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Step One to a successful skoolie conversion: Put a starter in it. NOW.
What is the most common roadside or parking lot repair? Flat tire? Dead battery? Not even close. Not for me, anyway. In my experience, it’s a worn out starter.
I replaced the starter on my hot rod roadster in a Bank of America parking lot. The guy who gave me a ride to the parts store and back was delighted to get a brief but rip-roaring ride in the roadster as thanks. I was less than pleased myself.
I replaced the starter on my Blazer in a Target parking lot. In the rain. Walked to the store and back. I was real thankful for a hot bath and dry clothes when I finally got home.
Several others.
This Tuesday, about Noon, we were ready to leave “Black Rock City”, 100 miles from abso-effin-lutely nowhere in the Nevada desert, when Millicent’s starter blew its last fart. I worked on it for a couple of hours in a blinding dust storm, but it was not repairable. While I worked I could practically hear my dried out fingertips cracking open. (I'm typing with my pinkies now.) So I bicycled to the “city” exit and hitched a ride to Reno with a pot-smoking old hippie and bought a starter. Back to Black Rock City the next day in a rental car. We got out of there exactly 24 hours late.
Wow, that new starter sure cranks a lot better than the old one ever did!
So: Based on 55 years of foolishly neglecting my starters until it was too late, I offer this suggestion: Unless you are REALLY SURE you have a sound starter in that clapped out skoolie you just dragged home, PUT A NEW STARTER IN IT.
NOW.