So its been a while since I updated everyone on the progress, but a good amount has been taken care of on the resto. We had the headliner replaced by Baca's upholstery and then last weekend we worked on getting the sunroof installed (still need to work out a bunch of kinks), repainted the dash, and got the windshield installed. Here is the a shot of the headliner and sunroof. Looking pretty decent in my opinion.

Although the pic isn't the best, it looks a million times better than it did before.

Then this last weekend, Rob came over helped put the windows in the passenger side of the bus. The vent windows proved to be a pretty tough task, but we got one in. Heres a nice shot of the side of the bus.

Finally we started with the interior panels, that Mom, Dad, Rob, and Kelly will be working on getting the rest of them in over the weekend. Not to shabby.
So then we just need to get the rest of the windows in and get the emissions done.

Today was one of those days when it seems like you should have gotten a lot more done. Of course when you are painting and making sure to mask everything off, ~4 hours isn't really a lot of time. Our goal today was to get the front seat area taken care of and we got some of what we had hoped to accomplish completed. We painted the steering column, shifter, brakes, gas, etc with some black spray paint. Then we worked on masking off the floor for the bedliner. We ended up getting the front and the walk-through done as you see in the pics.

As you can see we worked on getting the seat backs painted black as well, but with the wind we decided to not risk overspray.

My Mom has done a great job covering the kick panels and the luggage compartment panels in faux leather. They are going to look really good when we get them in the bus. On the schedule for next week is to finish painting the seats, then getting the bus over to Baca's upholstery for the headliner. Once this is completed then we can work on putting the windows and seats in the bus and getting it on the road. I'm shooting for next weekend to get this stuff done. Hopefully the week will go according to plan!

Another long day working on the bus today out in the muggy Tucson heat, well it did get over 90 and the humidity was ~50% so it wasn't to pleasant to say the least. Dad and I put in about four hours and got a bunch of stuff done, although it never seems that you can do everything you set out to do. First, I worked on the engine compartment, cleaning it up and then installing the fuel lines as well as the rear apron with the pesky the engine compartment seal. We cranked it a couple of times to get the oil moving and then added a gallon of gas to the tank. Once the fuel pump got things moving it fired up right away. We even took a trip around to test the it in action. It ran like a top and without a windshield the air movement was pretty good. Not a bad looking engine compartment if you ask me. Certainly a lot better than when we picked it up.

Next we decided to get the rear window in place because it doesn't conflict with the headliner. First we tried to just go ahead and install the rubber and deluxe chrome trim without watching the instructional DVD. That didn't end up working out to great, so we watched the short clip and thirty minutes later we had a brand spanking new window in the rear and it looks pretty dang good if you ask me.

Tomorrow we are going to work on getting the driver and passenger area painted and maybe get the sliding window in place. We'll see how everything goes.

Mom just sent me a pic of the seats that Uncle Paul got reupholstered up in Phoenix. As you can see they did a pretty good job. Don't know if there will be any time to get things done today, but if I get a chance I'll let you know. Enjoy the pic, I can't wait to see them installed!

Headed over to the parents to put in sometime on the bus on Sunday and today (monday). First I got the passenger side window in and figured out some of the tricks that made it such a pain in the ass to get out. It seems to be working okay, but once I add a couple more of the parts we will see how it works. I also worked under the hood, cleaning the engine compartment a bit and working on the fuel deliver stuff. Unfortunately the only fuel line that we have is much to large, so I didn't end up getting anything substantial done. Here is a shot of the front window installed.

Today I worked on the front clip, getting the vents cleaned, painted, and installed and then the actual clip with the nice chrome. The headlights were already installed, but I added the chrome covers and as you can see the front is really coming together.

Meanwhile, Dad was cleaning the inside in preparation for the bedliner. We only ended up doing the back part of the bus, but it certainly looks nice. We have to do a little touch up painting on the steering column, brakes, etc before we hit the front. We also need to mock up the all the stuff that goes on the metal behind the front seats to decide where to paint. My Mom did a great job cleaning up some of the parts in preparation for the installation. Here is a view from the back.

Another through the sliding door.

And then one from the back again.

As you can see progress is being made, but when you try to do things right it tends to take a bit longer. Hopefully we will get it over to Baca Upholstery later this week to get the headliner installed. Then we can work on getting the windows in place and getting it ready for the DMV.

Got the bus back today from the painters and they did an amazing job. It looks really good. Just need to get everything back together in the next month to get it out to the tailgates in time. Looking forward to getting it on the road. I'll make sure and take pics to keep a log of whats happening with the rebuild.

With no further ado, here he is:
Big Blue


And You can even see yourself in his reflection.



Not too shabby from the back either.