Hidden Valley

Last year there were rumours of a van on “Hidden Valley Ranch” commercials, and I remained doubtful. People are always tell me, “I saw a van like yours…” but they’re inevitably an International Harvester or something. Well, tonight I found it, and it’s the real McCoy. It’s got the export package and I think it’s RHD too. So maybe it’s in Australia somewhere.

I still have screwed up doors. I made a paper template (see above) from Steve’s van and drove it out to apply to my van (see photo above). It seems the problem is that the replacement sections from Fairmile were – like so many other parts I received from that source –  the product of imprecise workmanship (Kelly was right!). That’s only parts of the story though. I know if I was installing replacement sections the first thing I would do would be to compare the new section with the old one. This obviously wasn’t done. Worse, see the photo above with the yellow part circled? That’s the last time anyone saw it before it was thrown out (because, you know, it took up so much space). In any event, this whole interruption is the product of consecutive errors. But at least I know what it is and how it happeened. Once it's corrected I can resume forward movement.

Finally, I'm looking for a Nissan Vanette air cleaner (not the filter, the metal parts). If anyone has a source please let me know. Vanettes were never brought to North America. I want to use the air cleaner to add to my weber carb. When combined, the two will look more like the original engine.