On the day I first saw him. (Possibly the ONLY sunny day of 2012) Picked him up in October and it was feckin freezing. (Still no heating!) We soon learned that a std height Bus does NOT go in a Council Lock Up. Ted had to live outside until I found some storage for him. :-( Nicely tucked up in dry storage. Note new wheels and tyres. The parking said "Buses Only" so that was handy. (At Slough Swapmeet) Roof Rack No.1 fitted. Awaiting No.2 from hailfrank. Finally the inside. Westy but apparently NOT T2.
@Top Banana Racing are you local to Slough? The swapmeet at Montem is pretty good. How much was the roof rack as I will be looking for one when we take delivery of our bus. Liking the bus, looks tidy.
Some stainless brackets I made for TBRs roof rack And then as I'm doing an engine and gearbox swap, I've pulled the old engine and box and found a few little items that needed addressing!! Then I spotted that the O/S flexi hose is the wrong one, and has no clips on it to hold it to the chassis
And a few pics of the 2056 going together... Heads back from having oversized valve seats fitted... you can see the step down to the original valve sizes, as that has to be ported out!! Engineers blue is for opening up the combustion chamber to allow better gas flow, and to lower the comp ratio slightly. Made some plugs for the exhaust air injectors Heads all done Some nice flat top 96mm B&Ps
As Paul said I've not updated this for a while. (forgot I had made it) So here's some of Ted's Adventures from last year culminating in the trip to Paul's for the new engine. Had some heating problems that I couldn't fathom out, ventually traced it to a replacement heater pipe that wasn't, shall we say, specced for the job?!?! This was a temporary solution but I needed a 300 mile long extension cable.
Next was wheel finishing and fitment of an inverter. Not really necessary but I had it "in stock" and its been handy a couple of times. Also @Paul Weeding 's stainless rack clamps which are AWESOME! On @hailfrank's rack which I recoated and fitted with new wood. Wasn't sure about the white colour but I like it now. Propex and sockets, top ones 240V hook up, bottom ones 240V inverter from 130A leisure battery.
Next came our 1st outing to Bristol Volksfest. Talk about ATGANI (All The Gear And No Idea). Struggled with the awning for AGES! until I worked out the poles were supposed to be on the outside, I spent an hour creating what appeared to be a demountable swimming pool! In my defence the last time I had an awning the poles went on the INSIDE!!!
Having managed the 40 minute trip to Bristol I decided that Ted was fully functional and completely reliable so a tour of France and Belgium seemed the next logical step. In fairness to Ted he made it all the way with very little fuss and only about 10 litres of oil!!!!
Next we went to Essex for a dual venue weekender. Semi-Elemental and a lovely Classic Campers show at Langford.
Next was Summer Camp and they say a Donkey goes best well loaded. Probably the 1st of my Late Bay Courier trips, with fridges, heater pipes, wheels, spares and a plethora of other stuff being loaded for all and sundry to collect at Basingstoke. The satellite dish is on the wall, NOT on the roof rack! I'd also turned the rear lights upside down and fitted orange bulbs to the white bits to make indicators, I know it's wrong but I like it! The Beige Bay line up with @Majorhangover sneaking in with his dirty white Bus. Murphy taking the driving duties, I was still at the Brewery where my TLB "friends" had "accidentally" left me!!! More Summer camp pics.