rusty nail to sow's ear

Fri 13th April 2012

After a trip to Transporterhaus and Futbus, I now has more stuff to lower the bus more and stop it quicker.



Unfortunately its all locked in a workshop in the back of the works van as it looks like spending on the bus may have come to a temporary halt.



Still, saved some diesel and had a nice nap on the way back up the M5 though....

Sat 14th April 2012

I thought I'd cheer myself up this evening and had a quick fondle of my shiny bits.





Can't wait to get them on.




Oh yeah, forgot all about my parcel from the States that arrived on Thursday.





Need a clean, but not bad for $73 delivered, perhaps I'll have 4 wheel braking at some point in the near future....

Fri 20th April 2012

Had a multi-tasking day today between the torrential downpours.
Cleaned and painted rear brake back plates.



And finally got me finger out and made a start on the trailer. Almost as many coats of paint as the bus had.







All ready for a bit of rust prevention and a coat of paint, just need to fit a tow bar to the bus now.

Sat 21st April 2012

Had a new member of the Saturday Club this morning.



Had a tow bar donated to the cause, piece of piss to fit.
OK, I'm lying there...
After a bit of cutting and welding we got to this stage, but as you can see it's too low and would create a groove in the tarmac.


A bit more modification and it now looks like this.









Need to take it all off again for a bit of paint before refitting the bumper.

Mon 23rd April 2012

It's absolutely pissed down all day here, so I braved the rain and removed the tow bar ready for a coat of paint.
After a good wire brushing and rust treatment it's now ready for a coat of Rustoleum primer along with the trailer frame.






All primered up ready for a shiny black top coat.





Along with the top of my head....

Tues 24th April 2012

Tow bar top coated. To be honest I'm impressed with the Rustoleum paint, first time I've used it.







Trailer frame next.

Sat 28th April 2012

Managed to get a primer coat on the trailer frame between the showers.

Wed 2nd May 2012

Tow bar on between the heavy showers. It's a bit overkill really and obstructs the area in front of the valance where the Vintage Speed exhaust will be fitted, so is a temporary solution until I can make one up that does away with the bumper brackets as well.

Sat 5th May 2012

It's not raining!
Spent most of the day tending the garden and veg patch, and then a couple of hours on the trailer.

Sun 6th May 2012

Another coat of paint on the trailer, and then put away in the garage until the ply boards are cut.
Got the wheels painted though.





Then a few little jobs like curtain wire, and cleaning the four coats of green and white gloss off the sliding door opening trim.



Discovered some walkthrough trim in the garage stash, but can only find the top piece. :?



Looks like I'll need to make the trim panels slightly longer...

Sun 13th May 2012

As VanWest was postponed and the weather was OK we decided to go away anyway.
I spent the weekend camping at Broadway House, sitting in the sun, drinking cider and talking absolute crap.

Collecting cheese and cider.



All set up.



Ready for the trip home.

Wed 16th May 2012

Acquired a much loved deluxe grille trim today.
From this,





to this.

Thursday 17th May 2012

New link pins have arrived, along with Alex's new t-shirts and some stickers.





As you can see, it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Sat 19th May 2012

I started assembling the king and link pin beam today ready to fit as a unit when I drop the old balljoint beam out.



Did a dry run without torsion leaves to make sure that the track rods were the right length, turns out they're not, been shortened for a narrowed beam. As it happens I had a spare, so I'll need to drop the other one off the bj beam and replace one end with a split track rod end.

This is an EPIC thread!! I'm upto page 4 but will check out the rest later

I'll add a few more then.


Tues 22nd May 2012

After fitting dust seals, trailing arms back in.







Gave up trying to fit link pins with no instructions, shims are sorted, but how do all the seals and other bits fit?
Looks like I'll need to ream the spindles to get the bearings to fit as well.....

Thurs 24th May 2012

Anyway, back to the trailer.

Have you ever started something that didn't turn out the way you wanted, but carried on regardless?
Looks OK in the picture, but really sh*te when you're stood in front of it....



I've decided the trailer will not be matching the bus for the moment.

Thurs 24th May 2012

As it's such a pleasant evening I carried on.

Sat 26th May 2012

Bearing shells pressed in,



link pins, shims and spindles fitted.







Futbus disc brake hub and carrier on (tell you what, the beam is really, really heavy now.... ),





and I'm driving the bus on a glorious sunny day.

Mon 28th May 2012

Trailer finished,



and beam removed from back of bus and nicely settled in new home in garage without damage to myself or beam.

Tues 29th May 2012

Beam me up Scotty.....



All ready to fit.

Tues 5th June 2012

Had a trip to Lakeland Camping at Llangorse for the Jubilee with a few from the JK forum Just a few pictures from the weekend.

The view towards Pen-Y-Fan.



Orchard field camp.









Home sweet home.







View towards Mynydd Troed.



Saturday's breakfast



Some cakes provided for the "street party", and very nice they were too.



"street party"

Yes, that is me necking a cold one at the back.



A very rare family shot



Sunday's roast before, no after pictures as it was dark and used 2 1/2 cobblestones......



We had our own flotilla thanks to a friend's awning.



See, the sun does shine in Wales.....



The Jubilee beacon being lit on the summit of Mynydd Troed.



All packed up ready for the trip home.

Tues 12th June 2012

Bit of a set back on the beam front, had trouble fitting the callipers and wheels on a dry run. Looks like one of the calliper carriers is twisted and the other is for a 15" wheel set-up. So they've had to come off and be sent back to Dave at Futbus.
Running out of time to get it fitted for Camper Jam now.



Nothing's ever straightforward or fits first time these days......




Had a cracking weekend at Bristol Volksfest with the earlybay.com crowd after a wet and very windy start though.

Tues 12th June 2012

Sat 23rd June 2012



The beam's sitting in the back of the bus as I'm still waiting for the correct calliper mounts to arrive.

So today I mostly checked the oil and points, and adjusted the fan belt. Then I noticed that the inner front valance was starting to rust already, especially where it joins the outer, so attacked it with a wire brush and copious amounts of rust converter. Thanks for 4 poster ramps.
Although the primer was applied whilst lying on my back with the front of the bus on axle stands on the drive in the rain.





It's amazing what shows up with the camera flash that you can't see in semi-darkness with your nose almost touching the chassis legs.




I think it may be age (or lack of alcohol in system), but I'm strangely attracted to the new purchase down the yard......



....and I've also found the reason why the bus got louder on the trip back up the motorway.