it's all about the westy

in case you haven't noticed, i blog about my westy a lot.

yesterday, sarah came over in the morning and helped me clear out many of the nasty parts of the westy's interior. the carpet felt like someone had sprayed wd-40 all over it-- not just moist, but kind of oily. i was happy to throw it away. moisture had gotten into the insulation in the driver's side footwell and had started some corrosion but it looks like i caught it in time.

i've given it some thought, and i've realized that if i want to repaint the metal inside the van-- which i do, that choclate brown just does not fit into my color scheme and it's got too many corroded places-- i'm going to have to pull out all of the cabinetry. which is scary and pretty major, and something that will have to wait until this winter.

in the meantime, i'm hoping i can use some dense foam sheets i have already on the floor-- though ugly, i think they will be highly practical, and rubbery enough that they will grip the floor without needing to be glued or bolted down. the main issue is that when i first got them a few years ago, they were outgassing really badly and made me ill. they've been in my basement a long time though and may be ok now.

i'll need to buy new foam pads for the bed (the foam is disgusting), measure what i'll need for the bed slipcovers and for the curtains, and get all of that sewn in time for nbeast at the end of october.

of course, pulling all of that nasty stuff out of the van resulted in my living and dining rooms being even more cluttered and out of control than before-- and they were bothering me a lot before. so for my mental health i probably need to put some serious time into those two rooms before putting more time into the westy. however, i really have to finish the nbeast registration form before i do anything else. sigh.

:|:

after helping sarah pick up some drywall for her house (the westy needs to start earning her keep!!), i came home and sort of napped for a while... i was pretty beat. then i went to the first newbug carolinas meeting in probaby a year. we had four cars meet up at ooh la latte, and i saw my friends heather and john for the first time in probably two years. it was really nice to see them again. then a couple of us headed out to the drive-in. given that this was organized with less than a week's notice, we did really well on attendance. we never used to get more than four cars, anyway, back in the day.

:|:

this morning i drove to jason's house and we changed the oil in the westy and in his hyundai. it's a super-simple job-- actually even easier on the westy than on the hyundai. jason seemed to appreciate the design of the drain bolt on the van, as it allows the oil out without having to actually take the bolt all the way out. now that i am using OEM oil filters, i may just get the wrench made specifically for them-- the hardest part was using a strap wrench to pull the filter. the OEM filters have a cool looking little flange on the bottom specifically made to fit a particular oil filter wrench.

i also filled her with mobil delvac-1, which is super good, super expensive oil designed for heavy duty use (think: mack truck). it may be overkill-- but then again, it may be just enough kill. i'm all about babying this engine.

Posted by lisa at August 22, 2004 02:58 PM | TrackBack