beer on Saturday made it a slow
and difficult start on Sunday, but
what a great show. I recommend it
to anybody wanting an early season
trip abroad. I have to thank the
organisers and everyone who made
us feel so welcome.
Returning to the workshop in the
summer weather that followed
us home, meant that we felt
regenerated and ready to get back
to work.
Lots of jobs have come together
at the same time, with most of the
big structural panel jobs now at the
filler or primer stage providing time
to get on our own barndoor samba.
The 21 window to which we
fitted the new dashboard, needed
modifications to take the fuel gauge
and clock, along with infill welding
where it joined the A pillar so we
sorted these and applied some
primer. The second deluxe that we
have in was just a short way behind,
we had to fit a short side to complete
the panel work before applying seam
- A super 21
window at the
HangarZ event
in Belgium. - Probably my
favourite bus of all
time, BBT factory
modified deluxe. - Front cab floor
shows angled
handbrake pressing. - Installing the short
side and fuel flap on
our 21 deluxe.
(^34)
sealer and sound deadening ready to
prime this one as well.
Some other issues that we have
had to investigate were not quite as
straightforward; we had been asked
to look at a gear selection problem
on a bus that had been restored
some years ago by another company
but never completely finished. The
gearbox and engine had been fitted,
but we were only able to select two
gears so had to try to diagnose the
problem without knowing what had
or hadn’t been done. The gearbox
was painted shiny black and looked
like it had been done recently so
we presumed that it had probably
been refurbished before fitting. We
started with the linkage and rods.
The first problem was that the front
floor had been converted from LHD
to RHD meaning that the gearshift
was angled the wrong way because
of the wedge shape floor pressing.
This wasn’t the root of the problem,
but it certainly wasn’t helping.
Removing the gear rods and bushes
6
5
showed that the front and rear
connector were in the wrong place,
the front selector rod was bent and
had been manipulated a number of
times. We dismantled all the rods
and repaired, replaced and refitted
them correctly. Ensuring there
was free movement highlighted
more problems. The front rod was
rubbing on the handbrake adjuster
and was tight to move, the gearstick
wasn’t travelling to the position
that it needed to, to select reverse
gear. This was all pointing at a
gearbox ‘hockey stick’ selector being
damaged or worn, but possibly
just incorrect. There was nothing
left to do but remove the engine
and gearbox. With the nose cone
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