Moving along . . .

I can't believe how much welding was left in these damn things. Took 'til Wed. lunchtime!! But finally painted and ready for final fitting tomorrow. YEAHHH!
























And then a truck arrived to remove a portable kitchen my neighbour was storing in our front car park. Actually that kitchen was the source of much amusement for a while; it was about 8 metres long and 5 metres wide but that didn't stop everyone from asking "How the hell are you going to get that thing on the truck?"

It took a hell of a lot bigger truck to get that thing out of there and more busted kerbs while he manoeuvred in the garden to load it on a skid loader. I guess those are the breaks (no pun originally intended).

So a couple of hours left and I better get onto that exhaust job I've been putting off. It's amazing when you actually just make yourself start. I ran a string line from the existing pipe off the manifold to see where it would go through the chassis and lo and behold while I was looking at it it dawned on me that I was looking in the wrong place to start the modifications. If I just moved a bit further down and cut the existing pipe the muffler would go on and the short piece I had cut off could go in the other end and be rotated a bit to move the line of the exhaust behind the fuel tank and "Voila!"

















Then I happened to look in the steel rack for something and there was a piece of the same type and size exhaust pipe as I needed. We used to use it for making some rollers to go on a harvester and this bit was left over. So there the exhaust is nicely tucked up high in the chassis out of the way. Tomorrow I will take it down to the local exhaust shop and get the ends of the pipe expanded so that I can fit it over the existing pipe and clamp it all with exhaust clamps - a few flexible hanging supports and all will be "hunky dory" (whatever the hell that means?).














Have been talking to a few people in the Expedition Portal Forum recently about Cape Town to Cairo (where apparently having fulfilled all your wildest dreams you just disappear up your own fundamental orifice and reappear at some other place of your own choosing - I think??).

There is a need to carry sufficient spares etc. which with luck you will never have to use - you
know how it is - you only need them when you don't have them. For a couple of years I carried heaps of spares and emergency gear around the north-west of WA and only ever used them to get other people out of trouble. Still I suppose that was a good cause. Sometimes they would even thank you!!

There are a couple of fairly large spaces in the chassis which would not be the easiest to make use of on a day to day basis but look like they would be ideal for things you hope never to use. I will have to design a couple of sturdy waterproof lock boxes to go in there and they can have spares like drive shafts, universals, bearings, seals, spare alternator, gaskets, filters, hoses, brake shoes, oils, greases etc.. Hmmm . . . That etc. is a bit of a worry!!