Bonnie Blue

[ted@campbycanoe.com]

Looks really similar to mine.

I removed the wires from the rear and side emergency doors, the windows, and the roof hatches. After each one, I started the bus and moved it to make sure none of the interlock system kicked in. In my case, simply removing the wires worked. But go slowly and methodically and check each time you disconnect something to be sure.

[musigenesis]

Wow, somehow I missed seeing your build thread before this. You're making great progress, man!

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by ted@campbycanoe.com

Looks really similar to mine.

I removed the wires from the rear and side emergency doors, the windows, and the roof hatches. After each one, I started the bus and moved it to make sure none of the interlock system kicked in. In my case, simply removing the wires worked. But go slowly and methodically and check each time you disconnect something to be sure.

Pretty much why I am not doing it alone. And filming it.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Wow, somehow I missed seeing your build thread before this. You're making great progress, man!

Progress might be relative LOL. I found my first real hole in the middle step. Think the bottom step will be rusted too. Horray for learning new skills.

[JDSquared]

I wish I had real time to work on it. Spent an hour this morning before work taking the front panel off. The rearview mirror and that pull-down shade. Which I'm not putting back up anybody wants it.

100% fiberglass free now.

On Saturday I was going to drive it to the recycling place get rid of all the ceiling and wall panels. I realized I was empty of coolant. We topped it off before I left to bring the bus home that first time. I removed the rear heater and lost only a little bit of coolant connecting the hoses back together and turned the valves back on.

The next day I realized it was leaking and it took it all apart forgetting about the valves. Leaked at least a gallon all over myself and the ground. That was in the exact same moment the owner of the place drove by. I almost got kicked out. But I fixed it and tightened it down good. Added two gallons of 50/50. It's been about a month still haven't moved it. The ground under the hose connection isn't wet so I could be leaking someplace else. I'm guessing not.

I'm afraid to get caught underneath the bus again working on the coolant, even if it's empty and I have a bucket.

I want to build. I want to get to the fun stuff. That still won't be til the spring.

[JDSquared]

I don't know who jinxed me but now my buzzer goes off when I turn the key.

I'm not really looking for advice yet. I'll try to go through my connections before I freak out.

It's been raining all morning so I went to check for leaks. I know my emergency hatches drip but there were two big puddles there this morning. Then I remembered I left them open. I shut them and checked on my windows. I can't find any leaks. This is the second walkthrough in the rain. I might not take my windows out to reseal them.

Then I noticed my keys in the ignition. Last time I did that I drained the battery. So I turned my key I noticed the buzzing. The bus started and I realized my door was open. I think that sets off a buzzer. But I closed it and it was still buzzing.

I was at the bus on Wednesday for a couple of hours. I stripped all the speaker wire. But then I rehooked up two speakers and got them working. So the bus was on and off with no buzzing before I left Wednesday.

Checked the emergency windows. They were closed and still connected. The grounding wire for the hatches was all wet. Drips coming off the rubber insulation of the power wire. So maybe that's it.

I turned it off made sure everything was shut. Spending the weekend with my son so I think I'll be back out there Monday to check.

[JDSquared]

Somebody on Reddit cut their rear door in half and now I want to do that. The back was going to be a garage, losing 18 to 24 inches sort of takes up a lot of room. I was already thinking about raising the bed over the garage and wondering how much room I needed in the garage. Making a door for the bedroom and the garage fits in with that idea.

But I'm still in the planning stages. And nervous to cut big holes in my bus.

I got the buzzing to stop. One of the hatches wasn't closed correctly. Can I cut all the wires to the hatches and the emergency windows. The bus doesn't buzz and it starts so I'm good so far. It's still connected to the panel.

I also tightened my clamps on my heater hoses that I looped. All my coolant drained out over the past month. I'm guessing it's from where I clamped it. The rubber hose is kinked also because of how I looped it. So I've got it stretched out better but down by the wheel for now.

I've got my plates and my sticker but no insurance . Probably another month. I really want to get the Coolidge in there and take it for a long ride and run the heaters and make sure everything's working.

Right now I have to go rescue my kid and his mom because I guess his battery died

[JDSquared]

It's been raining two solid days again. I was out this morning looking for leaks and I'm glad I was. Discovered water building up at the bottom of several windows. I thought they weren't leaking and thought about not resealing them. But I feel better knowing I have to.

Leaking at several light fixtures too; flashers and a couple of those little running lights near the roof. I checked the lights the other day and one wasn't working. I took the plastic cover off and the gasket crumbled on me. So the plan was to replace all those anyway.

Wish it would stop raining though. Trying to work in the electrical box outside and pull switches I don't need.

[JDSquared]

The original light fixture bulbs were labeled #89. Looked like 1156 equivalent so I bought two led lights (7$ the pair on Amazon) to check the fit.
They look good. I have three switches; one for the light over the driver area, one for six forward lights and one for six rear lights. I thought about leaving the driver on the switch and car battery, but I decided to leave at least one in the living area in case I need light back there while on the road.

All the wiring is still in place. Going to divert the remaining lights to the house batteries when I get there. I keep pulling out more original bus equipment I thought I would keep and decided not to. But I still like the original lights. Especially with the led update.
Attachment 40115Attachment 40116Attachment 40117

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by JDSquared

The original light fixture bulbs were labeled #89. Looked like 1156 equivalent so I bought two led lights (7$ the pair on Amazon) to check the fit.
They look good. I have three switches; one for the light over the driver area, one for six forward lights and one for six rear lights. I thought about leaving the driver on the switch and car battery, but I decided to leave at least one in the living area in case I need light back there while on the road.

All the wiring is still in place. Going to divert the remaining lights to the house batteries when I get there. I keep pulling out more original bus equipment I thought I would keep and decided not to. But I still like the original lights. Especially with the led update.
Attachment 40115Attachment 40116Attachment 40117

I just realized the pictures didn't load. So here's my led light "proof of concept"


I've got them all up in the ceiling with painters tape right now. I spent some time on my floor plan today and pretty sure where my battery bank will go. So I want to run my wires in place for these lights.

Pulled the wires off the flashers. Leaving the wiring in place; one for a backup camera and one for some spot lights. They're not connected anymore to the switches or the light monitor. Got all the flashers wires our of the panel I think.

The other wires I'm trying to trace completely from fuse block to relay to wherever else they go, but it's monotonous. Think I'm just going to label the wires coming into the panel for now until I have particular problems and trace them as needed.

Started to fix my error on the heater hose. But that's for another post. Should finish that tomorrow if it's done raining.

[PNW_Steve]

As far as the interlocks go, I would not get in too much of a hurry.

My thought is that if you leave the system in place that it could possibly come back to haunt you.

I called my Bluebird dealer and the service manager gave me directions on how to completely remove it. It was quite straightforward but I never would have figured it out myself. There was a delay behind a cover panel that was behind the drivers windshield wiper that needed to be removed and a jumper put in its place.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

As far as the interlocks go, I would not get in too much of a hurry.

My thought is that if you leave the system in place that it could possibly come back to haunt you.

I called my Bluebird dealer and the service manager gave me directions on how to completely remove it. It was quite straightforward but I never would have figured it out myself. There was a delay behind a cover panel that was behind the drivers windshield wiper that needed to be removed and a jumper put in its place.

Yeah I'm not doing anything with the interlock I don't think. Took out all the wires that went to my backdoor. One of them ran continuous to the two windows and the two emergency hatches. Haven't had any starting issues so I'm not doing anything else there.

[JDSquared]

I had a productive two hours on the bus today. Started with the heater hose. I could not find any connector pieces when I first took out my rear heater, so I left about four feet of hose to make my loop. But that kinked right away and I knew it wouldn't work.

I found this blue U shaped piece online and decided to use it. Works perfect I think. The hose tees off and goes up to some little foot warmer under the driver's seat. I have a coupling on the house after that tee and one much farther down the line. So I had to bypass the foot warmer to install this loop. I kept the extra hose (and if I did that when I removed the rear heater I would have had extra couplings!) And for now leaving this little heater and tee in place just in case I tie it back in.
Attachment 40230Attachment 40231

[JDSquared]

Then I finally finished priming the floor. The floor steps up at the engine/driver's seat area, I couldn't get it all apart when I first took up the floor. But I got it up, wire wheeled the rust and applied Ospho. Three weeks ago. Then did nothing so it started getting surface rust already. I cleaned it up and primed it today.Attachment 40228

[JDSquared]

Cleaned up much of my wiring which makes me very happy. It's been hanging over the driver's seat while I've been picking at the lights and the switches. Now that the hose is finished and I'm about to get it insured I want to drive it around town and make sure the coolant is circulating and the heater works.

[o1marc]

Link to that blue hose? That looks better than the contraption I did.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by o1marc

Link to that blue hose? That looks better than the contraption I did.

Hey I feel helpful!


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


It says 80 psi maximum BTW. I have no idea what pressure it will be under with the coolant system, but hopefully less than that.

I like it, it's pretty thick. Maybe a 1/4". If I remember it's rubber inside. It was stiff but easy to work over the coupling. I tightened the heck out of it too, hopefully I'm not leaking any more.

Edit: It's 4 ply silicone, no rubber. I scrolled down the page.

[PNW_Steve]

Your cooling system likely runs between 12-20 psi.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

Your cooling system likely runs between 12-20 psi.

Yeah I wasn't too worried.

[JDSquared]

I should have quit while I was ahead. I pulled a few more wires yesterday. I was working on five wires in the front, that went to that stop arm, they went to magnet and s motor. But they went up into the center of the dash and I couldn't trace them back to the panel. I was poking and pulling on the dash quite a bit. One good thing I found was the fuel gauge and light disconnected. So I think they actually work now.

I never got those wires traced though. So I just cut them under the window.

There was some thin red wire with a disconnect that I found went back to the panel with an extra six feet I think curled up inside there and zip tied to two other wires that had disconnect pins in them. I took them apart just to see if the bus still started.

It did. But after about 30 seconds it cut off. So I reconnected the wires and started it again. It stayed running. All good I guess. But...

Earlier in the day I noticed the radio clock was on while the key was out. Ok I like that, I didn't try the radio. I hadn't noticed it before today though. But it also had this plug in the back that went to a PA microphone. I don't have the microphone just the connection point under the switches. That had five feet of cable stuffed into the panel box too with the earlier mentioned red wires. So I pulled it out and noted the radio working fine. I couldn't get the pin connector through the hole though so I cut the wires, making it much more difficult to splice now if I need (the Mike wire is shielded similar to cable wire). Shouldn't matter anyway. But...

When I had the bus started that second time I was playing with the master heat switch. I'm still not sure which direction is on or off on the switch. But when I flipped it, the radio came on. I'm not sure why. I turned the engine off and the radio won't come back on now. Flipping the switch, turning the ignition to acc or turning the engine on, the radio is dead. Annoying.

So then I called for insurance. I should not have told him the conversion wasn't finished. I can't get a policy until it is. I want the insurance so I can get it driving and heating the coolant and making sure it's all circulating. I don't think you can really check it in idle and I guess you're not supposed to leave these in idle too long. This bus has a high idle switch actually, but it was disconnected I am told. I was hoping it was just pulled like the fuel gauge was, but it's turned off via programming.

I might drive the bus anyway now. I drove 500 plus miles home on sixty gallons of gas so it's empty or close. I don't want to run out of fuel while it's parked here. But it also cut out on me yesterday, I assume because of those wires. But if it's something else and I stall an uninsured bus on the road on new year's day I'm just looking for trouble.

Sigh. Rant over. I'm going to go have a great first day of the new year.