Tail Repair, Tailgate

Leaning into the back of the truck I put some pressure on the tailgate and noticed it creaking. Bounced it a bit with my weight and the entire bottom seam was flexing. The entire bottom seam was rusted out.

That cannot stand!

First I ground away all the bad metal. And the sealant. And then it was really true that there was no bottom seam at all.

I welded in a bunch of tiny scrap pieces. Went well, took a few hours.

Then noticed nasty stuff on the outside. Oh well, might as well fix it.

Finally back on the truck with mismatched paint:

Whhaaaa! A Hefty Pair of those Nasty Rocker Panel Ends

Can’t fit THAT on the album cover.

I was going to ignore the rocker perforation but wife had an opinion this once… “Well… You can’t leave it like that.”

Uh… honey? I’m tired? I feel like I’m getting done with this welding stuff. This manual labor is starting to make me hurt.

Ok, well we’ll see I guess.

I started on the passenger side at about 2pm after welding all morning. And somehow everything went right. Got it done in about 2.5 hours. Pretty fast I think.

Yeah, in hindsite this does look aweful. But no water into the cabin. How bad can that be?

Ground away all the bad metal and realized there was enough good metal that I could do this bottom part with a single piece. I went with the tried and true “weld some of it in, then hammer and grind it to fit” technique. And that worked great just this once.

I was pretty happy with how quickly that came together. So the next day I plan to zap the driver’s side, which has slightly worse rust:

Well it turned out there were some significant differences. Enough metal had gone by-by that I had to make multiple complex pieces. And that took a lot of time. The upper bit went well but it was a u-shaped piece that needed to curve in 2 dimensions. I fit the piece and then cut darts out of it so it could bend. This took 3 hours.

Then ground away the bad metal in the rocker. The backside and inside of the rocker are rusted and need to be cut away and replaced with new metal.

Here I had to make a pretty complex piece with a cereal box.

I mean look at that thing… and then folded, welded, folded again, welded more. Complicated. And this is just the end of the rocker tube.

Trace the piece on the sheet, then cut it out with jigsaw. Thank goodness I have that bosch jigsaw, best tool ever. Cuts like a damn laser.

Was tough going to weld that piece in. Not a lot of room for the torch. Welded the seam on the outside, then welded it on the inside.

Then I zapped the inside of the rocker as much as possible with zinc paint.

Then fold the panel shut and weld that seam. See what a complex shape that is! I’m impressed.

Then make the outer wheelwell lining.

Weld into place with darts, then hammer the tabs over and weld the seams.

Then grinding:

Yes, insanely strong.

This one side ended up taking all day.

 

A Yucky Little Hole Is Fixed

One of the land cruiser logo stud holes had rusted through an perforated all around. About a 2.5×2.5″ section.

This went really easy.

Im getting lots better about controlling the heat. Pretty much only do short tacks now. Let the weld cool before I put down another one.

I even checked from the back in bright sun and no pinholes. I chalk this up to my using more heat and hitting the metal in shorter bursts. Got better penetration, no pinholes. Awesome!

Lots More Welder-ing On That Truck

Have been really busy fixing rust.

First was the passenger side rear quarter panel. Its just that little bit of rust above the mud flap?

Well, I cut in a bit large in case I found anything interesting.

Yeah… that’s not good. I need to see better, get better access…

That is the wire that tells the car that the rear passenger door is open. It goes through a big giant piece of something yummy. Some rust stuff? Filler? JBWeld? I have no idea. I pryed it loose with a screwdriver and found the underside was in really great shape! But the wire was solidly embedded into it. I cut the wire and spliced in a new one.

Then got to work grinding away and replacing bad metal.

This job went much easier than the driver’s side because the quarter panel still had its base and back side. It was good to cut away a big area for access and I was able to weld the piece back in when I was done.

Again the 16g sheet makes for some really strong wheel well arches. I left the bad metal in place to use as a form, cut it away once it was time to weld in its replacement.

The final piece of wheel arch here was sort of tricky. Had to do some Vice Origami(tm). Was surprisingly difficult to get a piece curved in 2 directions and with funny angled sides. And I screwed it up a little.

See once its welded in there is a triangle gap. Darn!

That is the last time I’m freehanding a complex metal piece. Cereal box template from now on!

So I fill that triangle with a piece I had laying around:

Once its all snug and welded in place I grind the extra away. Simple!

That double-curved boxed section is incredibly solid. Like wow.

Then weld in a new piece and get to grinding.

And finally… I hit it with filler. Ouch!

Nope, this isn’t a pro job, that’s for sure.

But it is strong!

 

 

Blue Bomber Sag – Need Springs

Blue bomber’s rear end is sagging. Had Torfab take a look and they recommended all new everything, good nice greasable shackles, new arb springs, etc, etc. For $2400.

Yikes. Not sure I want to invest that at the moment.

They suggested I take the truck to Aalbu Brothers just up the street in Everett.

First visit, I’m in love. Looks like a 1920s locomotive factory. Heavy tools all over.

http://aalbubrothers.com/

They say the springs are stock, totally undersprung for that vehicle. Estimate $800 to re-curve the springs and add 2 new ones to the back.

Seems great, its what I need.

Guys are awesome, everything perfect, on time.

Sucker has no sag now! But need shocks now!

 

Blue Bomber Part 3

There’s all these bubbles in the paint? Under the paint? And they are squishy when I push with my thumb. Kind of a crackly sound too? What is that?

Its rust bubbles! Yay!

Nasty #1, the rear of the right side rear wheelwell. See after picture later.

Yep, this was an innocent blue bubble in the paint. Grind into it and this is what you find! Yay!

So I take the grinder and “take a look.” Pretty satisfying process. When you take a grinder to a car’s paint you lose your inhibitions. Hold the spinning wheel firmly and slowly move to contact bubble, it goes through the paint slowly and then “braappp” it gets through and the rust explodes.  Grind away all the rust, bare metal, hopefully not through the metal… then:

• clean with degreaser
• wash with phosphoric acid (rust converter) to convert any remaining iron oxide into hard black stuff.
• wash with water
• let dry
• paint a few coats with vht epoxy primer
• wait a few weeks to cure

At that point the damage is stabilized. Might not look good but is stable.

I do this on a few places. The really bad spots go through the metal and now there’s a hole into the car. Bummer. In that case there’s also rust on the inside and inside must be treated too. Total pain especially because most of the inside has been coated with sound deadener.

I try out a few techniques. The first is to simply hit with epoxy and call it done. The disadvantage of this is there is a ground out looking patch on the side of the car.

For rust through there’s three cases:

1. Hole from outside and through the lip into wheelwell. In that case there’s no water entering the car, just need to stabilize the rust. Super easy access to both sides of the holes.
2. Second case is when the hole goes into car because it needs to be fixed asap (or the inside will rust, which thankfully it hasn’t yet.
   To patch holes for case #2 I used…. JB Weld… to create a patch across the hole. This stuff expands at roughly the rate of metal so doesn’t crack loose on its own. I put some duct tape on the inside of the hole, then spackle some JB Weld onto it. Looks like a bad kid got busy with toothpaste. It dries pretty slowly but is rock hard in a week. Hole is fixed but needs more treatment.
3. And case #3? That’s the previous owners artistic fiberglass work. Appears he embarked on a similar journey as me and has left behind a bunch of crusty fiberglass. Damn. It really all needs to be ripped out but its so much work. I think I’ll seal it for now and when I do rip it out I’ll weld new metal in.

I stop by Westco Auto Supply and the guys in there recommend “Rage Premium FIller”. Apparently you can use this stuff on top of epoxy primer. Because it is cold I don’t want filler against metal as it will apparently absorb water as it dries in our humid northwest fall and then metal under the filler will likely rust over the next n years. If I prime first I am sealing the metal from oxygen, then filler over top to make it look good. Then primer and paint over the filler. Also at Westco I get a white plastic bondo palette and some medium size plastic spreaders, also 80 grit sandpaper.

Also I found this excellent summary of how to use filler:

http://www.roadsters.com/filler/

I guess there is some controversy, used to be filler just would not adhere to anything but metal. But today some folks maintain that its better to use primer under the filler. Since I’m working in the cold I’d like to get the metal covered asap.

Zero rust and rage primer.

I mix filler in small batches and apply in thin layers to fill the hole. Bondo palette was a really good idea. The filter dries hard, I leave a heater on it in the cold garage and the next morning I sand for a minute, clean with a paper towel and then paint over top with zero rust. Painting over the top I first sand the area with 80 grit, then wipe with isopropyl alcohol, then hit it with the 3″ foam roller and black zero rust. This is not going to look like new, that’s for sure.

The bright side: since this isn’t looking close to new no one will have a problem cutting it loose with a grinder in the future.

Nasty #1 Afterwards: Phosphoric acid, clean to shiny metal, then JB Weld, then zero rust, then Rage Filler, a very small crappy job sanding, then zero rust. The black speckle that looks like a hole is just fibrous debris from pressure washing – really!

The whole right side of that turn signal hole was gone, extending almost to the rear brake lights. Filled with filler, then slight sanding, then zero rust. Great access to the back of this hole so back got good treatment too.

I try and find some over the counter rustoleum that matches the truck’s color but no dice. Order two spray cans from an touchup paint place on-line. The color is “Medium Blue” Toyota code 857.

Thanks to ToyotaReference for the excellent paint charts!

http://www.toyotareference.com/landcruiser/1981-1990

Seeing that bubbly surface rust tells me its time to get busy with the frame. I’d very much like to hose the whole thing down with fluid film but that really doesn’t make sense until the metal and rust are treated with something more permanent.

I climb under the back and its pretty rusty! Remove spare tire and start pulling stuff loose with my fingers. Then I use an aluminum oxide disk on a drill. Then I get a screwdriver, and finally a hammer. Bang bang and it is just raining stuff. At first I think its metal and rust but realize its actually some sort of undercoating with rust underneath.

Yummy stuff that rained down from under the back of the truck. Good news its mostly undercoating, not just rust.

I research online and try to choose a product to recoat the frame. I really don’t want to use POR15 again. First it is so damn toxic. I’ve never smelled anything that poisonous before. Seriously bad in a whole new way. So bad that OSHA requires a “Supplied air respirator” if you want to spray it. That’s a moon suit. Not for me. Second I’ve had a few cases where it didn’t adhere even though I followed the instruction, and some cases where it stuck like magic and made a miracle surface when I did no prep at all. What gives? I dunno.

Anyway, on Jalopyjournal.com I find a bunch of discussion of it and lots of people like something called ZeroRust. Use over or under bondo, nice hard surface, easy to apply, not nearly so toxic. I can buy it by the quart or spray cans at Tacoma Screw so that’s easy. The instructions recommend thin coats applied 30 minutes apart. They recommend two different colors so you can see that you have a full coat each time. Figure its worth a shot.

I knock as much of the loose stuff loose as I can, using a screwdriver and hammer to chisel undercoating loose. There are a few spots that are too hard so leave them to look crappy in the future coated with zero rust. Figure if I can’t displace it with a screwdriver and hammer then its ok to paint over…

Wish I’d taken a before picture. This looks so nasty but realize the metal was solid and well ground before the black paint went on. Then for kicks I sprayed some red zero rust over it, just enough to make it look really rusty again. The actual surface is hard and smooth.

Post paint, post pressure wash. One hole is supposed to be there…

Post paint, still wet from pressure wash. The red is a light spray coating I put over the black in hard to reach cavities (to try it out.)

The frame has some rust holes in it at the far rear but everything at/ahead of the rear leaf mount looks(pretty) good. I coat everything with rust dissolver, let it sit for an hour and then wash with water. After dry I give it a pass of black zero rust. I use a combination of 3″ foam roller and a cheap brush. The brush starts to fall apart after a few minutes but the foam roller works well. The paint is quite thick to paint on though, feel like I’ll need to wait a week between coats.

After a week the zero rust has dried to a hard glassy coating but not totally cured as the thick drips are still a little soft. I’ll call it success so maybe I’m now free to apply farther up the frame. The main issue up there is not loose rust but caked on clay and dirt. Need to get it all clear before trying to paint the rest of the frame. I determine that pressure washer would be easiest. Next weekend I climb under and spend 20 minutes or so blasting the frame clean, then park inside to wait for it to dry.

Once its dry and clean I carefully inspect. The frame is quite greasy where I wish to paint, including on the pipe that the upper shocks bolt to. Also a few places in the back where zero rust was carelessly applied over dirt and grease it is not adhering. I go over all the stuff I’ve previously painted with my spinner disk on the drill, dig and pry and anything that looks loose using a screwdriver. Worst case this knocks bad paint loose, otherwise this is texturing the hard paint so later coats will grip well. Fortunately the area I prepared well is proving to be well protected.

I start cleaning the grease with an Orange Citrus cleaner, and then some hot water with purple power but it really isn’t making progress (despite the terrific scent.)

Bucket of purple power, reduced to catching any Marine Clean that might drip.

I break down and get out the respirator and mix some POR15 Marine Clean with hot water. Stuff is really nasty but removes the grease like there’s no tomorrow. It does take scrubbing with a wire brush but eventually not greasy. I wait an hour then wash with soap and water. One sad part, as I’m brushing I uncover a soft area in the side of the frame, digging with screwdriver and there are several small holes on the inside passenger side rail. Rusted through from the inside. Bummer.

Notice how the Metal Prep has left some shiny metal (could have been the grinding?) and a white residue.

Wow, found some rust through…

Next day all is dry I hose it all down with POR15 Metal Prep which is an acid etch and rust converter. Supposed to be the bomb for adhesion. Several passes with a paint brush and the rust really is gone, converted into white dust which I wipe off with a rag.

Looking toward the rear, the shock tube and a rusty cross piece. Took a lot of scrubbing to get the grease off this thing. I really understand why only an idiot would try to paint a frame while it was on the truck.

Panorama!!! Of the rear of the truck before cleaning and additional coats of paint.

Look what I found while down there… at least its after the muffler.

Finally paint a large area of the frame with the Black Zero Rust. Wait 45 minutes for most of solvent to dry off, then go over it with a coat of the white zero rust. The two color approach was suggested on zero rust web site and really is a good way to tell that you have full coverage with each coat. I poured too much white so ended up painting the underside of the fuel tank, also the front frame (which was clean and had tight rust) well see if it sticks when its pressure washed.

After the white has dried for 45 minutes I spray hard to reach areas with aerosol can of the red oxide colored zero rust. With 3 colors visible it really looks like crap, but that’s ok because its coverage.

Zero Rust instructions are really clear: you can top coat after 30-60 minutes, but no more top coating after 6 hours. After that time acetone over uncured paint will cause the paint to swell and lift. After 6 hours you need to let the paint cure for a week, or weeks and weeks if temperature is low. Being that winter just started and temps are in the 30s and 40s I’m thinking it will be spring before that paint has cured.

Maybe I drive it to a warm garage somewhere. Rent a space where I can continue to work on it?

Man I sure like that LED floor light.

Final comparison, before and after:

Before:

After:

Bondo repair coated with zero rust.

Yeah that lower lip is all cracked fiberglass. Someday we’re going to need to saw it out and weld it. For now at least there is no water getting into the car. I understand why folks chop the rear quarter panels: besides clearance its a rust disaster.

Blue Bomber Part 2

Truck home, go over it for maintainance that’s been deferred.

Seller assures that oil change is due in a few thousand k, so that will be on hold for few thousand kms.

On a hunch we changed the fuel filter and found fuel that was poured out of filter was very black. Yuck. New filter and primed and car seemed to run better. The built in fuel priming pump on this truck is on its last legs, when unscrewed fuel is spilled everywhere while pumping. Need to install a replacement from Bosch. Meh… next time…

Removed air filter, looked dirty and covered in crud so put in a new one. Wow that helped.

Brake fluid looks good but clutch fluid was dark amber. We bleed clutch system with no issues. Clutch is simple to bleed with pedal (and an assistant) because clutch pedal sees full travel in normal use. Brakes are tricky and you need to be careful because normal brake usage doesn’t fully exercise the brake master cylinder’s travel so the bore will be corroded in the unused section. If you use full travel you’ll destroy the seal in the master cylinder. Best bet for brakes is to use a pressure bleeder (which I don’t own.)

I drive the truck to work for the next week getting a feel for its problems. Really the only problem is the big 35″ wheels which make the car so sluggish. Got to find some stock wheels. Engine seems peppy though and handling is excellent despite the huge stupid wheels. Well, gotta say the heavy tinting sucks for visibility.

I installed my voltmeter in cigarette lighter and while voltage is maintained properly at idle I see that voltage rises with rpm, going way past 14.2volts, up to 15 or 15.5. No wonder the batteries look bad. Clearly the alternator is due for a trip to Romaine Electric.

Saturday we remove and clean the batteries and see that the rubbery paint on the battery trays is delaminating. Pull on the rubber and there’s a ton of rust underneath. Yummy!

This is what you should always suspect is under the rubber coating of a battery tray…

One side is worse than the other, probably that side saw its battery boil over a few more times than the other.

Remove the trays and take to my friend with a blasting cabinet, then spray with metal etch primer and then epoxy paint (this is a new thing to try, I’ve heard metal etch primer is the key to a good paint job, we’ll see I guess.) Problem with these modern paints is that they work so well that you don’t know if paint job is “good” for 20 years or so.

Painted with metal etch primer, then covered with the VHT suspension epoxy. Hmm. The epoxy is supposed to be “DTM” so maybe the primer won’t let it adhere as well? Live and learn we’ll see I guess.

Pitting and preferation from the rust.

The metal is quite thin and flimsy in places but the tray as a whole is still strong enough.

The batteries are showing different voltages, one is 12.7, the other 12.4 I’m going to guess due to corroded cable ends and poor ground? Or something? I put the batteries on the smart charger and the low one takes more than a day to reach 12.7. Gotta keep my eye on it though but probably they’ll last a long time after the alternators voltage regulator is repaired.

View down under the passengers side tray.

Alternator prior to removal (so I can remember what goes where.)

Remove alternator is a bit of a chore. Remove oil lines, disconnect electrical plugs. The adjustment bracket that alternator bolts to is pretty badly bent so difficult to slide the alternator around. I remove the pivot bolt from the bottom but alternator won’t come loose. I end up removing the airbox too so I can see better. That takes 5 minutes and really helps for access.

Factory manual doesn’t mention anything so I search on internet for an hour or so for special tricks. Finally find a post that suggests one must reef on it and if it doesn’t come loose… find someone stronger! Ok, I can do that. Sure enough pulling hard frees the alternator. The issue are the bushings that are pressed into the bottom of the alternator stick out a bit so it takes force to work the alternator loose. Drop it off at Romaine on Monday, so now vehicle is undrivable. Remove and clean all the cable ends, sand the grounding bolts for a better connection.

bj60 alternator, see vaccum pump on left side. If you spin the alternator it spurts oil! Yay!

BJ60 Alternator, vaccum pump on top. Can clearly see the bushings that hold the pivot bolt.

Alternator takes almost 2 weeks to repair due to Romaine’s builder being sick. Comes back looking like new though. Before installing we replace all the belts. To change belts the fan doesn’t need to be removed, belts can be worked around it. Fortunate we did swap the belts because coolant pump belt was cut almost clear through.

Now that paint has cured for a few weeks we paint the tray and surrounding area with fluidfilm ar. Also take the time to fluidfilm the airbox inside and out.

Boy With Rebuilt 1984 BJ60 Alternator

That “bare metal” is actually painted with clearcoat.

Amazing work eh?

“Romaine electric and boy with rebuilt 1984 bj60 alternator.”

Alternator reinstallation I used a pry bar to lever it back onto the pivot, then replaced bolts and washers. We grind the cable ends to remove corrosion and ensure a clean connection. Also grind the area around the grounding bolt for each battery. Battery install went fine and luckily the myriad of cables all went to obvious places because I didn’t take notes when removing them. The batteries are a bit small though, truck can fit larger ones. Why buy a smaller battery than you can fit?

Big moment… the truck starts perfectly. No issues on our neighborhood victory lap.

Some sort of crazy – breeding like rabbits

Son has his learners permit. Driving. Wow how time flies.
Talking with wife there’s a bunch of modern theories about what makes a good car for a new driver.
One school of thought is that you need a vehicle with all modern safety amenities. Another is that it should be a slow old piece of junk that teaches you the basics of car ownership.
Talking with wife we strangely agreed that the BJ60 makes a pretty good car. Strong benefits are:
◾price (kid shouldn’t drive something nice and expensive)
◾manual transmission so driving takes attention

◾lack of depreciation (again, price)
◾speed (lack of speed means you’ll learn very quickly the value of consideration while driving)

◾maintainability (kid will be able to keep it running himself)

◾fuel economy (again, price)

◾cheap to insure (price)

◾survivability (big truck on frame will tolerate collisions better than a small car)
Downsides are:

◾no airbags

◾no crumple zone

◾lift means chance of rollover
Given that we’re agreed on this and son seems bought in (though not nearly so much as the younger one) it seems like a good idea to find and prepare one. We can’t wait to get out of the carpool game.
I start looking and come across a real beauty on Vancouver island. Price is great at $4500 cad, with today’s strong dollar that’s ~$3700. Ad states: yes there’s rust, of course there is, but only a little and only in the back. Hmm.
During the week I iterate plans to get this vehicle back to seattle:

◾fly to Victoria (fun!), meet seller there (seller says no)

◾fly to Victoria, take bus to seller (bc transit is horrible, there’s a commuter bus that would arrive at 5pm.)

◾fly to Victoria, rent car, drive to seller, check out vehicle, drive or fly back
Seems workable but older son wants to come, then younger son wants to come too. Suddenly plane tickets are significant outlay.
While I’m wrestling with these schemes seller finally sends photos of the rust. Damn. Good god. Rust has penetrated behind wheelwells, through frame, in floor under seats. He has no idea how bad it is. I send the photos to TorFab (honest, trusted, reliable) asking if this is $1k or $10k of repair work. He says minimum of $10k, and would be $25k to make it perfect. He says “Run! Don’t do it!”
Oh, come on, can it be that bad? I take the photos out and trace the rust with my own truck and realize what a disaster it would be to repair. I call RaddCruisers in Duncan and they don’t do that sort of work. Recommend Sutherland in Duncan, talk to Steve. “Steve” says they don’t do rust repair, its too labor intensive and not worth anyone’s time. Recommends “Traver” who leaves nearby and enjoys rust repair. Call “Traver”, good guy who estimates $2500 but price will go up depending on how bad it is. Finally reality sets in and I decide to pull the plug.
Bummer as it looks so nice except for that rust.
Then look at Vancouver craigslist again. There’s a nice blue cruiser in Abbotsford area, same price, much less rust and much more convenient to access. Actually a relief to find it for about 2/5 of what I paid for mine 3 years ago. I suppose lots of folks are disappointed in the fall of prices for these trucks.
My parents are on their way up to BC so driving right by the car. We ride up with both kids in tow with thought to call wife if truck isn’t as claimed.

Arrive early, little rainy. Blue Bomber is there in all its glory.
Seller is excellent and has good stories. He’s lived and loved this car, its clear. Why selling? Well, I won’t reveal details here but lets just say he’s definitely getting something better.
I check all around car and bit by bit seller reveals all the work and money he’s put into it. He did previously strip and por15 the quarter panel buckets. Also fiberglassed the outside. There is rust sparkling up on the back of the rear wheelwell lips, also the lovely rockers have rust inside and they’re disintegrating under the paint. Sad but I can probably stabilize it. Maybe take it to one of them sandblasting places first. The other issue is the batteries which look like crap. Supposed to be less than a year old…
Saddest thing, he took the alternator to a local mechanic I’ve bought parts from and was totally hosed. Ended up charging the seller $2000 to rebuild the alternator. Robbery.
I start and find left rear brakelight doesn’t light. “Oh, he says, I took the bulb out for a friends trailer!” Fortunately I have one in my spare parts.
I agree to buy it, we drive to the nearest AutoPlan to transfer title. Before driving I plugged in my cigarette lighter voltmeter. Can see that alternator is providing too much voltage at high rpm. Seller mentions that there is a bad diode in the alternator. I guess this one will be heading to Romaine!

Again Autoplan tears off the bottom bit of the BC insurance proof and give it to me, the top part stays with the seller. The seller offered it to me but I explained that he needed it to get his insurance refund. “Ah! Right!” he says.
This time I got a photo copy of the full form.
Next stop the kids and I head to the border. Just like last time I’m told to park out front, he takes the passports and records the vin, then we head in. Gotta say this was an excellent experience. We were helped by Officer Top who is a fine individual. Knew his business, did all the forms, charged the tax, etc, etc. No bravado, no attitude, really a sincerely nice guy. I got a feedback form because its so rare that the government can retain a person like him.
He has me read and repeat the vin, then sign the 7501. I had copies of the EPA and NHTSA forms but he said they weren’t necessary. Noted on the form that they weren’t needed. Signed and stamped we’re sent on our way, after a quick photo!

Thanks Officer Top!

Arrive home to find that the truck is approved by Wonder Pooch.

So, here they are… side by side. Gotta problem don’t I?

Head to Bell Red Auto License on Monday. Wait for number to be called and who is it? OMG! The same teller that gave me so much trouble when I bought the red one! Well and least we know the routine now, shouldn’t be a problem. I hand over the forms and she says: “You need to provide the full form.” hands back the BC title. “Um… no. You told me the same thing 3 years ago, and the answer is for you to get the supervisor and she can call Olympia to get clarification.” She acquiesces. I wait 20 minutes for Olympia to respond, they provide an approval number and my plates are handed over.

SHEESH. Then of course the supervisor comes out and tells me she has NEVER seen that form accepted. I explain that this very teller was told by Olympia 3 years ago to accept it, so there’s one more example. That maybe the system should be fixed so folks aren’t given bad info.

So. Maybe their processing of BC vehicles will be fixed now? I doubt it. (Would have been fixed by now if Officer Top worked there.)