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Old 05-25-2016, 11:26 AM   #21
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Nice job Brad. I need to do that myself as all the markers seem to be containing small amounts of water, and it just makes sense to go with led's.

Nice fix on your pressure gauge too. Speaking of 30 year old vehicles, I don't think it would be out of line to watch for a good deal on a new replacement oil pump if your pressure is changing drastically. An oil pump now is so much less than when you're in North Dakota.

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Old 05-25-2016, 09:29 PM   #22
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As for the oil pump, with only 131K on the odometer, and as much as the church maintained this bus, I'm wondering if it hasn't been replaced recently? The church picked it up showing 117,841 back in '98 (and the speedometer works), so obviously they didn't drive it much.
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Old 05-26-2016, 06:04 AM   #23
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oil pumps rarely go bad unless its part of a catastrophic engine failure.. ive occasioally seen the end plates wear.. but the oil pump is the best oiled part of the machine...

usually if an engine has a Low oil pressure issue its more often than not wear and widening bearing clearances.. people sometimes install high volume oil pumps if they have low pressure issues or add a turbo ..

too High of oil pressure can be caused by a stuck relief spring.. oil pumps have a spring that bypasses oil back to the pan if the pressure is too high... ie cold start high revs.. but a gauge of 70 doesnt seem out of line for a cold engine esp if its when you are running it up a bit..

-Christopher
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Old 05-26-2016, 10:14 AM   #24
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I always assumed that the old oil pump going out was what caused most older engines to go bad. There was never time for mechanics to disassemble a bad engine to determine the cause of the problem. A rod through the side of the block was often a clue. It's a moot point for the mechanic as to what went wrong because nobody wants to pay for the mechanics time in the process of discovery on a blown engine.
I had a '59 Ford F100 years ago with a 300 6 cyl that reportedly had over a half million miles on it. It got over 30 mpg empty, but if it was raining you couldn't stay dry. Back then I could haul a cord of firewood to Portland an hour and a half away and return home empty still averaging 24mpg round trip. I found several prior owners the truck who all stated that it had to have over a half a million miles on it with that same engine. To get to the point here, the oil pump went out. Drove it home anyway with no pressure which took about an hour. That slick 50 must have been kicking in. Replaced the oil pump and that thing was still running the last time I saw it. Gave it away. Only paid a cord and a half of green alder for it in the first place.
This may be a rather old opinion but when there is nothing visibly wrong with an engine and it goes bad, it's generally because of lack of lubrication. Since I've had oil pumps go bad on older vehicles I do replace the pump if I ever take off the pan. I might have been a little slow on that F100.
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Old 05-26-2016, 01:49 PM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin97396 View Post
I always assumed that the old oil pump going out was what caused most older engines to go bad. There was never time for mechanics to disassemble a bad engine to determine the cause of the problem. A rod through the side of the block was often a clue. It's a moot point for the mechanic as to what went wrong because nobody wants to pay for the mechanics time in the process of discovery on a blown engine.
I had a '59 Ford F100 years ago with a 300 6 cyl that reportedly had over a half million miles on it. It got over 30 mpg empty, but if it was raining you couldn't stay dry. Back then I could haul a cord of firewood to Portland an hour and a half away and return home empty still averaging 24mpg round trip. I found several prior owners the truck who all stated that it had to have over a half a million miles on it with that same engine. To get to the point here, the oil pump went out. Drove it home anyway with no pressure which took about an hour. That slick 50 must have been kicking in. Replaced the oil pump and that thing was still running the last time I saw it. Gave it away. Only paid a cord and a half of green alder for it in the first place.
This may be a rather old opinion but when there is nothing visibly wrong with an engine and it goes bad, it's generally because of lack of lubrication. Since I've had oil pumps go bad on older vehicles I do replace the pump if I ever take off the pan. I might have been a little slow on that F100.
Kinda reminds me of an old Dodge with a slant-6 I once had.
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Old 05-26-2016, 02:19 PM   #26
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I think its a matter of opinion and like you say no one but arecing outfit actually analyzes what nuked the motor..

lcak of lubrication causing failure? you bet.. on many old engines the oil holes become plugged.. can we say early 1980s Lincolns with 5.0's? known issue that the rear main oil feed got slowly gunked up no matter how much you changed the oil.. and eventually spun the rear main.. your oil pressure gauge looked normal if not slightly higher than normal ..

bearing wearing due to somene not changing the oil for years at a time.. may very well result in high clearances and low oil pressure.. pump is fine.. bearings are not..

and as you say oil pump failure causing lubrication failure.. which will nuke a motor..

all of the above..

and I can honestly say I changed to a higher volume oil pump in an old motor I knew had loosey goosey for bearings.. it ran beautifully with 40 PSI all the time after that.. the motor was technically Shot.. but it looked fine on the gauge.. and it never blew up for me or the guy who had it after me..

-Christopher
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Old 05-26-2016, 04:07 PM   #27
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Well put Christopher.
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Old 05-26-2016, 10:42 PM   #28
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Quote:
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I always assumed that the old oil pump going out was what caused most older engines to go bad. There was never time for mechanics to disassemble a bad engine to determine the cause of the problem. A rod through the side of the block was often a clue. It's a moot point for the mechanic as to what went wrong because nobody wants to pay for the mechanics time in the process of discovery on a blown engine.
I had a '59 Ford F100 years ago with a 300 6 cyl that reportedly had over a half million miles on it. It got over 30 mpg empty, but if it was raining you couldn't stay dry. Back then I could haul a cord of firewood to Portland an hour and a half away and return home empty still averaging 24mpg round trip. I found several prior owners the truck who all stated that it had to have over a half a million miles on it with that same engine. To get to the point here, the oil pump went out. Drove it home anyway with no pressure which took about an hour. That slick 50 must have been kicking in. Replaced the oil pump and that thing was still running the last time I saw it. Gave it away. Only paid a cord and a half of green alder for it in the first place.
This may be a rather old opinion but when there is nothing visibly wrong with an engine and it goes bad, it's generally because of lack of lubrication. Since I've had oil pumps go bad on older vehicles I do replace the pump if I ever take off the pan. I might have been a little slow on that F100.
Gosh it reminds me i had a 70 Torino/ Farilaine with the straight 6 cyl. What a motor that was. Goodness i could feel its reliabilty like a energy field radiating from it. Always felt confident that the kotor would be running years to come. Well i was young and she went away. lol
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Old 05-29-2016, 03:04 AM   #29
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Quick update. Replaced 5 more of the marker/clearance lights with LED's. Had to drag the ladder out of storage (and it still need repairs, but I made do). Still need to replace the front and back corner markers; I need to get the necessary screws to secure them (the originals will be too large). The four 7" lights are all replaced and checked. At some point the back-up and lower brake lights will be replaced, but they are a low priority. Next stop - instruments and interior. Come on, S.C. I need my title straightened out!
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Old 05-30-2016, 10:34 PM   #30
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Update: All marker and clearance lights are replaced. Lettering has been removed (except a couple places on the rub rails); the adhesive still remains. And she needs a bath! Still - it's progress.



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Old 05-30-2016, 11:04 PM   #31
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Nice LED!!!

lookin good!! I replaced all mine but went for the standard lights... interesting how just a few years difference.. on mine i have the 3 lights in a row... all full size... white..yellow..red on the rear... did you originally have the yellow arrows and you wired up combo reds?

-CHristopher
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Old 05-30-2016, 11:20 PM   #32
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Not sure if the turn signals were yellow when new - when I got it, there was a yellow lens inside the bus, but the turn signals were red. They were not originally wired up for tail lights. As you can see, I remedied that, wanting maximum possible visibility.
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Old 05-30-2016, 11:54 PM   #33
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These take off adhesives and stubborn stuff.

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Old 05-31-2016, 01:37 AM   #34
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These take off adhesives and stubborn stuff.

Adhesives, rust, and pretty much everything else including the paint. I'm not ready to paint it any time soon.
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Old 05-31-2016, 07:37 AM   #35
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ive got some plastic black wheels that take off the adhesives and nastiness without harming the paint if tyou are easy on it..

-Christopher
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Old 05-31-2016, 07:45 AM   #36
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Adhesives, rust, and pretty much everything else including the paint. I'm not ready to paint it any time soon.
Okie dokie, man.
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Old 06-03-2016, 12:05 AM   #37
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Not much to post over the last couple days ... Got insurance. Allstate wouldn't touch it after speaking to my actual agent, although he genuinely seemed like he wanted to keep my business. So I ended up with a Progressive Commercial/private use policy for about $360/year. My Suburban is twice that, and I barely drive it. Went and got a temp tag, so I can drive it around to start working out the kinks.
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Old 06-03-2016, 03:28 PM   #38
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Were your old/new lights single wire with a body ground or the multi pin plug in style?
I had to replace my reverse lights for inspection and wanted to upgrade but couldn't find them.
I want to change the old flashers front and back to clear lenses, get rid of the flash and put the front on the same toggle switch and tie the back into the reverse lights but haven't found any replacements for my idea and would love them to be LED.
Any help is appreciated.
I have thought about the old KC light thing but don't want to go there yet.
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Old 06-03-2016, 05:42 PM   #39
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on my bus the flasher lenses were the same as the rear bus lights in size.. so maybe you can use reverse lights in your flasher positions if you just want white lights there..

- Christopher
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Old 06-04-2016, 03:48 AM   #40
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Were your old/new lights single wire with a body ground or the multi pin plug in style?
I had to replace my reverse lights for inspection and wanted to upgrade but couldn't find them.
My old lights were single/double wire with body ground. Many of the new LED lights were multi-wire but not plug-in style. They are all hard wired, many of which I had to ground separately from what was original.

I have not yet messed with the back-up lights, neither come on with trans in reverse (engine off, switch on), I will crawl under at some point and see if I am getting voltage at the reverse light switch (which I am assuming is on the tranny).

I also procured some WS2812 type LED's and a micro-Arduino-type controller, which are intended for use behind the instrument cluster and remaining switches.
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