Serenity - 2002 Thomas HDX

[thjakits]

Hey Rhombus,

you are still in the construction phase, so nothing is lost - yet!

For the doubts regarding your cooling air flow - have a look at this site:

AutoSpeed - Technology, Efficiency, Performance

Somewhere in there are all the details how to measure your low and high pressure areas!!

Read through this:

AutoSpeed - Siting Cold Air Intakes
AutoSpeed - Eliminating Negative Boost - Part 5
AutoSpeed - We Have a Record!
AutoSpeed - Undertrays, Spoiler & Bonnet Vents, Part 3
AutoSpeed - Building and Testing an Airbox

[...if the posted article is one of a series, the other parts are usually mentioned in the article or search for it on his site! I have a load of the mentioned Magnehelic pressure gauges myself - you find them on ebay for REALLY cheap, just make sure you get the right measuring range!]

WARNING!! ....the above mentioned site is ADDICTIVE!! You might end up NOT doing much on your bus for a while!

He has a lot of mechanical, electrical, electronic stuff there - mostly DIY car improvements beyond what you imagine - ALL of this can be scaled up to buses!


Also - when it comes to cooling airflow - there are a few EXCELLENT books out there about Fluid dynamic cooling - maybe your local library still has copies.
Most of them are full with formulas - don't worry, just read a LITTLE into the text and look at the illustrations and you get enough idea of it all! You mostly DON'T need the formulas as you only will copy "as best as you can" anyway - with your available space.
But I can tell you, you WILL/would make HUGE improvements over the OEM design, by just folling the very basic design rules from these books! It seems the manufacturers don't give a damn about this and just replace smart design with bigger radiators and bigger fans!

A big fan can eat TONS of power - 40-50 hp is nothing going into the fan only!
So if you can reduce the need for the fan running - you start to safe fuel immediately!

Just doing a little research - applying the learned common sense and maybe you have a chance to run a few pressure tests (google: autospeed.com, Magnehelic) on some running bus (maybe your friendly neighborhood schoolbus mechanics takes you along on a test drive and lets you stick a few 1/4" clear tubing on it.....to measure where you get what pressure at what speed....)


Again - WARNING - autospeed.com is seriously addictive to DIYers!!

Looking again at your new Intercooler-auxiliary-"intakes" I get more and more the feeling they actually will pull the air out at this location. You see, the negative scoops are rather large compared to the hoses - this is a rather big area creating a negative pressure.

If you are decided to stick with this location - look up NACA duct intake!!
BUT - beware of "False NACA ducts" - you need to build it correctly or it won't work!!
There plenty of Aftermarket plastic crap out there for looks only, possibly even harming performance. IF built correctly they DO work - key is: built them correctly!!

Enjoying your thread a lot!

thjakits

PS: What do you mean you don't have the skills for a roof raise and/or slide-outs?!!
Of course you do!!

Have a look at:

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/th...-bus-9394.html

and of course Vlad's MACHINE!!

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/98...outs-9728.html

[Although Vlad seem to be MIA, I am sure he will be back eventually...]

Also this one is a good one:

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/3-...ona-12833.html

"Raising the Roof" is really not a big deal anymore, more like becoming the rule - and for a MAD MAX, man!! Think it over!

[RHOMBUS]

Pretty awesome, thjakits!

It's definitely not too late to look at the engine air intake since that's what my current project it. The roof raise I'm going to pass on since the windows panels are in place and would take some serious effort to remove. That will have to wait for another bus. I want to keep my center of gravity pretty low incase I want to practice some bootlegger reverse (J-turn) moves on wet pavement ;)

As far as the air intake goes, for now I will just connect everything to its stock location, but I already have a new air filter system that should flow more, as well as improvements to the turbo system, such as all aluminum pipe, a pre-intercooler heat sink, and smoother and fewer bends throughout the ait intake stream. When the new filter system is at near max restriction, it will still flow the recommended amount specified by Caterpillar.

I am definitely going to be reading all about negative boost to start with! Thanks for the great info!

[Robin97396]

I will line up to see those bootlegger reverse J-turns, even on wet pavement.

[RHOMBUS]

Measuring and cutting the aluminum tube pieces to be welded later:

That assembly is from the turbo to the intercooler with a heat sink intermediate that will hopefully help drop the temperature faster than just straight pipe. The bends are more gradual, with radii increases of at least 1/2" over the stock pipe.

The old one was made of steel and so badly rusted, that when I was cleaning it, I discovered 3 holes where it had rusted through.

[Tango]

Nice! And I love the idea of the extra cooling from the heat sink. Anyone who has ever raced two-stroke engines appreciates the extra power that nice, cool, "fat" air brings out of a motor.

[RHOMBUS]

A lot of things going on but unfinished, so all I can show is the battery box.

This is the box stripped, rust treated, primered and underbody coated. I removed the tray and the sliders which, in addition to saving a little weight, gave a little more room.


Next up was to devise a way to hold the batteries down. I picked up some trays and some gate locking hardware, measured and bolted them in. I capped the original holes for the cables, drilled new ones, used some railroad air hose gaskets for grommets, had new, shorter 3/0 cables made and here's how it looks:


I plan on building a little toolbox or similar locked storage bay in the unused portion on the right. I'll put road flares, jumper cables and various battery maintenance things in there.

I'm still working on things in the engine bay, and some of the parts I need are taking a while to acquire. The main categories are:

Air intake:
- measure, fit, cut, weld the aluminum tubing from the intercooler to the intake manifold
- wait for the silicone 6" to 5" reducer to connect the Donaldson air cleaner to the original air intake tube (May 13th or so)
- once the reducer is received, then a lot of measuring and fabricating to position and mount the air cleaner

Cooling system:
- new silicone hoses everywhere, replacing metal tubing (lots of measuring)
- refill with coolant
- finish shroud-to-fan isolation (a little too close in some places)
- fabricate lower radiator splash guard with integrated safety grill mount (the original one can be crumbled by hand)

Transmission:
- tighten new hoses
- fill system with Castrol Transynd

Engine Bay:
- select and install bay lighting (might get creative here)
- finish scraping and treating frame
- ground bay door to body
- replace/refab posts on air heater solenoid
- select and drill route for rear lighting wiring (going to fill original channels used with insulation)
- new hydraulic spring for bay door - installed! (no more 2 by 4 propping it up)

[RHOMBUS]

Almost done with the engine bay. The turbo-to-intercooler pipe is all welded up and installed. 3" aluminum with inline heat sink. Unfortunately, that heat sink isn't going to get any real air flow over it, but it's still better than a straight tube in my opinion, and looks pretty cool too.


It sits right behind the coolant line, which I don't like, but that's how it was from the factory. I did my best to route the coolant hose a bit further away, but there's only so far I can go. The cooling system is 99% done. I just need to find a way to mount the filler tube back to its original location. The bracket had long since rusted away when I first picked up the bus. All coolant tubing is high temp silicone and all clamps are stainless steel, as well as any coolant joiners.


The Donaldson air cleaner is mounted temporarily so I can make some measurements for the intake box. I'll want to smoothe out the passage from the rear sidewall as well, since the original is just a caulked mess over jagged pieces of metal and rivets.







The engine isn't going to get painted because I didn't touch it. Hopefully I won't have to. I decided that I can do the exhaust since I'm back here instead of taking it to a shop a few months down the road when it's up and running. I selected an Aero turbine 4040 muffler. It's all stainless and a lot of people in the diesel pickup world really like them. The bus's exhaust pipe is 4" so that's why I went with the 4040.


It's a straight-through design that channels some of the exhaust flow to the perimeter and feeds it back in a swirling pattern that's suppoed to help with exhaust scavenging.


I'm having a 2 into 1 merge collector fabricated out of stainless steel that I'll run backwards to split the exhaust into two 3 inch outlets.

I wanted to do a through-body exhaust, but all of the places on line that make the body plates want well over $200 for them. I searched and searched and ended up with this:


These are heavy gauge garbage disposal sink flanges. The hole allows a near pefect fit for 3" tubing and they are stainless steel. $18 a piece. I'm thinking I'll drill some holes, run some bolts and call it good.

I still have to finished the lower intercooler-to-intake tubing, secure some parts of the wiring harness, fab the intake box, install engine bay lighting, fill with coolant and transmission fluid and I'm done.

Transmission fluid: Castrol Trans-Synd
Engine coolant: Shell Rotella Ultra ELC

[Oregon's bus guy]

Subbing. Great build so far.

[Tango]

LOVE the sink flanges!

[RHOMBUS]

Too many things at once. Here's what I have that's new:

I finalized the design of the "apocalypse fridge" :

The background is antique pewter paint with some hammered copper and rust paint splattered to give the look of an old steel box. The handle is made from braided stainless water line, connected by a couple of U bolts to battery cable ends for a side-terminal battery. That is then bolted to a stool leg plate. The vents are stainless boat vents. This is just the freezer door. The whole fride will be similar in appearance. I'd like to work some kind of lighting into it but not really sure how I would do that. I also haven't figured out how to paint the door seals, since they flex and having a pure white seal is just goin to stick out too much. Maybe some flexible rubber paint will do.

When I was working in this area of the bus, I noticed some rust that penetrated the body, so I removed the rub rail. It too was rusted through. This panel is "medicore." In keeping with how I am patching all holes and spots, I will frankenstein a piece over it after cutting out the bad material.


Here is the end result, also showing the through-body exhaust.


Speaking of the exhaust, all that's left to do is wait for the stainless clamps to arrive for the flex pipe, and raise and hang the muffler and splitter.

Two different sized rivets, stainless cap screws, and the panel is backed with 3M VHB tape.





In this next picture, you can see the muffler and splitter need to be raised a little so the path doesn't turn upward so much:


Also on the way is an engine bay led lighting system. I really wanted something simple, like just orange, but I like the opportunity to do certain special effects, such as making it look like there's a fire or an electrical storm inside the bay.

I still need to make one last bend in the intercooler tubing to finish that system off and I still need to fab the air receiving box which I have been avoiding.

[RHOMBUS]

Not much to post. Waiting on parts to arrive. BUT:

I just purchased the solar panels I will use. It's a bit ahead of schedule, but they haven't been available for a good while and there was a promotional discount so I had to jump. I'll have 10x100w panels. They weigh only 14.5 pounds each and have the highest output per square inch I've found anywhere from what's commercially available.

I've been spending the past week calculating solar angles, including any shadow casting from elements on the roof, such as the emergency exits and the tilt of the other panels, as well as where I expect to mostly be hanging out for the rest of my life. Then I could design the mounts and supports.



I'm doing 2 rows of 5 panels, one down the rear driver side , and the other down the rear passenger side. A minor added benefit will be that the panels will intercept any direct sun that would otherwise hit the roof.



The trick was to design a system that would double tilt while allowing clearance for the support arms, capable of a perpendicular intersection of the sun angle at solar noon on December 21 of 18 degrees, somewhere around Kalispel, Montana. Then I wanted to have that same system capable of adjusting for the max summer angle on June 21 of Las Vegas, 77 degrees.

I came up with a set of fixed mounts, a removable vertical extension, and 3 sets of telescoping bars. Since the left and right sides are mirror images of each other, I can face either the driver or passenger side due south, giving me a little more freedom when I am stopped in a location for a while.

As for other stuff, I finally made an exhaust hanger, had the engine bay splash plates fabricated, and am in the process of encasing the wire inlets and bolt inlets of the body lighting in case they need to be changed in the future.

The solution was to use some PVC fittings that are wide enough to allow me to loosen the bolts holdiing the lights. Later on, these fittings will prevent the spray foam insulation from covering the bolts and wires. I'll put some insulated maintenance plugs in to minimize any temperature impacts these openings will have. Where lights just screw trough the body, I'll let the foam cover them.

[RHOMBUS]

Animated image showing the tilt range:


- The green and yellow feet are bolted through the roof.
- The light blue foot extension raises the right panels higher in the winter to dodge shadow casting from the left panels. It then switches to the left panels to provide more angle variations in the early summer.
- 3 sets of 6 telescoping bars swap back and forth to make all of the necessary angles.

[jake_blue]

I've given solar panels some thought myself and wonder if there's a way to also add some either beneath these that would slide out on drawer rails or else open up clamshell-like to extend past the rain gutter and act as window shades while essentially doubling your solar collection. My thoughts on the clamshell method would be disappointing though because if the panel's close up then there's zero collection, so you'd really only be solar powered when parked and 'deployed'. Just lots of wild ideas I get while daydream-driving.

[RHOMBUS]

I like the clamshell idea with a variation:

make bracket to attach additional panels off of the ones on the side facing the sun. When not in use, you could store the panels inside so you don't lose any benefit from the existing panels. You run a little more risk of unsupported wind and snow load, but I think that would be minor. With the way my panels will be mounted, in some positions, the angle would be too steep to have a continuous run of panels.

You could, like you also said, make hinge mounts at the edge of the roof and prop panels up like window shades, fully adjustable. I like that idea the best. You'd still have to remove the panels and wiring before going anywhere, but you'd probably only deploy the system when you expected to be parked for a while.

The thing I quickly discovered with a large array of panels is how quickly the cost of the associated systems goes up, such as charge controllers, and even combiner boxes. As it is right now, I'm going to have to run 2 combiner boxes to get all of the cables gathered up and channeled to the charge controller, or perhaps two charge controllers. Adding another 5 panels to my system would require yet another combiner box, and another controller since I haven't found a 1500 watt controller, and so on. Then there's making sure all of the controllers communicate with each other to work together.

Another option would be to have the additional panels power their own separate battery bank that powers, let's say, all of the interior lighting. You could isolate those circuits and save the other panels to power the heavier items, like the fridge, microwave or anything using an inverter.

[milkmania]

Seems like an actuator like the old C Band satellite dishes would work to tilt & angle the panels the way you're trying to move... Build some linkage, add the actuator to lift & lower

Here's a 12 volt model
http://www.everestpartssupplies.com/...FZY1aQodfQwEOg

[joeblack5]

ON our old ambulance Van we mounted 6 20 year old 75 watt panels.
We set them up in two groups of 3 in series and gave each a MPPT charge controller. They were just flat on the roof. A large benefit was that the sun was not beating down directly on the roof anymore.
In our home solar array we are at least 15 degrees of towards the east and loose about 20 % of our capacity.
Panels are very cheap at the moment so if you have space just panel it up and take the inefficiency. I think panels are cheaper then tracking construction.
Our current project Elfbus will get 3 panels of 300 watt each $ 129 / piece. At 66"x40" they are almost as long as the bus is wide. They are frameless and as in our other van we will mount them just flat on the roof . We will mount two Z channel ( purlins) over the whole length of the Elf bus and bolt that to each bow with 3.8" stainless bolts. A second corner profile will sandwich the panel so it can't fly off. Along the centerline of the bus we will make another connection to the roof bows to reduce the chance of winds ripping the panels of the roof.

Later J

[MuddaEarth]

I just went through your entire thread.....Great job, I dig the attention to detail you put into it. Also...cool to meet a fellow burner! Check out my thread if you'd like....I'll be doing some Mad Max style fabrication very soon!

[RHOMBUS]

Been doing a lot of panel work on the body to cover up the windows. Starting with the rear, I welded in some angle iron hardpoints that serve 2 purposes: to give the large metal panel more connection points so it won't flex, and to provide a strong location to bolt in exterior brackets to mount a bike rack or other items.



MuddaEarth: I looked at your build and the way you did your rear window covers gave me confidence to mount mine on the exterior instead of the interior. My concern was that I wouldn't be able to cut the curves good enough to make it look decent, but seeing you work with the grinder inspired me.


Both small rear window holes are now covered. It's not going to win any awards for good looks, but my goal is to look more riveted, armored and deliberate. The 18gauge steel is backed with a wide band of thick 3M VHB tape providing extra adhesion and weather sealing. I sprayed the inside with rubberized underbody coating at the seams in several layers after priming just to make sure.


Also did the emergency side door window. This is the bathroom door.


It took a while to figure out how to get a metal piece fabricated to fit the opening at the old driver's window. There's still some creative work needed to make sure this piece is sealed. The panel is angled slightly, 1/4" in the front and overlapping the external body in the rear.

As I wait for the solar panels to arrive, I'm cutting the telescoping aluminum tubing for the tilt bars. I'll have to take them somewhere to get them precision drilled for the different settings. All of the raw tubes for all 10 panels weigh about 14 pounds, and will be a little less when I cut all of the pieces out of them. They also will take up minimal space which I am pleased about.

I have begun prepping the front dashboard area, getting ready for a major flooring fix, and then sealing it all off.

There are quite a few hidden air passages. That's important to me because I want to create as sealed of an environment as possible. I selected a 3" inline bilge blower fan that I will connect to an Amsoil Ea nanofiber series filter to draw in fresh air. I was hoping to create a slightly pressurized environment, but concluded that in a vehicle this size, it would be impossible. Also, the cat box area and bathroom will have one-way exhaust tubes, so any pressure I may create would natually flow out of those areas anyway. I also doubt I'll be able to 100% seal the entry and side doors.

Looking into the future of the environmental systems for the bus, I plan on having powered fan and duct systems, computer controlled based on temperature, that will do the following:

- move cold air from the floor to the ceiling
- move hot air from the ceiling to the floor
- exhaust hot air from the ceiling
- exhaust cold air from the floor
- cycle air through the bedroom at night

The plan is to actually be able to see the air tube, and have huge PVC ball valves to open and close primary systems.

The computer will just check various temperature sensors and power the corresponding fans one way or the other for a set amount of time.

Back to the present: does the bus even start? No. Does it even have a door? No. A driver's seat? Nope. These will be the next priorities. I'd like to get it able to drive around town by the end of September. We shall see. I've missed every self-imposed deadline so far.

[MuddaEarth]

The windows look great...Good job, I like the rivets!!

As far as the rest of this computer controlled gadgetry.....I'm lost!

I'll be keeping an eye on your solar system....I really like the placement and the way they will be able to tilt.. Way to go man!

[cadillackid]

you sealed off the driver's window? how can you drive it ?
-Christopher