Sooo... Is anyone else actually here?
Anyway.
On today's episode of 'Why do I keep doing this to myself?'
As I've now got somewhere dry to store the old girl I thought I'd spend today pulling the roof and that sorry excuse for a bulkhead off.
The roof was mostly held in with rusty self tappers and expanding foam, that hit the trailer bound for the tip pretty quickly.
The bulkhead, if you can call it that, was held in with one million fasteners including, but not limited to, philips and slotted head screws, tek screws, bolts, pop rivets, bathroom sealant, clout nails and roofing flashband. Let's have a look at this beautiful creation.
Plus some structural wood at the bottom there, that's important for letting the rain in.
That came out with some cursing and judicious use of the impact gun, it was bolted through the floor with some huge bolts.
I've got to hand it to Ol' mate Dave, he knew how to prioritize quantity over quality when it comes to fasteners. I've got more holes to fill than the duty manager at a whorehouse by a dockyard
I decided to pull out the remains of the rear interior panels and vinyl carpet, to see what was lurking underneath. I kind of wish I hadn't started, Dave's been a busy boy.
Like my dear mother always says, 'If you can't weld it, rivet a biscuit tin lid over the top of it and cover it in silicone"
And wouldn't you know it, there was a wheel lurking underneath!
Both sides look more than a bit suspicious in the areas above the arches, I wonder what's under the black silicone?
Body filler. The answer is body filler. And wire mesh, the sign of a true craftsman.
Lots of body filler. on both sides.
And plenty of soft spots that turn out to be holes in the load bed and the bit behind the seats.
There'll be plenty of welding to do, then
I shan't bore you further with pictures of rust, but the other side also had about two kilos of filler and wire mesh in it.
Hey, you know what's easier than undoing 4 bolts and dropping the tank to get to the fuel pump?
Decided to take a break from holes in the sheet metal and pulled the NSR wheel off to have a look at the brakes. I found that under the stupid plastic cap, the 4 bolts that hold the drum (and by extension the wheel) onto the halfshaft and wheel bearing were finger tight. The poor lass that was driving this thing daily wasn't too far from losing at least one wheel
On the bright side, not too bad, looks like new shoes. Plenty of brake dust and grime but I don't -think- the wheel cylinder is leaking.
On the other hand, the drum must have been dropped as part of the outer lip is missing. Worth replacing?
The other side is up against the wall so I've not had a chance to check the brakes, and I've had about enough of this thing for one day, goodnight.
The idle was a tad low once the auto-choke turned off, at just over the stall speed and running very lumpy, but a few turns of the idle adjustment screw and it seems to be just tickety-boo.