Things Are Looking Up For My McVansion

If you look over the fence, below and left of the street
 number, 12501, you can see My McVansion's roof.

Today is the eighth day My McVansion has been undergoing "treatment" for its "heart attack." I admitted it to One Stop Engine Rebuilding a week ago Tuesday. Wednesday of last week, the master engine surgeons began the procedure of disassembling and rebuilding, from the basic engine block up, a completely rebuilt "heart" (engine) for My McVansion. Eight days after they began, the heart of My McVansion is firmly seated in its cavity in the front of the patient.

For all practical intents and purposes, the engine is almost all new except for such things as the engine block and the camshaft. It's been cleaned, machined and refitted with everything it needs to return to its job as the powerhouse that drives My McVansion. The only things they are still working on are finding (or fashioning) two hose configurations dealing with the heating system. Since this particular engine has basically been out of production since around 1996 or 1997 or slightly less than 20 years, some parts are a bit challenging to locate.

All things being equal, according to Wilson, the head engine surgeon at One Stop, everything should be back together and My McVansion's heart will be restarted tomorrow (Thursday) and road tested a couple times, at least. If everything checks out and it's fully expected it will, the patient will be discharged. I'll receive a call and I can pick up My McVansion.

There will be a recovery period (break in) of a couple thousand miles. After that everything should be running to full factory specifications again.

Interestingly, they found a significant amount of rust on the engine. Several bolts broke trying to remove them and had to be drilled out and re-tapped. One of the valve covers had so much rust that it had actually eaten a hole through the valve cover.

And here is a shot of My McVansion with the rebuilt engine back in place where there had formerly been an empty cavity. You can see right into the cockpit area of the van that is usually covered by a "doghouse" engine cover.

Once My McVansion is back in my hands, I'll take it to the nearby Walmart in Torrance, California where they will either repair the flattened new right rear tire if it's repairable. Or, I had them order in a replacement tire (it's a special order tire) to have it there just in case the tire can't be repaired and has to be replaced.

I'll pick up some provisions, put everything back in the van I removed prior to the work beginning and, if all goes well, My McVansion and I will be on our way to Quartzite, Arizona on Friday morning, looking to arrive at some reasonable time on Friday afternoon to join up with the rest of the Vandwellers gathered at the annual Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. I had hoped to spend a good part of the two weeks there, but it appears I may only get to spend about four and a half days there. I'll have to do a lot of making up for lost time.

The next post should be from somewhere other than Hawthorne, California.