A Few Pics on the Car

I've noticed that I've neglected to provide some photos for my last few posts on this subject. Here's some pics of the fixes I've implemented.

Several layers of cardboard wadded under a few strips of electrical tape.

There's the button the door is supposed to depress.

The new starter motor! Look how shiny it is. If you don't think so, compare it to the old one below.

Yeah. Anything that comes into contact with it gets smudged with black residue.

Starter Motor Replaced

Agh.... so just when I thought the car was finally in pleasurable driving condition I got in today and turned the key....and nothing. No sound at all.

Gorram starter died on me. Out of spite, I'm sure.

Couple hours later: replaced with a re-manufactured one and the car starts so smooth, I tell you what. Not surprised, they don't make any new ones for this old car.

When I finally reconnected the battery cables and fired up the engine I felt a satisfaction much different from getting a good grade on a test. There was a sense of accomplishment altogether unlike something abstract like finishing a long paper.

Fixed Door.. Sorta

So I solved the Door Ajar problem. Not electronically, mind you, but mechanically. Disconnecting that wire would have required that I remove the junction block to access the Body Control Module and that's just too much trouble for now. I padded the door where it makes contact, correction: should make contact, with the sensor switch so that it no longer triggers whilst I'm driving.

Rear View Mirror

Ya know what? I've always wondered what that tab on the rear view mirror was for. While reading through the vehicle owner's manual I found a passage calling it "Night-time Mode" to reduce headlight glare. I thought, "Huh? How does that work? When I flip this tab the mirror aims up into the ceiling, man. That is not useful...." But then I gave it a try last night and it worked! Oh hohoho, so that's what the horizontal corrugation inside the mirror was...

Van Pics

Today I was surprised to learn that the Chrysler corporation closed down their Plymouth brand a full decade ago. No more Plymouth Voyagers. Ever.

As promised, I present pictures of the van.

The Interior

You can see Ding Dong hanging on the ledge there.

Check out the cutting edge TAPE player, man!! State of the art sound system right hee-ah!

Someone bought an alligator skin pattern steering wheel cover. I can't get it off....

These days the headlight controls and the windshield wiper controls come together on the stick there. This car still has the headlight buttons on the separate panel, see?

The instrument panel is completely devoid of electronic displays. It's all old school meters here.

A handy storage unit in the center.

In case you were curious what that device was: my mp3 player, a Zen X-Fi from Creative. Not an iPod. Also, yes, I'm listening to K-pop.

In case you were curious what that reflection was: my camera, a Panasonic DMC-TZ4 with wide-angle lens! The 福 sticker doesn't come with. (O_<)

Under the steering column. Somewhere to the top left is the fuse block and behind that is the Body Control Module which I'll have to tinker with to disable that Door Ajar sensor.

The Exterior

The left rear tire is missing its hubcap. How unsightly....

The high contrast caused by the sunlight hides a lot of the blemishes on camera. You might be interested to know that this happens to be a common technique used by girls when taking their own Facebook profile pics. What trickery, eh?

This minivan is the mid-level SE model of Voyager.

From this angle the car looks slightly longer than true.

Here's a good angle where you can clearly see the paint blemishes on the hood.

The roof is actually pretty ok. That rust needs to come out though.

 And there you have it. First car worthy, certainly.

Found It!

Found the source of the 'Door Ajar' problem. It wasn't the sliding door in my case, Bonjour Tristesse, it's the front passenger door. It isn't loose in the lock but the sensor disengages sporadically. Fortunately, this means I don't have to accept the klaxon. If I open and and shut the door (in a safely parked location, naturally) the light goes off. For a while, at any rate. I'm going to look into shorting the sensor.

Agh!!!!

So the car and I have been getting a feel for each other and it's actually not too bad. Not as responsive as the newer van we have, for obvious reasons. It's a Honda Odyssey, by the way.

Spent a few hours today cleaning up the interior even more, throwing out trash left in there by Baby and mom. I'm sure they won't miss it. (⌐⌐.) (.¬¬)

It ain't sparkly clean but it's better. The worst thing is that a door sensor somewhere is malfunctioning, such that the 'Door Ajar' alert comes on intermittently for no reason. It gets annoying, man. Real annoying.

Almost as annoying as this guy.

Sweet!

So I bought two tires to replace the worn front pair on the van yesterday. I was surprised by how dramatically different the tread depths were when compared side by side. Mmmm, that's some nice traction right there. The rear tires will remain old and worn for now though.
Let me put my best tires forward!!!!

So with a shiny new windshield and two sparkly firm tires my dad took it down to get a state inspection and it passed!

Win!

Pics later. Be warned, the paint job and interior look perfectly suitably beat-up to serve as a "first car".

Driving Level Up

So you know how you know when you've really gotten comfortable driving? When you feel like people who are driving at speeds less than or equal to the speed limit are going too slowly.

When I first started to learn I had a similar reaction to this guy:

How I Met Your Mother - Barney Learns to Drive
Get More: How I Met Your Mother - Barney Learns to Drive

Not really but I sure enjoyed acting like that while I could.

Time Traveling In the Van

So in yet another incremental step towards fully operational status I vacuum-cleaned the van today and cleared out all the accumulated pens, erasers, papers, wrappers, craft-sy projects Baby made in grade school, etc. You know: trash. Tomorrow I'm going to go in with a scrubby sponge for the fine cleaning but for now it is much improved.

Whilst going through that clutter I found a lot of old toys from way back in the day. Including one Monopoly game piece: the car. It was actually kind of eerie to see some of these toys again.

A Good Day's Work

So I've been fixing up an old van to drive as my very own. When I got back from uni there was this large crack across the windshield and the engine has all kinds of problems. Still, it's definitely perfectly beat up to serve as a 'first car' haha. (^__^)

Manually replaced the windshield today and drove it around the parking lot a bit. It definitely sounds like it's seen plenty of years.

Tired. That's all folks.