Somehow, I've managed to work my way to 300 posts over the last 7 years. Rather than a real-content post today, I'm going to reflect back kind of like when TV shows do a "best of" episode. Frankly, I hate it when TV shows do that, and promptly switch the channel when they do, so my following that model is actually kinda funny.
0 - 100: The Start of Many Things
Ranging from January of 2007 to September of 2009, my first 100 posts ran the gamut of topics. That's probably true of any cross-section. In looking at what was happening with the bus, the blog starts with him running the original type4 engine, but I soon started the TDI work. Early posts ranting on some old air-cooled vehicle abuses like removing the cooling system shifted to engine options and then to solving the install of a water-cooled plant into an air-cooled body. Deciding on the engine was recorded on April 13th, 2007 (see
Engine Decided) and a year later, the engine was still sitting on my garage floor, a failed first attempt on both the fuel tank relining and the engine mount had slowed me. That winter was spent getting the engine and transaxle to mate for the first time (see
first and
second attempts). I broke an adapter plate, and my spirit over that winter. It took going on the road to see the Dead and starting the separation from my ex-wife to get the project going again in early 2009. The first 100 posts ended with the new rear
engine mount being fabricated, the starter adapter solved (see
starter adapter corrected...), the vacuum completed (see
what's that soft sucking sound) and the fuel fill set up.
101-200: Transitions
Starting in September of 2009, this block of 100 posts carried through late July of 2011. I started this period sleeping in a spare room at my now ex-wife's house and ended this period completing a divorce and living in a townhouse apartment. Still, the middle section of 100 posts started with the same urgency which the first 100 had at the end, in terms of bus work. The fall of 2009 included the fuel tank (see
Fuel Tank Solved) shape / vacuum pump issue, buttoning up the turbo, vacuum, starter, CV joints and moving the bus off the mud and onto concrete for winter work. Over the Winter, the radiator/cooling was addressed (see Radiator
test-fitted,
shrouded and
Installed) and the bus project really started to roll. The hatch was finished, intake routed, electrical, clearing codes, finishing the coolant routing, primary electrical, etc. By December of 2010, my ex- and I had decided to call it quits. I spent January through March staying on my parent's couch trying to get the bus into a will-travel-under-own-power state before the divorce finalized. I was able to get him running-ish, and had a muffler installed by Meineke (see
Exhausted) during that working-remotely period. By April, I had a townhouse-style apartment with a dedicated garage space and focused a considerable amount of free time into the bus' interior. I swapped out the
fridge for storage, applied
more sound killer, installed an accessory battery and fuseblock (see
fused) and ended the late July with installing a Riviera pop-top in place of the original ripped-up Westy top.
201 - 300: Moving
Picking up in late July of 2011, the final 300 posts carry us to today (early November 2014). I started this period as a divorced father of 2 boys and an old bus, and I now conclude this period remarried father of 4 boys and an old bus. We moved out of the townhouse apartment when they raised my rent past the point I could afford, and into Boo's condo. From the condo, we moved into the house we've been in for 18 months now. Frequency of posts dropped during that housing change and life settled into a very different pattern of family play versus self mechanic'ing. This period, though, marks the time when the bus went from stationary project to daily driver. In August, we camped in him for the first time in years (see
One Small Step for Van). Later that Fall, we hit the road
to Eugene for Furthur but needed a
tow home. Like I've said before, the journey is the destination, and we had to pull the tank to get re-lined.
I returned the original engine harness to service, and struggled with coolant leaks while trying to keep him on the road. I discovered a new love of snowboarding, and bonded with a new family at Mt. Hood. The bus underwent more transformations as well. He has a middle row bench seat (see
Vanagon Seat Install, no longer has a grossly underused kitchenette (see
Enter Summer, exist posting) and has a rebuilt jalousie window (see parts
one and
two). I dropped his engine 3 times in this stretch of posts, twice having to separate the engine and transaxle. Both of his bumpers have been hammered straight-ish and painted to an
almost good-looking state (see front
1,
2,
3,
4 and
rear) and he now sports door cards as well as cards for most of the interior. The ceiling doesn't sag anymore. This past Summer, we had 3 flawless road trips to
Nye Beack on the Oregon coast,
Horning's Hideout and to the
Black Sheep Family Reunion.
So, What's Next?
I guess that's always the question when you don't draw a map ahead of time. I honestly don't know. Frankly, I couldn't have drawn a map to this point and I wouldn't have ended up here if I'd tried to. I look forward to many sights like the one below, simply driving the posted speed and enjoying the sights out the front windscreen. As before and always, thanks for following along.
