Occasionally it feels like your banging your head against a brick wall and no matter what you try, things just won't work! I pulled the seats and half the floor out of the van Monday afternoon ready to fit the new heater under the drivers side floor on Tuesday. Simply undo the bolts (once you've been a bought the right size Torx bit. Obviously it's going to be one size bigger than the set you've already got), disconnect the seat belts and pre-tensioners and without giving yourself a hernia remove. Simples! And surprisingly it was. I should have taken this as a warning that something's going to go wrong. but no, I'll just blunder headlong into a disaster of my own making! If you've not been hibernating you'll have noticed that it's freezing out. But needs must when the Devil drives, or you've got a van with no seats. So, Tuesday was a case of 3 jumpers, 2 pairs of socks, long johns, overalls, hat, scarf and coat and get on with fitting my masterpiece of shed designed and made engineering. Having already considered that my arms aren't long enough to reach from under the van to bolt the new heater in, I'd planned on using Rivnuts (permanently fitted nuts, specially designed for sheet metal and only needing access to one side), and that's where my problems really started. Holes drilled through the floor, no problem and 5 out of 6 Rivnuts fitted in 20 minutes.
Typically though, the last one stripped the bolt threads, que 2 hours of struggling to get the bolt back out. Once removed, install a new bolt and blow me if the head didn't round off! Arrrghh, another hour or so of struggle getting that one out! By now I'm freezing and losing the will to live. Not to worry though, Rivnuts finally fitted, just need to bolt the heater in and I'll call it a day. Not so fast though Mr P, 3 out of the 6 nuts start spinning before they're tight and the last one wont line up! Even more Arrrgh! By the time I got it all apart again, drilled out the stupid Rivnuts and gave up for the day I'd been laying under the van in the cold and wet for at least 6 hours and I'd had enough! What sort of a stupid idea was this and what the hell am I going to do now? I've got a van with no seats and a load of holes in the floor and I'm in the same place now as I was 6 hours ago! Wednesday morning, it's still freezing but at least it's not raining and "The Emma" came to the rescue. Discarding the stupid Rivnuts and Emma fitting the bolts from above whilst I stuck the nuts on from below, we had the whole thing in and secured in 20 minutes today! It just goes to show that sometimes a bit of teamwork is the answer to all your problems. Without "The Emma's" help I'd still be there now (if I hadn't frozen to death) struggling on my own. As it is, I'm sat in the warm, having had a really productive day, all thanks to a bit of help!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
March 2024
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