Since my last Polar Bear post (think I might start them all this way) , I haven’t spent much time or money on Polar Bear. I did have an adventure with the radiator blowing up. I wanted to replace it myself but time did not work to my advantage and I had to pay a shop. Otherwise, I’ve just been using Polar Bear as my daily driver. The most significant adventure I took PB on was a trip to Steamboat with Nino for a wedding and some boarding. On the way, we spotted another local 4×4 Ford van along side the road. They waved and I honked as we splashed by. Since then, I spotted the same van perched on top of Loveland pass. If I see them again, I’ll have to stop and say hello.
During the drive, we collected a lot of ice on the van. As the road muck spalshed up on Polar Bear and started to drain off, it froze into interesting patterns. The most interesting, by far, was the sea urchin like spikes on the center caps. I’ve never seen anything like it before and it drew a fair amount of attention when we would stop for gas or coffee along the way.
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Polar Bear Van, Projects
So I see this trending topic going around called, “I need to talk to you about computers.” It didn’t take me long to facepalm. See, Stephenf does a fine job of painting a perspective of technology evolution with a wide scope. He also has a fine point about consumers desiring more specialized and easier to use devices.
Unfortunately, Stephenf missed obvious points. First, the trend isn’t strictly with computers becoming more specialized. There’s also a trend of specialized devices becoming more computerized. Actually, we’ve had specialized devices for a long time. Take a car radio for example. A car radio was once electro-mechanical with no logic circuits. Somewhere along the way car radios became digital devices with lcd displays. Now, folks have full blow media centers inside their automobiles. There exists a giant webbing of technological points and the tendency is for those points to converge – for gaps to be filled in. Netbooks are an example of a gap being filled in. The devices are more powerful than smartphones yet more portable than laptops. Netbooks are popular because they filled a need.
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Technology
Since my last post, I’ve put new tires and fender flares on Polar Bear. I started off with the notion of getting simple black steel rims. I ended up with teflon rims. They were nearly twice as expensive, but it’s something I really just wanted to splurge on. I’ve never purchased rims before, I wanted to get the most out of it.
The new tires are 32″ BFG A/Ts. From the performance of the van, I thought the 33″ tires must have been too large as it was moving rather sluggish. Turns out, that’s just the engine. I probably could go up to 35″ wheels with similar performance. They might be a bit better for offroading as well.
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Polar Bear Van, Projects
After spending piles of money on paint and a rear diff rebuilt, I finally got a chance to re-install the spare tire mount. Before reinstalling, I ground the whole thing down a bit and put about 5 coats of black spray paint on it. I also hung the tire itself, for the first time. The bolts for the tire aren’t going to work very well. They’re a bit too long and fairly rusted out. I suppose I could soak them in WD-40 and cut them down to size. However, a couple of new bolts from the hardware store shouldn’t be terribly expensive. It would also be nice to get a threading that matches the lugnuts so I can have spare lugnuts on the rack.
The tire prevents the door from swinging open as far as it used to. Still, the door opens past 90 degrees so I think I’m alright. I noticed the inside of the spare rim has a ring of rust. I might hit it with a wire brush and then gloss a little paint over it. Next week I should be getting new rubber and rims. Eventually, I might see about getting a spare that matches the size of the new tires (32″). I’m not going to worry about that for a while.
There’s a pile of exterior mods left. The list looks something like: window tint, rock sliders, bumpers, wire mesh behind the grill, roof basket, new antenna, and a ladder. Most everything else will be interior. There are still some drive train and engine repairs I want to make. However, since most of those are not particularly critical, I’ll be postponing them for a little while.
Polar Bear Van, Projects
Rack, Spare, Swing, Tire
As part of the whole van vision, I’m wanting to put a dual sport motorcycle on the back like Badgertrek. I’ve never owned a motorcycle nor a license. This weekend, Nino and I attended an Abate motorcycle course. The course was a little slow for my tastes, but very thorough. The part where we actually got on some bikes and took to the course was fun. We logged about 25 extremely slow miles over the course of this weekend. All in all, I would definitely recommend this course both to someone like us – inexperienced – as well as someone who just wants to learn some good safety habits.
Having completed the course, all we need to do is give the DMV a few dollars and we’ll be ready to hit the streets. Well, first I’ll have to actually buy a bike. That will be a whole new adventure.
Uncategorized
Up until now, all of my investments in Polar Bear have been rather small. I painted the grill, got a spare, got a steering wheel cover, and a number of other odds and ends.
On Tuesday, I picked the Polar Bear up from Maaco where I dropped over $1500 having a pile of body work done and a fresh coat of their cheapest paint.
Overall, I got what I expected. There were a few pleasant surprises. Maaco did a particularly good job grinding out an unsightly weld and some pile of I-have-no-idea-what stuck to van. They plugged some holes in the body and ground down some rivets.
Unfortunately, there were a few disappointments such as more over-spray than I expected. Rather than futz with them on it, I’ll just do a little cleaning up and touch up myself. They got some white on the grill I just painted black, but I wanted to put another coat of black on it anyway.
For the most part, I’m satisfied. Even though it was relatively dark, when I first saw the van I immediately noticed the difference. It’s nice to have a bit of shine to the paint. I hope that lasts a couple of years. I wonder when I should put on the first coat of wax?
Polar Bear Van, Projects
What am I doing for New Years? I don’t know. What am I doing for Christmas? I don’t know. Christmas decorations? Never got them up. Family? Celebrating without me this year. Friends? I forgot, yet again, to collect addresses and send out cards. Today? One of just a few at the office, everyone else has already left for vacation.
This year feels like it was a waste of life. I got a job and paid off some debts. Actually, right now I’m debt free. My most significant commitment is the 2 year Sprint contract that came from my phone this summer. One would think with this kind of financial freedom that I would feel liberated, but I don’t.
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Uncategorized
The photo shown is from a recent attempt to test the articulation of my suspension. In my first attempt, I tried to pull up on a big pile of snow. Instead of pulling up onto it, I plowed right through it. Then I found this retaining pond built in the middle of a parking lot. I was able to get a pretty good twist going, but I was no where near getting a tire to lift off the ground.
I’ve made a few minor improvements. In a couple of trips to the junk yard, I picked up a spare tire swing ($25), worn out front grill ($15), rubber sliding door mat ($5?), and a 16″ black rim with a 30″ tire that seems to hold air well ($10). I also picked up a can of spray paint, tire iron, and 6 ton hydraulic jack. For the first time since I bought the van, I’m prepared for a flat tire.
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Polar Bear Van, Projects
Maybe it happened when I watched Rambo as a kid. Maybe it was Damnation Alley. It could have even been good old Mad Max. I’m not really sure, but somewhere along the way, I got very interested in the whole idea of survival. I was even more encouraged when my uncle Bobby gave me a survival knife for Christmas one year. I couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8.
Strangely enough, I didn’t start going on real backpacking trips until recently in life. While I’ve done a bit of camping, I never went so far as to carry everything I would need for several days attached one way or another to my own body. The experience was everything I had hoped it would be.
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Backpacking
Idea
The attached image is a photoshop Nino did that includes a lot of the cosmetic changes I want to make to Polar Bear. The cargo box and solar panel were not in my plans, but Nino just happened to find that particular Sportsmobile Penthouse pop-top at the right angle to do the photoshop.
Polar Bear turned out to be more of a … bear … than I originally expected. Nino and I have been tracking a spreadsheet of changes, both planned and completed. It’s not balancing out like I had hoped.
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Polar Bear Van, Projects
Since my last Polar Bear post (think I might start them all this way) , I haven’t spent much time or money on Polar Bear. I did have an adventure with the radiator blowing up. I wanted to replace it myself but time did not work to my advantage and I had to pay a shop. Otherwise, I’ve just been using Polar Bear as my daily driver. The most significant adventure I took PB on was a trip to Steamboat with Nino for a wedding and some boarding. On the way, we spotted another local 4×4 Ford van along side the road. They waved and I honked as we splashed by. Since then, I spotted the same van perched on top of Loveland pass. If I see them again, I’ll have to stop and say hello.
