Rack Attack

I have gone to bed almost every night since I put the small rack on my bus thinking "I'm going to order the 45 inch top rack for my bus when I wake up, I promise myself this time", but when I get online and look at the 427 dollar price tag, I get clammy and my throat tightens and my mouth goes dentist dam cotton dry and I feel faint like I just married the wrong person and quickly exit out.  That's quite a pricey accessory.  Today, I said "Fuck it!!!!" and within two minutes and about three clicks, I had ordered my rack from cip1 to match my front rack.  I think my fear with hesitating was it no longer being available and not having matching split racks.  For me that's like....well it would never happen.  Which is why I finally ordered the rack.
I have a few items to do next on my list and a twelve window (twelve window, not a typo) tint is numero uno.  The cost sends bile up my throat.  But, I like good looking cars so I'm going to do it!!!  Curtains, still on the list.  Hanging over my head, gaaah!  That project is not fun for me.  It's super stressful but it will be done. 
I also received an email today stating fed ex has shipped my aluminum side step. Earlier than expected!  So excited! The day of arrival is suppose to be June 6.  Busdepot.com is a really slow shipping company compared to socalimports.  socal gets stuff out and on my bus in three days, and it comes from canada.
I don't have a respectable "thing" hanging from my rearview mirror, not even my bus shaped air freshener is holding up (I miss that marshmallow smell already!), so the day before yesterday I went down to the sun dog and put in an order for a ten inch mostly macrame, stones and a bell to hang from it, worthy of up to an 80 dollar price tag.  I said "I want something chunky and similar to the bell that hangs on the entrance door of this store." and if you have ever been to the sun dog, you know what I'm talking about.  I said it can be made with no time restrictions, no rush. "Ooooh, a challenge!" was my response.  I liked that. :)
I have been popping off the chrome trim on my bus to sand them down with wet sandpaper, grit 240, 400, 600, 1000, 1500 and 2000, then polishing them with compound and then a chrome polish.  I have officially removed almost every centimeter of corrosion and dents and dings on the trim, I can't believe what a difference it is.  And to think, I thought about buying an entire new set for like, 280 bucks.  Pass, I made them look close enough to brand new by hand. 
What I have learned about this bus so far is, if you are a DIY lover, a volkswagen is your dream vehicle.  I like how it keeps me busy and challenged and always making me do little things to tinker with it.  My hands are always black around my fingers and I swear my fingernails have to just grow up and be trimmed to stay clean. 
It's also amazing how many people have left notes with their phone numbers if I ever want to sell my bus jammed in my door, under my wiper blade, or even left on my seat.  And it's also amazing how many more people approach me about it.
GOOD news; the license plate I won off of ebay is going to work!  It was made during a certain number of years that style of license plate was assigned to my year of bus.  So I have to wait to get something in the mail (not my registration; something else....) so I can turn it into a collector vehicle *and never have to pay a tab for it again!!!* and sport the vintage plate on it.  It's going to be so cool.
Sometimes late when I can't sleep and those weird 3am thoughts where we think we can do shit we don't know how to do, I  think I can order a spray gun to touch up paint it with my air compressor. "I'll just start with the white trim...." WTF slow down Kel.  I'm so ahead of myself.... :)

fog lights, bumper guards, eyelids, rack, rain guards, accessory heaven

pro sign made this sticker for me

alabama arkansas

Driving my bus for the first time with the stereo installed, I didn't play three dog night's "joy to the world" like I preplanned.  I got in my bus and thought "No, Kel, this is 2011, not 1971." and so I chose to listen to a song that always makes me extremely happy;  I played "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.  Blasted it.  How I love that song.

Joy To The Fishes In The Deep Blue Sea

The picture of the double half rack I said I couldn't find in my last post, I already posted in a blog previously and I didn't even notice it was the picture I was referring to; I didn't know I had already posted said picture.  It was like love at first sight but I took a double take. :)
My appointment is tomorrow at MI for my stereo and I'm super excited.  I'm going to play the number one hit from 1971 as the first song, which was "Joy To The World" by Three Dog Night, and its so hokey and I'm so soft and lame and carefree in my personality, it fits. It's going to put a really geeky dorky smile on my face as I laugh and roll my eyes in the moment, and wonder how many times the wheels on the bus went round and round while it played that song. Maybe a hundred, maybe not even once.  But as of tomorrow, at least once. PS I adore the blue star sweater. It's so martini.

Life is fantastic. :)

pinstripe, flap attack and addicted to parts

I can't stop ordering stuff!  Yesterday I ordered $451 worth of stuff....and one I am super thrilled about but will leave for last to mention....
German chrome cranks for my windows
Finger guards for my inside door handles
Accelerator pedal spring
Gas pedal pivot spring
Accelerator pedal
German pedal pads
foot pedal rod to floor seal
boot for accelerator pedal
(and the reason for the accelerator stuff is whenever I depress the accelerator pedal, no matter how much wd-40 I have squirted into that entire area, it still makes this funny squeaking sound that used to make me laugh, but now makes me not laugh as much.  It was cute and quirky.  Now it's just annoying.  So I thought to go ahead and get a whole new setup so the depression of the accelerator is smooth and not so jerky, and quiet and not so nails on a chalkboard.)
emergency brake handle grip (mine is soooo tattered, it's been pulled billions of times)
empi glove box (mine is cardboard, this one is plastic)
and last but not least and the  most exciting of all
a empi westy above front cab wood slat roof rack which set me back a pretty penny but worth it!

What I love about this roof rack, is the majority of bus owners either do a full front to back roof rack, but since I have a sunroof, I am going to do the short up front, and then a longer one in back.  Like this one in back but still with my short one in front.  It will look awesome split up like that.

I have seen a picture of a bus where it had a sunroof and used two racks, but  now I can't seem to find it.

Also I received my white mud flaps UPS today, but I'm having difficulties with figuring out how to put them on.  I am not exactly in the patient mood today, so I will have to figure it out another time.  The wind is my excuse.  

So this afternoon I went to AutoZone and bought a 1/8th inch roll of black pinstripe to sharpen the look between the white and the blue.  This is how it looks and I'm glad I did it.

I'm trying to get everything I can think of before I move away in September, because I know I won't be able to afford these big things once I do.  Trying to crank it out now while I can. Ok, until next time, which hopefully will be a pic of my mudflaps installed. :)

locks, panels and seats

Yesterday I removed the driver and passenger window roller, latch, and door pull to access the outside door handles to install key matched handles.  Yes, I can finally lock and unlock my doors with a key now.  Sort of.  Not my driver side.  Let me digress and say I had to order a spring for the key latch because it's 40 years worn, I can't turn the key on the outside and unlock it.  I went ahead and ordered three new springs because...three is better than one?  Because I don't want to eff it up and have to order another one and wait another week!  And I figure I might as well freshen up the passenger door spring while I'm at it.  Perfectionist.
Anyway...
Behind the panel lived an old school speaker so long ago forgotten which made me literally crack up out loud.  Hello 1971!  One tattered, torn (and paper pulp no less) 4" speaker pumped out Janis Joplin in 1971 and god knows what was the last song it played in his little lifespan.  Don't worry Nigel; in one week you'll be fitted with quite the stereo setup and Janis, your music will not be heard without all the intention you sing with.  I thought since I had the panels off, I might as well take some naptha and wipe around the edges of all the sticky dirt which accumulated over the years on the metal, so I did that.  Pretty pleased.  Then I took the panels inside and used an exacto knife to cut and shape the pieces of the fresh air arm rest which had been snapped in the same two corners on both panels so it looked like it never had snapped anywhere :) I'm crafty.  Then I just took a brush and soap to them and cleaned the hell out of them.  Then some vinyl treatment to give them a nice, new shiny look and smell. Beth resides in the side mirror by chance.

Today I drove to a wrecking yard.  No.  I drove to two wrecking yards and not one volkswagen was to be found.  Not a bus, not a bug, not a ghia, not a thing, not a hatch, not a one.  I found one 1300 bug engine lid by chance resting on a frontloader.  I didn't have my phone with me or I would have taken a picture.  It looked pretty cool sitting there.  I also saw a really old and very unique jeep truck with a once gorgeous paint job in it's day. So, no random doohickey part.  It is fun though, wandering around a salvage yard and looking at cars stripped of almost all things useable.  So I returned home, disappointed I didn't have a box of random shit to add to my bus; disappointed I didn't even find a bus for that matter, and wondered what I was going to work on next.  So I sat in the back seat and just looked around.  And the back seat belts....OEM.  So OEM their age had rusted them from being able to adjust to a wearer's waist size.  So I thought I would take them out and soak them.  Which, turned out to mean, I would have to remove the back seat.  And to remove the back seat, I also had to remove the middle seat.  Leaving me with this.....

Which was all fine and wasn't too difficult.  I thought to scrub the seats with hot water mixed with fabric softener (soap?  what is that?) and a giant brush so I could hose them off in the grass.  After I finished that, I took the seat belts inside and scrubbed them from brown to black.  More rust and dirt and crap came out of those things I ever could have imagined, but now they slide and adjust more like they should.  They look great, and I just adore they have a 1971 made in germany tag on all three.  Done and done. 

I also christened my bumper guard bottle opener.  At noon.  With a Guinness. I beamed and scoffed.  Howboutthat

Fwaps fwaps

Today I made three separate online orders for bus stuff. 

I ordered white mud flaps for my bus.  They are SO hard to find.  I found a pair with a VW symbol on it; most flaps I have been finding have empi on it, and that's a brand of a product, and while I like empi, I prefer the simplicity of the VW symbol.  So, here are what the flaps I bought look like.  It's hard to find them with brackets, but I did find a pair.

I also ordered 4" chrome with clear lens fog lights to put on my front bumper on the outsides of my bumper guards.  I have a nice little spot on my dash for a light switch, and I swear to myself and my blue sweetheart I will go to a wrecking yard THIS WEEK and look for spare switches and doohickeys needing to be re-homed and reused and appreciated again. :)

Last but not least, I ordered stainless steel vent shade guards.  They go on the front passenger and driver side windows.  I love this picture and the reflection of the bus.  :)

Also, I installed the rear window turn buckles and line and it is scary to drill into the metal of your own car, but it turned out perfect and it's just waiting for a curtain.  I am going to have to really muster up some talent to get this done.  However, I have also thought about measuring, cutting and pinning my curtains myself and then taking them down to seamstress mary's (BOMB PLACE AWESOME WORK) and have them sew them for me.  I'm truly just that bad at it.

Bumper Guards

Well, I got my bumper guards and put a vintage coke bottle opener on the driver side.  I do what I say and say what I do!  Pretty happy with the results.  I think two fog lights on the outside should make the front finish up and look nice.  Contemplating on getting a euro license plate made for the front to match the numbers of my vintage plate for the reason...just think it would look cool to have a euro plate on the front.  I also removed the orange reflectors from the inside of my turn signals to give it a cleaner, white/clear look.  I'm pleased.  My side step is on back order until JUNE, but I'm more than patient so I can wait. 
I'm about to drive to Lowe's to get some turn buckle hardware to start fabricating some curtain holders/rods although they aren't rods.  I'm going to use clear rubber coated wire so if they get saggy with time, I can tighten them down.  Then I'm going to figure out how the eff I'm going to make curtains because I can't sew a straight line sans thread across a piece of blank paper.  But I'm going to do it because I don't know anyone who sews.  Blue and white gingham check is what I'm going for, and if I can add rickrack around the edges....CUTE!  So Joann's is on today's list (yuck save me) for fifteen yards of fabric to wrap my bus.  Tiebacks would be next on the list and I'll make those with black leather straps and snap buttons.
I made my appointment at mobile innovations this afternoon, and will be having the door panels cut into and some kenwood speakers installed along with the kenwood deck I bought for it back in November.  I burned $350 today at MI and my appointment is May 16th.  :) HAPPY HAPPY!

T and Me

The Day Tony Dropped Off The Bus