Though the car seemed to be fixed it wasn't completely. When we took it back from the automotive they told us to do a tuning and check back on the battery.
And the next morning it wouldn't start again. So we had the battery checked, it was good and got spark plugs, wiring, a carburetor. The stuff was exchanged and the car ran. We drove it two times the street up and down. And celebrated.
A few hours later, when I wanted to take it for my first ride - the street up and down - it wouldn't start. We tried and tried and tried. And it just made click.
So on saturday, we got the starter out. Brought it to a parts shop and let them test it. It wasn't working as it was supposed to. That was good news. Because otherwise we still had the problem but no way to figure out by ourselves how to solve it.
On Monday we went to Crystal River. There is a shop for used auto parts. They work kind of like a junkyard, but you don't have to pull out the parts from the vehicles by yourself. And the give a warranty. Well, anyway. We got a "new" starter there. And it cost us just half of the price of a new one.
Back home, Sisto put the starter in, reconnected the battery and we trembled. The car started immediately. Oh my, this moment of pure happiness. We would be able to drive that van through the country without being worried that it might not start at some time of the tour.
And I drove the van for the first time. Two times up and down the street.
And I drove the van for the first time. Two times up and down the street.
Then we finally got the rear seat belts out. Now it looks still biger and we don't have them in our way when we put the bed inside. That was hard work. The screws were rusty and the nuts nearly broken.
Today we wanted to fix last minor things.
1) A hole in the roof. The stupid former owner sealed it with some sort of play dough. That goo wasn't even hard or anything. There was so much water under the TV when we pulled it out some days ago. And rotten wood. Luckily not inside the insulation. Now we put a piece of alu onto that hole. Epoxy should work. And for sure will seal it when the glue is dry. Sitting on top of the roof is so much fun.
2) The broken headlight. We already got the light. But the assembly unfortunately was rusted through. So we went to a junkyard. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. 'cause it was so nice over there. All those cars. And rusty pieces in the sand. Just unbelievable hot. After that half hour we spent there, I was completely wet. The sweat was running down my legs. It was horrible. I don't like to sweat anyway. And this was so much sweat and no way to get rid of the heat. We got the assembly.
3) We got a horn, too.
4) And some little wiring connector for the fuel injection. The squirrel had taken it as dessert.
When we came home. We tried to put headlight and assembly in. But it didn't really work. Because the wooden piece (which the former owner rat guy put in) was just holding on two screws on the back, but did hang loose and way too far down in the front. So we went to the hardware store to get some metal strap to get a third fix point for the construction. This worked out perfectly. We were satisfied.
Then we wanted to have the horn in. We first cleaned out the spot where we found the broken horns before - there were two rusty remainings laying on the bottom. Do you want to know how much rust and dirt we swept out? The car really started to fall apart at that corner. After we could fix the horn to some spot, there was no wire for the minus pole inside the van. We just found a plus side wire. The wiring in the car is really fucked up. Really. That guy did a lot of self-wiring in there and most of it doesn't make any sense. Instead there's lots of loose contacts. So you have to always be careful when you pull the key if the car is completely out or still sucking energy.
When the horn was in and Sisto somehow connected the minus to the battery we went back to our main issue: the headlight. And found out that we still were missing one part. A tiny little spring that we didn't see befor and that would be holding one of the three points of the light. It was so rusted away that we didn't notice that it was part of the assembly. How stupid. But when we didn't got the light in we compared both sides and found that spring on the left side light. That was really annoying. We checked the auto shop and the hardware shop for the little spring, but they both did not sell it.
That means: going back to the junkyard tomorrow to get that tiny part.
And then, and then finally... we can drive the car!
(Ok, still need insurance and a license. But still.)
I can't believe we're nearly done!
