tanuki dreams

for the past few weeks i’ve been working on a not-so-small auto project… i’m restoring two of three ls minivans made by mitsubishi in 1988.  they were very cheap ($1600 total for all 3) and as you may guess, all have issues.  two had very low mileage (around 100k) and (relatively) less engine issues, not to mention factory sunroofs - so i’ve decided to try to make two good minivans out of three dilapidated ones.  i’m trying to get as much done for as cost-effectively as possible, and to that end found a  car restoration specialist in santa rosa who is going to do the parts swapping and tuneup/cleanup…

until last week, all three cars were in different bay area cities - davis, san jose, sebastapol(ish)… and none ran either.  so logistics - with decision making during lunch breaks and after work - has been a challenge.

in a future post i’ll get into why i used to dislike and now like these vans and got into this project.  let’s just say for now that i’ve developed a fetish for their iconic design factor! i hope you enjoy the project photos (also on flickr) and if you want to comment please drop a post - thanks!

jay 

the photos today:  from saturday 11/3, blue van and silver van at ‘fast eddie’s’ in santa rosa.  my project seems pretty easy for him - he does restorations and has already removed all the major and nice parts from the silver van - but there are lots of details and a finite budget.  a lot of pieces from the silver (aka source, no compression 195k miles) van are going into the blue van (104k miles, LS with sunroof), and also from the silver van to another silver and grey van (100k miles, LS with sunroof) still in davis (another logistics detail/$).

the immediate needs are to get the engine running on the blue van (replace blown head gasket) and swap out the door panels, wheels, brake drums and replace the windshield and get it registered/on the road.  quite a punchlist… i’ve bought my insurance through geico (got a great deal) for the blue van (soon to have silver doors, etc.) and am registering it this week…  it should be on the road in a week or two, then on to the silver and grey van in davis (also not running). so far i am only a little over budget due to the engine work needed.  my goal is to getting these running really nicely with their low miles, then keep and use both of them only when needed (i bicycle to work).  i am also thinking they would look cool in matching colors… perhaps dark blue with white roofs and white rims?

we’ll see $oon enough ;)