So I came home early and met up with Bart to tackle the rear corner of the bus today. A tiny bit more time was spent fitting the battery tray in place and then we tacked it in place. Fitting the outside panel was more time consuming and grinding/welding on it took most of the time but it went really quickly with Bart's help. The panel didn't fit quite as well as factory stuff does and it was missing some minor features of the stock panel.
 |
| Bart Being A Boss |
 |
| The best we could get it to fit. |
 |
| BOOM New Battery Tray |
 |
| Welded in place, ground flush and primed |
The battery tray looks rusty, but there is just some dirt on it. We ran out of time and didn't get the finish welding in the tray completely so it still isn't quite battery worthy yet. It may just get tack welded into place which will be plenty strong enough.
I didn't actually do most of the welding, I did the short bit on the rear of the bus and it went fine. I got some helpful hints from Bart of course but I definitely feel more confident welding thin metal now. The weld may not look perfect at first but I can get a good bead in so when it is ground down it looks good and will hold well. Not going to lie, I was absolutely pumped that we got this stuff in place today. I've been waiting a long time to do it and it was just sweet. I hope to get the rocker panel in place before I have to take the bus home. Welding is super satisfying in many ways, firstly the process is awesome you basically are just playing with an arc of electricity. Welding technique is really cool too and also it is just awesome to make stuff that is more or less "permanent". It is cool to think that the panels I weld in will stay for years and years of normal use. I'm ranting here, but welding is just awesome.
Had an awesome steak dinner courtesy of mama Havu, living in Hollis definitely has its perks!
No comments:
Post a Comment