977152012-01-27T11:56:00.000-08:002012-01-27T11:56:16.959-08:00As previously mentioned, we recently sold the our '58 Panel, and our '64 Deluxe. What I didn't mention is that we sold them both to the same buyer. Yesterday, the buyer and Craig had a conversation on Facebook which I found extremely amusing because their profile pictures alternate between the fronts and the backs of the buses. Cute, no?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AFmZcUO2bu0/TyMA4BH3G-I/AAAAAAAAGik/fLi-cEsRWi0/s1600/facebook+sceenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AFmZcUO2bu0/TyMA4BH3G-I/AAAAAAAAGik/fLi-cEsRWi0/s640/facebook+sceenshot.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
As you can imagine, with the purchase of two VWs, the sale of three VWs (two internationally) and the purchase of a house, all taking place last fall, our bank accounts looked a little...interesting. So interesting, in fact, that our bank investigated us for money laundering. :-| Lemme tell you--that's not a fun phone call to get. I don't know that I've ever seen Craig turn quite that pale. <br />
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After providing explanations and bills of lading, the case is closed (knock on wood), but it was unnerving there for a while. <br />
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When your transactions look so odd that the bank thinks you are participating in illegal overseas monetary transactions, that's a good sign you should slow down for a while. So...we have. We spent a couple of months with a friend's beetle in our garage--cleaning up his engine and electrical. Tomorrow, we've got another guy bringing his beetle over for a suspension swap. As it turns out--having other people's cars in your garage is MUCH less expensive than working on your own cars (assuming we don't have any disasters involving cars falling off jacks, or people losing fingers, or CO poisoning, or gasoline explosions. Alright, that's enough of that). <br />
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I hope you all have VW adventures planned for your weekend...or have a much needed break. Whichever, really.Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-80732571888487248212012-01-25T08:59:00.000-08:002012-01-25T08:59:37.763-08:00So many buses...which one is for me?<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In response to <a href="http://www.bigbluevw.com/2012/01/keynote-presentation-what-vw-busvan-is.html" target="_blank">this </a>post…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wUjJKEzD0uI/SlbKYNWJ11I/AAAAAAAABog/ajsysJ7_xiA/s1600/IMG_1348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wUjJKEzD0uI/SlbKYNWJ11I/AAAAAAAABog/ajsysJ7_xiA/s400/IMG_1348.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">We’ve owned ‘em all early split, late split, early bay, late bay, air cooled Vanagon, water cooled Vanagon, so I guess from that perspective my opinion is worth SOMETHING, right? :-) (I will be making some gross generalizations here and this is all just my opinion.) <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><u>VANAGONS</u></b>:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pGBzm36kmHU/SaRYFYz1qeI/AAAAAAAAAco/dhoTKTz17Js/s1600/IMG_0888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pGBzm36kmHU/SaRYFYz1qeI/AAAAAAAAAco/dhoTKTz17Js/s400/IMG_0888.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>Pros</b>: They are the roomiest, most comfortable (for camping and driving) of the VW family. (I suppose Eurovans are better, but I’m not going there.) They make for absolutely delightful road tripping. They still possess that feeling of freedom but with a few more modern comforts than the older campers. Don’t worry, you’ll still get the quirks and problems associated with earlier buses (i.e. changing fan belts in the campsite at the Sasquatch Festival, or changing a fuel pump in the parking lot at a WalMart in middle-of-nowhere, Utah). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>Cons</b>: They are UGLY beasts. I don’t care how you slice or dice it, they just didn’t get the cute genes. Also, to many (or most), they aren’t “real” VW buses. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Buy a water cooled. They all get hot, but air cooled Vanagons are amazingly difficult to keep cool. With an AC Vanagon, you’ll spend lots of time waiting on the side of the road for your engine to cool. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p><b><u>BAY WINDOWS ('68-'79): </u></b></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T8dUzWzQPKU/TyAyU-iS7FI/AAAAAAAAGh4/Opv8QaPcRRg/s1600/yellow+bay.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T8dUzWzQPKU/TyAyU-iS7FI/AAAAAAAAGh4/Opv8QaPcRRg/s400/yellow+bay.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><u><br />
</u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>Pros</b>: They are cute as buttons, possess the spirit and life of VW buses, and are a little roomier than split windows. They are easier to drive, and are safer than split window buses. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>Cons</b>: You won’t impress the hard core enthusiasts. Also, they are slightly more difficult to work on than earlier buses. For example, if your window won’t roll up, you’re looking at replacing a window regulator (which is a pain in the neck), whereas, with a split window, if your window isn’t moving, you will be able to see what the preclusion is, and likely move it with your finger. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>My Recommendation</b>: ’71 is the best year because it is the first with disc brakes, and the last year with the upright engine and removable rear apron—meaning you can pull the engine out the back, rather than lifting the bus over it to remove. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p><b><u>SPLIT WINDOWS (PRE-'67)</u></b>: </o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-anc6hADqsQk/TyAydQdmCNI/AAAAAAAAGiA/fBWU0OmhLc0/s1600/panel%2526deluxe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-anc6hADqsQk/TyAydQdmCNI/AAAAAAAAGiA/fBWU0OmhLc0/s400/panel%2526deluxe.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>Pros</b>: There’s nothing quite like the view from the drivers’ seat of a split window. There is a rich history to these. You will become obsessed with the little unique pieces your bus needs, and will spend hours each day online dreaming about whether your bus needs deluxe trim, or whether you should lower it, or justify buying a set of BRMs for it. These are easy to work on. There just isn’t much to them and for that reason they are really fun to play with. Buy a Bentley manual, and add thesamba.com to your “favorites” and dive in. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>Cons</b>: You can (but don’t have to) spend tens of thousands of dollars on these babies—just messing around with restoration. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>My Recommendation: </b>The earlier the better. Stock engines were engineered to run forever, and I don't recommend huge engine modifications myself. We've had a couple 1776 cc engines and they run really nice and have some nice energy, but I don't recommend anything bigger than that. The more custom you go, the harder it is to find parts on the fly. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Depending on the amount of work you want to do, you want to stay away from things like rotted rockers and dog legs, cut dashes, cut bulkheads, and welds in funny places (like the cargo door Craig's dad welded shut on his first bus). You'll have a preference for bullet buses (pre '62), fried egg buses ('62 and later), pressed bumpers (mid '58 and earlier), or over-rider bumpers (mid-'58 and later), or...if you are made of money and want to be a VW god--barndoors (pre '55). Really though, these variations are just stupid things that only people like me who spend way too much energy on VW history would even notice. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Keep in mind, that in order to own a bus, you need to be flexible and willing to think outside of the box…and have a good AAA policy. Part of the fun of driving them is that they WILL break down. The key is to enjoy the ride and be as prepared as you can with a solid emergency kit, a manual, and as many mechanically inclined friends as you can find. You’ll learn a lot. As Brett mentioned in his post, one day you won’t know a valve from a brake line and before you know it, you’ll be adjusting your own valves and bleeding your own brakes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Ultimately, VW buses are a ton of fun. No matter what bus you pick, you’ll have people honk and wave at you wherever you go. People will stop you in parking lots, and at gas pumps and tell you about the VW they had, or the one their best friend’s dad had. It is a community unlike any other I know. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">(Having said all of this…over the last few months, we’ve sold the Squareback </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">L</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RV44BmlLjaw/TIZEtGnzOtI/AAAAAAAAF6E/_iLn2E6AECg/s1600/DSC00806.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RV44BmlLjaw/TIZEtGnzOtI/AAAAAAAAF6E/_iLn2E6AECg/s400/DSC00806.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">the Panel</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GBxHXiuR9iM/TyA0Nzw_ntI/AAAAAAAAGiQ/Vl-IzSqr2ig/s1600/panel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GBxHXiuR9iM/TyA0Nzw_ntI/AAAAAAAAGiQ/Vl-IzSqr2ig/s400/panel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> and a 13 window deluxe that never even made the blog (as pictured above).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What can I say? Sometimes you just need to have a car that is probably going to start in the morning, get you to work every day, and stop quickly when a permit driver slams on his brakes in front of you. To replace our cars, we bought a house (okay, the house didn’t replace a car, but the panel paid for the down payment), an ’04 Passat, an ’06 convertible Beetle, and, most recently, a ’61 Convertible Beetle—more to come on this one!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zICXgwS9ZM4/TyA0vbGTEiI/AAAAAAAAGiY/3jfq9Nx7SEU/s1600/vert.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zICXgwS9ZM4/TyA0vbGTEiI/AAAAAAAAGiY/3jfq9Nx7SEU/s400/vert.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-64111336257239559782011-07-23T20:23:00.000-07:002011-07-23T20:23:08.303-07:00Club trip to the 2011 Classic in Los Angeles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/yOD1L0uo1OM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/hBNe_HBBrAY/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hBNe_HBBrAY&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hBNe_HBBrAY&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/XWWGsNL13hQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-19257808255699195772011-03-30T20:43:00.000-07:002011-03-30T20:43:38.869-07:00Remind me, why do we drive these things?For many months, and even more money, we've tried to get our 1958 double door bus on the road. Things were going well, then the day before Oktoberfest we lost a tire about 1/4 from home and parked the bus in the garage and walked away.<br />
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February freeze-out rolled around and the bus was all ready for its BPA debut, and lo and behold...shifting doesn't work. We got it back to the garage after a wild 1st gear-trip on State Street, parked it and walked away.<br />
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Then, somehow, we got excited again and spent more time and more money. We are road-trip people so when things were going well, we decided to plan a trip to make sure the bus was ready for the Classic in June. We got a nice brand new motor and new master cylinder and brake lines (random you say? read on...) We put 400 miles on the motor. Suddenly, I realize...wow...that heater is REALLY hot, that can't be good. I take the bus to my friend Mike Allan and looks like it is at 255 degrees. This is after I took the motor out, changed the generator, and another friend, Aaron, came to help put the motor back in. Well, I was a little bummed, but headed for home as the bus temp was topping out around 255. As I get the bus up to 55 mph on state street, and a white honda civic decides to turn in front of me, I grab for brakes, and there is this horrible metal on metal sound... you guessed it.... brake pedal, meet the floor. Why I didn't do the dual circuit master cylinder I don't know, but I can assure you I am looking to buy one before this bus goes again, but I digress. I was able to change lanes at the last moment (not very easy in a panel, with no brakes, and about .5 seconds of warning), change back, slow to 35 mph and take a turn before another car decides to stop in front of the out-of-control bus. I am really glad the bus is so low, I don't think otherwise I could have made that corner...so fast that it went slightly sideways before I could recover and finally get it into my garage without hitting the neighbor kids on skateboards. So... it sits, in my garage, and I'm walking away.<br />
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Back to the road-trip. Well, never fear, the Squareback can pull the puck and we'll still have an aircooled adventure. So I get the puck wheels off and it turns out that the only wheels that are similar that fit the right profile are on the East coast, and cost $150 a piece... I need 3. Oh, and they are 2 weeks away even if I wanted to expedite. So the Puck is in my garage, and I'm walking away.<br />
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Okay, no bus, no Puck, but we still have ole' reliable, the Squareback. I'll preface by saying, I'm glad it had a dual circuit master cylinder. Coming off the freeway, Maryn was putting all she had into the brake, and it barely made a difference. Long story short, dear Bethany helped me change the master cylinder and the Square is ready, right? No, of course it isn't, why would it be ready? The generator light is flickering. Bethany and I look at all the connections, and the next day I call Mike Allan. We ran by his place, got some new brushes, and put them in. Still got a flickering generator light and we aren't about to take a 1400 mile trip with the luck we've had leading to this point and still have a generator light flickering.<br />
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Okay, so, lets recap... no bus, no square, no puck, but 2 days off of work. Lets take the "Crapmobile" (1993 Fox). Okay, sounds great, except on the way home from work, it decides that the radiator fan, or switch, or relay, or fuse, or something else isn't working and it is overheating. At this point, ready to give all of our EVERYTHING VW away, we decide to rent a car.<br />
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1400 miles, not one incident, the brakes worked very well, the motor never overheated, the steering box never drug, the defrost worked great, the wipers were spectacular, the seats were comfortable, the XM radio was amazing, we got nearly 35 mpg and were able to travel at 5 mph over the speedlimit through 3 states, 2 countries, 3 snowy mountain passes and 1 west-coast beach.<br />
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VW's for sale.... cheap!Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-54829431746446745172011-02-23T20:38:00.000-08:002011-02-23T20:38:49.210-08:00Guest Writer<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/buspilots/Maryn%20and%20Craig/DSC00839.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/buspilots/Maryn%20and%20Craig/DSC00839.jpg" width="320" /></a>Craig here, writing a post about our European Caravan called the Eriba Puck. Here goes! It is a 1969-titled-as-a-1971-Puck in Idaho. We got it this summer and promptly took it out to camp and loved it! </div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We've had Vanagon campers and Bay campers, but we also daily drive our ACVW's so hauling 3 tons of camping gear around everyday gets cumbersome. So a friend sold us this Puck and we've started tearing it down as it needs some work. We've got an Oregon Coast trip planned in about a month, so my first focus is to get it road-worthy, then I'll start with the fine-tuning. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/buspilots/Maryn%20and%20Craig/DSC00934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/buspilots/Maryn%20and%20Craig/DSC00934.jpg" width="320" /></a>We'll be pulling it primarily with our freshly redone (I'm talking the mechanic is doing the final checks today and tomorrow freshly done ) 1958 Double Door Panel with a brand-new 1835cc engine. (It has windows now) </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>We got this bus on casters last May and have been working very hard to get it done, but that post is for another day, this is about the Puck! We've towed it with our 1969 Squareback, and this is definitely another option if we want the Square experience instead. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/buspilots/Maryn%20and%20Craig/DSC00941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/buspilots/Maryn%20and%20Craig/DSC00941.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I just got a shipment from Germany today! I needed some new Hella taillights and Hella reflectors. I ended up getting two taillights and 25 reflectors, so needless to say, I've got 23 reflectors for sale...Cheap! Notice the large stack of reflectors! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Stuff I'm looking for: Window rubber for all 4 windows and Plastic filler moulding (red). I've also got to do something about the tires...they are the original european tires and I don't trust them more than a few miles, but replacements are nearly impossible to find in a decent amount of time, and I don't want to be stranded on the coast, waiting 2 weeks for tires to ship so I can tow her home...but that's just me.<br />
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And now back to our regularly scheduled blogger....Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-40163023242769281372011-02-21T14:35:00.000-08:002011-02-21T14:35:54.244-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm no cinematographer...like, not at all. Fortunately for me, in this day and age, they'll sell anyone with $129.99 a video camera. This means I can take video everywhere. Even while driving to work. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy9X72FIjjE825XsXs99VuWDeHxEFfzC0YBDyirPQmqQ9i6h_EB7ypw4LXCp33Y9l9v5aS0VusWgN3Spik2Ag' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Craig and I went to Buses by the Bridge in Lake Havasu City, AZ last month. It was all kinds of awesome. I've never seen so many buses in one place before. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a little insight into the kinds of things that amuse Craig and me.Your motivation to watch to the end is that you get to see video of Craig, who is normally less than enthusiastic about being photographed (isn't he cute?)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxkj-_s_aeVqDcd-FCRJuqFvoX1hvUKbHtYJDtFwDjALDZQYgGqHDz0HWuq3sfZ5BeIqZ9WqY4pffOerN6KaA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a real gem. I deeply regret having pointed the camera toward my face and having said anything during the filming of this video. Anyway, the point of the video is that the bus engine is functional! Sorry you can't really see it...just enjoy the noise I guess. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzROBvZefaJkRoJVIpKP_4ynagCsBfb7NJvXBCE_9vrlXrqzcBh9wq-JRHPreT4-XwLgLvWW4ekF9YxfTe18w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally, here's a short one, showing the bus actually on the road, moving. As we understand it, this bus hasn't been road worthy in over 15 years, so we're really happy that she's rollin! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzrPxZICl8yV2ewafTTThEGyMD_mZRzMUC0JY-6h6AjBLgLB6gagongg2odcSXqE3dA7fjwRGuhtL_5TvjlIA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-6106666299527405642011-02-18T09:24:00.000-08:002011-02-18T09:24:59.545-08:00Big AccomplishmentsI started school again in January so while I’ve been sitting on my butt all day trying to increase my intelligence, and at the very least, increasing my waistline, Craig has taken complete ownership of the bus project, and he is <u>rocking</u> it. <br />
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<strong>Big accomplishment #1:</strong> the bus is painted. Dove blue—its original color, with grey in the cargo area to match the original grey primer. <br />
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Interesting fact—VW didn’t track the exact color codes for their primer, so there’s really no way of knowing exactly what color the primer is on your bus. It’s just grey. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2hcH9cfbxKQ/TV6quDmQyhI/AAAAAAAAGTE/sY0fPcuixS8/s1600/paint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" j6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2hcH9cfbxKQ/TV6quDmQyhI/AAAAAAAAGTE/sY0fPcuixS8/s400/paint.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><strong>Big accomplishment #2:</strong> several months ago, we purchased an 1835cc long-block which had been built and then sat for a few years without ever having been started. We had it torn down and rebuilt, then Craig threw the top end together (it's so easy when someone else is doing it!) I took a 20 minute study break and helped install the engine last weekend. (One thing I love about buses is that all it takes to install an engine is: an engine, a jack, four bolts, and two people…legend has it you can install an engine by yourself…I’m not trying it.) <br />
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We very anxiously cranked it and the thing just wasn’t getting spark. Plugs are new, wires are new, so we (meaning Craig) figured it must be the distributor. Ordered up a new distributor which came yesterday. Swapped out distributors, engine was getting spark, and then the battery died. Sigh. <br />
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Another interesting fact—Bosch no longer makes replacement distributors for ACVWs. Bummer. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uBIi7z9UogE/TV6qwBLjfvI/AAAAAAAAGTQ/BBZwlr9iWnE/s1600/engine2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" j6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uBIi7z9UogE/TV6qwBLjfvI/AAAAAAAAGTQ/BBZwlr9iWnE/s400/engine2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<strong>Big accomplishment #3</strong>: oh man, this one is HUGE (huger than an engine and paint?) Our bus came with all of the pieces of the front door window assemblies—completely disassembled. We bought all the seals and the whole mess has been sitting on our living room floor for several weeks. I think of it with dread, my blood pressure rises, storm clouds gather, and I pray that they’ll magically assemble themselves. Last night, I got home from class, and Craig had assembled 1.5 of the front door window assemblies! He was all pissed off and tired and all I wanted to do was party, and call all my friends to come see the splendor. <br />
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A word to those who don’t know—vent windows are a biiiittch. First, you’ve got the seal that holds the vent window into its casing—which has to be pressed in (Craig used a 6” c-clamp, some pieces of wood, and super human balance to complete the task). Next, is the seal that seals the vent window to the window frame. This thing is a beast. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s about three inches wide by two inches high, with flaps and flanges all over and has to fit into a half inch wide channel. We borrowed a little white plastic pointy flat thingy from a friend, which Craig said made it possible to complete the project. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4M3PT5HLD34/TV6U5y7RW5I/AAAAAAAAGSo/IfGLCNc9EH4/s1600/DSC00936.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" j6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4M3PT5HLD34/TV6U5y7RW5I/AAAAAAAAGSo/IfGLCNc9EH4/s400/DSC00936.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fl_-vBumRJA/TV6U4vSMocI/AAAAAAAAGSg/5l9-K6kvbp0/s1600/DSC00938.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" j6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fl_-vBumRJA/TV6U4vSMocI/AAAAAAAAGSg/5l9-K6kvbp0/s400/DSC00938.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Look at that felt!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9yNGVYM9ons/TV6U38Nm2hI/AAAAAAAAGSc/2tFmMu1LhpE/s1600/DSC00939.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" j6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9yNGVYM9ons/TV6U38Nm2hI/AAAAAAAAGSc/2tFmMu1LhpE/s400/DSC00939.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>This baby is going to the mechanic on Monday to solve our unsolvable problems (meaning things we’ve tried to resolve and are tired of trying to do). Shifting is sloppy, steering is loose, clutch is wonky, and electrical gremlins plague us (see, that’s what happens when you let me wire a bus).Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-39465271073198479352010-12-03T11:29:00.000-08:002010-12-03T11:31:21.479-08:00I got pretty burned out on both blogging and working on the bus for a while there. Some combination of a recent club meeting, Big Blue’s drivers being back (with baby in tow!), having built up a little money in the VW account (we quite seriously do have a bank account specifically for VW stuff), and having just written a post for our club’s site about our bus has reminded me that—hey, blogging is fun! And hey, VWs are fun! And hey, not ALL of our disposable income is going toward our VWs right now (makes me like them more…knock on wood) and that’s fun!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TPlE-UoElaI/AAAAAAAAGJM/2ZiaY7ILpZ8/s1600/Headlights.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" ox="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TPlE-UoElaI/AAAAAAAAGJM/2ZiaY7ILpZ8/s400/Headlights.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>When last I wrote, we were spending every night in the garage (way too much time) trying to get our bus roadworthy for “Oktoberfest”—a picnic our club has annually the second Sunday in October. We were making great strides and the Friday before the event, we threw in a 1500SP mystery motor. After a substantial amount of cranking, the thing actually started!! It was a satisfactory feeling indeed. I’ll leave portions of this story for another day but, to make a long story short, our friend Bethany helped us out with some troubles we were experiencing with our brakes on Saturday and we were ready to roll (well, kind of—it was a rough ride and we were having some shift rod problems). <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TPlE8nfI8BI/AAAAAAAAGJI/KSZiiSynDCw/s1600/Bus+and+Puck.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TPlE8nfI8BI/AAAAAAAAGJI/KSZiiSynDCw/s400/Bus+and+Puck.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Saturday afternoon, we took the bus for a “victory lap”. We took one lap around the block, then decided we were up for a second lap, during which—CRASH PFWAP BUMP SCRRREEEEEECH. My heart jumped into my head and I was confident that the engine had fallen out of the car. In retrospect, that would have been better than what actually happened. At some point during our many brake/e-brake adjustments, someone (we never determined who) left the lug bolts loose on the left rear wheel. Ugh, it still makes me sick. When the fourth bolt popped off, the wheel came crashing down. The sight was absolutely sickening. It was like when you see a squirrel get hit by a car—it is pathetic and nauseating and makes you feel like the world may never be happy again (okay, maybe that’s just me and the members of PETA, but hopefully you catch my drift). <br />
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The good news was that a) we were only traveling about 10 mph when the wheel fell, and b) the bus was so low that the wheel couldn’t actually fall all the way off the brake drum. So, basically, the tire hit the top of the wheel well, bending the $#!^ out of the panel and separating the tray from the wheel well, and the drum stayed inside the wheel, causing damage, but probably far less damage than if we had been running stock height with narrow tires. <br />
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I ran back to the house and brought the jack back to the bus. We jacked the bus up, pushed it down the alley back to the driveway, closed the garage door, turned around and walked away. <br />
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At this point, we’ve recovered enough that I’m actually excited to get out in the garage again. Finally.Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-74696747043795584582010-09-07T13:02:00.000-07:002010-09-07T13:04:01.379-07:00August was a normal August--ridiculously hectic. Now we’re back to the grind (I love September!) and spent Labor Day weekend in one of our favorite ways—sitting on the floor of the garage. Other favorite holiday events in which we participated: sleeping in, visiting pawn shops, and buying a new car.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWRCkxfdI/AAAAAAAAF7E/8ZCz1FTWeIE/s1600/craig+square.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWRCkxfdI/AAAAAAAAF7E/8ZCz1FTWeIE/s640/craig+square.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
First topic—the Squareback, which we’ve lovingly (for the time being) dubbed “the squah” (you know, kind of how Cartman would say it). I can’t believe how much attention we have been getting while driving this car. It is a bit ridiculous, really. She is fun, though. Really fun. <br />
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Our amazing photographer friend, James took some pictures (more of James’ photography can be found <a href="http://www.23views.com/">here</a>).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWlMcphFI/AAAAAAAAF7M/-BFRAiApj40/s1600/Squareback-104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWlMcphFI/AAAAAAAAF7M/-BFRAiApj40/s640/Squareback-104.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWliL83MI/AAAAAAAAF7U/kYP7Jxd-sMk/s1600/Squareback-105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWliL83MI/AAAAAAAAF7U/kYP7Jxd-sMk/s640/Squareback-105.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWlxiUfII/AAAAAAAAF7c/O-SuvxyVjYE/s1600/Squareback-106.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" ox="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWlxiUfII/AAAAAAAAF7c/O-SuvxyVjYE/s640/Squareback-106.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWmVtT8OI/AAAAAAAAF7k/Lz2ylej803Y/s1600/Squareback-107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWmVtT8OI/AAAAAAAAF7k/Lz2ylej803Y/s640/Squareback-107.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWm7p954I/AAAAAAAAF7s/x6Q6HPkAyPY/s1600/Squareback-109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaWm7p954I/AAAAAAAAF7s/x6Q6HPkAyPY/s640/Squareback-109.jpg" width="513" /></a></div>Okay, since we haven't put an ounce of work into this car yet, I don't have to be modest about it. I'm not going to lie--this car totally kicks ass. <br />
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Second topic—the bus suspension. We spent about a month being STUCK as far as progress went on the bus rear suspension, rear brakes, transmission mounting, and wiring due to missing bolts. I know this sounds like a simple obstacle to overcome, but it was tricky. We finally took our list of missing bolts/screws to one of our friends who dug a sample of every bolt we needed out of his VW bolt tub. It was actually quite amazing—like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. <br />
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After overcoming our bolt issues, we were easily able to finish up some little electrical things, finish mounting the transmission, mount the spring plates, and mount the rear brake backing plates. <br />
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As I mentioned previously, the rear suspension went together much more easily than did the front suspension, so I’m not going to go into a lengthy explanation like I did with the front suspension, but I will pictures for all the VW super-dummies out there (myself included).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaZtHGqmNI/AAAAAAAAF8E/32NMVsK66cU/s1600/brakes1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaZtHGqmNI/AAAAAAAAF8E/32NMVsK66cU/s640/brakes1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaZtpmDnLI/AAAAAAAAF8M/4viR0leEdX0/s1600/brakes2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaZtpmDnLI/AAAAAAAAF8M/4viR0leEdX0/s640/brakes2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Third topic—E-brake cables. These guys get a topic all to themselves because they were a bit of a nightmare. Here’s what we learned. If you put wide tires on your bus, you DO need e-brake extenders. When lowering a bus, everyone will tell you that you need e-brake extenders. I misplaced ours and after talking with a few of our friends, none of whom had an explanation as to why the extenders were necessary, we moved forward on the project without them. After several hours of clipping spring links, and adjusting the cable tension, and un-doing, and re-doing the cables for several reasons, we finally figured out why we needed the cables. The tires we have on the back of our bus are too wide to mount with the drums mounted—which we knew going into the project. The need for the cable extenders finally became clear when we unhooked the drum/spring plate assembly from the axle tube and we couldn’t lower the assembly low enough to mount the wheel. Aha—2.5 inches of additional cable would make this work. So—off came the drums (again) and out came the cables (again). It was pretty ridiculous, but (somewhat unfortunately), that’s just how we roll.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaaqZY_mQI/AAAAAAAAF8U/EeuBnL1TUtY/s1600/DSC00812.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TIaaqZY_mQI/AAAAAAAAF8U/EeuBnL1TUtY/s640/DSC00812.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-47455298418039547002010-08-12T11:51:00.000-07:002010-08-12T11:51:55.239-07:00Parts are taking over...againOtto LOVES it when we get shipments of VW parts...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TGRCTpKQICI/AAAAAAAAF1A/rKXeS54osd0/s1600/otto.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TGRCTpKQICI/AAAAAAAAF1A/rKXeS54osd0/s400/otto.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Craig and I do too, but for different reasons than the cat.</div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-12869805294524976512010-07-27T09:45:00.000-07:002010-07-27T09:47:48.418-07:00Bus Pilots Family Reunion 2010To anyone who read my last post and was completely confused by the pictures…<br />
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I’m not sure why my brain chose to abandoned me, but I had the pictures entirely out of order on that last post. They’ve been fixed now. <br />
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Oh, also, I’ve re-labeled the tie rods—as they were labeled incorrectly before. <br />
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Moving on…<br />
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The weekend of 7/16 was the annual Bus Pilots Association “Family Reunion”. Here you go: a photo post. <br />
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FRIDAY NIGHT CRUISE <br />
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We had 50 cars at the end. This means that people didn't get lost--props to the cruise coordinator! (Ahem...what I mean is...you know, if the cruise coordinator wasn't me, I'd give them props.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8Jc7vzeZI/AAAAAAAAFwo/3uAhhaDD7Sc/s1600/cruise13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" hw="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8Jc7vzeZI/AAAAAAAAFwo/3uAhhaDD7Sc/s640/cruise13.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IeBhnoLI/AAAAAAAAFwg/8jjCYqdQ_pQ/s1600/cruise15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" hw="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IeBhnoLI/AAAAAAAAFwg/8jjCYqdQ_pQ/s640/cruise15.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Above photo Courtesy of Ethan Page</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IcbqX5JI/AAAAAAAAFwI/nJ0JrL3_qGM/s1600/cruise12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" hw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IcbqX5JI/AAAAAAAAFwI/nJ0JrL3_qGM/s400/cruise12.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IWAbnKlI/AAAAAAAAFu4/UqN-hRhMQUA/s1600/cruise2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IWAbnKlI/AAAAAAAAFu4/UqN-hRhMQUA/s320/cruise2.JPG" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IW2Fxj9I/AAAAAAAAFvA/bzivWY6wuTk/s1600/cruise3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IW2Fxj9I/AAAAAAAAFvA/bzivWY6wuTk/s320/cruise3.JPG" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IXXOY2QI/AAAAAAAAFvI/3ZNQX14U3n4/s1600/cruise4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IXXOY2QI/AAAAAAAAFvI/3ZNQX14U3n4/s320/cruise4.JPG" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IYPNtn0I/AAAAAAAAFvQ/hJpoKE5dBRc/s1600/cruise5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IYPNtn0I/AAAAAAAAFvQ/hJpoKE5dBRc/s320/cruise5.JPG" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IZDvwQKI/AAAAAAAAFvg/-dx1IDaLK7I/s1600/cruise7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IZDvwQKI/AAAAAAAAFvg/-dx1IDaLK7I/s320/cruise7.JPG" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IYpkb_qI/AAAAAAAAFvY/02tK2LjLJmI/s1600/cruise6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IYpkb_qI/AAAAAAAAFvY/02tK2LjLJmI/s320/cruise6.JPG" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IZ2y44RI/AAAAAAAAFvo/whtdHuJw90A/s1600/cruise8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IZ2y44RI/AAAAAAAAFvo/whtdHuJw90A/s320/cruise8.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IaZsVNjI/AAAAAAAAFvw/t-lTvvZJXP4/s1600/cruise9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IaZsVNjI/AAAAAAAAFvw/t-lTvvZJXP4/s320/cruise9.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IbFuerXI/AAAAAAAAFv4/bbu91v48UG4/s1600/cruise10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IbFuerXI/AAAAAAAAFv4/bbu91v48UG4/s320/cruise10.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This bus belongs to Aaron. He has been doing great things with his bus; including having the cut out wheel wells repaired. That's a perfect example of how fashion dictates the awful things we do to our VWs. Ludwig's Driver expressed some concern that we might be making permanent modifications to our bus during the lowering process. I'll take this opportunity to assure anyone else who may be concerned that we have no plans to make any alterations to the frame or body of our bus. Now y'all can rest easy. :-)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IbkNUU2I/AAAAAAAAFwA/Wq9jGUuCJZg/s1600/cruise11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8IbkNUU2I/AAAAAAAAFwA/Wq9jGUuCJZg/s320/cruise11.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">SATURDAY MORNING RALLY</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is, admitedly, my favorite part of the weekend where we drive around town, lost, in our VWs in 100 degree heat, following turn by turn directions to an unknown destination. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8LWbLvOqI/AAAAAAAAFww/D7O0yTMC2vo/s1600/kick-off2010-46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" hw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8LWbLvOqI/AAAAAAAAFww/D7O0yTMC2vo/s400/kick-off2010-46.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8LYS2Vc_I/AAAAAAAAFw4/Nxx_DBcC88o/s1600/rally.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" hw="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8LYS2Vc_I/AAAAAAAAFw4/Nxx_DBcC88o/s400/rally.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8LZB0UnqI/AAAAAAAAFxA/4mJNoEOs21k/s1600/rally2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" hw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8LZB0UnqI/AAAAAAAAFxA/4mJNoEOs21k/s400/rally2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="center">Rally Photos courtesy of Ethan Page </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left">SUNDAY SHOW </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">Then there was the show. Lots of cars, lots of people, lots of fun. </div><div align="left"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8MDrY2KeI/AAAAAAAAFxI/cP_fSqD_ht4/s1600/show1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" hw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8MDrY2KeI/AAAAAAAAFxI/cP_fSqD_ht4/s400/show1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8MHt9wBaI/AAAAAAAAFxY/Ufz4cNY0Fzs/s1600/show3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" hw="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8MHt9wBaI/AAAAAAAAFxY/Ufz4cNY0Fzs/s400/show3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Above photo courtesy of <a href="http://www.dfkphoto.com/">David Kvapil Photography</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8MJUr9h8I/AAAAAAAAFxg/lzzS806hzLI/s1600/show4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" hw="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8MJUr9h8I/AAAAAAAAFxg/lzzS806hzLI/s400/show4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Above photo courtesy of <a href="http://www.dfkphoto.com/">David Kvapil Photography</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8MFHDjwcI/AAAAAAAAFxQ/RKUg8FQGX0Y/s1600/show2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" hw="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8MFHDjwcI/AAAAAAAAFxQ/RKUg8FQGX0Y/s400/show2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div align="left"><br />
</div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-59930617873847268962010-07-23T15:54:00.000-07:002010-07-27T09:00:04.113-07:00We love our Dremel: and other spectacular talesProgress has been a bit slow over the last couple of weeks as we had our annual Bus Pilots Association Family Reunion which has absorbed a lot of our time. Also, Craig has been out of town so now we’re finally getting back into the swing of things. <br />
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The front beam is now installed thanks in part to the most excellent observation made by our friend James who pointed out that you can’t install the beam when the shift rod is in position (duh). This meant that we had to find a way to disconnect the very rusted and grimed together front and rear shift rods. Craig was up for the task and went through about 25 Dremel discs cutting through the coupler. Here’s the aftermath. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc7wEAyRI/AAAAAAAAFt8/RblKUIYxJq4/s1600/couplers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" hw="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc7wEAyRI/AAAAAAAAFt8/RblKUIYxJq4/s640/couplers.JPG" width="640" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8B9I9aMnI/AAAAAAAAFuk/CN59zFP81ro/s1600/front+axle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" hw="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TE8B9I9aMnI/AAAAAAAAFuk/CN59zFP81ro/s640/front+axle.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc9fYbirI/AAAAAAAAFuM/Pxv8-R-sKtU/s1600/drum+assembly.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" hw="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc9fYbirI/AAAAAAAAFuM/Pxv8-R-sKtU/s640/drum+assembly.JPG" width="640" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc7cP4iEI/AAAAAAAAFt0/J9dzLIcu9zI/s1600/bus.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" hw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc7cP4iEI/AAAAAAAAFt0/J9dzLIcu9zI/s640/bus.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">With the front beam fully assembled and blissfully in place, we moved to the rear setup which (in my opinion) has been far more straightforward so far than was front beam assembly. It basically went like this: insert new axles and axle tubes. Swap out nose cone. Put on new boots. Install new spring plates…and that’s where we’re sitting presently. </div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc-lnzDdI/AAAAAAAAFuc/sxij5xCi5x0/s1600/trans2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" hw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc-lnzDdI/AAAAAAAAFuc/sxij5xCi5x0/s640/trans2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Craig has been rather tenacious and resilient with this project thus far. He’s really good at drilling/cutting/hammering very fussy pieces of metal until they give/fall apart/move. Prior to the coupler project, Craig took on the project of drilling out a screw holding one of the cargo doors in place. This literally took 5 hours. Several hardened steel screw removers broke off in the hole, several drill bits litter the garage floor. It was really quite a massacre. The ultimate hero was a carbide Dremel bit which not only drilled through the hardened steel, but stayed sharp, didn’t break and got the job done. Whew. Here’s the aftermath of that project. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc8pDyuBI/AAAAAAAAFuE/voXyF153_fk/s1600/door+screw.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" hw="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TEoc8pDyuBI/AAAAAAAAFuE/voXyF153_fk/s640/door+screw.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The good news—three of the four cargo doors are now installed. The bad news—one of the screw plates fell into the bus frame where the fourth door is supposed to screw in. Those who know splitties understand that this is NOT a good thing to have happened. We’ve ordered some earth metal magnets (or something like that) which we’re hoping will grab the plate and we’ll be able to work it back up to its designated location. That’s the best case scenario. I’ve avoided thinking too much about the alternative scenarios. Time will tell. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-46104790451156074162010-06-30T13:34:00.000-07:002010-06-30T13:34:33.575-07:00Beam Assembly and things ForgottenJasmine is officially gone. Craig called this morning and said this is the worst he’s ever felt about selling a bus. I completely agree with his stance. Jasmine was the bus that taught us that not EVERY bus will immediately require thousands of dollars in maintenance upon initial acquisition. She wanted to run every morning when I got in to start her up. She was amazing in the snow. She started right up the day it was -3 degrees last winter. She really was a great bus…but we’re impatient and are excited about our new project. Really excited. <br />
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Thanks Jasmine. It’s been nice knowing you, have fun in Sun Valley—you spoiled rich girl. Party it up with the Kutcher/Willis clan. <br />
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Moving on, a couple of things that have excited me about the new bus which I have failed to mention. <br />
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1) New ignition switch—which is actually an old ignition switch! Complete with super awesome original VW keys too!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCuo2Lv6aAI/AAAAAAAAFTs/Ng9CphjwLXw/s1600/ignition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ru="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCuo2Lv6aAI/AAAAAAAAFTs/Ng9CphjwLXw/s640/ignition.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
2) Made in West Germany plate. Cool, right?! I love this in the same way that I love my clock which says “Made in the USSR”.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCuo8iedctI/AAAAAAAAFT0/aNIZodZsty4/s1600/Germany.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ru="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCuo8iedctI/AAAAAAAAFT0/aNIZodZsty4/s640/Germany.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Taking a quick trip back to the wiring harness installation; I actually do have a couple of pictures I want to share. Because we’ve been doing an annoying amount of searching online for pictures that actually show something relevant and tell us what we’re looking at, I’m going to be doing a lot of labeling on pictures moving forward. I hope it helps someone. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupCNYWsOI/AAAAAAAAFT8/92dAT3ltbx4/s1600/harness1x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ru="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupCNYWsOI/AAAAAAAAFT8/92dAT3ltbx4/s640/harness1x.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I failed to mention earlier that Dawn soap was our savior on the wiring harness project. Also, we had to cut off some of the spades in order to decrease the diameter of the harness (which we had to do anyway since our terminals are old and screw in).</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupGKyeThI/AAAAAAAAFUE/UKKGniB7C3g/s1600/harness5x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="484" ru="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupGKyeThI/AAAAAAAAFUE/UKKGniB7C3g/s640/harness5x.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Finally, here’s a glimpse at our work on the front suspension. Our friend Chad has been crucially helpful in getting us started with the correct parts and pieces on our suspension. He came by the other day to walk us through the basic positioning of everything and now we’re actually putting stuff together (which is much more fun than having boxes of VW parts sitting on your kitchen floor…although that is fun too.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupcT6jjII/AAAAAAAAFUM/coL09UKgTZI/s1600/beam1x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ru="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupcT6jjII/AAAAAAAAFUM/coL09UKgTZI/s640/beam1x.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Assembling torsion leaves and control arms:<br />
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We started with a 2” narrowed beam and torsion leaves. First, you put the torsion leaves in the beam. There’s a disc in the center of both tubes in the beam. Each is cut to the shape of the torsion leaves when they are lumped together. We found the easiest method of insertion was to start with the widest leave and work our way out to the narrower leaves sliding them in next to those that had already been inserted. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupl87MCpI/AAAAAAAAFUk/Im2XIosaRNA/s1600/beam4x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ru="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupl87MCpI/AAAAAAAAFUk/Im2XIosaRNA/s640/beam4x.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
There are three sets of dimples on each set of beams (one at each end and one in the middle. The bolt at the center of the beam screws into the center dimples on each set of leaves to keep them from spinning freely. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupi6_y_RI/AAAAAAAAFUU/TmC8UL_Z8TU/s1600/beam2x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="462" ru="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupi6_y_RI/AAAAAAAAFUU/TmC8UL_Z8TU/s640/beam2x.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupkV28dYI/AAAAAAAAFUc/7of_WTFQYx0/s1600/beam3x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ru="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCupkV28dYI/AAAAAAAAFUc/7of_WTFQYx0/s640/beam3x.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Next, install the control arms. You’ll need a rubber bushing for each control arm which slides as far onto the shaft as possible. If there are little pvc/cardboard looking tubes in the ends of your beam, leave those in place and the control arm will push them into the beam as you hammer the arms in (using a rubber mallet). <br />
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At the elbow of the control arms, there’s a hole. Hopefully you have four grub screws (they are about 1.5 inches long and are tapered at the ends. They’ve got an allen wrench head. These screw through the holes in the control arm into the dimples at the ends of the torsion leaves. (This all makes perfect sense when you’re looking at it).<br />
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Next up—installing spindles. (hopefully tomorrow; wish us luck tonight).<br />
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Oh, and we're excited to have a dedicated work space in the garage. We no longer have to move Jasmine in and out whenever we want to work. Look at the bright side, right?Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-70539343988481044232010-06-29T14:52:00.000-07:002010-06-29T14:53:21.616-07:00and our hands are dirty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp2Cu9WwI/AAAAAAAAFMU/2PcljDU32SQ/s1600/583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp2Cu9WwI/AAAAAAAAFMU/2PcljDU32SQ/s320/583.JPG" /></a></div><br />
We started out by sanding like madmen and painted the inside of the front cab. We decided to go with dove blue on this bus—as it was the original color. Dove blue also happens to be my husband’s favorite bus color and I, frankly, don’t like it. It isn’t that I DIS-like it; it just doesn’t do anything for me. Anyway, Craig didn’t have to put up much of a fight on this one because I like to keep history intact when it is feasible. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp4rHOTyI/AAAAAAAAFMc/bx2HJMCCGzQ/s1600/582.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp4rHOTyI/AAAAAAAAFMc/bx2HJMCCGzQ/s320/582.JPG" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp5St8H0I/AAAAAAAAFMk/PpKOvG1dfPs/s1600/581.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp5St8H0I/AAAAAAAAFMk/PpKOvG1dfPs/s320/581.JPG" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">There was quite a lot of useable paint remaining in the cab so we chose to leave everything we could original VW paint. It looks pretty darn good and I don’t think the transitions are too horribly obvious. It’s a nice mix of clean and patina. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp7IoyDSI/AAAAAAAAFMs/TSkQKsUEBcE/s1600/584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp7IoyDSI/AAAAAAAAFMs/TSkQKsUEBcE/s320/584.JPG" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp7r5OS9I/AAAAAAAAFM0/Y5j9mb1OTs8/s1600/585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp7r5OS9I/AAAAAAAAFM0/Y5j9mb1OTs8/s320/585.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The second project was installation of the new wiring harness. The project took a ridiculous amount of time—three evenings and a Saturday morning. Here’s why: Since the bus is a double door bus, it has a belly pan welded on the bottom, which means that rather than being able to work with the new harness in an open frame channel, we had to string the harness through a big long inaccessible tube that ran the length of the belly pan, accessible only through the frame. That wouldn’t be so hard except for the fact that someone had pulled the old harness without leaving a guide line behind. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp8dUd1VI/AAAAAAAAFM8/p6Lm-c_NYgo/s1600/586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp8dUd1VI/AAAAAAAAFM8/p6Lm-c_NYgo/s320/586.JPG" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">First, we had to run a fish puller through this tube. At both ends of the belly pan, there is a plate with a hole in the center through which the fish puller had to go. The problem was, there was no way to see this hole or to know where it was in relation to the fish puller. I say with near certainty that we couldn’t have been successful without my mom’s “SeeSnake” (inspection camera) which allowed us to see the hole and after much labor and frustration, we finally were successful. (I guess we could have cut into the belly pan and frame but I don’t like that idea.) Following this, I started wiring gauges, fuse box, and switches (which was way too much fun by the way). The harness we purchased had matching wire colors to the original harness which was incredibly helpful. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp89LalHI/AAAAAAAAFNE/DiCsjOqRALM/s1600/587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TCpp89LalHI/AAAAAAAAFNE/DiCsjOqRALM/s320/587.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(That's a blurry pic of my mom under the bus. Thanks Mom.)</div><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Now, we’ve begun assembly of the front beam…pictures and info to come!</div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-15966449368325378522010-06-09T11:11:00.000-07:002010-06-09T11:13:17.450-07:00New Bus in Pictures<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The other day we told my grandparents about the new bus. My grandma inquired “oh, and does it run well?”, to which my mom chortled and responded “they basically bought a chassis”. Okay, so my mom was more or less right. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">By popular request, I present to you, in its blogosphere debut—our new chassis. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_XzwpjxHI/AAAAAAAAFB8/VST3Ric9424/s1600/581.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_XzwpjxHI/AAAAAAAAFB8/VST3Ric9424/s320/581.JPG" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X1HU_4NI/AAAAAAAAFCE/81GD4oM-Yyw/s1600/582.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X1HU_4NI/AAAAAAAAFCE/81GD4oM-Yyw/s320/582.JPG" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X2X1R1hI/AAAAAAAAFCM/b8UFIpno_X0/s1600/583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" qu="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X2X1R1hI/AAAAAAAAFCM/b8UFIpno_X0/s320/583.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X3OyexdI/AAAAAAAAFCU/IPCLBejf3nI/s1600/584.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X3OyexdI/AAAAAAAAFCU/IPCLBejf3nI/s320/584.jpg" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X349vVFI/AAAAAAAAFCc/N3HAS-dSN5g/s1600/585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X349vVFI/AAAAAAAAFCc/N3HAS-dSN5g/s320/585.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X46Dr-7I/AAAAAAAAFCk/4aO_BisCGPw/s1600/586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TA_X46Dr-7I/AAAAAAAAFCk/4aO_BisCGPw/s320/586.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">The new wiring harness is schedule to arrive today. We should have some hopefully not too exciting reports to deliver next week on our wiring adventures. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Oh, and for the record--we aren't missing the other three cargo doors--they just don't happen to be attached to the bus at present. </div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-45133017165177329832010-06-04T09:12:00.000-07:002010-06-04T09:17:47.404-07:00Out With the Old, In With the Older.My father-in-law has grown tired of hearing about VWs on this blog, so today I’m going to start with a different genre of story. :-)<br />
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One semester when I was in college, I thought I would major in Statistics. I love numbers and data and thought this would be a perfect field for me. I called my mom (who is a math professor) to report to her my newest choice of path (I went through a lot). Her response to my announcement was: “Statisticians are the whores of mathematics”. Oh…thanks Mom. Her point was that Statisticians sell their skills while REAL mathematicians are poor hermits who go loony and forget to shower and wander the streets in search of answers to numerical quandaries. Something like that anyway. (Back to VWs.)<br />
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My real point in telling you this story is that sometimes I worry that readers of this blog will think that Craig and I are the whores of the VW world because we go through so many vehicles. The truth is, that we love to see VWs on the road and we always spend more money on our VWs than we make in selling them. We may be a little anti-frugal at times with our VWs, and we may be a little too passionate about keeping these beasts out of the crushers, but we don’t think we are whores. Hopefully you agree. Also, we have really short attention spans. <br />
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You see where I’m going with this, right? <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TAklq9MbpFI/AAAAAAAAE9Q/tBx47HB-pOs/s1600/DSC00219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TAklq9MbpFI/AAAAAAAAE9Q/tBx47HB-pOs/s320/DSC00219.JPG" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A couple of weeks ago, we started talking about selling BB. Long story short, we listed her just to test the waters and three days later she was gone. Sigh. We’ve got some mixed feelings over here. We’re really disappointed with our timing as we were EXCITED for the Maupin campout in Mid June which now we aren’t going to be able to attend. We’re going to have to wallow in self pity and do some retail therapy buying parts for our new….</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">’58 double door panel bus! We didn’t think we’d buy another project anytime soon, but one thing led to another and, well, we did. We’re not positive what this baby is going to look like when we’re done (will it be a camper? A 15 window?) but we’re really excited and we should have some serious project blog posts coming up soon. We’re so excited! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In the mean time—does anyone have any friends who would like to buy <a href="http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=974665">this beautiful ’65 11 window standard</a>? We love her but kinda need the funds to get the ’58 on the road. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TAklPbw6ZkI/AAAAAAAAE9I/Sg16sPz6eQA/s1600/3249366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/TAklPbw6ZkI/AAAAAAAAE9I/Sg16sPz6eQA/s320/3249366.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Thanks for reading and for all of your support!Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-43458162811988022612010-05-04T20:50:00.000-07:002010-05-04T20:50:13.489-07:00May Day<div align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DpBCbMvvI/AAAAAAAAE54/rJdilpM_IsI/s1600/mayday8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DpBCbMvvI/AAAAAAAAE54/rJdilpM_IsI/s320/mayday8.jpg" tt="true" /></a></div><br />
Last weekend our club held a swap meet and show and shine. The swap meet was a smash hit and with the exception of the periodic cloud cover and wind, we had a great time at the show and shine too. Oh, and by the way—if you are ever trying to get to Lakeview Park in Nampa, Idaho, don’t Google it. If you do, you’ll wind up in a cul-de-sac in South Nampa and will be late arriving to the real Lakeview Park. Not that I would know from experience or anything. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DpENbsHqI/AAAAAAAAE6A/vPG4IQbP3Hs/s1600/mayday17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DpENbsHqI/AAAAAAAAE6A/vPG4IQbP3Hs/s400/mayday17.jpg" tt="true" width="263" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I didn't much feel like breaking out the ol' camera, so I (again) borrowed pictures from my fellow VW drivers. The photos on the grass were taken by Dustin Wark whose photography skills I greatly admire and who was nice enough to humor me by photographing my dirty bus...who you may notice has a new addition--safari windows!!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-Do74gtqPI/AAAAAAAAE5o/RAXc9L0KdDA/s1600/may+day+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-Do74gtqPI/AAAAAAAAE5o/RAXc9L0KdDA/s400/may+day+2.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-Do57o9DNI/AAAAAAAAE5g/5Yi4M8od0Ms/s1600/Jasmine+may+day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-Do57o9DNI/AAAAAAAAE5g/5Yi4M8od0Ms/s400/Jasmine+may+day.jpg" tt="true" width="182" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-Do2-vIwuI/AAAAAAAAE5Y/PFLmxU1vmw4/s1600/may+day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-Do2-vIwuI/AAAAAAAAE5Y/PFLmxU1vmw4/s400/may+day.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DqUypXfuI/AAAAAAAAE6Y/5vBBZUhPJfg/s1600/may+day+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DqUypXfuI/AAAAAAAAE6Y/5vBBZUhPJfg/s400/may+day+3.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DpJKfTzXI/AAAAAAAAE6Q/YFS9EuwxdZQ/s1600/mayday21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DpJKfTzXI/AAAAAAAAE6Q/YFS9EuwxdZQ/s320/mayday21.jpg" tt="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-Do-Y0iM9I/AAAAAAAAE5w/bMhTPBaE4D4/s1600/mayday1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-Do-Y0iM9I/AAAAAAAAE5w/bMhTPBaE4D4/s400/mayday1.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DpG422zuI/AAAAAAAAE6I/1WNfWr6-iQk/s1600/mayday20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S-DpG422zuI/AAAAAAAAE6I/1WNfWr6-iQk/s640/mayday20.jpg" tt="true" width="420" /></a></div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-7450487078809086542010-04-23T15:45:00.000-07:002010-04-23T15:46:45.640-07:00Day 4: Kelley Park VW ShowKelley Park is a really cool venue for a VW show. I don’t know much about its history but here’s what historysanjose.org has to say about it. “With 27 original and reproduction homes, businesses and landmarks History Park [in Kelley Park] highlights Santa Clara Valley's past. Complete with paved streets, running trolleys and a cafe, this 14-acre site has the charm and ambiance of times gone by.” I would add—is especially spectacular when lined with beautifully restored Volkswagens. For me, it just doesn’t get better than history, Volkswagens, and sunshine (well, my husband too, but I don’t want to get all sappy on ya) all together. <br />
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I think this is going to be best described in pictures. Here it is: Kelley Park 2010. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(oh, and thanks to my friends for letting me steal about half of these pictures…I don’t usually worry about photo disclaimers on this site but if you are going to use any of these pictures for monetary gain or something like that, then um…ask me first or something like that. Whatever you’re supposed to say.)</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhLF8sarI/AAAAAAAAE1s/wJiFYJc7ha0/s1600/KP14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhLF8sarI/AAAAAAAAE1s/wJiFYJc7ha0/s400/KP14.JPG" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhL3qioLI/AAAAAAAAE10/xiGS39Yhb4o/s1600/KP13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhL3qioLI/AAAAAAAAE10/xiGS39Yhb4o/s400/KP13.JPG" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhMxDHkqI/AAAAAAAAE2E/9-0T_AtqDiQ/s1600/KP11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhMxDHkqI/AAAAAAAAE2E/9-0T_AtqDiQ/s400/KP11.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhNq6ET4I/AAAAAAAAE2M/RodfpbKhlP8/s1600/KP10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhNq6ET4I/AAAAAAAAE2M/RodfpbKhlP8/s400/KP10.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhOeYL4QI/AAAAAAAAE2U/-iFXTGagQ54/s1600/KP9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhOeYL4QI/AAAAAAAAE2U/-iFXTGagQ54/s400/KP9.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhOzvMnbI/AAAAAAAAE2c/bb17qM5adMM/s1600/KP8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhOzvMnbI/AAAAAAAAE2c/bb17qM5adMM/s400/KP8.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhPyv_SqI/AAAAAAAAE2k/7rg7iVDWVVU/s1600/KP7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhPyv_SqI/AAAAAAAAE2k/7rg7iVDWVVU/s400/KP7.jpg" tt="true" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhQacBaII/AAAAAAAAE2s/Fk7gE3IuMkM/s1600/KP6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhQacBaII/AAAAAAAAE2s/Fk7gE3IuMkM/s400/KP6.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhRJlXriI/AAAAAAAAE20/kWlHXQsWeME/s1600/KP5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhRJlXriI/AAAAAAAAE20/kWlHXQsWeME/s400/KP5.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhSGNRueI/AAAAAAAAE28/mt8qZCj7HIg/s1600/KP3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhSGNRueI/AAAAAAAAE28/mt8qZCj7HIg/s400/KP3.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhS3tZkfI/AAAAAAAAE3E/BbxyjAhqEqc/s1600/KP2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhS3tZkfI/AAAAAAAAE3E/BbxyjAhqEqc/s400/KP2.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhTLotYkI/AAAAAAAAE3M/_PpNGZDnFnw/s1600/KP1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IhTLotYkI/AAAAAAAAE3M/_PpNGZDnFnw/s400/KP1.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IiCqmZNDI/AAAAAAAAE3U/qKN9Iu4y69c/s1600/KPtrip2010047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IiCqmZNDI/AAAAAAAAE3U/qKN9Iu4y69c/s400/KPtrip2010047.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IiVWlF7XI/AAAAAAAAE3c/orl5VmJ2-3A/s1600/KelleyPark10015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9IiVWlF7XI/AAAAAAAAE3c/orl5VmJ2-3A/s400/KelleyPark10015.jpg" tt="true" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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After the show ended, we headed home. Again, it was a long drive, but so much fun.Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-68778341319921333832010-04-22T15:36:00.000-07:002010-04-22T15:36:35.868-07:00Red Barn: Days 2 and 3<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Friday night, we headed to the Red Barn campout and swap meet. On the way there, we (sadly) spotted our club President’s 21 window bus pulled over on the shoulder of the freeway. This is the 2nd time our President has attempted to take this bus to an out of state show and the 2nd time the bus has broken down before arriving…actually barely after embarking. Sad, yes.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9DNt2ElqGI/AAAAAAAAE0M/DW2cisTp-OE/s1600/Chad+RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9DNt2ElqGI/AAAAAAAAE0M/DW2cisTp-OE/s400/Chad+RB.jpg" width="400" wt="true" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>The property where Red Barn takes place is a flea market parking lot which annually fills up with VWs, their owners, their dogs, and swap stuff. This was a seriously old school group. The 1970 bay window that was with us was probably the newest ACVW at the campout. The swap meet was fun and of a pretty decent size. We picked up two hubcaps at $5 each as we had lost two. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9DNu9hzhAI/AAAAAAAAE0c/nvhfIl_HCFs/s1600/RB2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9DNu9hzhAI/AAAAAAAAE0c/nvhfIl_HCFs/s400/RB2.JPG" width="400" wt="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9DNv3i5YoI/AAAAAAAAE0k/LglEiIooYOw/s1600/RB3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9DNv3i5YoI/AAAAAAAAE0k/LglEiIooYOw/s400/RB3.JPG" width="400" wt="true" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9DNtFFYKnI/AAAAAAAAE0E/wiWC0uL7YPI/s1600/Chad+freeway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S9DNtFFYKnI/AAAAAAAAE0E/wiWC0uL7YPI/s400/Chad+freeway.jpg" width="400" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
Upon leaving Red Barn, our group headed over to Santa Cruz where we walked around for what seemed like hours trying to agree on a satisfactory restaurant for lunch. Eventually the 14 of us got hungry and cranky and ended up at three separate restaurants. (Everyone made up after eating.)<br />
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</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">California is beautiful this time of year. </div><br />
Up next: Kelley ParkMinniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-15189048223721225082010-04-21T14:58:00.000-07:002010-04-21T15:00:50.536-07:00Kelley Park trip: days 1 and 2We started out bright and early last Thursday morning for our trip to Kelley Park. We were three ACVWs and some other car (I believe it was a Mitsubishi Montero). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89xuFnmy0I/AAAAAAAAEpQ/vTJ9sRQN-vc/s1600/Nash+Westy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89xuFnmy0I/AAAAAAAAEpQ/vTJ9sRQN-vc/s320/Nash+Westy.jpg" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
Our destination for Thursday night was Sacramento. I’ve made this drive several times in my life but I have to tell you, it is a LONG drive from here in a VW bus. Having said that, it was, of course, a relaxing and wonderfully fun drive. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89x1YxOlcI/AAAAAAAAEpY/vQSDPOoK5E4/s1600/DSC00227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89x1YxOlcI/AAAAAAAAEpY/vQSDPOoK5E4/s320/DSC00227.JPG" wt="true" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Friday, morning we spent some time in “Old Sac”. I wish I would have known a little more about its history before visiting, but it was excellent nonetheless. Old Sac is pretty much what you’d guess it is—the buildings and area of town where the modern city of Sacramento began. The buildings date to the mid 1800s and now contain entertaining little candy shops, gift shops, hat shops, and the like. Our favorite was Evangeline’s—an awesome novelty gift shop where we all spent a little cash and time.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89x69CSnfI/AAAAAAAAEpg/pprWIjbEUlg/s1600/DSC00234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89x69CSnfI/AAAAAAAAEpg/pprWIjbEUlg/s320/DSC00234.JPG" wt="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89x-M3WzHI/AAAAAAAAEpo/Ok312r12PmY/s1600/DSC00236.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89x-M3WzHI/AAAAAAAAEpo/Ok312r12PmY/s320/DSC00236.JPG" wt="true" /></a></div>Once the money in our parking meters had run out, we headed down to Mark Merrill’s shop party. On the way, a couple of things happened. First, I was navigating in my atlas as I regularly do and could see the shadow of our antenna which I could tell had something on the top of it—unusual. I finally looked out the window…you can see the reflection on this photo. <br />
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</div>I’m not going to tell you what it is--or what I yelled into my radio at my friends in the other cars. If you were at Kelley Park, you may have noticed this object on all of the Idaho VWs. So classy. <br />
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The second memorable event on the way to Mark Merrill's was as follows. A semi passed our caravan (which happened a lot) and as it did so, it ripped a cooler and small grill off of the top of the luggage rack of the white Westy that was with us and came bouncing down the freeway at our bus. Fortunately, the cooler made its way off of the road just in time and the grill causes minimal damage to our bus' nose. Whew. It was scary. Note to self. Keep only low profile objects in the luggage rack of our Westy.<br />
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</div>Back to the shop party. Astonishing. Breathtaking. Indescribable. Sacred. Mark has an amazingly incredible shop/museum where he houses some rare and perfectly restored VWs. I'll let the pictures talk.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yU3GzgrI/AAAAAAAAEqI/fgUgUvMr2VQ/s1600/DSC00242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yU3GzgrI/AAAAAAAAEqI/fgUgUvMr2VQ/s320/DSC00242.JPG" wt="true" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yYek8oaI/AAAAAAAAEqQ/bF9dmPNpjrY/s1600/DSC00243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yYek8oaI/AAAAAAAAEqQ/bF9dmPNpjrY/s320/DSC00243.JPG" wt="true" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yfam6lNI/AAAAAAAAEqg/-XkAGqHKzdM/s1600/DSC00249.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yfam6lNI/AAAAAAAAEqg/-XkAGqHKzdM/s320/DSC00249.JPG" wt="true" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yh0j40VI/AAAAAAAAEqo/VZrfC2X7bA4/s1600/DSC00250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yh0j40VI/AAAAAAAAEqo/VZrfC2X7bA4/s320/DSC00250.JPG" wt="true" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89ylM906cI/AAAAAAAAEqw/H5dtSmBGxhI/s1600/DSC00251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89ylM906cI/AAAAAAAAEqw/H5dtSmBGxhI/s320/DSC00251.JPG" wt="true" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yo5N7ATI/AAAAAAAAEq4/R7vz615Bv3k/s1600/DSC00252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89yo5N7ATI/AAAAAAAAEq4/R7vz615Bv3k/s320/DSC00252.JPG" wt="true" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89ysV3mEpI/AAAAAAAAErA/WbOHB3kFqjA/s1600/DSC00253.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89ysV3mEpI/AAAAAAAAErA/WbOHB3kFqjA/s320/DSC00253.JPG" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
Also in attendance was a double cab that was once owned and operated by the California Highway Patrol. Suposedly black is its original color. Sweet, eh?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89ywc4NS4I/AAAAAAAAErI/hOMBtYcQ76E/s1600/DSC00254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89ywc4NS4I/AAAAAAAAErI/hOMBtYcQ76E/s320/DSC00254.JPG" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
…and here’s my first look at a Hebmuller. Ooooooo, it was so fantastically beautiful. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89y1NAGFdI/AAAAAAAAErQ/CbizyHRX7vc/s1600/DSC00255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89y1NAGFdI/AAAAAAAAErQ/CbizyHRX7vc/s320/DSC00255.JPG" wt="true" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89y4W9i9mI/AAAAAAAAErY/CZWIZDQOUGs/s1600/DSC00256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S89y4W9i9mI/AAAAAAAAErY/CZWIZDQOUGs/s320/DSC00256.JPG" wt="true" /></a></div>Mark also had a room filled to the brim with VW toys, a library full of more VW literature than I’ve ever seen, and a hallway lined with VW ads. Words can’t do this place justice. Seriously, it was astonishing and completely worth the 15 hours of driving it took us to get there.<br />
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Up tomorrow: Red Barn.Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-89423106221108246362010-04-14T11:46:00.000-07:002010-04-14T11:48:06.505-07:00New Curtains--office geek styleA while back, I read <a href="http://misterjspictures.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-hang-curtains-in-your-bus-ghetto.html">this</a> post about hanging curtains in your bus "ghetto style" using springs which I thought was a sweet idea and I said to myself--nice. I'm all about rocking ghetto style curtains. <br />
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When we were <a href="http://pennyntranny.blogspot.com/2010/03/miracle-hot-springs.html">camping at Miracle Hot Springs</a> last month, we needed curtains so we took a bunch of towels (ahem, speaking of ghetto) and hung them up with binder clips which worked fantastically and I've now dubbed this--hanging bus curtains office geek style. <br />
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Our bus does not have a headliner which leaves available for our use a couple of really nice ridges all the way around (except on the rear hatch where we've got to use the hatch hinges). <br />
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I believe in our mess of a garage we do have the necessary rods for hanging the curtains correctly, but I'm really digging this new method for a few reasons. 1) In theory, the curtains will take longer to get dirty. 2) The curtains won't ever get in the way of the windows while driving (not that this is a huge issue, but it did happen on occassion in our Vanagon). 3) The curtains were beyond easy to make as I didn't have to sew cuffs for the rods to go through or hem them at the bottom. For that matter, I didn't have to be very careful about the size as they won't be hanging all of the time. It was a sweet deal--just surged the edges, made a bag for storage and we were good to go.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S8YLJVtOYLI/AAAAAAAAEow/nkp8GTaPeSY/s1600/IMG_1952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S8YLJVtOYLI/AAAAAAAAEow/nkp8GTaPeSY/s320/IMG_1952.jpg" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
The major disadvantage is that fewer people will see these curtains. Okay, come on, they're cute, right? I'm crazy about that fabric. <br />
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TOMORROW WE'RE HEADED TO CALIFORNIA!! We're caravaning with some of our ACVW pals and our final destination (please cross your fingers for us) is the <a href="http://www.ggcvvwca.org/KP2010.flier.w.kfjc.pdf">Kelley Park show</a> in San Jose on Sunday!! Also, deserving of multiple exclamation points is our plan to visit Mark Merrill's garage on Friday night!!! I've been dreaming about his library for several weeks now. <br />
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Adios for now and I'm sure (assuming all goes well) I'll have more VW pictures to share on Tuesday than you'll ever want to see in your life.Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-48531905066266208572010-03-29T15:56:00.000-07:002010-03-29T15:56:12.392-07:00Miracle Hot SpringsWe headed out of town Friday night. Destination: Miracle <a href="http://www.mhsprings.com/">Hot Springs</a>. As I mentioned in my previous post, this was our first road trip in BB and she totally kicked ass. We were very happy with her performance and are feeling slightly more comfortable with the upcoming California trip in 17 days (knock on wood). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S7Ev5_C2iuI/AAAAAAAAEmo/02LeJlhgS7M/s1600/C+and+M+Miracle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" nt="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S7Ev5_C2iuI/AAAAAAAAEmo/02LeJlhgS7M/s320/C+and+M+Miracle.jpg" /></a></div>We camped in the RV park at Miracle where we’d never stayed before. (On a previous trip, we rented the Queen dome at Miracle which was AWESOME.) Grateful for electricity, our space heater ran all night and we were nice and toasty. I went for a nice moonlit middle of the night walk to the bathroom (stumbling like a zombie as I had left my glasses in the bus) and the campground was quiet and clean and felt safe (which is always nice when camping). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S7Ev619HWvI/AAAAAAAAEmw/jZakcejHZTQ/s1600/BB+camping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" nt="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S7Ev619HWvI/AAAAAAAAEmw/jZakcejHZTQ/s320/BB+camping.jpg" /></a></div>Saturday morning, after a dip in the hot springs (aaahhhhhh) we headed to Craig’s parents house in Twin Falls where we changed BB’s oil (and as a bonus saw Craig’s mom, brother, sister-in-law, cousin Melissa and JAMES our nephew--he’s such a stud.) The good news was that there was only a little metal in the oil which our mechanic warned us would be there as this was our new engine’s 200 mile oil change. <br />
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We still can’t believe that she’s actually running.<br />
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Here’s our “to do” list before April 15<br />
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Install sliding door seal<br />
Install rear hatch seal<br />
Install radio<br />
Fix squeaky speedometer cable (it gets old fast)<br />
Try more solutions for keeping rain from coming in the westy top<br />
Remove tint from passenger window<br />
Remove crappy old foam pieces from the underside of the westy top.<br />
Hope for dry weather in California.Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-64772818263793566072010-03-26T16:00:00.000-07:002010-03-26T16:00:01.203-07:00history confusionSorry for the large gap between posts. It is amazing how moving will do that to you. Now that we’re unpacked and de-cluttered and all of that, we’re taking BB camping! It has been way way wwaaaaaayy too long and we are ready to get out of town! <br />
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Everyone (please!) cross your fingers for us as we take BB on her first (little 250 mile) road trip. She got new tires today—6 ply, light truck, load range C, 185 R14s for safety and peace of mind. <br />
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We picked BB up from the mechanic last night where he said he is very confident that BB was a European bus. Now—I’m confused as I ran the m-code plate through one of the super awesome online m-code decoders which revealed to me that the bus left the VW plant bound for Chicago (with a little stop at Westfalia). I trust my mechanic when he tells us that a) the fuse box is not correct for American buses and was not hacked in. The wiring harness is original to the bus, and b) there is a European license plate bolted into the engine compartment. I had noticed it but hadn’t thought about what it was. Now, having a European license plate in your engine compartment doesn’t exactly mean that a bus was from Europe, but it is just…well, weird. I understand that m-code plate decoders aren’t 100% reliable and I trust my mechanic, but now I’m stuck in royal history limbo. Any words of guidance out there?Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-83082538694856933062010-03-04T12:59:00.000-08:002010-03-04T12:59:37.956-08:00She's Alive!We picked BB up today and--look!!! Craig actually drove her and she moved down the road willingly with no pushing or pulling or other non-mechanical assistance required! She's got several electrical issues which need to be worked out so I'm going to try my hand at that...again. (Any hints/tips/assistance would be totally appreciated.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S5AeQ_E1WSI/AAAAAAAAElg/f94xfzjyfM0/s1600-h/DSC00184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S5AeQ_E1WSI/AAAAAAAAElg/f94xfzjyfM0/s320/DSC00184.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S5AeTFq6c_I/AAAAAAAAElw/IATvFoFmYnA/s1600-h/DSC00187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S5AeTFq6c_I/AAAAAAAAElw/IATvFoFmYnA/s320/DSC00187.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S5AeSCESaLI/AAAAAAAAElo/_yU3jYGKaiY/s1600-h/DSC00186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S5AeSCESaLI/AAAAAAAAElo/_yU3jYGKaiY/s320/DSC00186.JPG" /></a></div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939565550269490438.post-31103664857370015292010-03-03T13:49:00.000-08:002010-03-03T13:49:40.038-08:00So Much to Say<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47YsmWfhlI/AAAAAAAAEkc/0HTqGeZQVVg/s1600-h/bb2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47YsmWfhlI/AAAAAAAAEkc/0HTqGeZQVVg/s320/bb2.JPG" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Ha! My post title has lured you here under the guise that I have something relevant to say! Well, I don’t (although, do I ever?)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47YraktBnI/AAAAAAAAEkU/5_B1r71gkIU/s1600-h/BB.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47YraktBnI/AAAAAAAAEkU/5_B1r71gkIU/s320/BB.JPG" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1) We towed BB to the mechanic last week where she sits. Surprisingly this isn’t altogether inconvenient as we are in the process of moving across town and we don’t really need a non-running bus in the garage right now. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47Yt4h7TdI/AAAAAAAAEkk/uhmPpi5krD4/s1600-h/bb3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47Yt4h7TdI/AAAAAAAAEkk/uhmPpi5krD4/s320/bb3.JPG" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2) The Bus Pilots Association had their annual February Freezeout on Sunday, so Jasmine got a nice thorough $8 wash. (Usually we keep it under $5.)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47Y7B1GAaI/AAAAAAAAEk0/8R0HpXhFMvM/s1600-h/DSC00181.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47Y7B1GAaI/AAAAAAAAEk0/8R0HpXhFMvM/s320/DSC00181.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47Y5ddkxbI/AAAAAAAAEks/3WGMTEEKN1I/s1600-h/DSC00176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47Y5ddkxbI/AAAAAAAAEks/3WGMTEEKN1I/s320/DSC00176.JPG" /></a></div>3) Because I have so much to talk about, here are some "run by shootings" (i.e. VWs I passed on my running route a few weeks ago.)<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47ZE-O7qgI/AAAAAAAAElU/6JfN701QmLM/s1600-h/red+vw.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47ZE-O7qgI/AAAAAAAAElU/6JfN701QmLM/s320/red+vw.JPG" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47ZCMOjGmI/AAAAAAAAEk8/GuKx12coSMs/s1600-h/blue+bug.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47ZCMOjGmI/AAAAAAAAEk8/GuKx12coSMs/s320/blue+bug.JPG" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47ZDsTWJII/AAAAAAAAElM/lH6QTTyhKOQ/s1600-h/grey+bug.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47ZDsTWJII/AAAAAAAAElM/lH6QTTyhKOQ/s320/grey+bug.JPG" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">4) Also, we went geo-caching up at Tablerock a few weeks ago and parked next to this bug. It was a really bizarre location to find any, let alone two ACVWs. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47ZCjRybrI/AAAAAAAAElE/-5hp2ahfyMo/s1600-h/green+bug.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zoLG8EEHwA0/S47ZCjRybrI/AAAAAAAAElE/-5hp2ahfyMo/s320/green+bug.JPG" /></a></div>Minniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12781667687969481705noreply@blogger.com5