Making progress

Okay, episode 5 is up!  This week I got the wipers off (don't ask me why, you have to take them off for engine removal apparently) the hood off, the radiatior and radiator resivoir, battery, battery pan and some bit of relay (I think maybe a thermostat) taken out. 

So far I have the alternator, and power steering pump to take out, and the air conditioning condenser to move.  After that, I think it's time for lift out!

On something of a down note, I have to get another passenger side wiper arm, as you'll see in the video.  Hopefully this will be cheap.  I've also got some before and after shots of the interior.

Before:

After:

The dirver's side looks just as improved, but I don't have a good before shot.  I haven't shampood the floors yet, but they're next.

And without further delay, episode five!

Disturbing revalation

I took this video on Wednessday, but am just getting around to uploading it today. I've been very busy remodeling the bathroom.

Suffice to say, nothing went right, and while I planned to be done by now, I have succeeded in putting in the new floor. The painting can be done over the week after work, and the shower stall is just going to have to wait for a while, I'm pooped!

But enough about that, you're here for the car. I did finally get it up on jacks and should have at least most of the fluids out of it this weekend. I also did some vacuuming and cleaning on the inside of the car. It still needs a good shampoo and another wash, but it's starting to come along!

Sadly, as you can see at the end of the video, there is, yet another, complication. I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle that yet. Maybe I'll post about it on diyelectriccar.com and see if anyone has dealt with tracking down a leak like that before. Leave comments if you have!

Going to the car wash!

Well, I didn't get as much done today as I wanted, but it was a start. I spent about two hours washing the car today. It still doesn't shine like a diamond, but at least it's clean enough to be crawling around. I still need to vacuum and shampoo the inside before I start driving off, but that's a ways off yet anyway.

Let's start with the video and go from there!



You can see some of the grime, but the video camera is not exactly super crisp. Here are some stills I took:

Before:



After:



You saw the hood in the video as before. Here's after:



And one last shot, while I was cleaning the roof, I took a shot while I had cleaned one side and not the other:



Yuck!

So what's on the agenda now that it's basically clean?

1) Get the tarp up (tomorrow)
2) Get it on stands (tomrrow)
3) Get the tires off and get them inflated (this week)
4) Get the various fluids out and disposed of (this week)
5) Start removing bits! (Hopefully, this weekend).

In particular for step 5, I need to get the clutch plate out so I can get it to EV America for the adapter, along with some other parts.

All the tools and work needed to tow the car with U-Haul set me back on the budget quite a bit, but next week I'll get the second payment on my car, so that'll perk things up. I ended up having to pay to have the hitch receive installed because the leaf springs had to be supported to do it. Then they had to wire the trailer lights, and I bought the wrong sized ball hitch the first time. While none of it was very expensive, the whole thing ended up being about $420! Plus, to really take the cake, I backed into the fence like an idiot and cracked one of the tail light covers on the van. No real harm done, but it'll probably take another $80 to get that fixed. I'm looking for ways to cust costs where I can but there's not a whole lot to be done. I think I may come in just a hair over budget, unless I can get a deal on the batteries. It won't kill me to go over, but I'm trying to keep it as low as possible and still have a vehicle that meets my specs.