Classy Window Winders

One of the things I'm enjoying is trawling eBay looking for bits and bobs for the bus.  I bought these lovely wood and chrome window winders the other day.  They're gonna look lovely on the new door cards :o)

Upholstery Sketches

We've been chatting for a while now about what colour we'd like the interior to be and what would go nicely with the stripy fabric we bought, so today I got the paint box out.  I've also had an idea in my head for a while now (after seeing a beautifully trimmed bay on the web) about taking the theme through to the front of the bus onto the seats and door cards.  Here are a couple sketches of how I picture it to be.  Luckily, I showed them to Ange and she loves the idea!

Testing colours for vinyl and upholstery fabric detail for the seats & door cards.

Captain's chair finished in vinyl, with stripy centre panel and piped edges. 

Passenger door card finished to match captain's chair and with diamond stitching detail on vinyl panels.

New kitchen!

I'm all excited!  I've just placed an order with Clearcut Conversions for a shiny new Smev 9222 hob & sink unit! Sad I know, but it's quite sexy for a kitchen appliance AND it means things are starting to make headway! :o) Should be with us in a couple of days.  What with the imminent arrival of the audio gear, and Ange's bargain fridge, this week's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Smev 9222 with left hand sink, electronic ignition, and single mixer tap.

Somewhere For the Bacon & Beer

Another internet bargain!  This time from good ol' Gumtree.  It seems to pay off spending lots of time patiently watching eBay and such like... you can get some cracking stuff for peanuts.

This lovely little fridge was bought by the previous owner with the intention of putting it in a horse box, but for whatever reason (possibly the fact that horses don't have opposable thumbs and therefore can't get the door open???) the owner decided against that and advertised it for sale as brand new and unused.  Ange spied it, noted that it was the perfect little fridge for our bus, and so arranged a courier to get it from the heathery hills of Scotland to London.  It arrived safe 'n' sound looking spanky new and incredibly diddy.  It's pretty cute for a fridge!  As long as we can fit supplies for a bacon sarnie and a cuppa cha, we'll be happy!

It's just crying out to be plastered with novelty fridge magnets.

Rinky dinky shelves for rinky dinky supplies.

All very tidy looking and ready to run off gas, 12v, or 240v hook up.

Stunners in the Sunshine

Today we had a family day at my aunty's in Felixstowe.  We had a lovely BBQ and jug of Pimm's, followed by a trip down to the ferry for a spot of crabbing and an ice cream.  On the way back along the coast road we caught sight of these chaps.  Alright, so they're definitely not wedges... but WHAT a pair of beauts!  Seeing the result of someone else's love, elbow grease, and attention to detail really puts a smile on your face and makes me feel like one day we'll have a bus to be really proud of too :o)

Felixstowe Ferry -  A lovely old boat yard unspoilt by tourism and a great place to drop a crab line whilst drinking tea from a polystyrene cup.  Happy days! :o)

Abso-bloomin' gorgeous.  Total bus envy!

Chosen Fabric

Remember that lovely green striped fabric we found back in Feb?  Well, we did some research and it doesn't appear to be a current line.  Eek!  We went back to Anglia Furnishing Fabrics (very helpful people) and loved it just as much as we did the first time we saw it (always a good sign).  On asking about the availability we were reliably informed that what they had in stock was the remainder of the run... so we bought six metres of it!  Hopefully, if our calculations are on track then we've got enough to do the rock 'n' roll bed, the cab seats, and the door cards (with a bit left over for my mum who loves hoarding fabric remnants!).  To get an idea of what it's going to look like we draped it over the sofa.  Check this out, groovy or what?!

Beautiful!  It's going to look so cool!

Stripping Out Chesney

Well, here we are in March and things are finally starting to get underway!  It's been a couple of months since we collected our lovely four-wheeled friend and now we both have a week off as it's our birthdays so what better way to spend it than cat sitting for my mum and dad, making the most of having a big driveway, a garage full of tools, and the sunshine!  Here's a short video I put together of some snaps we took whilst removing all the gubbins.  What HAVE we let ourselves in for?!  Enjoy! ;o)

New Shoes!

Driving around with no wheel trims meant that whenever we parked up, Chezzy looked like an abandoned vehicle.  Poor ol' boy!  Eventually we're going to sort him out with a set of classy alloys but to smarten him up in the meantime we nipped down to Halfords and bought him some new shoes.  It's only a small thing and cost about £20 but we couldn't believe the difference it made.

As you can see from the photo below it's been a lovely day here in Norwich, so we decided to hop in and have a wander into the city to go and take a look at some fabric shops.  We went to get some ideas about colour schemes, patterns, and prices, and after trawling through four or five haberdashers we found we didn't really agree on anything.  It seemed that where Angie was more keen on the subtle tones and patterns, I was a fan of bright colours and loud prints!  Oh dear...  But, we struck gold when we both spotted a gorgeous fabric that we thought would be perfect for the upholstery.

Yes, he's had a bath :o)

Think we might be going for a green theme...

Chezzy's First Snow

I love snow!  It makes everything feel so clean and peaceful somehow, and the bonus is that when it melts off the van it'll take all the crud with it!  Clean van!

Winter wonderland - ahhh innit lovely jubbly?

VW T25 Audio Wiring

Wire Function	Body Colour	Trace Colour
Main positive power	Red
Memory Positive back up	Yellow
Aerial Switched Power	Blue
Dial Illumination	Orange
Ground (negative)	Black
Speaker: Front Left +	White	White / Black Stripe
Speaker: Front Left -	White
Speaker: Front Right +	Grey	Grey / Black Strip
Speaker: Front Right -	Grey
Speaker: Rear Left +	Green	Green / Black Stripe
Speaker: Rear Left -	Green
Speaker: Rear Right +	Purple	Purple / Black Stripe
Speaker: Rear Right -	Purple

Today I shall mostly be faffing with...

The RADIO!!!  We love our music (ok, perhaps I'm a little more obsessed with a CD collection nearing 500), so when I looked at the Goodmans cassette deck... yes that's right, a CASSETTE DECK... my heart sank.  "That's gotta go" I says to Ange.  Well, it just so happens that being the keen bunny I am, I'd been watching eBay for a couple of weeks to work out what we could get for a reasonable price and  for the princely sum of £37 I managed to sort out a nice second hand (but nearly new) head unit.  It's a Sony CDX-GT25 which does CDs, mp3s, good ol' radio, and an 'aux in' for plugging your iPod into.  Smashing! :o)

I think I died a little bit inside when I saw this.  What's with the carry handle on the front anyway?  Is it supposed to be portable?!?!? 

Out with the old...

Because of Chesney's age, I had to adapt the standard wiring loom by fitting an ISO connector using spade terminals.  This meant I could then use a PC3-433 Sony 16 pin to ISO connector and plug it straight into the head unit.  Simples!

Taking out the removable 'cubby hole' in the middle of the dash made fitting the head unit in a lot easier.  I found that getting the unit itself in was a little trickier because the heater ducting can be a bit of a hindrance, but with some gentle encouragement and patience it all fitted in snug as a bug.  

We might be driving around in an old skip but at least we've got some tunes now! :o)

Assessing the Situation: Part 6

Assessing the Situation: Part 5

Assessing the Situation: Part 4

Driver's side cab window rubber showing how it's perished over the years.

Rear window on the driver's side showing more naff seals and Holdsworth's idea of privacy for your wardrobe... plastic stick-on frosting!  Hmm... resembles my nan's bathroom window.

Sliding door bracket... rusty, flaking paint but sound.

The pillar between the passenger cab and sliding doors showing a bit of a ding and some more corrosion at the bottom.

Corrosion around the aerial mounts and though you can't see it in this picture, half the aerial's missing!  No Radio 2?  What will we do?!? 

Assessing the Situation: Part 3

There are bits of the seal between the roof and the van missing.

The tailgate can't hold itself up because the struts are knackered.

Pop top clips are really rusty and slack.

Not to mention covered in filth and mould.

Assessing the Situation: Part 2

Driver's side window showing excellent state-of-the-art security device :o)

Fridge vent looking a little worse for wear.

Massive rot under the window.  I'm scared if I poke it, it'll all drop out!

Close-up of rot and mould under the fridge vent.

Ah well.  At least with a lick of paint this bit'll be ok!

Assessing the Situation: Part 1

Just sitting in the cab makes me grin! 

Passenger side with obligatory rusty bits.

Driver's side showing manky window, fridge grill and 240v hookup.

Chesney's bum.  Seriously wonky bumper!

Chesney's nose, again with suspect rusty bits and a flappy grille due to broken clips.