Rusty 87 build thread

[HazMatt]

First off: are you sure you pumped diesel, and not 20 gallons of "wawa"..? [emoji6]
Been ages, but I never had problems with WaWa's fuel.
Too late to test now, but I had a similar gremlin that was resolved with a good, swift kick! Actually, a gentle tap of the toe to the wiring harness running down from the dash, in the corner at 10 o'clock from the clutch pedal.
Preferentially, I've been told it's best to leave a diesel idling while fueling.

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Stopped to get diesel at a Wawa. Added about 20 gallons and when I went to start the bus it turned over a couple of times and chugged a bit but wouldn't start. All subsequent attempts to start resulted in no turning over at all, just clicking from the side panel...
... First dude was sort of pissed and said he would tell the wrecker guy's boss about this.

And after thinking about this, I realized it was probably drained batteries that were the problem. It was my third startup of the morning, probably just 5 minutes after the second one, and maybe that wasn't enough time to recharge the batteries fully...
I've been looking for a new truck/bus repair place anyway, so maybe this will end up being convenient for me, discounting the $285 for the tow.

Hopefully they'll appreciate your business more than the dude who got snippy with you for acting in accordance with what he'd told you earlier.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

First off: are you sure you pumped diesel, and not 20 gallons of "wawa"..? [emoji6]
Been ages, but I never had problems with WaWa's fuel.
Too late to test now, but I had a similar gremlin that was resolved with a good, swift kick! Actually, a gentle tap of the toe to the wiring harness running down from the dash, in the corner at 10 o'clock from the clutch pedal.
Preferentially, I've been told it's best to leave a diesel idling while fueling.



Hopefully they'll appreciate your business more than the dude who got snippy with you for acting in accordance with what he'd told you earlier.

I am 99% sure it was diesel. I'm 100% sure it was the diesel hose that I used, the 1% is to cover Wawa putting the wrong fuel in the tank.

One other weird thing that happened that I don't understand: my tank is 65 gallons and my fuel gauge was showing about 1/4 fuel. I entered my credit card and I intended to put in 30 gallons, but it stopped itself at around 22 gallons and said FUELING COMPLETE on the screen. The price was exactly $75.00 so I assumed there was some kind of max limit on a Wawa pump, but the employees said there wasn't so I don't understand why it stopped. There isn't any kind of auto-shutoff for a diesel pump, is there?

I wasn't sure whether I should keep the bus idling while filling it, so I shut it off. FWIW it's probably for the best that this happened at the Wawa, because I was positioned where it was relatively easy for the wrecker to tow me away. In my normal parking spot it would have been a lot more difficult because of an immediate 90 degree turn that has to be made.

The dude was snippy because he had headed off across the street and moved some vehicles around to clear a spot for me. I feel worse the more I think about this, really probably should have gone with the first guys. I was kind of panicking though because I thought I was looking at a situation where I would have absolutely nowhere at all to take the bus and would just have to sit at Wawa absorbing all the hate. I was considering whether setting fire to it and running would be an option.

[musigenesis]

Also, on my last few drives the low-air-pressure sensor sometimes starts beeping away even though the gauges are showing primary and secondary both over 120. There is also some sort of buzzer situated over the side emergency door that occasionally goes into an erratic squawking mode.

Maybe I have some generalized electrical issues? I've been meaning to make a post here asking about these buzzes, but they don't happen whenever I'm actually ready to record it.

[HazMatt]

I don't know for a fact, but I'd bet there are safeguards against the tanker driver putting the wrong fuel on the wrong tank. Can't imagine the Lords of Petrol would risk the high test accidentally being decanted into the 89 octane vessel!
Could be your card company's limit, tho I'm leaning towards a max limit/fueling. It's not like Kwikee Marts pay enough to retain rocket surgeons! The only auto shut-off I'm aware of is when back-pressure's detected, curtailing delivery.

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I am 99% sure it was diesel. I'm 100% sure it was the diesel hose that I used, the 1% is to cover Wawa putting the wrong fuel in the tank...
The price was exactly $75.00 so I assumed there was some kind of max limit on a Wawa pump, but the employees said there wasn't so I don't understand why it stopped. There isn't any kind of auto-shutoff for a diesel pump, is there?
...The dude was snippy because he had headed off across the street and moved some vehicles around to clear a spot for me...
I was kind of panicking though because I thought I was looking at a situation where I would have absolutely nowhere at all to take the bus and would just have to sit at Wawa absorbing all the hate. I was considering whether setting fire to it and running would be an option.

No, I'd got why he got snippy. He told you they were full. End of discussion. If he'd said he'd try & make some room, well... That'd be different, but he didn't, so don't concern yourself over his panty bunchage!
Unless you actually did get gas (strongly doubt, your engine would've hand-grenaded) it's prolly just as well you didn't have a propane torch, given the flash point for gas is -45°F, and diesel's is 126°...
BTW, I actually DID LOL at your last line!
Edit, re post #43;
Most likely unrelated, tho may indicate a sporadic short, which might create a parasitic battery drain.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

BTW, I actually DID LOL at your last line!

It just occurred to me that the solution to any of my problems is to mount my iPod inside the bus and have it always recording.

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Most likely unrelated, tho may indicate a sporadic short, which might create a parasitic battery drain.

I've been advised previously to disconnect the batteries when I let the bus sit. Is there some sort of big physical switch you can wire into the battery cable to make this easier to do?

[HazMatt]

I hear that! Some of my best brain-droppings come in times of agita!
I've seen such switches discussed here, haven't gone there yet, so no recomms.
They're as simple as an On/Off, I expect I'll get one that combines the House & Start batt banks, with options to kill either, both, or join together, so as to charge House bank from the alternator...

[musigenesis]

Put my best friend of 18 years to sleep today. He was a good cat and he will always be missed. I think he would have enjoyed skoolie life.

[HazMatt]

Bummer!
Been there, it isnt fun.
Condolences, Cuz.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Bummer!
Been there, it isnt fun.
Condolences, Cuz.

Thank you.

[HazMatt]

Not that it compares, but I just now lost my dream bus for $16,000...

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Put my best friend of 18 years to sleep today.

Hopefully this will be amusing: when I tapped on the notification, taking me to this thread, it showed my last post, and just the above quote.
My first thought was along the lines of, "Oh, no. Another refugee into soma, escaping the zealous ramblings of another Skoolie fanatic!"
That thought shuffled off to Buffalo when I scrolled down...

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Hopefully this will be amusing: when I tapped on the notification, taking me to this thread, it showed my last post, and just the above quote.
My first thought was along the lines of, "Oh, no. Another refugee into soma, escaping the zealous ramblings of another Skoolie fanatic!"
That thought shuffled off to Buffalo when I scrolled down...

This made me laugh, thank you. Sorry about your bus, man.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Not that it compares, but I just now lost my dream bus for $16,000...


Hopefully this will be amusing: when I tapped on the notification, taking me to this thread, it showed my last post, and just the above quote.
My first thought was along the lines of, "Oh, no. Another refugee into soma, escaping the zealous ramblings of another Skoolie fanatic!"
That thought shuffled off to Buffalo when I scrolled down...

Its a cool bus, but not 16 grand cool.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Its a cool bus, but not 16 grand cool.

Ohhh, the Crown, you mean? I'm glad I already owned a bus by the time I learned about Crowns, or else that might have been me plunking down 16 grand - and then having no budget to do anything else with it.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Ohhh, the Crown, you mean? I'm glad I already owned a bus by the time I learned about Crowns, or else that might have been me plunking down 16 grand - and then having no budget to do anything else with it.

I've seen tandem crowns with similar setups sell for 10-15. I think someone spent a bit extra on that Island Crown for sentimental or collector reasons.

I plunked down $1600 on a bus and still have no budget lol.

[HazMatt]

My budget was to sell only one kidney, not both...
(Apologies for the high jacking. I am now turning myself over to the sky marshall)

[musigenesis]

Up until today, my plan had been to move all four of my emergency exit windows to front right, where they would be somewhat shielded from direct rain by an awning. Finally realized today that the window openings for the emergency exit windows are 1" wider than normal so they can't actually be moved. I've seen skoolies that have moved them, but I guess in other makes/models the exit windows use the same size holes as the normal ones.

It's a shame because these windows leak pretty badly and will need some sort of external covering for them to be watertight. It would have been convenient to take advantage of an awning I'll have anyway for this.

[HazMatt]

Bummer. Another 'awnsome' plan, foiled by facts.

[musigenesis]

I've spent the last two weeks -ish taking out all my windows, drilling out the stop rivets, cleaning and repainting them (mainly the exit windows which had some serious aluminum corrosion and peeling paint) and reinstalling them with sealant. Have all but two back in, and would have had those if I hadn't run out of the freaking screws to hold them in (I realize now that during demo you should never just chuck fasteners away) and you can't get replacements at a local hardware store as far as I can tell.

They're not completely watertight yet since the horizontal sills on them have all slightly separated from the vertical frames on the edges, leaving a thin gap that water gets through. I still need to seal these gaps up, but I was irrationally hoping that the windows would be mostly watertight anyway. Nope, we got a monsoon tonight and those gaps let a ton of water in. Fortunately the two windows where I did seal those gaps did not leak.

I feel like an Archaeologist with my bus. There are indications of three major efforts in the past to fix the leaking problems, including the windows having twice been removed and reinstalled and resealed (once with Dynatron-550 like I'm using now or something very similar, and once with some sort of weird gelatinous caulk substance that absorbs the color of the paint near it and makes a noise like grinding glass when you scrape it off). FWIW I actually think the removal process makes this gap problem worse every time; when I took the windows out they were sealed so strongly on the bottom to the bus that prying them off bent the edges of the sills away, widening this gap (I unfortunately only realized the problem this was creating/worsening after I'd removed all the windows).

Am I going to do better than these faceless bus warriors from the past and actually make Rusty 87 waterproof? Uh ...

[musigenesis]

[CMORGANSKOOL]

How did you get the inside panels off?