Details, details: Giving SAM a thorough cleaning

We could have saved time and effort by paying hundreds of dollars to the pros to detail our van, but after eating all those Christmas chocolates and sweets, we needed the workout anyway. I have an inkling that our Deli has not seen a vacuum cleaner, rag, or brush since the day it rolled off the assembly line fourteen years ago.

Removing the rear seats

We started by taking out the two rows of seats from the back; a simple task made annoyingly difficult after breaking our socket wrench. Who would have thought this tool, part of a $99 400-piece set from K-Mart, could break so easily? Made in China? C'mon, that just reeks of quality.

To get the middle row of seats out there are six bolts, one each side on the front, and two each side on the back. The rear seats are held in by four bolts (hidden by plastic covers), which secure it to the wheel wells.

We also uninstalled all the rear seatbelts which required undoing a lot of bolts, including inside the paneling to get the assembly out. We will use the bolts to secure parts of our set-up.

Removing the interior panels

Seats out, we attacked the interior with ferocity and tore it apart like lions on a gazelle. We took all the paneling (carpeted or not) and gave them a scrubdown in the tub, aghast at the amount of black water running out of them. It's quite amazing how much you can take apart in a car. Most of it attached with no more than plastic clips or maybe a small screw. It does take a bit of force to pull them off, just be careful not to break the plastic bits...especially on older models as they will likely be a little brittle.

Cleaning the upholstery

Against the advice of a couple DelicaClub members, we removed the upholstery from the front seats and and gave them a vigorous clean by hand (do not put them in the washing machine, and no hot water! or you'll shrink them - also, air dry in the shade, out of the sun's reach). We discovered sugar soap. This stuff cuts through grease like you wouldn't believe, and was safe to use. To hold the fabric to the seat to give a tight, contoured fit, there are a few metal rods on both the seat and the cover. These are held together by hog rings which we pried apart with a pair of pliers.

At first we thought we'd have to remove the plastic headrest guides to get the back cover off. After a frustrating few minutes of trying to figure out how to remove these, we realized you can just stretch the fabric over them. The headrests are easy, just unzip from the bottom and pull them off.

When putting the covers back on we used the same rings and clamped shut with the same pliers. It's a bit fiddly, but doable and not all that hard in the grand scheme of things. Tip to get the headrest covers back on: put them back onto the seat first.

The driver's side was easier, now that we knew what we were doing.

After scrubbing down what we couldn't remove (e.g. the roof), we brought SAM to the wash and used a carpet shampoo/vacuum to give him a final clean.

The interior looks as it must have when this baby was in the showroom. It's time to start designing...

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!

The Acquisition

We were only passively looking; keeping our eye on the market. Then, out of nowhere, there he was: an eBay ad and a BuyItNow option for a ridiculously low $5000 AUD. Until then, the price range of similar vans we'd seen was $8000 to $12000. The ad wasn't all that detailed. It simply stated they were moving and needed to sell it fast. It indicated a few problems: faded rooftop paint, non-functioning rear door gas struts, and a filthy interior. I called and spoke briefly to the seller. Five minutes later we made the purchase.

Was it risky? Yes and no. We had no idea what shape it was really in. But for this price, we felt we couldn't lose. It was a spur of the moment, spontaneous act, and there just aren't enough of those in our lives. To make a short story even shorter, we hopped a plane to Sydney to fetch him, then drove back to Melbourne. All in two days.

Whats with the name?

We have a tradition of naming our vans. There was Rusty for Eurotrip I and Freda for Eurotrip II. Since the Delica is a bit "spacelike" and is actually called Spacegear, we thought it fitting to give him a space-y name. And if Michael Knight can have KITT (Knight Industry Two Thousand), then we can have SAM.

Some SAM Stats

Year: 1994
Odometer: 125,000 kms
Fuel type: Diesel
Transmission: Automatic
Engine size: 2.8L, 4-cylinder
Drive type: Rear wheel drive with on-the-fly 4x4 shifting (4H, 4L with center differential lock) *we have yet to learn what all this exactly means
Options: Front and rear sunroof, power everything, A/C (which doesn't work…yet), AM/FM cassette deck (with a useless Japanese FM range of 70-90 MHz)

Technicalities

As you may have guessed, there were a few in getting this out of New South Wales (NSW) and into Victoria. Each state in Oz requires the vehicle be declared road worthy by a certified mechanic and to be registered on a yearly basis. As the owners were selling it, they didn't bother to renew their registration (lovingly referred to as "rego" - pronounced rehj-o - by locals); however, they did provide a "pink slip" - a NSW road worthy certificate - before selling the van to us. We took this as a form of guarantee that the Deli was in good condition.

We didn't have much time. We arrived in Sydney at 7:45 AM on the Saturday. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) office was only open until noon. A 1.5 hour public transport trip to Menai got us to the seller's address by 10:00. We gave it a quick once over, exchanged the cash for the keys and away we went. Arriving at the RTA at 11:00, we were faced with a massive queue.

What we needed was an unregistered vehicle permit (UVP) to drive it back to Melbourne. It's only $25, but you do need to have your paperwork in order to get it. First we had to give the number plates back. Luckily, he had a screwdriver. Unluckily, the front one was held on by hex screws. After confirming that he didn't care what state they were in, I ran back out and bent and twisted the metal until it gave way. I returned it to him in three pieces.

Just as he was ready to give me the UVP, he saw on the pink-slip that the mechanic did not write the vehicle identification number (VIN) and the engine number. This was a problem. He iterated that he could not give me the UVP without this information being on the slip. I buried my head in my hands. The RTA was closing in fifteen minutes and there was no way I was going to be able to get that from the mechanic. We HAD to drive back the next day. We NEEDED that UVP. Pushing the slip a bit my way, he said, "all I need to see is that VIN and engine number right here". Again, I racked my brain thinking how the hell am I going to get this for him in time? Then, more assertively, he again said " I just need to see that VIN and engine number here" as he tapped the empty space on the slip.

Click. "Oh, ok. I'll go get that for you", I said. He passed me a pen. I returned the pink-slip to him two minutes later. Five minutes later we were off.