Sliding Door Handle Installed!

I finally got that sliding door handle installed. I ended up having to remove the door panel to get the job done. The bad news is that I ended up cracking the panel while I was removing it. That really isn't the end of the world though because it is just a piece of thin plywood wood and I should be able to make a replacement without too much pain. I'd kind of like to do that anyway because I wanted to replace the fabric glued to the face. The original Vanagon interior has this plastic fabric sprayed to the plywood mounted over the body. I was thinking that it'd be cool to remove all of my panels and come up with something else to cover it with. The only problem is that I'm not sure what I should replace it with. I guess I'll have to go to a fabic store and just see what I can find.

In other news I am still thinking about that paint job. Seeing the original van color on the interior frame makes me hate the current paint job even more. It would look so nice in that cream. Plus I am really wondering why they repainted the van in the first place. I have fears that it has something to do with rust. If that is the case then I'd rather POR15 over it now, get the rest of the body work done, and get a new paint job. I'll probably end up doing something like that eventually but it will take me a while to come up with the cash for that.

Tomorrow I'm planning to pull both batteries from the van. I am able to jump the van off just fine but I can't seem to get that battery to hold charge by just charging it off the alternator. Before I replace it I am going to try pulling it and plugging it into my battery charger. Then I'll know for sure if that thing can hold charge. I'm also going to start the process of moving the second battery back to the bench seat in the rear.