All the examinations and problem diagnostics are over; it is time to rebuild Bridget in preparation for next year’s run.
The experts have identified the damaged box structure of Bridget’s chassis, the distorted floor pan, and the damaged passenger seating anchor points. I now need to strip her down to the bare shell for the experts to repair and repaint.
There is the usual gallery of pictures available of the progress made, stage by stage. There have been some surprises already and I am making some small changes to Bridget’s mechanics as I go along. These are mainly replacement of parts that are showing signs of ware, but also upgrading her timing chain to a duplex one.
The surprises so far; when unbolting the engine mountings, one was found to have sheared off! So for the past six thousand miles she has only had one supporting mounting, which may have been the reason for the judder every time she pulled away. The second surprise was the damage to Bridget’s sump. Remember, she is fitted with a sump guard made of ⅛” steel, however she had received two extreme blows, one either side of the sump, that were so severe that the bottom of the sump was concave.
I have also discovered the fault that caused Bridget’s fuel gauge to cease working. The fault was not as I had thought a disconnected wire, or even a damaged or faulty sender unit; the sender wasn’t even fitted. When I first discovered its absence I searched the tank to see if it had fallen off, but it must be that I failed to refit it when I installed the new fuel tank in Nairobi.
Bridget is now a rolling shell just waiting for the bodyshop to call her up and I am spending my time checking, maintaining and cleaning all the parts that will be re-installed in her when her bodywork is repaired.