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Final Frog Van Update

As mentioned in the title of the post this will be my final update on the Frog Van project. Happily the van is back on the road and running well. Therefore the aims of my GoFundMe.com project have been achieved and, with this post, the spending of the generous donations people gave me have been accounted for far beyond the $500.00 I asked for and beyond the $520.00 that was actually donated.

There is a complete tally of money spent at the end of this post.

In my previous Frog Van Post I gave you a full run down of what work had been done on the van just prior to me booking it in for a major tune up, service and safety check. In the video below I also give a run down of things that have been done since my last video update plus you get to see my dog Oscar as well as go for a bit of a drive in the van.


After the full tune up, service and safety check I was very pleased that this did not reveal any major problems with the van's engine other than the points being completely worn. The mechanic basically recognized (correctly) that the van had not had a proper service in years.

Particularly pleasing was my work on replacing the blown manifold gasket appears to have held up as having been a success. Neither mechanic that looked at the engine picked up on any issues there - where as the mechanic that originally told me the manifold was leaking picked up on it within seconds of hearing the engine running.

I'm sure experienced backyard mechanics will be thinking 'it's just a gasket' but I've never pulled apart that much of an engine before on my own.

As mentioned in the video the next thing I'll look at is getting the brake pads replaced before moving on to more incidental cosmetic work like fixing rust spots and upgrading the interior. However I won't be making any further update videos.

The plan from here is, once the brakes are done, I'll start making some travel videos and show you a little more of South Australia. I'm also considering offering people the chance to sponsor these trips in exchange for advertising on the videos themselves. More on that in the future but if that is something your interested in let me know in the comments. The sponsorship wouldn't be huge, it may just be the cost of gas money that gets you a credit on the video.

To finish up, here is a run down on the total spend on the van:

Registration: $215.00
Battery $37.00
Battery Terminals :$5.90
Timing Fix and Carburetor Clean: $49.50
Tyres (x2): $140.00
Grey Primer and Glue: $21.90
Tune Up, Service and Safety Check: $280.00
Filler Putty: $11.95

Total: $758.35
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Comments

  1. Mum60October 23, 2012 7:22 PM

    Glad you got rid of the bald tyre! Didn't you have to have the tyres realigned? Is the upholtery OK, as that looks like a worn car seat on the right there?

    Sounding good anyway. Can the squeaks be stopped? Missed some of what it said on the screen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TET (David Arandle)October 25, 2012 10:57 PM

      Not sure if you mean balancing, rather than aligning. The wheels always get balanced when the tyres are changed. Never needed to have the wheels aligned ever when just changing the tyres.

      The seat upholstery is pretty good actually. The drivers side has a blue sheep skin cover on it that looks worn and isn't really the right kind for the seat but it'll do for now.

      I could probably fix the gear stick squeaks with a bit of oil. Just haven't got to it yet.

      Delete

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