It was warm last night in the van. It’s been hotter lately outside, so that makes sense. The week or so that we had in the 80s has given way again to the 90s, but that’s to be expected: It’s the end of July.
I ran Rover’s AC many times during the day and into the night. I’m really grateful that it works. And I’m really grateful that it works really really well. It’s nice cold AC. Even at a dead stop with no extra air blowing across the condenser to help cool everything down.
I think I slept better last night, despite the heat, then I have normally.
No spideys in the traps overnight. One larger ant.
I spent the morning unloading the van. It had been loaded less effectively, so I completely unloaded everything out of it To make it easier to sort through stuff that still needed to be sorted through and to then more effectively load everything inside for easier access to each tool or supply or whatever.
As I was unloading the van, I remembered that I had been toying with the idea of cutting an access hatch over the fuel tank so that I could access the fuel pump without having to drop the tank.
I was working on that when my mom showed up keep me company/help me sort through things.
I have such a wonderful mother.
Cutting an access panel through the floorboard of the van turned out to be much more challenging than I expected. My biggest concern going in was cutting everything without starting a fire. Unfortunately, very quickly, I realized that was not going to be the biggest challenge.
As I crawled underneath the van to get my bearings for where the fuel pump was, I realized that this was the first vehicle in 7 years as a mechanic where I couldn’t see, even with my phone, where on the tank the pump was located.
😶
The tank itself, along with the protective shielding, was so tightly pressed up against the floorboard that there was no way to see where the pump was on the tank.
Good freaking gravy.
I looked up what the tank was supposed to look like, so I could get an idea where on the tank the pump was, but the picture online, though it did look like it was relatively correct, wasn’t precise in the proportions.
I ended up doing my very best to follow the fuel line in to where it looked like it might Branch off to the pump.
Then, After removing the rubber flooring That lines the entire van floor, including all the little brackets where seats are supposed to latch into the floor, I got my drill and drill bit, lined up where I thought the pump might be, and drilled a pilot hole.
No dice. I was able to see through to the ground, and realized that I was only barely on the edge of the tank.
So I drilled Another hole a little bit further into the van, but basically on the same line, and immediately after going through the floorboard hit metal.
Ugh. ðŸ˜
What on Earth would be there that was metal right next to the floorboard? It didn’t make any sense.
Discouraged, I drilled another pallet hole A handful of inches more toward the rear of the van from that latest hole well basically in the same line.
That one went all the way through, and far enough that I was worried that I might have punctured the tank.
I was pretty frustrated at that point.
Then I took a look at what the fuel pump itself looked like, and it just so happened that on the very top of the fuel pump, there was a big round metal dealie.
So I got a much larger drill bit, and I drilled that same hole that I had drilled that had hit that piece of metal, but I drilled the hole a lot wider so I could get a better look at what that piece of metal was.
Turns out, that piece of metal that I hit was actually the fuel pump.
🥳
Now I knew where the pump was, and I knew the basic size of the inlet that the pump goes into on the tank itself, so I was able to take my magic marker and Mark out an access plate that I figured would do the job.
I grabbed my grinder, and I cut the three sides that I was confident in (my mom having brought over one of my fire extinguishers from one of my pieces of heavy equipment to be ready just in case), then I pried that up, used a square to measure the distance from my first cut to the back side that hadn’t yet been cut just to make sure that I had plenty of access to turn the tank lid when needed.
Amazingly, the square showed that my original guess was pretty much spot on. 🎉
Despite it being spot on, I decided to add an extra 3/4 of an inch or so to the length of the access plate I was cutting, just to be safe.
My battery ran out of juice with about 2 in left of the access panel to cut. Fortunately, the metal was thin enough that I could just bend it back and forth and back and forth and back and forth until it broke in line with the rest of the access panel.
🥳
And there it was.
I don’t know for sure if we’re even going to do the trip, and though I didn’t do this last time, I have greater peace of mind knowing that if the pump goes out while we’re driving on our trip, I can at least replace it quickly and easily without having to do the beastly work of disconnecting a bajillion things and draining and dropping the fuel tank. Especially since on a trip like that, we’re not going to be bringing two Jacks and multiple jack stands. One Jack and one jack stand aren’t enough to do the tank job properly, so this access panel is going to be fabulous if It happens that we end up needing to replace the pump.
One of the things that I found When I removed the flooring was that the floor underneath the flooring was pretty badly rested in some spots. In fact, it was so badly rusted in a few spots that it was rusted all the way through, and you could see ground underneath the van.
😅
That actually turned out to be a good thing In at least one way: I’m no longer very concerned about making sure I do a really great job getting the rest off and getting a solid coat of paint on. I’m just going to do a quick and dirty job. Sand down to metal, wipe off with alcohol, spray paint primer, and roll on white paint.
That way the van will at least look somewhat presentable, as opposed to what it looked like last time. 😅
Anyway, like I said, still don’t know if we’re even going to do this trip, but we might. If so, we’ll probably be a lot like it was last time. Lots of the same places, probably. We’ll see.
One of the other things that I did while I had the flooring out was to grind off some bolts in the back that stuck up through the floor. They’ve been a nuisance forever and ever, but I’ve never done anything about them until today. I grabbed my grinder, ground them completely off, and now they are no longer a stubbed toe hazard, nor are they an obstacle to have to work around when loading the van full of stuff.
🥳
I set ET’s flooring on the back of my trailer, upside down, so the sun could dry out the moisture that was underneath. I’m sure that’s contributed to the rust. 🙃
Then my mom and I got to sorting And consolidating.
As we went through each of the bins that we’d previously loaded with stuff, the first question was something to the effect of “is this worth the time and energy it’s going to take to store store.”
If the answer was no, then it went in the pile of things to give away or sell. If the answer was yes, then the next question was something like “Will this go in a vehicle tool box, in ET, the shed, or is it a personal item?”
The last question was something like, “can this be consolidated with anything else?”
I’m probably getting the questions wrong, but that was the basic idea. Each time we moved on to new bin, my mom would ask the questions that I had come up with to help me stay focused and productive.
As we moved from bin to bin, we ended up consolidating what was previously separated into the various bins into probably half the number of bins we previously had.
🥳
Sort, sort, sort
As we went along, we pulled parts and supplies and tools and what not from the various bins we were sorting and consolidating, and we added those particular things to four separate bins, one for each of the vehicles I’m keeping.
Those bins will be kept in the individual vehicles, with the parts, tools, and supplies necessary for that vehicle. I’m trying to make sure each vehicle has its own set of basic tools, as well as supplies and maybe even some extra parts (though the extra parts is going to mostly be for vehicles that will be road trip vehicles.)
Funny, as I was sorting and what not, I noticed that one of the tools that I had looked like it might be for sharpening my ax. So I grabbed my ax, ran it through the sharpener a couple times, and then rubbed my finger along what I thought was the side and not the blade of the ax, just to see if the rust was even coming off with the sharpener, and apparently, my hand eye coordination must not be so great, because my ax sliced into my finger like a razor blade. 😅
Apparently, it’s nice and sharp. 🙃
Lots of blood, a little bit of brake cleaner, a shop towel, a Band-Aid, and some duct tape later, I was back sorting And organizing.
I think it was around 3:00, or so, that my mom suggested that we break for lunch, so we drove into Pea Ridge and went to One of the two Mexican places.
They have an absolutely massive burrito that works for two meals for $12.95, plus tax.
🎉
I have availed myself of that burrito… three times in the last week?
Not quite vegan. 😅
After lunch, we were back to sorting and organizing and consolidating, and miraculously, the probably 20 to 25 bins, maybe? were eventually consolidated into other larger bins or storage cabinets until only were left.
😶
Yay!!! That makes storing stuff so. much. easier.
I was looking at all the stuff that I had and looking at the van and going… Holy crap, where am I going to put everything. But after going through and doing what we did today, it’s much more manageable.
The same time, I did spend an entire day sorting yet again, When I could have worked and probably bought the stuff again.
Whatever. I’m almost done. Should be done tomorrow. 🤞
I forgot to mention that I screwed the access plate to a piece of plywood so that it would stay in place and not fall into the hole.
Then we put the flooring in, sorted through the shelving and cupboards and what not, and then did all of that consolidating in the van itself.
We called it quits somewhere around 9:30, and my mom headed home, and I stayed out for another half hour or so just cleaning up and putting away things that I wanted to make sure didn’t get wet.
Few poison ivy/grim creeper rash patches from yesterday’s efforts. Nothing too bad at this point, though. And funny that some of the rash is in places where it shouldn’t be. I’ve got rash on my feet, which had socks and shoes on them.
🤔
Had to have gotten that somehow while in the creek taking a bath, maybe I brushed up against my shoes or something as I was walking out?
🤷
Anyway, it’s a quarter to midnight right now, And I just ate the second round of my late lunch. Hopefully I don’t get sick. All the ice I had from my soft drink, I put in a plastic bag and put inside my carryout Box, and then I put that inside a storage bin, and then I put that storage bin inside The cooler that Roseanne bought for me.
It’s been about 30 minutes since I ate, and I’m not sick, yet, so hopefully I’m going to be fine. 🙃
Little thirsty. I’m going to Get a drink, turn the AC on at least one more time before bed, waste a little time on my phone probably watching something on YouTube or Amazon prime or both, and then I’ll be off to Dreamland.
No meltdowns today. Started getting frustrated a bit with How complicated it was just even figure out where the fuel pump was, but no meltdowns.
We’ll call that a win for today.
Chatted with one of my New Zealand friends. They are going through a rough time. Tough stuff. I know the feeling. I know the pain.
Life is hard.
Lift the world.
~ stephen
Lift the World 