Getting her back in shape
Paul has a new build – Toyota Land Cruiser
April 29, 2021
Some days fly by smoothly when you’re building you van, other … don’t
May 2, 2021She is great
The 12v starter battery was more than dead when Mark walked up the van 6 days ago. He did bring the trickle charger but after 3 days of experiments that did not help much. Lead batteries are not meant to run this empty.
Mark and his brother Jorg had decided to go away for a weekend and with the battery issues, this meant they started the weekend by installing a € 250,- costing new 110amp hour battery.
After installation, the engine came to life and after a few minutes in the sun so came the rest of the van. With the van being used mostly as a delivery machine they had no clue what was left of the default setup the van is supposed to be, but they packed their closes and of they went.
It's hard to describe the feeling of freedom when you're on the road again. The closest thing is the moment you have your drivers license and you have your first drive on your own.
A connected diesel heater would have been nice
A connected diesel heater would have been more than nice, but with some 4 season sleeping bags, they survived the -2c nights.
Their mother Femke joined the party with her California the first 2 days and acted as a support van =so they had towels, a cheese slicer, potholders, washing-up brush and scouring pads.
After 40 years of loyal service, the gas pressure regulator set of the gas stove stopped working, but the backup sets were enough to make some very decent meals.
With this test run done -and with everything that was missing back in the van, it's time to get back to the van build.
