rusty old nail to sow's ear

[sparkywig]

And the day started so well.
Nice bright fresh morning. What a delight to drive the bus today after scraping the ice off the inside of the windscreen, only a couple of little jobs and then off to the Dubaid cruise tomorrow.

Play all gone, I can actually use full throttle now.





So I then left the workshop fairly early to have a bit of a roundabout drive home, didn't get far though.
Huge bang and all of a sudden I'm about 4" lower and there's a smell of burning rubber.....





....found this in the road on the way home in a borrowed car about 7.30 tonight.





Guess what I'm doing Monday, looks like the beam's coming out. :roll:

 

[gninnam]

Gutted

Makes you think about the beam adjusters :msn4:

Glad nothing else happened (could have been scarry if you had been on the motorway doing 50 plus(won't say 70....) :shock:

 

[sparkywig]

I wasn't far away from the slip road onto the M32 actually....

Temporary fix last night to get the bus back to the workshop. Bit uncomfortable, so can't recommend this form of lowering. :lol:



Spent all morning today drilling out the broken bolt but still can't remove it, I think the only way is to weld the adjuster so that it's fixed. Hopefully it'll last until the Red9 kit appears....

 

[creationblue]

Glad you got it bk to the shop! Never heard of adjuster bolts breaking before.........

Just

 

[sparkywig]

I rang CE to order a bolt, and apparently it has happened quite a lot with people not fitting the proper high-tensile bolts.....

Anyway, the bolt won't come out, so the adjuster will be welded solid tomorrow. It won't be needed when I fit the Red9 setup.

 

[froggy]

It won't be needed when I fit the Red9 setup.

You going for the full front wish bone kit or the ez-rider set up?

 

[sparkywig]

Full wishbone, I wish... :lol:

 

[sparkywig]

Adjusters welded solid on Monday morning, so hopefully there's no rubbing or beam bashing and the ride isn't too bad 'cos that's the height it is now. :?

I haven't been feeling the love for the bus lately, so have decided to rattlecan it completely L345 in the hope that some sort of attraction for the old nail comes back.....



:lol:

 

[sparkywig]

Saturday Club at CJ Motors...



Right then, another weekend of success and failures.
Trying to sort out the rear suspension this week, tho og rear dampers were at the limit of their travel and the swingarms were resting on the bumpstops. So off came the dampers and bumpstops, sourced some new Mk III Astra dampers that have adequate travel (470mm open and 290mm closed for your information), but the bushes needed drilling out from 10mm to 12mm for the shock bolts.
Happy days you'd think, but no, I f*cked the bushes by overheating them while drilling...... :roll:
Oh well, hopefully some new custom machined nylon bushes on their way soon.
At least there's some suspension travel now, although a slightly disconcerting and bouncy ride. :lol:

Back at home the interior went back in with the og cargo area heater vents sealed with exhaust paste, bench seat and the rear trim panels
fitted after sealing the air intake panel.










Fed up of different colour panels I'm just going to rattlecan them after a bit of a rubdown, not too worried about the finish as the rear arches, rear corners and n/s rear window aperture all have to be repaired. Just want to get out and use the damn thing this year...









ran out of paint to do the rear corner.... :lol:

 

[sparkywig]

Thought I'd better try the new awning out as it'd been sat in the dining room since we bought it in December.





It's fairly big, I think maybe the bus will fit inside with room to spare, although the mother-in-law wasn't too keen on the idea of driving the bus on the lawn to try it out...

 

[creationblue]

Bus looks a million dollars 8) I can feel the love from here :lol:

Man the tent is huge!!!!

Get some more paint and finish her off, she deserves it.

Just

 

[sparkywig]

Another project to run alongside the bus and trailer...

About 10 years of grime I think



After a good pressure wash



Don't think the interior colour scheme is to my taste, but you can't really complain for £8.89 can you?

 

[sparkywig]

Piece of ply to finally plug the hole under the bench seat. Fixed to the bench legs so that it swings up with the seat on the Z hinges.

 

[sparkywig]

As I had a couple of hours spare this afternoon and a sheet of 12mm ply I thought I'd have a play.
I like jigsaws.....













Not quite finished, one more shelf to be fitted and a length of piano hinge to be scrounged/stolen/bought.
Might even get round to laminating it and fitting some trim sometime....

 

[gninnam]

Nice bit of work going on there dude 8)

 

[sparkywig]

Got the rear suspension sorted today (at last...), Mk III Astra shocks with Triumph Spitfire split rubbers and machined 12mm bushes....





...the ride's not too bad, no bottoming or rubbing so that's a definite improvement. However, we'll see what it's like when fully loaded for the Easter trip.

Had a phone call this afternoon from the place where I collected the Martin Walker roof from on Monday, apparently I picked up the wrong roof which was the better of the two for sale, and could I return it?
Um, let me think........

 

[gninnam]

Had a phone call this afternoon from the place where I collected the Martin Walker roof from on Monday, apparently I picked up the wrong roof which was the better of the two for sale, and could I return it?
Um, let me think........

Whoops!

 

[sparkywig]

Tough, as far as I'm concerned they should've given me the right one. Funny how it's taken them nearly a week to realize.
Anyway, new door cards fitted today along with a dpm liner and made a start on the ply headlining.

 

[gninnam]

Agree regarding the roof - they won't make that mistake again :lol:

Door card looks good - is it waxed or varnished??

 

[sparkywig]

Neither, just a 50/50 water/pva wash. Can't decide whether to varnish or cover to match the seats.

Ply headlining started, not quite happy with the fit, but it'll do until I can be bothered to get another sheet of ply....





....sorry about the foggy pics, I seem to have scratched the lens on the iPhone.