Foolish. That's what I am. I'm able to announce that. It's not like at 55 I'm suddenly going to change. The white bus (now painted blue) has had more painting progress. I used a dark rust paint and went over all the edges of the wheel wells and the upper/lower area of the sliding door track and under the front mat where water forever finds it's way via wet shoes/boots. Then I painted over that rust paint with the same auto paint I used on the rest of the body so it would match. I used a small brush and felt ok about using a brush since those areas are barely seen and some are never really seen but they need protecting.
Upon closer inspection of my spray gun paint job, I found a few small areas right around where outside parts (antenna, wipers, handles) where the paint coverage was not 100% right where the part connected to the body, all because of not perfect taping. They were super small and the average looker would likely never notice but I did and then it bugged me to no end. My dad used to do a lot of model building so I went and borrowed one of his super-small model brushes and then we (Soo-Jean, mostly) carefully filled those tiny gaps with the autobody paint so it would look as good as possible PLUS it would be more water-proof over the long-term.
This is where the foolish part comes in. I decided it was time and would be fun to get a couple days of insurance on the bus and drive it around for the weekend. All I had to do was finish putting the tail lights back on and replace the back two side-marker lights. So I went and bought a couple day temporary pass and then went home to put the lights back on. Um........yeah, no. So none of the tail light bulbs worked. The one side marker that was original did not work and the two wires coming out the hole of the side I planned to replace the complete side marker also would not turn on it's bulb. I did have new side markers. I also had brand new rubbery-foam seals from CIP to install on the tail lights. So first off, three bulbs were burned out and were super-corroded when I took them out so much that I could not read the numbers on them. 20 minutes on the internet gave me VW numbers (or some supplier numbers) but not the common ones that are used by Canadian Tire. But the corrosion was also an issue. The top of the three bulbs on both sides were not so bad (the single filament turn signals). The middle one (running light and brake light) dual-filament bulbs were plenty corroded and did not come out very easily at all. The bottom bulbs, the single filament reverse lights were stuck in and were not moving. I could see the rust and corrosion from all around the bulb. I started the patient game of spraying in penetrating oil and various rust/corrosion busting sprays.
While I waited for the sprays to work, I went off to the store to try and figure out the bulbs. Using super-fine steel wool and a magnifying glass, I was able to read one of the dual-filament bulbs and it was an 1157 so I bought a couple of those. But the bulbs for the turn signal and backup light were unreadable (and would not come out of the backup light sockets anyways). The only thing I knew from my searching on the internet was that they were the same bulb for both those sockets. So I picked one that would fit and was not a too-high wattage so I would not strain the electrical components/switches supplying the power to those. I chose 1141s for both the backup lights and rear turn signals. For the side markers a decent fit/size/match seemed to be the 3893 bulbs. The issue with the side marker lights not working was the wire going to the markers that provides a ground connection goes to the very back wall of the engine bay (on either side of the engine door at the back of the bus) via a spade connector (female) that goes to a male spade connector that is screwed to the wall of the engine bay. Those connections at that point were corroded and rusted to the point no current would run through them. So I managed to use needle nose pliers to carefully get those spade connectors disconnected so I could clean them with the steel wool and sandpaper down to clean copper again. And my side markers are nice and new and bright again!
I finally (2nd day) got one of the reverse bulbs out but it was a lot of work just to work free one bulb. The other one was not going to move. Eventually and pretty much inevitably the bulb broke free from it's base and that was the end of that. In went the needle nose pliers and as carefully as I could, I bent/folded in the edges of the metal base and just kept at it until it eventually broke free in a very twisted mess. It also popped the bulb socket free of it's mounting but was not particularly damaged. And thats when I was forced to learn something new and was very happy to do so: the backs of the tail light housings (inside the engine bay) pop really easily off by gently bending two plastic tabs enough to take it off. Voila: all the wiring and sockets nicely accessible. I pulled out the socket that was now free of it's moorings (two little flexible plastic tabs) and went at it with super-fine steel wool and fine sandpaper to get back to nice clean bright copper. I had to use a round file to carefully remove all the rust/corrosion in the socket sides where the side of the bulb gets it's ground connection from. Slow and careful was the trick.
Later today I'll put it all back together again along with the new seals (once I make sure both backup lights are working well again). I had to do a little trickery to get the new side markers installed as well (flipping the rubber seals around), using special stainless steel metal (not wood) screws, etc.
But yeah, two days of a few hours here and a few hours there just to get all the back lights and side markers fixed up, cleaned up and working again. Way longer than I had imagined or planned. I've fixed the odd light problem on the other buses as one bulb/socket/connection would fail but on this bus I decided to fix them all properly once and for all and hopefully give at least a few years of problem-free usage. Meanwhile, with a temporary permit for all weekend, the bus never left the driveway.
-George