The surprises never seem to end...and they are not the pleasant type.
First it was the clutch cable which was welded with a steel rod and to accommodate it the guide tube was butchered. A new, one piece length of steel tubing was purchased and after carefully removing all of the old, shortened and rotten tube was welded in place along with the tube that the accelerator cable runs thru.
The engine was installed and the first attempt was made to crank from the drivers seat....
...a puff of acrid smoke appeared from under the bus! The battery was quickly disconnected and the reason located...The main wiring loom that ran thru the frame was burnt when work was done at Babar's. In the coming days the complete wiring would be re-done to remedy this.
The bus was panel beaten by Babar who did a fair job of straightening the panels but it could have been better. It was decided that Arshad would take over where Babar had left. The panels were wavy and sheet metal was patched up to cover the rot giving it a semi smooth finish but there was no way a good paint finish could have been achieved without using buckets of filler.
Arshad started with the nose of the bus. he cut open the 7 inches of the nose and what a sight it was...rust and rot very tactfully hidden behind the newly applied patches. Instead of cutting and removing the rotten sheet metal Babar had instead chosen the easy way out and welded a patch to cover the rot.
There was lots of dried mud inside the panels that would surely have soaked water when the bus would have gone to the car wash and cause the rust to appear under the paint. The next few days are going to be spent rebuilding the panels and repairing the rot.
The front shock absorbers were replaced when the front suspension was rebuilt. Today, after installing the new brakes in the rear the new shock absorbers needed to be fitted.
Surprise surprise! There are no mounting brackets on the frame to attach the top ends of the shock absorbers! I have no clue where and how these were detached and lost as they are welded to the frame. Upon closer inspection the spots were discovered where the brackets once joined the frame but it is a minor consolation as the daunting task of finding the correct brackets remains, without which the rear shock absorbers cannot be fitted.
