10 sleeps to go
2 plane tickets booked
rego sorted
kids sorted for the two days
borrowing money from rich uncle tomorrow morning
etag readied for the trip through Melbourne
what else...?
welcome to KK. have a safe trip.
ps.....i love the colour, why do you want to change it? _________________ Jean & Alex
____________
if it was meant to go fast, it wouldn't be brick shaped
Colour change - my wife really wants her bus to be two tone white over pastel pink with matching interior. Hey, its her bus...
I am getting excited. Four sleeps to go, and I have found that I can get Rustoleum in Australia after two weeks of getting the run-around. The more DIY I can give the bus, the more money we will have for other bits and pieces, like perhaps a beetle for me.
We left to begin the trip on Sunday morning, and were home on Wednesday night. This included driving to Penrith to drop 3 of the kids off to a relo on Sunday. Get up at 4am to fly to Melbourne, taxi to Craigieburn, use a D-shackle to rig up a baby-seat bolt, drive back to Tarcutter (lots of stopping for the 4 month old). Sleep at the pub (constant traffic noise, communal bathroom has never been cleaned). Tuesday drive the rest of the way home at a rate of 1 hour drive, 1 hour stop for 400 odd kilometers at 90-something km/h - a very long day. Sleep over in Penrith. Wednesday: talk to the Chief at Indian Automotive (VW specialist with a passion for Bays) and he checked it out mechanically and gave me a list. Drove an hour to drop in on my Mum as the Chief had the bus. Drove another 2 hours to then get home to Oberon. Home at 6pm to cook dinner. Watched Little Miss Sunshine for the first time, compared The List to the workshop manual and went to bed very happy.
More later today, I need to go cut up fire wood - its rather cold here.
Frankly, the previous owner spoke so much, and so highly of the bus (so obviously inflated in his own delusions of grandeur), that I was keen to get out of there as soon as possible, with the bus in any condition. Fortunately my cousin had already looked over the vehicle for me, taking a magnet to the whole body (well, special attention was paid to the corners, drivers feet area and wheel arches, and anywhere else that looked dodgy). He found signs of rust all over, though nothing large or deep. No signs of an accident. Everything is neat and straight. The engine was clean of grease, though dusty – a good sign that he hadn’t just degreased the engine bay. I had a quick look and was soon keen to move on.
She (he? Haven’t figured it out yet, though it will soon be mostly pink = she) drove like a dream. Sure, it took me till I was out of Craigieburn till I felt that I had any idea about the gearbox, and I panicked when I depressed the brake pedal at the petrol station (though I appeared very calm – I didn’t want to worry Emma), but then I just drove along at 90-something kilometres for hours on end. The hills disappeared beneath us like they didn’t exist. The kilometres seem to be feeding the bus with more and more energy and drive to go on and on and on. The fuel gauge slowly drifted left…
We used a D-shackle on the middle support of the back seat as a baby-bolt. Unfortunately 4 month old Alastair needed more rest stops then we did, and so the overall journey was slow. The pub we stayed in was terrible, but that is just part of the adventure. In Wodonga we stopped for food and parked next to another late model kombi – I had to take a photo of the two of them together.
I love everything about it: the way we all get out the sliding door together, and just all get back in that way too; how everything is backwards (engine, glovebox, heater controls, indicators, wiper controls); all the storage space (2 parents, 4 kids, dog, large old-style pram and two scooters were no problems).
In fact, here’s my
10 reasons why the Microbus is better than a Brand New Tarago (in no particular order):
1 Nobody says to you, “Wow, a Tarago. Now that brings back some memories…”
2 DIY servicing is much cheaper and you know that the oil filter really was changed.
3 The power windows will never break-down.
4 Not the remote central locking either,
5 Nor the dual climate control system.
6 Toyota expect you to pile all your gear vertically in the very back, with an average depth of 35cm.
7 Just how long will those gas struts hold up the heavy rear door of a Tarago?
8 My Microbus has made it 30 years so far – will the Tarago ever get there?
9 Tarago owners don’t wave to each other on the street with a big grin.
10 Who’d want a 12” Toyota badge across the front end?
I don’t have time for the list of why the Microbus is better than our 7 seat Patrol. Good 4WD, not a great people mover.
The Chief gave me a list of things to fix (I can’t quite read all the writing):
Mechanical:
Both front lower shock bushes c/s
Gear change bush missing
Play in all 4 ball joints
Handbrake cable cracked
w/cylinders weeping
rear shocks
Body:
Rust in drivers and passengers wheel arch
Middle seat outer mounts
Crack l/h side middle seat
All window frames <dunno>
Signs of rust
Drivers battery tray
I am very happy with that because I can do most of that myself.
Next step is to have a very good look at all those jobs and decide what I will get the Chief to fix before I hand the rego plates in.
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