A surprise extra evening of work.

Today, what with milady having taken to her sick bed, instead of spending the evening using my tablet and just being with milady, I let her sleep in peace. In order to occupy my time, I did a bus project. This was to replace the left rear turn signal. The old signal worked. It just wasn't very bright. I rather suspect the same goes for the brake lights.

The problem with the light was down to a bad socket. I'd tried changing the bulb but that didn't help. Thus I forked out $37 and bought a new light assembly the other day. Installing it was a challenge as the protrusion from the back was dead center while the old assembled had a profusion an inch or two higher. That meant drilling a new hole. As with the turn signal on the other side that I also replaced, the screw holes all matched up. Just not the protrusion. This meant dragging out the hole saw.

Mindful of the fact metal cut with the hole saw gets very hot, I paused work every minute or so for a few minutes to let the steel cool. Behind the outside panel is fiberglass insulation. I didn't want to melt or set that alight. Eventually I'd got the hole about half way through the thickness of the steel so I drilled a few holes around the edge and levered with a screwdriver. The steel broke away nicely, leaving a ragged edge.

Fearing I'd have to trim the ragged edges, I tried my light into place and it fitted perfectly. I let the whole lot cool for half an hour before returning to attach the cable and screw the assembly in place. By the time I returned, it was already 9pm and dark. So dark I needed my lantern. How I curse that broken handle! Well, I put the light on and tried it. Wouldn't you just know - the thing worked and worked well. I'm so happy!

Returning to the other lights, I could not test the brake lights as I didn't have somebody to sit in the driver's seat to press the peddles. I did notice one of my top rear marker lights was out. No biggie but I'd like to fix it.

Thinking about the front door, it does seem warped. There's no clear bend to it but I'd like to fix it. It looks very much as though somebody has tried to pry it open at some point. This is the top with the door closed.

And this is the bottom.

As you can see, it all gets a bit amiss about quarter the way down. By the time it reaches the bottom, it's a couple of inches out of place. Pushing the bottom of the door inward while I close it from the outside using my new outside handle makes it slip nicely into the track. This gives me two thoughts. The first is that the door is warped and the second is that perhaps the door closing arm needs adjustment. The latter being merely a case of adjusting some nuts, I might try that first.