Back in Melbourne: You're home, SAM!

I'll admit, it could have been a much smoother start. But then again, without trials and tribulations, what would we learn? And what fun would that be?

By far, the easiest way to do this would have been to register the van in my name while we were in NSW. Transferring to Victoria plates once in Melbourne would have been a breeze. Of course, not having an address in NSW would have made it very difficult. We could have found some friends to vouch for us and tell the RTA we lived with them. We just didn't have the time though.

The shocker

As such, with SAM unregistered we had to go through Victoria's version of road worthy, which is much more strict than in NSW. This we found out the hard way. It cost us $88 to have the Deli checked over. At best, we hoped it would pass with no problems. At worst, we expected maybe a few things that needed some attention. What we weren't prepared for was the long list of items he failed it for: rear tires, front brakes, rear transmission mounts, differential bushes, inner CV boot, tailpipe hole, washer jets. The list goes on. In the end, he gave us the itemized quote. Estimated total for parts and labour: $3500. Almost the price we paid for it!

After some asthmatic breathing, cursing and crying, I calmed down. A little. Yvonne was taking it relatively well. It is usually her domain to get really worked up, but here I was, having a panic attack and it was HER calming ME down. There was no way we were going to leave the van with this guy, so we thanked him, collected the tidy list he so meticulously prepared for us, and drove off.

Join the club

The Internet is such a valuable tool. I have no idea how we ever got along without it. We found a site called delicaclub.com and signed up. It is chock full of members who are enthusiasts about this van in the worst way. The forum is overflowing with relevant information, from an alphabetized list of common troubles and fixes, to PDF downloads with pictures of how-to's. If something isn't there, simply post your question. Usually the first response is within minutes. It is through here we found a source for Delica parts - our query revealed a price list of parts that were a fraction of what the mechanic quoted us.

We just might have the record for most posts by a new member within a 72 hour period. We hammered them with questions and they replied in kind, dishing out free advice which we absorbed like a sponge. Most agreed that this mechanic was being pedantic in his assessment of our van.

Auto-repair 101

Now, I haven't gotten my hands dirty and greasy since I was 13 years old, fabricating fireplace doors and heat exchangers - cutting and bending steel sheets and rods, grinding and polishing, and even a little bit of welding (hey, it beat delivering newspapers). To be perfectly honest, I'm a city slicker with delicate office hands. When I say "if I can do this, anybody can do this" I really mean it.

First, tools. K-Mart had a 400 piece (FOUR hundred! That's a lot) tool set, nifty red case with drawers included. $99 later it was ours. My favourite tool? The telescopic screwdriver thing-a-ma-bob that has a magnet at the end for picking up all the screws and nuts I'm sure to be dropping in tight places.

My first real mechanic experience was replacing the radiator overflow tank. Although this wasn't one of the roadworthy items, it was sorely needed as the old one was discolored and had signs of decay. As we read that if this thing goes it can cause real problems, we made it a priority.

The rear tires and the tailpipe we left for the experts. The roadworthy items we were able to address ourselves was the blocked windshield washer jets (nothing a pin and fiddling with the hoses couldn't fix), changing the wiper blades (we also spray painted the arms as they were rusty), and fixing the gear indicator lights. This was the most annoying and required disassembling the steering column and pulling apart the dash. It turned out to be a loose connection behind.

Somewhere in there, the sliding door window came loose and it was able to be pried open from the top and pulled outwards. We called up a mobile glass place and they quoted $140 to fix it, and a weekend surplus of $150! After searching the DelicaClub forum, we found our answer. All that needed to be done was remove the plastic window trim, find the window clips that rattled off and fell in the recess, and fasten them back on. And to think, we could have spent up to $290 just for this!

Next up was the glow plugs (yes, it's a diesel). We weren't absolutely sure this needed to be done, but they did look rather rusty and corroded, so we bit the bullet and bought them. It was a relatively easy job, other than having to position the wrench in tight quarters, but again not something I would even have thought about doing myself before.

With the very obvious road worthy items ticked off, we felt it was time for a second opinion.

On the road again

Instead of paying $3500 to get SAM road worthy, we ended up dishing out about $500. Sure, we haven't fixed everything that probably needs repairing, but at the very least we got our road worthy certificate! Yes, we found a mechanic who wasn't quite as anal as the first one. This was our priority, and this now meant we could register the van with VicRoads so we could legally drive unrestricted. We will address all the other things in due time.

One thing that does need to be fixed now is our alternator. After having it checked out by a couple of auto electricians, we've discovered it is not charging the battery properly. We've already got the part in hand, now it's just a matter of swapping it.

Now that the van's officially registered, we will be starting the conversion process. Depending how our visa situation works out - if we get a new work one or not - the conversion may be quick, or it may be done over the next year. We should know this in the next two weeks. But first, a good thorough cleaning. The previous owner used it for his home landscaping business, so it's quite filthy.

Stay tuned!