Well, good news first. Picked up my new 72 bus at the weekend, all good stuff! But it's never easy is it!
On the way back to London, noticed a very strong petrol smell but no leaks or anything, thought it might be the fuel cap as the rubber has perrished slighty, also motor tickiong over very high so have put it down to a combination of the two. Phoned up the breakdown people to see if they could help and was told that as it hasn't been registered in the uk, breakdown cover was INVALID - there's one to note!! Breaking down at 9pm on a freezing saturday night suddenly seemed inevitable, what with the smell, the occasional engine splutter and a severe case of paranoid nerves. But no, the little lad did us proud which is more than can be said for London traffic which added the usual extra 1.5 hours to our journey.
Then couldn't get the sliding door to open ... this turned out to be becasue I was using the wrong key!!!! Having opened the door it now doesn't seem to close properly at the back. Will have to investigate!
Next - registering imported vehicles! Little did I know that you can't drive vehicles that haven't been registered, or keep them on the road, the insurance company said I had 15 or 30 days to get it registered so naturally assumed everything was a okay! So, for the past three days I've been happily bombing around with back only states plates and no tax disk thinking everything is fine, passing umptene police cars, vans etc with no idea of the consequenses of my actions.
IT'S NEVER EASY!
Minor points - no heating (hands and feet numb by midnight, saturday). Accelerator peddle stiff as a dead cat. Clutch is on the way out (was given a relacement though). No light over the illegal number plates. No front number plate.
HOWEVER - I love me little bus, I can see adventures of great magnitude on the horizon. All we have to do is get through the next couple of weeks and it's all plain sailing from then on ...... fingers crossed!!!!
Piccies to follow I think!
cheers!
On the way back to London, noticed a very strong petrol smell but no leaks or anything, thought it might be the fuel cap as the rubber has perrished slighty, also motor tickiong over very high so have put it down to a combination of the two. Phoned up the breakdown people to see if they could help and was told that as it hasn't been registered in the uk, breakdown cover was INVALID - there's one to note!! Breaking down at 9pm on a freezing saturday night suddenly seemed inevitable, what with the smell, the occasional engine splutter and a severe case of paranoid nerves. But no, the little lad did us proud which is more than can be said for London traffic which added the usual extra 1.5 hours to our journey.
Then couldn't get the sliding door to open ... this turned out to be becasue I was using the wrong key!!!! Having opened the door it now doesn't seem to close properly at the back. Will have to investigate!
Next - registering imported vehicles! Little did I know that you can't drive vehicles that haven't been registered, or keep them on the road, the insurance company said I had 15 or 30 days to get it registered so naturally assumed everything was a okay! So, for the past three days I've been happily bombing around with back only states plates and no tax disk thinking everything is fine, passing umptene police cars, vans etc with no idea of the consequenses of my actions.
IT'S NEVER EASY!
Minor points - no heating (hands and feet numb by midnight, saturday). Accelerator peddle stiff as a dead cat. Clutch is on the way out (was given a relacement though). No light over the illegal number plates. No front number plate.
HOWEVER - I love me little bus, I can see adventures of great magnitude on the horizon. All we have to do is get through the next couple of weeks and it's all plain sailing from then on ...... fingers crossed!!!!
Piccies to follow I think!
cheers!
