Polar Bear 1

[Zaskoda]

Finally got around to running the numbers on the trip to Burning Man. Here are the results:

Distance Traveled: 2376.7 miles
Fuel Consumed: 252.841 gallons
Cost of Fuel: $763.68
Avg Fuel Economy: 9.4mpg

Yeeeouch!

[jage]

Pounds of dust?

[Zaskoda]

Originally Posted by jage

Pounds of dust?

I had gear stacked high on the roof, a head wind on the way out, and came home through the mountains. I suspect I get better mileage at times... I need to break the mileage down in between gas stops instead of just doing the average for the entire trip....

I took her for a bit of a spin today:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaskoda/5364806343/

[Zaskoda]

So I finally spent a little time on the bear yesterday. My first mission was the fix the rear brake light. I thought it was a bad bulb. Turns out, a previous owner "fixed" it. One of the wires running to the bulb housing melted through the plastic housing. The fix the problem, someone cut back the plastic and ran a short wire up and around to the inside of the housing.

(sorry about the phone pics, not so clear)



The new wire wasn't making a clean contact where it was stuffed near the bulb anymore.. I plan to pick up a replacement, probably from the junk yard. Meanwhile, I just fixed the contact point... I also installed LED bulbs...

I also picked up a couple of $8 mirrors from the autoparts store. I really like them. =)



The rest of the day was spent on odds and ends like tightening loose bolts and cleaning things up... nothing exciting.

[Zaskoda]

I had an insanely productive day today. Unfortunately, I lost my camera so I have proof of nothing!... except for my mag light mount... I snapped a shot of that with my phone:



I positioned the flashlight so it would point directly at the breaker box. =D

So... here's the stuff I didn't get pictures of:

- The van body around the door peg (that peg thing the door "latches" to) on the driver's side had a tear in the metal. I got that welded up, ground down, and painted.

- I trimmed back the vinyl flooring around the door wells and laid down the trim on the well for the slider door. I also screwed down the rubber mat for that door well. I'll be pulling this all up later to add a little more vinyl trim work and insulation.

- I stuffed insulation in the slider door and made a hardboard panel for the door. I was a little surprised that I could hear a difference driving home. I guess that door was a bit louder than I thought.

- I adjusted the passenger door again and managed to improve the alignment a bit. I'm still not entirely content.

- Some other piddly things like working on trim, tightening screws,

I'm thinking of spending the night in the mountains in PB Saturday night to go snowboarding on Super Bowl Sunday... might stay until Monday. We'll see if I get myself together in time.

[Zaskoda]

I have yet to find my camera. This makes me sad. I may have to purchase a new one.

So I did end up sleeping in Polar Bear near the Copper Mountain. It was very cold that night, but we were able to stay warm with a couple of blankets and a bean bag. Before we parked for the night, I played around in one of the parking lots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaskoda/5425800888/

I seem to have jumped the gun a little bit and purchased a new project. I ran across a Bronco bumper on Craig's List. I once read that the frame on the old Boncos matched the Econolines so I met up with the guy to check it out. The curvature of the Bronco must be considerably greater than the Econolines as the bumper didn't match up very well at all. I was walking away and the guy offered it at $75. He just wanted to get it out of his garage.



So, I'm planning on extending the bumper a little and building in tool boxes. I will have to fabricate frame mounts. I also want to replace the grill guard. The style is a little boxier than what I had imagined building; however, I think starting with this will save me a lot of time and money.

I hope I find my camera soon. My phone takes horrible photos.

[TroySmith80]

Bummer about the camera! Bumper looks like it has a lot of potential. Hard to tell exactly from the photo, but I think i like the style.

[Zaskoda]

The other day I borrowed a friend's camera to take a shot of the door trim work I did. This is the slider door. I used the kind of trim that's meant for stair cases at Home Depot. I wanted something less blingy, but silver and copper were all they had available.

[TroySmith80]

Looks legit. Is the diamond plate rubber or aluminum?

[Zaskoda]

Originally Posted by TroySmith80

Looks legit. Is the diamond plate rubber or aluminum?

Vinyl... it's made for garage floors... there's a link somewhere back in this thread.