all change… road trip to Ninove is back on

Awesome upgrade

Regular followers of vdubxs will remember a while ago I upgraded my windscreen wiper motor with one of Buttys Bits 12v wiper units. It’s an awesome and highly recommended upgrade! You get the advantage of having a brand new 12v motor, plus I went for the option of having twin speed and self-parking wiper blades. Users of modern cars won’t necessarily appreciate this, it’s a standard on all modern cars! On my 1964 bus, it wasn’t, and so you had to play the game of guess where the wipers would stop on the screen when you turned the switch off!

Back to Buttys Bits

At the original time of fitting, Simon was waiting to get in-stock some new washer spindle seal kits, so I made do with my worn out originals. With one thing an another, I hadn’t got around to updating these, so it was time to pop over and do some minor upgrades…

Simon is always busy working on new ideas and incremental improvements on everything he produces, so It is always great to catch up with him. He very kindly helped diagnose and fix an issue with my original VW LHS wiper rod and end joint. Over the years the joint had worked loose and become a bit distorted. He’s currently working on a really neat solution to resolve this ever happening in the long-term, and generally improve the mechanisms so the amount of (unwanted) movement and wear in the system is greatly reduced, so keep an eye on Buttys Bits for future development updates… 😉

Wiper motor bits

The new Buttys Bits split-screen wiper spindle neoprene body seals and stainless steel washers fitted a treat! With the spindles greased up, the mechanism is just so much smoother and quieter in operation 🙂 With the new neoprene seals fitted, there is little chance of water finding its way in around the spindles and working its way down the inside face of the front panel anymore!

Whilst I was at it, I also picked up a really useful Buttys Bits key ring stainless church-key keyring/Fuel flap opener, saves having to remember getting the church-key out every time when filling up at the petrol station! Simon always comes up with top quality products designed to make things easier and better than before 🙂

Simple things

All in all a very productive visit, plus a really nice drive out and back in the spring sunshine through the beautiful East Sussex countryside. On the way back, you got a sense that Spring was finally here at last with daffodils in flower in the country village verges. It seemed an ideal opportunity to be thankful and enjoy the simple things in life. So it was nice to take a few moments out in the afternoon to enjoy brewing up a mug of tea by the sea in the bus. Simple things like this always make my day. The great advantage of life by the sea I guess! 🙂

A last-minute road trip is on

It reminded me that getting out and about in the bus really is what it’s all about. I was gutted that I could not get to this year’s Ninove originally, but an unexpected last-minute change in events has changed all that now! It was so late, I was not sure it was even still possible! Fortunately, it was, so after a few rushed emails it was all booked, so looks like the bus buddies will road-tripping to Ninove again this year! 🙂

It will be great to go road tripping with my bus buddy Ollie again, but this time it will be my first time in my ‘new’ bus… best get sorting my stuff out then, the ferry leaves in a couple of days!