Headlight Trim Ring

We noticed the right headlight trim was cracked the other day. This morning, I noticed something odd about the front of the bus. It look me a minute to notice that the headlight trim was missing. She looks so naked.

$20 replacement. This should at least be an easy part to install.

Discover the Combi Nation

Trying to spruce up the blog image abit today -- hunting down other VW bus blogs -- I stumbled upon a great site. Go surf: Magic Surf Bus. And I don't even surf.

A highlight for you: Discovering the Combi Nation first published in Motorhome Monthly (Sept 1998). This is a fantastic introduction to the mystical qualities of a VW bus. If you see me on the road, wave! I'll wave to you even if you aren't in a bus.

Cost per mile

Before the latest visit to the shop, I told myself that it was OK to spend more on Indy. She's been a fun learning experience already and the worst case scenario would be we'd sell her for a loss and recoup half our costs -- making the cost per mile around $6. I've made costlier mistakes. And best case, she's ours for another 100K miles and provides us with lots of adventure.

Surprisingly, the visit to the shop didn't feel expensive -- I'd prepared myself for worse. And so I ready to run the cost per mile numbers again.

Major expenses since the last report:
Replacement parts
New Battery
New (used) fuel pump
Gas (and that is no longer incidental at $2.5/gallon)
Hand soap
Throw pillows

A back of the napkin estimate says we've driven about 600 miles now. And without bringing up the spreadsheet of expenses (eyeballing the events since the Jan 5th estimate) it appears we may gone beneath the $10/mile milestone.

What about the theoretical minimum... say just gas. At 15 mpg and $2.5/gallon, that's about $0.2/mile. Of course, insurance and registration really ought to be considered part of the theoretical minimum at ~$400/year (?) and our insurance limit of 5000 mpyear means another $0.1/mile. Total: ~$0.3/mile. That's under the government reinbursement amount. Not sure the same can be said for the Hummer (we don't own one -- and won't until one can legally mount a submachine gun in the turret and stilll drive it on the California roads.)

Regrettably, we can't reasonably add in the cost of campgrounds and beach parking and camping gear and road trip snacks to the per mile costs. But given we'll soon have a working laptop (cheaper than the bus) Indy may be getting more short trips to Sunset Cliffs or the OB Pier for "work".

Out of Gas

I drove Indy into work today.

She had a bit of an issue going up the hill out of Mission Valley -- a little bit like sputtering and flooring didn't seem to help. I thought nothing of it while at the same time considered getting gas. But I was a running late and so figured I'd do that on the way home.

I went to Tai Chi after work. And didn't get gas before heading home. Indy didn't want to drive. Down shifting didn't help. Flooring the gas pedal didn't seem to help. But then she'd regain power. I made it onto the freeway but then she really started floundering. I think I made it off the exit ramp at 20mph and a few mad drivers behind me.

"Well," said Bob, "I think I'll pull into the gas station and hope something magic happens." I fill her up just because that's a good thing to do while waiting for the engine to cool. Not knowing what else to do, I try starting her. She powers out of the station without any fluttering. She makes it down the first block, then the second, without wheezing and asking for a break or slowing down without asking permission.

Best guess: out of gas and running on fumes.

She made it home running like a brand new bus.

Home repairs

AutoZone has a really nice "loaner" program. You can "borrow" a tool -- such as a steering wheel puller -- and return it when you are done for a full refund. That's the good news. The bad news is the puller didn't really fit Indy. Luckily the steering wheel basically flew off anyway.

The steering wheel was step #1 of replacing the turn signal switch. The repair manual made it seem simple. However, in the process of tearing the steering wheel apart I decided I wasn't ready for a 5 hour task and the very likely chance it wouldn't work and so I reassembled the existing bit. A picture here would be great but doesn't exist. The steering wheel went back together and still turns the wheels.

The previous owner had done a ducttape repair job on the turn signal switch. Instead of buying a new part, he put his own mechanical switch on the end and messed with the wiring to get it to work. Lots of electrical tape. After my first attempt today, I think 4+ hours and I could have undone his work and installed the new one. But I needed a simpler task.

Like... replacing the glove box. We had one of those horrible cardboard ones. I had a plastic replacement waiting for 6 months. I put in the new one. The only problem was a stripped screw holding the dash in place and I needed another 1/2 inch in order to fasten the glove box into place. I went to a longer screw. it should hold. And I need to remember to connect a few loose wires.

End result -- 3 hours in the sun, clean carpets, new glove box, and confidence that I can get the steering wheel off again someday. Now, do I return the SWP now or soon. But first, how about a trip to the dog park!

One step forward

After 4+ months of inactivity and a bus that wouldn't start, Indy lives . I finally realized I wouldn't be able to jump start her or wish her back into health so she went down to Rich's Auto Repair. She needed a fuel pump replacement.

Now she just needs a bath.

Trip Report: Vallecito Campground

This weekend we took Indy and Tender for their maiden camping trips.

We drove out I-8 to Ocotillo in Imperial County. The freeway goes up to an elevation of over 4000 feet. Indy was passed by at least on other large vehicle and countless other SUVs and cars. She did fine. The only scary part was the wind near Jacumba that blew us around a bit.

We headed up S2 past Canyon Si Nombre and the badlands to Vallecito Campground.
This country park is very rarely crowded and except for the wind is always a great spot for car camping. This time we were in spot #18 and pretty much had the choice of spots when we arrived around noon. The air in the desert was pretty hazy.

We decided to sleep in the upper bunk of the VW Camper. Plenty of space. The moon was almost full (awfully bright) and the coyotes yelped and hollered. We watched the sun come up in the morning and saw one of the coyotes wander past our site. Tender did great, sleeping on the bench in the camper.

On the return trip we went through Blair Valley to Scissors Crossing and up and over Julian. We refueled in Ramona -- down to EMPTY. Looks like we made about 15 mpg and likely could have made it home if we'd started with a full tank.

The important point of the trip was to see if the bus and the dog would like to camp. Both performed better than we could have hoped. The best news was everyone had a good time and we were home in time for the book club meeting.

Most important thing we forgot: matches.
Total mileage: 200.

Repairs: Brake & running lights

The right lights in the back weren't working. I was always worried about getting a ticket. And so today we did the first of our own repairs on the bus. It ends up just moving the bulbs from one side to the other fixed the issue. I doubt every repair will be that easy.

I've also ordered some parts for the next set of repairs...
replace the glove box
replace the turn signal switch
replace a couple of broken reflectors

None of these should be too hard either.

Commuting and cost per mile

I drove the bus to work. There wasn't much traffic in the morning today and so the drive was pleasant. I felt a connection to the school buses on the road; and at least one person smiled at me. Just the fact that I'm trying to look at other drivers makes the ride fun.

This puts us up to about 200 miles and reduces the cost per mile to around $25/mile.
/cheer. Next milestone -- $10/mile.

For comparison sake, I think my 1996 VW Cabrio is just below $0.6/mile adding up everything (cost, repairs/maintenance, insurance, registration, gas.)

Trip Report: Rain check please

So we were going to go out to the desert for New Year's Eve. But the weather report has rain and high winds and a storm warning. We figure there will be a nicer weekend to break in the bus. Instead, we are going to stay at home and cook and play games and watch the storm from inside.

Repairs: Windshield glass

All Star Glass came out today to replace the windshield glass. All new! The repairman suggested we had quite a bit of rust and a couple of holes already. Apparently this is common as there are not any holes so the water just sits and rusts. Not sure if it is an issue.

Indy started fine this morning and again around noon. So far so good on that front.

Repairs: Rear axle

Rich's Service replaced the two rear axles yesterday. The knocking when accelerating has stopped. /cheer. They decided to keep her overnight to double check the battery issue.

Today, after the torrential rain stopped, they also looked at the battery, starter, and charging system. Nothing apparent was wrong so they rechared the battery and performed a load test. Indy passed.

Here's hoping that she'll decide a camping trip is in order this weekend!

DMV

The title is ours. Indy is registered. The lines weren't bad since I had scheduled an appointment which mean an express queue.

The only thing of interest was the fact we'd crossed out something on the title -- the previous owner had started writing in his name where ours should have been; this meant to person helping me got to announce how careless we were to all her coworkers and I had to sign a form explaining the error. I lived. She laughed when she saw the odometer reading as ~39K miles. She said she had a 197X beetle and doubted the accuracy of the reading. It only has 5+1 digits so we can only guess how many times it has wrapped around.

Go visit the California Division of Motor Vehicle web page.

Trip Report: Cancelled

We had planned to go on a day trip to Anza-Borrego Desert today. Less than 250 miles mostly on Interstate 8, a couple of stops for short hikes, and a picnic lunch. Unfortunately Indy wouldn't start. The classic sounds of either an almost dead battery or the starter solenoid was all she could give us. Of course, we had everything included the dog inside the bus ready to go.

I didn't know whether to believe the stories about hitting it with a hammer, and the multimeter seemed to imply the battery was on the decline (<11 volts.) And since she was sheduled to return the Rich's Monday, we went East in the Kia instead.

We are hopeful that there will be a trip report here someday. And I refuse to do a trip report if we don't leave the city limits.

Stickers

Sophia and I spent an hour or so removing stickers from previous owners. The interior was covered with them. We left some of the VW ones.

repeat after me -- INSERT PHOTOS HERE.

I didn't get a giant bow to put on the bus as Christmas wrapping. What a great gift to ourselves. Thanks to both our parents who gave us wedding/holiday money that went towards the van.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Rich's Service Part I

Rich's Service (619-222-4684) is a necessary part of Indy's life. Some things are going to be beyond our ability. We took Indy in for an inspection and repairs on Wednesday (Dec 22). We couldn't get it in first thing in the morning because the battery had died and once it got to the mechanic it wouldn't start. So instead of looking at the knocking noise, they started with the electrical charging system.

Since this is a holiday weekend, we opted to pick her up after only half the work was done as the axel issue is necessary but wouldn't lead to additional problems if we drove the bus just a bit until Monday (home 5 blocks and perhaps 5 miles to the Point Loma tide pools on Sunday.)

The details:

* Repaired wiring to charge system
* replaced alternator and regulator
* recharged battery

That was the reason the battery died. I still have to track down the electrical drain though just to make sure.

We also had the mechanic perform a "before trip/sale checkout" inspection:

1 Compression readings 

    1) 120 2) 125 3) 115 4) 125

    Condition of plugs: OK

2 Check for oil leaks

    valve covers? (BOB-- not sure)

3 Brakes

    Lining: front 70%. rear 30%

    Rotor/drums: frontleft min. frontright min. rearleft max. rearright max.

4 Suspension/steering

    Ball Joints:   Boot cracked 

    Tie rods:      OK

    Steering gear: OK

    Struts\Shocks: OK

5 Lights

    right tail light and high beams inoperable

6 Wipers

    low speed only

7 tires/wheels

    lf OK. rf OK. lr OK. rr OK. spare/jack/lugnut OK

8 Glass

    windshield crack (BOB -- being replaced Wednesday)

9 Body/Paint

    dents: some

    rust:  some

    old body work: some

    overall: fair

10 Interior

    dash: fair (BOB -- something we might eventually replace)

    carpet: fair (BOB -- easy to replace)

    seats: fair (BOB -- we hope to reupholster)

    overall: fair

11 Heater/AC

    defroster: OK

12 Smog (BOB -- smog check on Monday/Tuesday)

    EGR OK. Air pump OK. PCV OK. Air filter OK

13 Belts OK

14 Hoses OK

Overall impression -- OK to fair

Recommended Service:
* rear axel (BOB -- that's part 2. and explains the knocking)
* left tail light (BOB -- perhaps just a missing bulb?)
* signal switch (BOB -- previous owner rigged something)

Surf Racks

Goodbye surf racks. I took them off "Independence" today.

We thought we might not be able to remove them because we didn't have the keys to the locks; but, the locks weren't locked and so the racks came off easily. The mounting brackets are still in place and if we want we can put the racks back on with a dummy surfboard.

The main reason we removed them was to reduce the weight of the camper poptop. It is heavy enough to lift without any extra weight. And since we don't surf (apologies to anyone who finds that impossible to believe).

Mechanical issues

OK. Here's the start of our initial repair list...

* smog inspection
* replacing the front window shield and seal
* CV for back left wheel (knocking noise when accelerating)
* find electrical drain (need VOM meter)
* replace door handles and locks.
* replace turn signal lever/switch
* replace a few broken reflectors.
* right side backup light
* And of course transfer the title and registration (DMV).

I have ordered a catalog from GoWesty. I'm sure there will be a bunch of interesting things we can patch up but the ones above are the known issues.

Note: Apparently if you are in California you will want to buy a 1975 Bus not a 1976 Bus as the 30 year smog check waiver will not apply to cars made after 1975.

Note2: the battery was dead this morning. I guess the drain is bigger than expected. ( UPDATE: Rich's thinks the battery may not have been charging due to the way it was hooked up -- sloppily.)

Note3: I figured out how to lock the sliding side door and so we can in fact lock the vehicle now. It just means that you have to enter from the side and not the front doors.

Note4: Inspection prior to purchase is a wise move. We are doing ours afterwards and hope that nothing else major is discovered. Her frame was decent and there is a new motor (~15K miles) and so everything else is cosmetic, or so we hope. :)

Rich's does this for $75. I'll post our results when ready.

I picked up a multimeter for $25. This will help with 100 little electrical issues.

Official Name: Independence

Honoring 1776 with a vehicle made in 1976, we have decided to name our westy "Independence." We can call it "Indy" for short and "Dense" when it is acting up.

First commute

A slight falsehood -- I picked S up at work and took her to lunch in the Bus. So I drove her commute route but wasn't technically commuting. She looks cute in the parking lot.

One of S's coworkers has a bus (not sure the year). He complimented our new baby. And another coworker is a big surfer and he checked out the interior with high compliments to all the surf stickers and original surf artwork on the walls.

INSERT PHOTOS (someday...)

First Trip

The first trip in the bus was to my Tai Chi class. I am not used to the high center of gravity and feel like I might tip over going around the freeway clover leafs.

She gets up to speed on the freeway nicely. But I don't think I'll be going 80 in her. The bus has a proper tempo for the way we'd like to live our lives -- slowly.