rusty nail to sow's ear

Sat 19th November 2011

Got home and carried on with the cooker unit refurb. A rather heavy sanding session and then a couple of coats of correct vintage (it's been in the old man's store for at least 30 years) light oak varnish on the cooker unit.





Doesn't it ever get dark quick.







Cooker parts scrubbed clean, sanded, primed and painted as well.

Sun 20th November 2011

Refurbed cooker, can't get the bath enamel to take to the damaged areas so will either keep looking for another cooker or get this one stripped and stove enamelled.

Fri 25th November 2011

Chloe's home from school today feeling unwell, so it gives me a chance to give the cooker unit a final sand and coat of varnish.





Hopefully get it fitted to the bus over the next few days.


Well, would you believe it, it's just started hammering down here and the cooker unit is sat on the drive as I'm typing this.....

Fri 25th November 2011



Anyway, on with operation front valance.





here's the missing inner valance...





I really shouldn't have been surprised at the previous repair or the amount of filler really.

Sat 26th November 2011

Inner valance fitted at last, fairly easy when you don't have to remove the old one.



Outer valance on as well, what a pita that was. The profile of the repro panel is nowhere near, had to cut the top section off as it was shaped like a late bay panel, and then use self-tappers to pull the bottom of the front panel out to meet the replacement valance. Still, it's on now and with a coat of primer for the journey home.



Home, and a swipe of filler that I couldn't leave alone and dragged.



Rain stopped play until tomorrow.

Sun 27th November 2011

Had a frustrating day today, discovered that body filler has a use by date so had to scrape the soft filler off that I applied yesterday and then found that body filler also doesn't like being applied in cold weather and hardens almost instantaneously upon contact with cold metal. Lots of sanding required....



Also took the headlights out as I want to give the front a repaint and polish, only to find the off-side full of water. Aaaaaaaargh!


I bet you're as fed up as me of pics of this bloody cooker unit as well.



Last sand to get rid of the rain damaged varnish, I'm not going to spend any more time on it now, other than fit it.

Sat 3rd December 2011

Ended up having to scrape all the filler off again today as it hadn't hardened.
So now have applied the 3rd skim of filler this week and this cured in 20 minutes.
I hope I'm not going to get OCD (a la front bumper) with this again....



Note the damage to the off-side corner of the valance, usually the bumper absorbs steep drive impact.






Quick question, how do I stop getting pinholes in the filler?

Sun 4th December 2011

Further to a previous comment I made, an understanding wife is also a bonus....



...as her car was covered in a layer of dust as well.













Not one of my better jobs I must admit, probably due to the cold and damp, rushing it ready for next weekend and feeling slightly under the weather. I'll have to rub back and fill a couple of places where it looks shite.

Wed 7th December 2011

I thought I'd better spend a bit of time tonight putting it all back together, after I found a replacement off-side headlight lamp holder to replace the "new" one that had disintegrated, and trying to make the near-side headlamp fixing hole smaller than the retaining screw.





All back together apart from the bumper and interior bits.

Fri 9th December 2011

OK, on with the refit.

Loads of 25mm celotex shoved in the front panel, then some taken out so I could fit the kick panels and speakers.
Washer bottle filled and, fuckfuckfuck...



....back out with the kick panels and insulation, mopped the water up and replaced the washer hose. Quick test for leaks and then refit the washer bottle, insulation and kick panels again.
On a roll now, bit of Prodigy and Kasabian pumping, so out with the old cooker unit and in with the new.

Sat 10th December 2011

Well, the bumpers back on.

Started another little job, off came the EMPI hex bar linkage and on went the new CSP bellcrank linkage.
Sounds easy when you say it like that though.....



...but what a difference £72 makes.

All ready for the Santa Cruz tomorrow.

Mon 12th December 2011

Sat 17th December 2011

After last Sunday's journey home in the dark and rain with a choice of any 1 in 3 of wipers, indicators or lights due to a charging fault. It was electrical fault finding day.
Charging fault sorted after repairing damaged generator light cable and faffing about with those stupid dash lampholders...
Side light fault sorted as well, so on another roll decided to replace sliding door roller and guide block.
All done and then dropped sliding door while trying to refit it.

oh fuck

Thurs 22nd December 2011

Well, there's your problem.





No wonder the sliding door was a bit sticky.

Fri 23rd December 2011

Sliding door has developed the tendency to not latch when open, need to park perfectly level or facing uphill now.

Anyway, found this from the VanWest cruise pics earlier this year.

Tues 27th December 2011

At last, got the cooker unit finished.
Fitted some double roller catches to stop the lid flying off, the rear of the unit doesn't touch the seat bulkhead with the removable hinge so can't fit the fixing rail.







All ready for the Twixtmas camp at Leominster now.

Mon 2nd January 2012

Well, that was a bit of a let down. Site was small and not "all-weather" pitches as advised.
The levelling chocks sank during the night, and it took the best part of half an hour with the assistance of a Welshman and a seatbelt (don't ask.... ) to extricate the bus.







Didn't bother with the awning as it was so waterlogged, back still hurts, so only stayed the one night and came home for New Year's Eve.
Back to the Tudor Arms this year hopefully.

Sat 7th January 2012

Today's purchases....

Wed 11th January 2011

Had a quick run out this morning, took a load of rubbish to the not-quite local recycling centre and came home the long way.
Had a quick fettle with the carbs, linkage and throttle cable and then decided to have a final attempt at trying to get the sliding door to shut on the second latch when the handle is pulled up.

After much mucking about with adjustments here and there and not succeeding, I removed the front latch keeper from the B pillar and "locked" it to the latch. After shutting the door there's a gap of 5mm between the keeper and the pillar. Hmmmmm...
Took the sliding door rubber off completely and the door shuts perfectly, refit the rubber and the 5mm gap's back.

Rang Status and was reassured that the rubber was the correct one.
Maybe correct, but it doesn't fucking fit.
I've already trimmed the rear part of the rubber to let the rear latch catch on the keeper and now I've had to make an aluminium spacer to fit behind the front keeper to get the door to shut properly......



....and relax.
Anyone fitted a decent sliding door rubber that lets the door shut?


Anyway, thought the old girl could do with a clean.



That's better.

Wed 25th January 2012





All I need now is ozziedog's full width Westfalia bed and I can get on and fit the interior out.

Sat 4th February 2012

Having problems with the sliding door and new rubber. The problem is the new seal, with the old seal I still had a couple of mm adjustment and the door had even shut lines when closed. With the new seal it doesn't shut far enough forward and sits proud of the bodywork because I've had to reposition both the front and back keepers to get it to latch.
But if I fit the old one the door shuts perfectly, but leaks.

Not much progress, although I was bored today so decided to fit the "new" rear bench seat while it snowed.





had a surprise visitor as well....

Sat 11th February 2012

There wasn't going to be a lot to report, just a fettling day planned.
Up early to scrape the bus to go to Nick's yard, broke the scraper, couldn't open any of the doors as they're frozen shut, so poured some hot water over the seals and lock only to find I've now got ice an inch thick on the doors.
Managed to get in through the n/s door, start up and drive off with the wheel clamp still in place.
30 minutes later after jacking the bus up and removing offending (now bent) wheel clamp with a combination of very large hammer and hacksaw and waking the neighbours, I've now got to scrape the windows again.....



But I managed to get a couple of jobs done.
Needed to use the ramp at the workshop, as one of the nuts securing the Z hinges had come loose and it had to be the one right over the chassis leg where the rear axle is.
Throttle cable lubed and linkage tweaked, and breather box cleaned.
Then after I'd got home this afternoon I decided to refit the original filler/breather, but could I get it off the old generator stand, could I fuck.
Attempted to get the breather off, but after much application of heat and patience the grinder came out and cut the nut off along with the filler neck.
It's ironic that the breather on a spare twinport engine under the bench came off really easily though, so I can use the nut on the sp.
Just need to clean the swarf out of the breather before it gets fitted now.....

Sun 12th February 2012

What do you reckon then?



Not bad for £20.

10 minutes later after a bit of wire wool action.



Might be fitting these tomorrow.

Mon 13th February 2012

Well, what do you reckon? Try and ignore the temporary fixings, I wasn't going to drill the bumper yet.




Rears may be a bit harder to get on though, as I've got a split rear bumper fitted and the curve of the corners is different.

Mon 13th February 2012

Cleaned the breathers out on Saturday and had a good couple of hours drive yesterday, so this is a bit worrying.






Good job I was planning on refitting the stock oil filler/breather today then.



Just need to get a longer piece of hose and then I'll see if this improves matters.