Welcome to this post for week 10.
This week was a frustrating one as we continued to grapple with the starting issues of our Cummins 6BT engine. Despite replacing a fuel line, the engine remained difficult to start and struggled to maintain a stable idle. After several attempts, the engine finally fired on all cylinders, but only under full throttle. However, it soon became apparent that the underlying problem persisted, as the engine struggled to idle when left to its own devices.
Jordan started the bus up to attempt to solve the air issue at the front, Though this wasn’t captured on film, it was quickly identified as a common problem: the airbag had detached from the top plate during towing. Due to the cold weather, Jordan couldn’t easily reattach the bag without removing the wheel, so this task was added to the to-do list.
Jordan then turned his attention to the cab, clearing out all the debris. He initially planned to bag the waste for disposal but couldn’t find any bin bags at first. Once the cab was empty, the team remembered they had a new steering wheel waiting to be installed. This was a new task for them, but they decided to tackle it. With some effort, the old steering wheel was removed and replaced with the shiny new one, significantly improving the look of the cab.
Looking ahead, the team believes the cab is almost complete and can be temporarily finished while they wait for funds to tackle other projects.
The next thing to do was to see if the power steering pipes would come apart, This is a short one and simply no they wouldn’t Next job…
To finish off the week, Jordan continued working on the chassis. He meticulously ground and sanded certain areas of the metal, achieving a smooth, baby-soft finish. To protect the exposed metal from the elements, he applied a coat of red oxide primer. This approach of working in small, manageable steps and applying protective paint will be their strategy for the foreseeable future, especially while they’re off-grid and relying on battery power.
