What have you done to/with your van today?

[chevymaher]

I walked past her patted the hood and said good girl. Checked oil and other make busy.

[MechBob]

Drove winter van down to mailbox,and back.Picked up Christmas presents that i bought for myself.

[Mmusicman]

Took my 92 V8 van out of the garage this weekend to do a couple local car shows.
It's been sitting most of the year and needs some love.
Wiped the dust off the windshield... hooked up the battery.

It still has old fuel in it from the beginning of the year.
I cranked it for several minutes before I decided it wasn't starting and needed help.
It typically usually starts right up immediately, without issue.

Fuel pressure showed good on gauge... tach showed timing spark.

The Holley carb I "upgraded" to apparently does NOT like sitting for long periods, especially with old fuel in it. So I recalled an old carburetor trick.. got out the small hammer and proceeded to tap on the front fuel bowl. This un-lodged the "needle and seat"... It fired right up. All is well again. Brought the hammer with me to the shows.

(sorry.. no picture of the hammer)

Sidenote:
A buddy of mine (driving a nice 70 GTO) and I caught the same traffic light driving home.
When the light turned green, we found that we both suddenly developed "traction issues".
We suspect there may have been an issue with the asphalt.
I think the cars behind us probably got quite a show!

Rest of the ride home was uneventful.
92 goes back in the garage (unhook battery) .. coming out in Jan for my next local show.

My 2000 does the longer distance shows.
Got one in Miami Springs next weekend... you're all invited.

Cheers

[jimi_lee]

Replaced oil cooler lines. What a pain. Several hours for a 2-bolt job. Could have been 30 minutes if i had just started by removing the fan shrouds.

What do you think? Does all that leaked-oil gunk protect against rust?

[Leeann_93]

It's amazing how easy some tasks are when you remove the shrouds. It's also amazing what I'll do to avoid removing the lower shroud...

Anything the oily gunk is gooped on won't rust unless there's already rust underneath it. I'd clean it all, inspect it and then undercoat it, but I hate getting oily goop on me when I'm working on the van.

[sixsix]

... When the light turned green, we found that we both suddenly developed "traction issues".

Well, do we have the results yet... ?

[Mmusicman]

Well, do we have the results yet... ?

Results were a little "inconclusive"... but I'd have to say the GTO won.

I heard both sets of tires burning heavily...
It was unclear who had bigger traction issues, and when traction was gained.
The GTO (lighter car with bigger engine).. seemed to get barely a nose ahead (as expected), but not much.
Mostly side by side... must have been quite a spectacle.

I was loaded with sound equipment too.. but you go with what you have!
With better control.. results "may" have been different.

But we both came away with BIG smiles!
It was a good day!

[Rod's Trucks]

Not a whole lot to report this week. It did get a bath, and I swept out the interior from a previous wet weekend in the mountains.
Rod J
Issaquah, WA

[Leeann_93]

I found the ignition key I lost in the driveway on Wednesday.

Phew.

[sixsix]

I found the ignition key I lost in the driveway on Wednesday.

Phew.

I knew there was something that got you really irritated...

[icebrrg3rd]

Well, it's what I did over the weekend and into Monday. Crawled under it and looked for leaks.

Line is damp up front for the rear brakes.

DING DING, I think I found the leak.

LOOK MA, NO BRAKES!!!

Replaced with nickel copper lines.

I'm going to write-up a more detailed post in the brakes section, so stay tuned for all the details there.

-Andrew

[Rockridge]

[Mmusicman]

SNOW PLOW! How COOL!
Come down here to South Florida and you can push some beach sand around.. lol

[Leeann_93]

Snowplow!

That looks like it can push a lot more snow than the little plow on our Cub Cadet.


I drove mine up to the Pittsburgh area to do a mom exchange - my best friend's mom lives about an hour and a half from here, so her dad got her to my house Friday night. We left at 7:30am yesterday morning and pulled into the parking lot (which is 2 mins from exactly halfway) at 11:30am. My best friend got stuck at the really long light, so she was 3 mins behind us We ate lunch (sitting in the van because PA has no inside dining) and went our separate ways.

I got 16.5 for the trip, pushing 75-80 mph the whole way through the hills. Not a bad day, except for the rain while we ate lunch, and the traffic wasn't bad, either. They had rain the whole way from there to Detroit, but I never saw another drop.

[Mmusicman]

Holiday car show last night in Miami Springs.
It's currently 82, clear and sunny here today.
Other car shows here today.. but not mine.
Unloading the van... and give it a quick clean.

UPDATE: Here's our projected December weather forecast for the rest of the week...

I got 16.5 for the trip, pushing 75-80 mph the whole way through the hills.

That's EXCELLENT! For some reason, I get better mileage in the hills too.
Doing 80 last night on flat highway.. I was getting 15mpg. That's about my best.
Jumps up considerably if I slow down a little.. but that's how fast everyone drives here.

[Big_kid]

I actually drove mine to home depot today. I'd never needed a line level until today, now I have one. I also saw some tropical looking shrubs that caught my eye, I may have to go back.

[Astrocurious]

The Miami weather looks good, shame its not warm and sunny here at the moment.



I think we had our quota of snow last week it was only light but still caused chaos on the roads. We don't usually get much in the south east so hopefully this will be all for the winter!

My van passed its MOT (annual check) a few weeks ago with no advisories but I did notice that the water pump and the power steering hoses were leaking so I decided to replace them. Not many pictures I'm afraid but here is a picture of the items I removed. I didn't replace the PS pump as it seemed ok but now I have clean fluid and a new belt on the engine its starting to groan a bit. Looks like I will be back under the van next year at some point!



While everything was open I took a bit of time to clean the exposed parts of the chassis and double check the radiator support for rust, its definitely weakening in that area and I expect I will be welding very shortly.





Thanks to everyones advice on here I had no real problems bleeding either systems. The Power steering took a long time but it was pretty straightforward. I did have a bit of kickback on the brake pedal when I had my first test drive but an evening driving through the neighbourhood with my son looking at Christmas lights soon cleared the remaining air.

Thanks

[sixsix]

... Thanks

Dang - that is Clean and Tidy - well cared for.
No... Thank You for the pics.

[Rockridge]

Nothing

[Rod's Trucks]

Where is the new snow plow?
Rod J