Monday, May 14, 2012

Just say WOW!

Welcome Tesaje of The Arleth Adventures! Go check her out & give her some support. Her poor Collie needs surgery. All of us that have pets know the care & dedication involved with this. She also has a Motorhome built from a Sprinter! She's done some amazing work inside of it. She gets even more intense than I do with her RV. She recently replaced her own refridgerator & fixed the vents to it.

Today's post isn't about Ellie (my MH) for a change. It's about my dear old van. I should have a bumper sticker that states "My other vehicle is a gas guzzling conversion van"..then place a donation box on the bumper! ;-)  We bought this van brand new in 1996. It was gorgeous. My two previous vans were used vans, but we could not find another good deal on a used van. We actually bought the NEW van for the same price as someone had a used van listed for! So we jumped into her & drove her off the lot! They took the old van for her. Well the old van & a note. Some kind of note stating that we had to make monthly payments. But she's long paid for by now.

That was 16 years ago. She looked tired. Her a/c has an issue & doesn't work right now. I thought her transmission was sick, so she sat in the driveway for 6 long months. Then I finally gathered up the courage to get her checked out. Had her towed only to find out that she was not nearly as sick as I thought. It was just a transmission relay part. Total cost $247. Oh, my bad. So got her fixed up, got her street legal again (new inspection & new yearly license sticker). So it was GREAT to drive her again!! Then I found out that I could replace the dead cigarette lighter myself. I did NOT know that, so I did that & now have a 12volt fan plugged into it so I can get some air circulation till I get the a/c fixed.

This weekend, I decided to give her a bath. And wax her! Well, it's not actually wax, so I guess I polished her and WOW!!! WOW!! WOW!! I could not believe my eyes! My eyes could not believe my eyes. My mind could not believe my eyes. I was impressed! I picked up a bottle of NuFinish car polish. Designed for old tired paint on old tired vehicles. Now we're all sparkly & shiny! Look out, you might need your sunglasses to view! Here are some during & after pictures. I didn't take any total before pics as I never expected the results to be this fantastic! It didn't fare so well over the fiberglass tire cover, but that was a test area for me to try. The fiberglass top, running boards & tire cover need a new paint job. Actually before I polished her, I thought the entire van needed a new paint job. WOW! I'm soooo impressed! WOW! Did I say WOW???

Note the area below the side window by the drivers door. Note how dull it is. The entire van was like that!

Now note how you can see the wash bucket & the rest of the driveway image on the side panel. You can barely see the bucket in the before picture.

Rear corner panel before.

Rear corner panel after.

Look at those dull, dingy back doors.

Now look at her shine! I think she's smiling!!!

OK, so after a long day of this stuff, I called it quits. Still needed to do the front headlights. But OW took over my WOW factor. I HURT! I took my poor battered body to the shower. Then I gave it pain pills & treated my poor foot with the TENS unit. That helped, but man-o-man, what a job. I think I should get a smart car! Bet I could do that little sucker in 2 hours!

So the next day, I did the head lights. I still have to clean up the chrome hubcaps & treat the tires. Maybe I'll armor all the rubber part of the bumper too. In my next life.

So here is how the headlights turned out! Very cool! Now I can blind deer at night again..oops, I really don't do that. Really.
I used the head light cleaner stuff that's for old yellowed headlights. Again, WOW!

Before


After


This van has taken me to the east coast & to the west coast. It's been a good van in all these years & still runs strong at 219,000 miles! I almost sold it a couple of months ago. Now I'm glad I didn't. I really need a vehicle to drive as I plan on opening a business in the future & will be needing the van to carry my supplies in. Too bad I can't tow it. But I don't want Ellie (RV) to puke out her transmission! That would suck. Then I'd be going oh wow...well, actually not. 4 letter words would be used then. ;-)

She also got beaten up once in a WalMart parking lot in Galveston. Someone side swiped her while towing a boat. So she does bear some cosmetic scars from that adventure...oh well.


~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

17 comments:

  1. WOW, all that work makes me tired!! I imagine you are pretty worn out after a day of all that work.

    Sit and rest a bit.

    Have a great evening...

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    1. I did that on Saturday & yes, I was way ready to be finished. But glad I got it done. Thanks.

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  2. With a Smart car you just pour the NuFinish in a bowl and dip the car in it.

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    1. Hahahahaha, I do believe you are right!!! They sure are tiny cars...they scare me because they are so small. Someone was towing one behind a big ClassA & I told them their puppy was cute. ;-)

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  3. Very nice work there! Makes you feel good don't it? If we get the new to us 10 year old rig I'm going to attack it, which means two full days of top to bottom buffing and 3 full days of pain meds, scalding showers and whining to my wife. :)

    Great Job!

    Erik

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    1. Erik, I need to go catch up on your blog!! Sounds like I'm missing something. Mine was 10 years old when I bought it in 2006...now it's...older ;-)

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  4. It'll drive better now too! Thanks for the mention re: Arleth. I discovered her blog a couple of days ago. Good stuff.

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    1. Kim, it does feel that way. Now to find window cleaner that doesn't streak. Is there really such a thing?? I've got to get caught up on you too. I've been so busy & my internet has been so poor that I'm really behind now. Hope all is going well for you!

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  5. I wonder if that NuFinish would work on my old Volvo. Her beautiful teal green paint has faded badly in the scorching Arizona sun. She lived in Phoenix before she moved up here to the mountains. I mean the paint is so bad in areas you can almost see the base metal. Poor baby.

    Theresa

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    1. Theresa, it's worth a try! Got mine at WalMart. I think around $8.00?? I'd rather do a Volvo than a van ;-) One thing I noticed when I first started was that my rag was rubbing off green paint. I thought, uh oh. But I guess part of that was the oxidation or whatever you call it?

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  6. You can come out to California and do mine!

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  7. Looks great! I have a bottle of that, guess you actually have to use it for it to work!

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    1. Hmmm, yes, I think it works better that way ;-)

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  8. Thanks for all the support on my darling dog. She's heading into the surgery now. (I don't know why I hadn't joined your blog ages ago - been "talking" to you on WGS for a long time!)

    I love those new polymeric polishes. They are amazing. They are also easier to wipe off and polish than the old waxes and do a better job of protecting the finish. They aren't sensitive to getting sun on them or staying on too long before you polish, either. I should do my van again. It takes me days to wash and wax it, there's so much surface area.

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    1. I'll check out your blog later to get an update on your girl. I hope all goes well!
      The last time I did the ClassC, I tried to wax it in one day. Wow, that was tough! It usually takes me two days. The van was tough too, but yes, less surface area than the RV is. I use the RV wax for the fiberglass part of the RV. I'm thinking about doing the truck part with the Nufinish though. I waxed it about a month ago, but I'm so impressed with how my van looks! It's raining now & the water is beading up really nicely.

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  9. Well she looks spanking new! Good job! You can stand up in yours, right?

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