A most productive day Jeeves!

What a great weekend! I finally managed to have the sort of weekend i had been after for AGES! It helps when its a bank holiday, and i managed to get a good few hours dedicated to getting jobs done.

Sunday started with sorting out the lights on Tash's Skoda Fabia. Recently her sidelights and headlights packed up, so armed with new bulbs i squeezed my hands down the tiny gap to pop off the cover over the back of the light unit. With grazed knuckles i then miraculously managed to prize out the headlights, and sidelight bulb holder. It always amazes me what a tiny space you are expected to get your hands down - and i'm skinny! Its a good job im no fat fingered yank!

After that i got the front of the bus up, found my brake fluid, jar and hose and shouted loudly for an assistant! Tash did the pedal action while i bled the fronts out. I was hoping that the rears would be straightforward but deep down i think i knew i was just putting off the inevitable. When i got the rear wheels i very quickly realised that the bus needs new solid brake pipes, new backing plates, new adjusters, new shoes and new drums. Pretty much everything really! Another trip to GSF beckons before the brakes get finished then!

Having realised what i now need to tackle the brakes i decided to have another look at the engine. Ive had it running in the past, but various reasons have meant its never run quite right, and wouldn't idle. After rebuilding my fishing reels recently it meant that i had all the cleaning products out and accessible, and so i quickly removed the Carb. I got that stripped down, all cleaned up and got it reattached to its manifold. After setting the igniton i reset the air bypass and mixture screws and fired it up. After a little fettle it was running lovely! Previously its been very smokey, but now its set up right its much better. Ive given it a new set of plugs, but really it needs the other ignition parts replacing too.

Off the back of this success i once again called for an assistant, and Tash and I trial fitted the bunk. This clips into place above the stock seats, and should provide a great bed for our little monkey once he/she arrives!
With that done, i went back to more mundane jobs and tidied some bits in the barn and sorted through some fishing gear. Its got me really fired up now though, and i'm going to try and get the parts for the rear brakes this week so i can get those finished off next week.

Then i need to decide what to do about paint. I'm going to order some POR15 to protect the chassis, and will probably underseal over the top of that. That should protect it for some time to come. I then just need to decide whether to go for a roller paint job, or sand coloured army paint .....