Time to Dash Off

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.Henry David Thoreau

We're getting on with body work and preparation for paint now that the bulk of the wiring has been completed. I've whipped out the dashboard panel and the attached, vinyl padded plasticky bit so that I can paint and polish them separately from the bus. Lots of dust and crap under there but now is a good chance to clean it up properly and double-check our wiring and electrical connections.

Pictured above is a bolted-in plate ahead of the steering column, the existing version of which is slightly bent from the front-end bump that this bus has suffered. I have replaced this with the original Marigold one from the orange bus. Despite being from a left-hand-drive bus these parts appear to be identical and interchangeable. As with many of these Kombi parts - they were designed to be used in different parts of the World with the minimum of fuss, too clevah.

The surrounding rim of the windscreen is badly rusted and consequently pitted with occasionally holes going right through the thin sheet metal. We set up some little bits of backing plate made from old angle-iron and filled the holes in with weld. After grinding down the protruding welds I then mixed up some fibre-glass resin and spread a good, thick layer over the entire bottom section of the surround. I'll have a wee look on Saturday and see how it sets. I'm hoping that it'll serve the dual purpose of smoothing out the pitting and sealing out any water in future.

Thanks for the visit, come again!
CooP