"Don't be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams." - Unknown
Having no disposable income has led me to get creative in my pursuit for progress in the restoration of Lottie. My family has a beautiful cabin in the N. GA mountains that we passively rent (by passively I mean that we have a listing on rental site, but we don't actively market the cabin and we certainly don't have it included in a rental pool.) I have begun listing the cabin in the barter section of craigslist stating that I'm open to nearly anything, but would prefer something relating to air-cooled volkswagens. Some interesting offers have come from it - an 80's arcade game, pest control, handyman work, photography sessions, etc - but the one that finally got me excited was an offer to sodablast my bus.
Sodablasting is like a gentle, but effective, form of sandblasting. It was the method chosen for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and I figure if it's good enough for Lady Liberty, it's good enough for Lottie! (Actually I researched it extensively and it seems like the perfect method for prepping the bus without risking damaging it.)
As with every other aspect of restoration, planning one task, reveals a cascade of 30 other tasks that are dependent on it or concurrent with it. It's like deciding to clean up some litter, only to realize that you're actually standing on a landfill.
Related issues I would have to handle:
- pick colors (fun!)
- decide whether to simply strip and paint exterior or go whole hog and gut the interior to strip and paint it too (the interior is the only part I'm happy with, gutting it will be a big job)
- drop the engine so the engine compartment can be stripped at the same time (big job, but it needs to be done anyway, to solve my compression issue)
- remove the top
- immediately after stripping, the bus will need to be primed to prevent rusting (I have no means of painting it)
- decide whether or not to remove all the windows and door seals so that the job will be thorough (this will require buying hundreds of dollars worth of replacement seals)
- if I remove the seals, I will likely need to repair the metal beneath the windows that is typically rusted. I also will need to repair the rusted out pivot for the triangle "smoker's" window in the back.
- repair rust damage to the rear quarter panels
- cut rusted battery pan out and weld in new one (did I mention that I have never welded and don't own a welder)
- repair dents in rear quarter panel and nose area
- who knows what other issues I'll find underneath the paint
