!!!Pictures!!!

I was heading to the van to take some pictures for a friend so I took some extra snaps of the model. I originally wired a green light in there with it but never got the picture for it after dark....so here it is.

and another..........

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Here's a shot of the back doors...mind the skis. I may put more woodtrim half way up the doors.

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A while ago, my ignition switch quit. I had all my power but no crank. The switch itself is on the top of the steering column.......*sigh*.......that's not an easy spot to get to. I read my manual and started to go for it but then decided against it and to go with plan b. Plan B worked great. I wired a push button ignition, (looks the same as the horn button), straight to the starter, bypassing the ignition switch. All the safety is still there as you must insert the key in to the key ignition and thurn it to 'run' and this also unlocks the colums.....then push the button which cranks. I'm thrilled about it because once again...this is old school, (push button start on dash), meets new school, (steering column lock/anti-theft).

I also re-located the 12 volt cig. lighter as it was taken out with the engine hub cover piece. It's now placed just further down from the starting button.

Here's a picture.........

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Here are the new green lights I put last weekend............

They add a nice mood in combination with the dome light.

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And here are the LED parking lights...they look much brighter in this picture....

I can't wait for the new headlights and front end!!!!!!!!!

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Here are my new tail light covers, freshly won off ebay......been looking for these babies for a while ;) Never thought I'd score them so cheap, ($17!!!!!!!)(yes!!!)

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And here is my still kind of new keychain, also from ebay....$5 It's actually a dinky car, probably from the dollar store, with a screw i hook in the back but it's a full circle instead of a hook...I guess a 'loop'. That's a good idea.......someone I know should do this and sell them on his website with his URL on the side of the van ;)

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And finally, here's the van in full on winter mode....even though most of the snow is melted away, boo......If it's going to be winter and I can't do body work...at least let it snow so I can cross country ski and enjoy it.....*sigh*

Winter mode = winter tires and rims, 12 volt heater (only comes out for winter), dirty, dirty sides....just can't keep it clean in the winter...but hey, at least she's undercoated.

That's it for this instalment.....Keep it real

*cue the phat music*

The Winter Blues.....

Well, there's not too much to report on. The van is currently in winter mode with it's winter rims and tires. She's been running great other than a strange smoke stream that came from the toggle switch for the heater followed by a burning plastic smell followed by the heater quiting except for when it's set on high.....or as it is written, 'HI'. I'm not too worried about it; I have a 12volt heater. "HI" works so my windshield will remain clear and that's all that matters.

I think I've settled on a color for the van.....

"DUN --da da da!!" (drum roll) "trtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrt"

Superman blue is what I'm calling it...but it's listed as "Ford blue" so "Superman blue" it is!!

I'm pretty pumped about it......I can just picture the blue with the all chrome old school grille, the amber LED parking and signal lights and the all chrome bumpers and rims.....sigh...if only it was warm enough to start the body work.......I'd be all over it. Of course, this means that I need to remove the mini me and re-paint it.....it's a labour of love ;)

I got esepecially exited when I found the picture (below) on line. It shows what my headlights will look like when you turn on the outer bulb of the headlight......super sexy!!

Now combine that with the LED's and the chrome grille and you got yourself a good lookn' front end ;)

I also scored a new windshield with a factory tinted upper first 6"...if that makes sense to you, congratulations!

Seeing how I need to pull the old winshield out to do some body work around the seal, (that old goose ;) ) , I may as well drop in a better one and get rid of the one with two cracks and scratches. Oh yeah, and I got it from a really nice guy for $50! Which is great because it's probably all that I'm willing to spend ;)

I now have a CB radio and a nice tall arial on top of the van...between two yard sales it only cost me $17 .........man, I love a bargain!! I think that's half the fun of all of this ;) The radio will be installed directly underneath the mini me model....where you currently see the piece of wood.

I also installed two 4" green tube lights up front right above the doors. I wired them in to the dome light/interior lights.....they add a little mood lighting for whatever mood that you may be in....Happy, sad, angry or just green. I have two more that I will locate in the back somewhere. I actually did them by fluke while I was waiting for 'captain underpants', (if you know me, you know who I mean), at the doctor. I had the lights under a back seat, my tool kit with a philips and that was it. 20-30 mins. later, they were up and running. Just to add, they only costed me $3 each, cheap!!

I've disconnected my amp and I plan on pulling it out. It has a buzz, I can hear the engine acceleration through the speakers that it powers.....never had this happen before.........but I really don't care to fix it. The 'loud' feature on my deck and the mids and hi's with filters sound great to me plus there is a lot less drain on the battery and less work for the alternator to do. I'll save the power for the underlights ;)

One of my X-mas gifts was a stainless steel travel mug; this is great as plastic causes cancer...don't believe me? Number 5 plastic.......it's everywhere......it's even lining your cans of pop....it has been found in cancer. But really, does it take a genius to figure out that plastic and heat don't mix? What does your common sense tell you? Mine says, "Holy Crap, let's avoid plastics wherever possible!!" Anywho, I'm off topic here................the coolest feature of this mug is that it has a base that you can screw the mug in to. I'm thinking that I may screw the base down to the left side of my drink tray and then screw my mug in to it.....no more securing my mug with my hand while I take turns.

Get a load of the new no window Chevrolet HHR (below)

Looks like a modern panel van. You could probably even put some custom port holes in those back corners ;) I'll stick to my van ;)

That's about it for this edition of "Pimp my Chevy Van"!!! Cue the music....."Zoom!! Zaga!! Weh Wah" phat drum beat.................................."Zoom!! Zaga!! Weh! Wah!!! Phat drum beat........repeat and fade out.....

PS: Be sure to check out the newest website http://www.mychevyvan.com/