Well, It looks like the wiring diagram passed muster and now orders are being placed for the electrical gear.

This weekend we had a shoot for an amazing organization called the Wellness Pros. I am going to write a seperate post about that. But it was the first FMFAC shoot that we used the vanagon for. It was cool to load her up with gear and head out.

On the car upgrades/ repair side. We took her to have the engine looked over by a subaru specialist and he was impressed with the stoutness and condition of the engine. We changed the plugs which were just old and I am going to change the water pump and timing belt components because the belt was showing some wear. But no immediate rush.

Then it was on to the small, but needed little fixes and upgrades. First up was the antenna. The old one had snapped off and needed to be replaced. And of course what should have been 30 minutes to an hour, turned into a couple of hours because the locking nut on the antenna was… Well locked. So I used the dremel to cut it off.

Forgive the creepy latex glove. I was trying to keep the dirt out of my still healing thumb (remember the cooking accident). But the new one went in pretty easy and looks/works great.

Then is was one to the little details that no one is going to notice. I replaced the trim that runs the length of the van’s roof and the front edges of the door. This is where water drains and runs down to the ground. The old stuff was peeling off and faded, so we tossed it when the van was painted.

Next, I pulled the dash apart to install new light bulbs for the gauges. Some were burnt out and all were old. I replaced them with red LEDs and they look awesome and now i can see the odometer and clock at night. 🙂

The last item of the day was to make a clip to hold the front of the grill in place. The new grill has several posts that are supposed to push into the body, and then into clips that hold the posts in place. Well, as I was installing the grill the first time, one of my clips snapped from old age. Its not an expensive part to replace but its hard to find and since I had just successfully mastered my dremel tool, I was feeling confident. I decided to make one from some old metal I had removed from the car. Took about 20 minutes and it went right into place. Yup, I’m getting good at this!

This is going to be a good week. I want to finish the install of all the small remaining items I have on hand; locking drawers for under the front seats, rear bumper install, inclinometer (tells you if you are in danger of tipping over), air compressor, and air tank. We have to leave Thursday night to head to Seattle to have the pop-top installed, and begin the West Coast rennovations…you’re going to love the characters we meet there!