Buena vista tunnels

This is das bus in the tunnels just north east of buena vista, byron took the picture after we finished rock climbing.

Bug in

I forgot to mention that jeremy and i received second place in our respected classes at the Bandamere Bug-In!!! So excited about that!

Blog

So my blog is not very interesting when my life is. so far about 4000 miles on the swap and everything is going great! i do have a few leaks that i need to fix, the transmission is leaking so im going to send it back once my life slows down. The fuel tank filler necks are also leaking, ill replace those in the next week.

I have been rafting in buena vista since july 16(the day i finished my bus, and my birthday) while making time to travel to texas to pick up jeremy, and north dakota to drop him off. We took his Gli, which did so well on the highway despite the clutch going out the night before, forcing a 2am-6am clutch overhaul. He averaged 31 mpg and we hit a top speed of 112mph, according to the gps, before it began to slightly miss.

The drive back we went through a portion of Sturgis wearing bandanas on our faces initiating the motorcycle wave; those who waved back were weekend warriors and cubical cruisers, the non wavers should be avoided in dark alleys. 

Yesterday i took two great friends rafting, Pat Mcguire and Chris Mcdermott. We had a blast, froze a little, drank a beer and ate lunch on a cave, styled our lines through browns, ran the prefect clean line through seidels then came to denver to eat Thai with the newly engaged Ryan Welborn. epic sunday.

Now i need to figure out my 6 month life plan. School? travel? work on cars? save the world? i can't loose my optimism in the world, someone once said when you're young you want to change the world, when you get a little older you become realistic about your abilities, and when you're old you become comfortable with the way the world works.  I never want to be comfortable.

2000 miles

So far the bus has logged over 2000 miles since july 16, the day of its completion and my birfday. The best mpg so far has been 35, thet was on the way to texas and the worst has been 28...not bad for a tissue box on wheels!

Road trippin!

On the first big road trip for the bus! So far we have made it from denver to buena vista twice and now Ol shoot and i are on our way back from a top secrete trip to an unknown location in the northsouthern united states, in a land stolen from the Russianese to pick up the stickiest of the ickiest. Once the contraband has been acquired we will hide the bricks in the fuel tank and sell our rimes for top dollar at the flea market disguised as russian nesting dolls and let grown men loose control abusing substances known as spit #thissongissick. Ear drums working half speed cant keep up, needing water rest and a luna bar resorting to holding a change filled cup. Puff Daddy, P-diddy, Diddy, or Daddy threatens young lives with death for in exchange for youth suffrage in 04, but the youth deny allowing bush to continue a search for a towel in the sand box, sand box in a distant neighbors yard, not the cool neighbor with the muscle car, but the dick head with a pool which he never swims in, and a diving board which cant support his shamoo sized whale tail. His wife drives an outie, like the belly button, windows deep like the president, wheel gap like strahans toofs, a stuck up broad drinking tall carmel machieto, half calf, splash of nutmeg, room for low fat soy whip, 4 crushed valliums, all in an eco friendly corn composting container that does more harm than good. fuck bitches get money shouted her sandbox owning husband as he shoos away the tiny tim from the blue lagoon of darkness and death, That pool is for me, little bitch. Sandbox man buys my spit at fair market value, as determined by coffee companies; 4 cents an hour is a fair wage but 3 cents is too cheep, oh and tell that little kid dont let his do do covered hands touch the outside of the bag. His wife is hooked on my drugs.

IT RUNS!!!!

It runs! i took it on a cruise around the block last night! it was awesome

Had to buy this high torque 1.9hp starter to turnover the 23 to 1 compression diesel. I believe the old engine was around 7 to 1, the TDI is 3 times the compression!

Gearing

Here is the gearing of the new transmission. i might need bigger rear tires.

Busy working on non-VW's

My brother Josh and I welded a new bed on his dt466 dumptruck. It was a pita, but worth it for my bro, bra. we used 3/16 inch walls, 3 inch channel and 2 inch angle iron to construct the monster. The total cost of steel was around 1200 bucks. wow. through the whole project we only had 3 casualties, a harbor freight angle grinder...which is expected, a 5 year old craftsman 26 gallon compressor and the worst was my baby, millermatic 175 welder, it only needs a new gun to be back in action.

P.s. Nothing compliments a tattoo like a cutoff tshirt.

Defenese its french. I need to spell check before i paint. this keeps me humble.

Just finished paint, but i lost my camera while rafting on saturday so a cell phone picture will have to do.

Test fitting the bumper, grill and mirror. looks so dope.

now i need to decide what to do with the top half. leave it white or paint it black?

Paint me.

So this is the paint step on my bus project. I used 3 coats of automotive grade primer sanding with 400 grit sandpaper in between. Then painted the body with Rustoleum black gloss paint cutting it with acetone. 

 

Awkward

Just bought my first tranny. I'm scared and excited. What if "it" doesnt work after the operation/rebuild? Tension is in the air. Thank you Don from http://www.donsbusbox.com/rebuilt.html in helping to build the best tranny colfax avenue has ever seen.

Tranny woes.

So i called the tranny shop who was in possession of my tranny, they told me they could figure out how to reassemble the tranny after a partial disassemble so i got a box full of tranny parts. ive never spent much time around trannys so i didnt know what to do, i couldnt tell what was important and what could be thrown away, how did the main input shaft connect inside the tranny? Luckily i found a man in arizona who knows trannys well, the ins and outs; for the record I do not envy his knowledge; so i sent my broken tranny to him hoping he can slide the bearings on the shafts and put the ring on the pinion to get my tranny back into good strong tranny shape. Bangkok has my tranny now.

Update

 This is a quick sketch of my plans for the bumper. I decided to focus more on a clean strong base rather than the bulky off road style brush guards.

Freshly bent tubing. Bends @ 14 inches on each side and in the center @ 30 inches

 Welded together with rounded corners to give it a little fresh smile once its mounted. The 4 inch braces are 10 inches apart.

Painted that beautiful green, i call it post st pattys day vomit.
Funny story. This whole project i have been enthralled with the possibility of a zombie apocalypse, so when i was building the bumper i thought out loud "this is a week point if i hit multiple zombies." so i added reinforcements to withstand driving through a large crowd of zombies.

Trim paint

 The mirrors, wipers, bumpers and the front vent will be painted green.

Custom built rear bumper that i mad a few years back, now I'm going to match it with a zombie stabbing, living dead crushing front bumper, infused with inspiration from a field of lilies.

Paint? gosh, i need to wrench or else im going to fall deeply in love with bondo.

 This is the current idea for the paint scheme. Flat black body with green accents (number 3 in the test below)

 My to-do list is shrinking!!!

 Brand Spankin New CV Axles!

 Girl entrance.

Bones entrance. Ill definitely need to repaint those stencils.
Tomorrow I'm going to fix the dent in the front, bondo my nemesis, wont leave me alone.
I hope the transmission shop calls me with a quote, im going to be running tight on cash for the trip. i guess that means it's time to sell plasma....and a kidney....and sperm.....and my hair, they can clone it and discover the wonders of its lusciousness.   

 This is a flat black paint on the driver side vent, it's too glossy for my taste. I want charcoal.

 Passenger vent post bondo and primer

 Look what i found in the fuel tank...was someone siphoning my fuel and lost a hose. I hope someone tries this once its full of diesel hahahahahahahaha.

New fuel level sender, yes please!

Still waiting on:
-Transmission to be rebuilt
-Rear axles
-Rear axle bearings
-Fuel tank tap for return line
-Random engine gaskets