Does that battery fit in the space there alright? I noticed that the spare wheel tub has been modified. Would the battery fit in the space if that hadn't been modified?
MOT is the last hurtle before the open road, Good Luck! and we await you're return to the key board to register the results.
Well, a picture paints a thousand words: And the above is todays essay. Get in!! We are the proud owners of an MOT'd bus. Not without drama which involved an initial fail on a binding front calliper, said calliper boiling the brake fluid on the way back to the workshop to deal with said failure, with the total loss of braking by pedal. Thank God for a well adjusted handbrake... And that took most of the morning and half the afternoon. The moral is, even if the brakes feel OK, after laying a bus up for any period of time it is well worth a strip and clean of the front callipers at least. Thanks for the good wishes guys, & @Dicky you can understand why it's been quiet today. Techenders here we come, interior of not
So the rest of the day consisted of me being cabinet maker bitch and making tea, varnishing templates and drilling more holes in the chassis. Todays progress on cabinets: MDF templates laid over blanks Blanks router cut for doors & drawers: See how grain matches, something that always boiled my owl on the Berlin The main kitchen carcass front: Some of the other cuts:
And more holes, well one actually. The clearance for the exhaust is tight between the handbrake cable guide and main loom. A lot of thinking has gone into the position of the main box of the Propex to enable clearance for the exhaust and combustion air in. Heres the chassis cut and some mock ups of the exhaust tubing. Unfortunately on the LHD there is no way to avoid exiting under the cill under the slider! It's a concession and compromise, and will restrict the use of an awning (we sold our Westy Tent last year & only use a canopy) so if you are contemplating this install, bear this in mind! And finally, the combustion air in hose will chill out somewhere down here:
Congrats on the MOT. Good news!!! Should i be putting my order in for my interior?????? Looking goooood
Cheers bud, Yeah, I would, we're good ain't we!! It's Monday, Mrs Monkey will be serving last orders in about 25 minutes so I'm off!!!
No @AdyF it wouldn't! It's a bigger than average 125AH case and is too tall and long for an unmodified tray.
Para clicks his charity shop red heels and keeps saying one day one day one day you will find your home I cant wait to see your bus in the flesh
Its anoyingly perfectly as it left the factory!!! worth having a lie under and marvelling at the lack of crusty brown stuff!
had a chat with Pete at Propex recently, about exhaust outlet and length etc....you can replace the existing outlet with a mandrel bent 90 degree made to the same length ie length of original minus the radius....this would allow you to bring the hose forwards or backwards to suit.....was going to do this with mine, but ground clearance shouldn't be an issue...if it is....it's too late. Love the figuring on the veneer.....should look really smart when it's all in
Thanks @vanorak, the flexy will work well with the 30mm chassis cut in this instance. TBH a 90' mandrel wouldn't really help on this instal to get the exhaust round the main chassis member, in fact it would shorten the effective length of the pipe to cill distance. However, that's great info. as a friend is doing one at the moment where the propex is inside the bus but the exhaust is proving problematic. That 90 may get him out of a hole, literally
worth cutting the original one off and getting new one welded on to the flange....these guys should be able to do it Atlas tube bending Albert Street, Oldham OL8 3QP 0161 683 5556 did a lovely job for cash on my heat return pipe in 316 stainless
And todays progress has been painful. I'm not used to standing up bent over a bench all day, hats off to those of you who do it for a living T trim is being used to edge the inside of all cut outs. What a pig this has been with all the tight radii on the doors etc. The panel cut was filled with MCPU adhesive with a 30 minute open-time and the the trim has to be laboriously hammered into place with a rubber mallet. Now, I used to sell this stuff on an industrial scale. That was the easy bit! Keeping it off hands, clothes, tools and the panel faces with a flappy bit of trim that doesn't want to bend is a different story! Softening the trim in warm water helps considerably but it's still a ball ache. One picture, to show the light grey contrasting trim, but the rest of the day was spent malleting Sexy bends
Trim and hinges. I was looking forward to an optimistically easy day after this one. Not so.... Test fitting and scribing tomorrow, should see more good progress fingers X'ed....
as far as drilling holes in the bus...if it's any consolation, I punched two big 40mm holes through the walkway, having measured, remeasured and then re remeasured to make sure of the clearance....unbeknownst to me....the walkthrough isn't just a simple rectangular box....there's a v shaped duct and raised sections in there as well (as I suspected VW would do)....anyway, long story short, holesaw took out exactly half what i needed and half where i didn't... fortunately, it's not in a structural point and was easy to bodge fix properly and re seal it...
