As previously discussed, we replaced the radiator and fan right before dragging our race car and trailer the 200 miles north to, once again, attend the Empire Hill Climb. The van was like new. So smooth and cool and it never missed a beat. Such a different story from last year and, as a bonus, we didn’t almost run out of fuel this time either.

We did have one little hiccup once we neared Empire though. The brake pad warning light came on. We were a bit perplexed as we were pretty sure we put all new brakes on the van when we bought it at the beginning of 2022 and we’ve not put many miles on it since then. After the race we got chance to look at the brakes through the wheel spokes and concluded we had plenty of pad left so decided not to worry about it and wait till we got back. Once home we whipped off a wheel and found this:

Yes, it’s the brake pad wear sensor from the front left caliper. We ordered up a couple more and swapped them out a few days later. Crisis averted. One issue that thankfully didn’t arise but we were concerned about was the lack of a bulkhead separating the cab from the cargo area. We were quite worried that lots of heavy objects would join us in the cab in the event of a crash and likely do us in, even if we survived the initial impact. We liked the access from the cab to the cargo area and didn’t feel we wanted to give that up but also didn’t know if we cared that much. Our decision was made a whole lot easier when we found an OE bulkhead for sale locally on Facebook Marketplace for just $50. We snapped it up.

It came out of a high-roof model but the extension for that just unbolted.

Then we just lifted it up and bolted it into pace using all the OE holes and fasteners.

The cab is so much cozier now and we can no longer hear all the rattles and squeaks from the cargo area. The AC and heat are both now ferocious beasts as a bonus and, so far, we haven’t walked into it by accident.