Bump In the Road.

Over the past couple of days we've put a lot of work into Betty. Last weekend with some help of a good buddy from San Diego we started pulling apart the engine. WE had high hopes. We figured we might take a weekend max getting Betty's engine to purr. Boy were we wrong. It might have looked like everything we needed was in tact, but who knows how long she'd been sitting around. Parts go bad! First on the list was the starter. This piece of junk caused us a lot of trouble. A starter generally isn't such a big deal. $20 - $30 gets you a brand spanking new one for most cars. But not this one. Not that easy.

16 HR Shift...
After putting serious thought into it and spending some serious dough on parts that wouldn't work. WE came to realize it may not be possible. 30 days left? We don't even have our damn tickets to the show!!...
To make matters worse, I got screwed over big time. My boss from work f'd me over. After doing some work for him a couple of weeks I was finally making some cash. Not a lot, but just to get by every weekend. Then one day he just stopped. No more work. He hasn't payed me for over 2 weeks worth of labor. Just what I needed!
Now I'm fucked!!! I can't get a hold of him. All I have is his name, phone number and e-mail. What can I do? I should of figured this guy was sketchy right from the start. Now I'm only working 4 measly hours a week.
What a low blow. Can you imagine this asshole? Making me work for him while he's in his office making the big bucks. Then after he got what he wanted, he still has the balls to cut me off? Naww man thats not cool.
Now I'm broke as a joke. I had nada, zip, zilch. I was even forced to sell my baby. My beautiful bike!

Screw that man.... He forced me to sell her!
Considering the circumstances we're in, we came to realize it wasn't going to happen. If you want to get things done quick and the correct way, its going to cost you hell of a lot of mula. After a good talk we decided to change our plans. Forget Coachella. If Betty doesn't make it this year, shell deff be there the next. Were in it for the long run now! New target date? Summer of 2010.
So keep giving us your ideas, help, and suggestions. We need your support now more than ever! Leave us comments. If you like what were doing here, tell your friends. Forward our link to anyone!

These next few months are going to be an adventure. I leave you guys with a little bit of my inspiration. Heres to a great summer!

First We'll Need It to Stop.

Monday we gave Betty a well needed cleaning. Jason lent us his pressure washer and away we went. This thing was beyond filthy. We cleaned the interior the outside under the body and the engine. No more spiders!..
Before getting the engine going, we need to figure out how to make the van stop. So on Wednesday we started checking out the brakes. First we got all the wheels off. That was not an easy task. Phill broke off two lug nuts in the process. That foo is a beast! Then we were able to inspect the brakes and to our surprise they were actually in decent conditions... Then it started to rain. I sure wish we had Betty inside a garage. We were able to figure out the emergency brakes work fine but we weren't able to get the cars brakes to work. That project will be left for another day.

Philly looks like hes blasting a cap on some fools.

Betty after the wash. What a difference!

"I think you broke it! Hahaha."

The master tech inspecting the brakes.

A free battery? Shiiiiit, we'll take it!
Things are coming along now. Just wanted to thank everyone that has supported us so far. We still need a very long way to go and at this point anything will help. Even a dollar! Jon and I have been trying to think up ways to raise money but couldn't think of anything. We even considered throwing a fundraiser party, but realized we had nowhere of having such a thing. Maybe you guys could help? Drop us a comment. Leave us some suggestions!!

Sam's the MAN!!

Fix-a-Betty Meter: $137

Junkyard

So instead of fixing up the back windows as we originally planned. We found a junker van in Anaheim thanks to a tip off from a van group i found online. Who would've ever thought there would be a group dedicated to these suckers. Thanks to the group we found an original set of rear doors. The doors are from a 64 econoline just like Betty. We wanted to get rid of the after market windows it had. Not to shabby for 36 bucks a pop. Also found a front bumper for $90 in really good condition. Just needs a lil chroming. That was a little pricier but we made the sacrifice after realizing we werent going to find another one cheaper.

Old doors off! Check out the new doors with factory windows =)

New bumpa.... Nice and straight!
Plans for this week is to weld up all the windows and start prepping the body for paint. Oh and not to mention Phill still needs to see if the engine is good. We cant push the van all the way to Coachella!
We need you're help!!! LETS FIX BETTY!!

No cease!

Today we got a good idea on how much work its going to be. Started planning what were gonna do to fix this bad girl up. The homeboy Jason came over and told us what were going to need to do in terms of body work. We also changed betty's oil and figured out the engine still cranks (Positive sign the engine might actually run!). This weekend were gonna get a little help from Phil's friend with the engine. If all goes well and the engine turns out to be in good conditions, we hope to get it close to running by the end of this week!

Getting Betty up on jacks.

Jason testing out his sander on the van.

Philibuster sanding down some cracks. Looks like were gonna need ALOT of sandpaper.

Finally got them ugly ass windows out.

David checking out spots where we're going to need body work.

Fillup and Dave servicing the van.......
Lol.

Putting some new oil to replace the danky black gunk that was in there.

Tomorrow's another day.

Blank Canvas

This weekend has been hectic. We managed to strip the van. Never thought so much shit could come out of such a small van!

Thats not even half of the trash. Forgot to take a picture of the huge pile. My bad!

Its looking a lil better now!

Philly the renaissance man putting in some work. Had to bring out the face masks for this one.

Once we got everything out. Looks good!! Surprisingly there isn't a lot of rust!

Awesome can we found inside the van!.. I wonder how old it is?
Next on the to do list is the engine. We gotta see what works, what were going to replace and what parts are missing. Philly, thats all you homie!

Rough Draft

One of our good friends, Jaime is starting to draw us a little design. We hope to make something out of it, maybe stickers or t-shirts.

What do yall think? Would you rock this on a tee? Drop me a line.

No time.

We all had our stuff to do today. I for one had to work in the morning and afternoon. What little time I had, I spent stripping out the van. I started by ripping out cardboard and flimsy wood paneling it had.

The mess i made.


Got a little too exited and started punching out stuff.


My boy David the electrician tearing down some of the wood panels.


Found seatbelts, a roll of electrical tape, a tin can and this baby under the passenger seat. I wonder if its aged to perfection?

Tomorrow we'll get alot more work done. Hope it doesn't rain!

EM, thanks for the support!

Once the project is complete, Betty will show her gratitude with rides for all of her supporters! Watch out NYC, here comes Betty!!

Fix-a-Betty Meter: $112

Today was a good day.

Finally set out and got our van home. The drive out there was a mission but when we got there it was totally worth it. Asking price for the van? $400. We tried bargaining a little but that got us nowhere. Me and the team were able to get it down to $340 and the guy finally agreed. Thats $60 bucks saved that could go towards the van. Better than nothing right?! With that settled we began working at the hard part. Getting this baby on the trailer. After putting some air in the wheels, popped it into neutral, and pushed it into the street and onto the trailer. Gotta admit after seeing the van for a second time today I noticed that it wasn't in as bad condition as we first thought.


Phil putting on the straps while David pretends to drive the van.


Before we got back on the road, we stopped to grub and double checked to make sure the van wasn't going anywhere.


Phil checking out the view from the drivers seat! Too bad the windshield is filthy.


Once we got home. Wondering what we got ourselves into.


My favorite part of the van? Easy.. The lights!


Seats are junk but the dash is pretty solid. Check out that neato heater box in the bottom. Oh and that thing in between the seats is the engine.


Here's the engine! Not to shabby if you ask me. It looks extremely well for being close to a 50 year old car. But then again, what do I know.


Maybe this has something to do with it. Odometer says it has close to 47,000 miles on it! I wonder if its correct. We might have found ourselves a diamond in the rough.

Overall I'm glad we didn't encounter any problems getting the van home. Tomorrow we'll inspect it and see how extensive our work will be. We'll also start stripping out all the unessesary junk. Im sure the pictures might seem like junk to you but we got big plans for big betty. Stay tuned for more details! But for now i'm outies. Catch ya'll tomorrow!

ATTENTION ALL!!

Betty has been officially purchased for the sum of $340!!! Pictures will be up shortly...

woohooo! thanks Celina!!!!!!!!!

Fix-a-Betty Meter: $100!!!

Lets thank Chris for his help!

Fix-a-Betty Meter: $80

Donation Alert!!

We have our first donation for Betty!!! Lets thanks Veronica for her generosity!!

Fix-a-Betty Meter: $20

Sweeet

Holy Shit! What up peeps? Come back tomorrow for the unveiling haha.

What's up everyone?

Can't wait to pick up the van tomorrow!

Lets Fix Betty

Starting tomorrow we will be updating the progress of the restoration on a daily basis! Check back frequently!