Misato's Progress

Misato is currently working hard as my daily driver. I've installed a CDI (capacitive discharge ignition) that has really done wonders for performance and reliability. I've put many, many miles on the bus since getting it back in late March, after it had been off the road for nearly six months. The mechanical work that was done was excellent in some respects, poor in others. For example, a bent torsion arm was not replaced, but the front end is nice and tight. It drives fine, but excessive camber in the passenger front wheel has caused the tire to feather quite a bit. At this point, I can not afford to replace the torsion arm. I have a straight one to use -- but I can't afford to replace the bad tire! It drives fine, so I will leave it that way until I have some more money available. The transmission is not sounding too great, it has always popped out of second and howled a bit in fourth, but it has been giving more trouble recently. There is about a millimeter or two of push-pull play in the passenger side rear wheel, which does not bode well for the RGB bearings. Besides the noise and second gear, however, I have not had any serious issues with the bus.

The body is looking pretty bad. The body work done in Cleveland is not the best -- I cannot recommend Phil to anybody after the quality of the work and the lengthy wait -- and it is starting to show. There is rust developing along much of the repair area. Phil left a gaping hole uncovered at the front of the cargo floor/bulkhead joint on the driver's side. To make things more embarassing, the nose is starting to crack. Yes, crack -- it's a badly done bondo job at the bottom. This is not Phil's doing, however. I love my bus, but I cannot justify putting any more money into repairing it. It's just too thrashed. But I'll probably never sell it, and I'll keep driving it and keeping it maintained, maybe someday I'll have the money to fix her up.

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astrogeek@dork.com


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Page last updated 07/01/00