Friday 1 April 2011

Van bought and buggered - Day 1

After a number of weeks trawling websites I rapidly came to the conclusion that finding a minibus within my budget and in a feasible location was almost impossible. Im not sure what happens to the old minibuses in the North of Scotland but they certainly don't seem to hang around! So I've taken a chance on a very cheap Renault Master ex ambulance, which otherwise I wouldnt have touched.  High mileage, dodgy air suspension, rusty on the sills, broken window....yada yada, but it was only £300 and 20 miles away.  Its worth more than that scrap! And if the problems can be sorted relatively easily or better still, by me, it will still be cheaper and much less stressful than trying to get to 'some-blokes-house' in Southern England with no transport... it also has some good points, lots of windows, rooflights, heating, lighting, insulated and lined, but mainly because its here!
Today ( 1st of April) I collected....kind of, my van! The guy selling the van had told me all its problems including the snapped fan belt, so I duely arranged for a friend to get me a new one to take out with us. Armed with every concievable tool we could possibly need we headed off. But the van wouldn't start.
I'd expected that, so we began fitting the new fan belt and quickly discovered the bolt holding the tensioner was missing (we had tools but no bolts!).... no fan belt will be fitted here today.  With a jump start we got him going and decided to chance it, we did manage to drive him a few miles (with no power steering and electronic dials flashing all over) but alas he slowly died.
Decided to call the garage and get them to tow it...country road, dusk setting in, we had few options, £130 was duely paid and a very nice man (no, not that very nice man from the AA, but an equally nice man from a local garage) came and towed it to his workshop, where it will have the fan belt fitted on Monday and a once-over by a man that knows.


On Monday I shall discover whether van No1 will become my pride and joy, or driven directly to the scrap yard and my search will begin again.

Costs - £300 van
           £20 fan belt
           £130 tow
           £450

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