The Journey of Jake - Lexi's Bus (Was: And one more added)

[Sneaks]

I talked to the little lady, and yes a friend of hers made the avatar for her after she must have gone on and on about her new love.

I'm curious to see what his name will be, I call HER Paige but she swears it's a he so there's a little identity crisis going on and I don't want to confuse the poor but so we just call it Lexi's Bus.

Also she said that she is fine wiht the color if you think it looks good, how did it dry? little too blue was better than a little too red she says.

I was running out the door this morning because someone was trying to figure out what bow to put in her hair so I haven't really looked. I could ask Mikey but you know how that would go...

'Mikey, how does the test paint look?'
'Good dad, I've always liked that shade of green...'

I have some that .somehow. go on my hand *glares at chrissy* and seems much more purple now to me.

Ha! Good thing she didn't do your nails too!

Update on the bus, yes, fuser showed up with the paint and some tools for me to use, we did a little test swatch of the purple, I think it is going to look good. The green we haven't tested but in the can, it looks perfect. Poor Deb can't use her arm today from the sanding as fuser and I gabbed and poked and prodded all over the bus and Mikey's Suburban (which got its sticker today, yay) and generally did nothing.



And fuser, I decided to pass on the black 'burban. The exhaust issue I think is a cracked manifold and I'm really not up to another project right now. I don't even want to think about what an electrical nightmare it might end up being. Too bad cuz it went down the road nice and I like the 4x4, just not enough to give up my no-issues pink truck. The pink truck, btw, will hopefully be red by Sunday evening.

Between the typical Bay squat and slow leaks in the rear, it is a little saggy. I've got some nice m&s treads for the back and a littke adjustment to the torsios will hopefully resolve it.

I just reread that, I think fusers typing style is rubbing off on me.

[fusername]

carefull, i've heard i'm contagious

[sparklingredpepper]

I think his name will be Jake, right now the poor thing has no idea what gender he is... Jake is what I've been thinking, but I'll have to see once [it] is purple...

Don't let fuser's typing rub off on you, it's a dreadful thing to suddenly discover that you can't remember how to use apostrophes and vowels! Thanks for getting all the painting taken care of! I'm not very particular about the purple as long as it's not a)pale and b)too reddish, so I think it will be lovely. I'm looking forward to the new hue. And I have been reading (minimally) about engines in my spare (ha ha ha) time, and also looking up how to install stoves and such. Wheeeeeee

[Sneaks]

No pics but got a significant amount of work done the last two days. Most of the body is smooth. Fuser brought up some tools to help, tomorrow the major body repairs will be accomplished as well as finish sanding. SOF (Sister of Fuser) hung out with us for a while too, she got the $.50 tour of the yard then we all just sorta hung out in Chrissy's bus. Not sure why...but that is where we ended up.

Fuser brought up a tow bar so if we don't have a Bay on the road for Transporterfest, I can tow down one of the Beetles behind the 'burban so I can at least have a VW there.

Oh, and he delivered a nose for the smile.

[Piledriver]

I recognize that dent in the lower front of the passenger door, and bet it has a mate on the drivers side.

Trivia question--- what probably caused it?
(hint--- Folks in the great white north will know without thinking about it)

[Sneaks]

It does, and my daughter's bay has a matching pair...


We decided painting it was too much of a pain so we figured you could just cover it in purple fabric instead, whatcha think?



Gots a nose!



The weather today isn't very friendly - cool and windy - so I pulled the carb off for a rebuild. Apparently this was done recently by the PO but I think he was in an altered state when he thought of it cuz it was NASTY inside. Cleaned it up. The bus wasn't getting fuel, between the jammed needle and the float with less than 1mm of travel, I don't know why it wouldn't start . I'll put it back on tomorrow and see what happens.

[DannyK]

You ARE contagious ! I'm sealing the deal on an Orange '73 Tin-top Campmobile tomorrow. Now to just make room for it somewhere !

[Sneaks]

Dude...so what we drinking?

[DannyK]

Dude...so what we drinking?

Hah ! Yeah, I guess I lost that bet, rounds are on me !

[Sneaks]

Was almost me. Had a line on a vintage buggy yesterday but was about 2hrs late.

Tintops are cool even if fuser sez they are for people who like to camp but have no friends

[DannyK]

Tintops are cool even if fuser sez they are for people who like to camp but have no friends

Ouch, the truth hurts ! Seriously, I wanted a tin-top so I can carry canoes on the roof easier and I like the looks better. P.S. No rush on the bumper brackets, the Orange Bus has a set. Oh, and what's your brand of poison?

[fusername]

the tin tops do look nicer from the outside, no question about it. oh and the lack of drafts is nice when its well below freezing and you still ahve 3 more hours driving to do. however you better have some small and cuddly friends since they seat 5. The pop top does have the crux of no roof rack, unless you mount it in the fiberglass or remove it to pop the top, at which point there are smoe obvious problems.


roof racks are sexy, building one for a vanagon this winter, designed to fit aroudn the westy front fiberglass piece, may make a bay version for myself for light racks.

[sparklingredpepper]

That purple cloth is lovely. Who needs to see out the windows, right?

HE HAS A NOSE! Awesome

How much do roof racks tend to go for? I bummed around on craigslist for a while but I'm not sure if the bus would need a different kind than a normal car?

[Sneaks]

The pop top does have the crux of no roof rack, unless you mount it in the fiberglass or remove it to pop the top, at which point there are smoe obvious problems.

Unless you have an early bay westy which has a real rack instead of that fiberglass bathtub on the later ones...though I should shut it since I know of one later one that held pretty much the complete front end of a Super up there in a downpour....

That purple cloth is lovely. Who needs to see out the windows, right?

HE HAS A NOSE! Awesome

How much do roof racks tend to go for? I bummed around on craigslist for a while but I'm not sure if the bus would need a different kind than a normal car?

You know, the amazing Mr Fusername could probably whip you up a nice looking rack (god, that sounds so WRONG) to put up there. Yeh, a Bus is going to be different from a regular car-thule-rack-thingy. An old-school original one would probably put you back about what it would cost you to redo the interior of Jake.

So, I was traveling most of the day (moving my mom out west) and it is raining. Still. BUUUUUUuuuuut, it wasn't a wasted day. I put the carb back on him.

And.

He

STARTED!

Didn't run long or well, backfiring through the carb and the choke needs to be adjusted but HE RUNS! Hopefully tomorrow, after the battery is charged, I can set the timing better and adjust the choke so it doesn't fling itself open when cold instead of 4/5ths shut.

[fusername]

if i could make all my friends the rack they wanted, I would have a much bigger group of friends.
reason # 473, or is it...

anyways any rain gutter/drip edge roof rack will work, there are lots of modular ones that can be made to work, just keep an eye to CL for it. everything can be had on CL. I will be building a roof rack pretty soon for a friend, and the hardest part of the design is makeing somethign to go to the rain gutter, and made harder by the fact we are fighting around his westy top. However we have somethign that SOUNDS easy enough written down, if it works it should be no big deal to make jake a hat. be doing this kind of work over winter break, cause everyone loves doing metal fab in 30 deg weather.

or you could go the baja express way and just weld some steel to your roof and call it a rack...