rusty nail to sow's ear

Tues 14th August 2012

Tues 14th August 2012























"It's got a rotten rear end and the paint doesn't match......"



:wanker:


He has got a point though.

Tues 14th August 2012

Tues 14th August 2012











To be perfectly honest, I lost most of Sunday due to drinking excessively, and getting to bed about 20 minutes before the biggest thunderstorm early Sunday morning.

Tues 14th August 2012

Thought I'd better paint the seat bulkhead while the seat's out being repaired,



and fit the chassis plate that's been in the garage for over 4 years.....

Wed 15th August 2012

Walkthrough trim and chassis plate fitted,



and seats back in.



Itching to get the corners and rear arches started now.

Fri 17th August 2012

Thanks chaps.

Another pic from last weekend courtesy of Clyde. Although I can't remember there being a fire eater......

Sat 19th August 2012

Decided to get rid of a bit more of the white and green gloss and matt black, and paint the n/s seat bulkhead.







After a couple of hours scraping and rubbing back.





The o/s bulkhead felt left out...





Hmmmm, I didn't have as much paint as I thought....







Oh well, looks like this won't be finished tonight.

Tues 21st August 2012

Rain still stopping play on the paint front, so decided to have a mechanical play instead as it's not like I've got loads of unfinished bits to do.....
Dug out one of the spare engines and took the heads off to make sure that they were uncracked and OK for the "new" engine build.



Look fine to me.





These turned up today as well.







All I need to do now is unearth all the other bits I've stashed away....

Wed 22nd August 2012

Hooray, fine weather returned today so I could finish the painting.
Walk-through trim and seat belts back in.



And finally both seats fitted, until I decide to fit carpet or tubs.....

Fri 24th August 2012


Late steering box conversion is a go now as well.

Sat 25th August 2012

Due to adverse meteorological conditions it's taken most of the day to collect, cut, and fit the ply bulkhead panels, refit the swing out cooker hinge, and fit the sliding door edge trim.....





Can't decide how to finish the ply, varnish or find a load of comics and stick them on.

Fri 31st August 2012

More parts for engine jigsaw.




Started fettling trailer 2 today, rust attacked and new cover fitted.





I realized earlier that the trailer sides actually come off the base frame, so have sprayed WD40 on the turnbuckle fixings and hopefully I can dismantle it tomorrow.

Sat 1st September 2012

Trailer fettling continues, stripped, wire brushed and rust treated.









Gave the side panels a quick going over with fine wire wool, any suggestions as to what to seal them with?

Mon 3rd September 2012

Masked and sprayed with cold galvanising spray.





Not too sure about the finish, but I'll have to do the rest now as it doesn't match the original.





Bought some "Thompson's Water Seal" as well, so I'll have a go at the inside one of the side panels later.

Sat 8th September 2012

Breaker, breaker.....



As it doesn't look like ozziedog's donating his full width Westy bed, I got the Zig unit, mains and 12V socket fitted as well. I've repositioned the Propex gas bottle to this seat unit behind the driver's seat as well, so need to get the bus on a ramp to fit the hard gas pipe to the Propex under the bench seat.



Cleaned and polished ready for tomorrow's trip to Malvern.




I do love my bus.

Wed 12th September 2012

OK then, going to VanWest on Friday morning so I ripped all the mains and 12V out of the bus and relocated it in the buddy seat.



Flexible conduit installed underneath to take the battery feeds, rewired mains sockets, took all the flexible conduit off again as I never put enough cores in (Zig unit requires earth connections from accessories.....), refit conduit again and start to connect.
Took gas hard line off as well, as I'm going to reroute this inside the bus.



That's as far as I got due to it getting a bit dark.....

Sun 16th September 2012

Pics from the VanWest weekend.

Collecting supplies.






Camp Wig





When the others finally arrived....



A few pics taken while wandering around



















The cruise to the beach

















All in all a cracking weekend, but once again a show with 80% T4/5s.......

Sun 16th September 2012

The more eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted that the Bristol flag is upside down.....

My only defence is cider based.

Mon 17th September 2012



Not too bad driving onto the beach down the access ramp, but got the front bumper stuck on the exit ramp at the top end of the beach. Much to the onlookers delight.



Missed a couple.....

Evening session





On the way back up the M5, with a bit more to go, stat nav says 72mph. Bottled a flat out run due to the way the steering box doesn't feel connected to the steering wheel at higher speeds.

Sat 22nd September 2012

Today I have been mostly fitting new fresh air tubes to heat exchangers and tinware seals and a SVDA dizzy with an ignition module (can't see the points gaps without glasses anymore..... ),



and then "adjusting" the bellcrank linkage so it doesn't foul the vac can on the dizzy.





Then this afternoon made a start on an early Devon wardrobe/seat unit to replace the seat box that I've just moved the Zig unit, hook-up and Propex gas into.....

Sat 22nd September 2012

Dismantled, stripped, new ply backboard fitted and glued.





Coarse sanded and ready for tomorrow.





Only a bit to clear up.....



SWMBO's new broom has arrived.

Sat 22nd September 2012

Only kidding dear.
£5 gearshift rods.

Fri 28th September 2012

Had a couple of hours on the seat box this afternoon.
Cut holes for Zig unit, mains and 12V sockets, fitted shelves, gave the laminate panels a good clean, removed the loose trim around the top and refitted it, and rubbed back the timber with some fine wire wool.







Refurbed the large door, scraped the white gloss off, and used thinners to remove the coat of varnish. Needs another go to clean it all off.

Mon 1st October 2012

As Berkeley was cancelled and we'd already booked a pitch, we had a camp out over Saturday night at the Tudor Arms caravan site, and a few pints in the Tudor Arms.





We had most of the big field at the rear of the site to ourselves, good job really.






A couple of whistles would've been perfect....

A mini-cruise up to Frampton-On-Severn on Sunday for a lemonade.