hey now,

went and picked up rumba today....she's running on 4 cylinders now and running
pretty good but she's gonna hang out in the backyard while i empty all my stuff
out of her. talked to my friend sean, decided we are going to rebuild. money
is a problem but we think we can come up with it alot sooner then we first
thought. i'm going to help out rebuilding it and will save some $$$ that way.
and it will be a good learning experience. this will be a top to bottom end
rebuild. including a pair of heater boxes that are in great shape that i'm
getting for $100. yes a pair.

hopefully will pull the engine next week and see for sure exactly what
happened and what needs to be done. and will start sandblasting the engine
compartment and acid tone the metal. will do all the usual rebuild stuff like
seals and may throw in a new clutch. will haveta see about that. also will be
having everything balanced. i'll be putting in a new battery tray and probably
a gas heater as well.

i've started looking at this as a fun project and not a big headache. i figure
it's a learning experience and realize once we finish the rebuild my van will
be good to go for many, many, many miles. hopefully good enough for the cross
country trip my fiancee and i are planning as a honeymoon. :-)

we may possibly go ahead and get the van painted after the engine is done. why
not? if things go as planned, we may have enough money.

jonathan