Sojourner

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by sojourner

Anybody can do it. It just takes time and patience. Good squares and levels help a lot! At least for me they do 😀.

I'd settle for a table that is semi flat and semi stable. I do have the magnet squares, 7 foot level, and 48" T square. All they do is show me how far off the mark the final product is.


I need to find a steel office desk at surplus and stash it behind the bus.

[joeblack5]

Sojourner,..Figured that you would have thought about it. . All great work...
later Johan

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

What's your plan for paint when the body is ready?

That's still a bit up in the air as far as color is concerned. The current scheme involves gray, yellow and white main body colors with black accents.

As far as paint, the job I now have is production manager of a blast and paint facility that will do large parts (our small paint booth is 60' long). My Sherwin Williams sales rep says he'll hook me up with some paint that's very tough and good looking. While I can't mention the product itself (it's not sold to the general public), I will say it has "off world" application. I told him I wanted something tough, will look good with minimal care and won't fade. He said he had just the thing.

[QUOTE=That makes me wonder.....do you foresee any additional insulation benefits with 1/4" glass vs. 1/8"?[/QUOTE]

I don't really see it helping with insulation that much. Being tinted should help with heat load though.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by sojourner

While I can't mention the product itself (it's not sold to the general public), I will say it has "off world" application. I told him I wanted something tough, will look good with minimal care and won't fade. He said he had just the thing.

I still don't understand painting satellites; it doesn't rain a lot in space.

Just make sure he isn't charging you the DoD price!! A gallom will cost more than the bus.

[CapN]

Great build thread so glad I found it

[EastCoastCB]

Aye, its one of the greats.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by sojourner

I have a saying about doing projects here on the farm. "No job is finished unless there's some DNA left" ��. Always seems to be some blood left or knuckles skinned along the way.

Thanks to all for the well wishes. Gotta tell ya though, worse than any pain involved, not going forward with getting this door frame installed is the hardest part. I am NOT good at being laid up.

love the 'no job is finished unless there is some DNA left' ( soon to become my new favorite saying )

[sojourner]

It's been a while since I last posted mostly due to the fact I haven't done much on the bus. Life and finances (or the lack thereof) have stood in the way of making progress but I'm still here! If all goes to plan, just 9 more weeks and I'll be debt free and able to funnel some serious cash into the build.

I did pop rivet the top of the sheet metal I blanked the windows with into the backside of the drip rail to secure them and keep them from rattling. Before painting I'll lay a bead of sealant on the underside of the drip rail outside to seal things up nicely.
Yesterday I did rebuild the air dryer and replace the air compressor governor on the brake system. I'll replace the brake chambers, drums and shoes as I progress with the chassis work in the near future.


Today, however, I worked on the DIY Cruise Control system like "Somewhereintheusa" (THANK YOU for sharing the information!!) built. Here's a pic of the mounting under the frame. I'd liked to have mounted it inside but it just wouldn't work out. Beside that, this placement laid it right where it wanted to be with no binding on the cable or anything like that.






I made the cable anchor adapter from a bracket purchased from a salvage yard. I adapted it to mount to an already existing mount on the injector pump that just happened to be in the correct location. Here's a view from the rear:





And one from the front:





The view looking from above at the linkage terminations:





And from the side:





The throttle linkage had two springs to return the pedal but I was able to remove one of them to reduce the tension the Cruise Control servo will have to pull against. The throttle pedal still snaps back to idle with ease albeit with much less pressure to accelerate.


I have the switches to make the control panel but will wait until I get the Dakota Digital SG1-5E signal interface to finish the installation


Back to the brakes, What caused me to look into the governor and air dryer was the pressure relief valve on the dryer would pop off at 25psi. It gets it's pressure to do so from the air governor on the air compressor so a new one was required. Since I was going into the system I decided to service the air dryer with a new desiccant cartridge, air valve\heater and check valve. I'm not sure when it was last done but since it's recommended to replace the cartridge every year it was a good time to do so.

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by CapN

Great build thread so glad I found it

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Aye, its one of the greats.

Originally Posted by Sleddgracer

love the 'no job is finished unless there is some DNA left' ( soon to become my new favorite saying )

Thanks everyone for the comments and encouragement!!

[sojourner]

Thinking of redoing my storage bay doors....
I've never liked the heavy weight of the storage bay doors I built. The outer frames and such are fine but when I welded in the piece of 16ga. sheet metal they got WAY too heavy!!
I'm thinking of cutting out the 16ga metal skins and bonding .063 diamond plate aluminum in it's place on the frames (3/4" x 1/16" thick square tube). The current plan is to also bond .025 diamond plate skin onto the sheet metal work I did from the floorboard down. I've been considering what to do with all that for quite sometime and I think the polished aluminum will look very nice. It would be relatively inexpensive and easy to replace is repairs were needed as well.
3M makes some very good bonding products for just this sort of thing.


Thoughts or experience with this anyone?

[sojourner]

About air brakes. My brake chambers are made by MGM. I was just informed that the original part number no longer exists and the current PN is 3624051 (TR2430LHD). That being said, I've been looking for a cross reference to a more readily available replacement. The current wait is 23 days. I can't imagine, if out on the road, having to wait almost a month for a brake chamber. I'd like to use a more common readily available replacement. It's a 24/30 long stroke (2.5"). Will any manufacture brake chamber with those specs work?

[BusT]

What’s up man what’s new with your build?
I read through it these last couple days while at work. Pretty motivational . Gave me lots of ideas on my new bus.

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by BusT

What’s up man what’s new with your build?
I read through it these last couple days while at work. Pretty motivational . Gave me lots of ideas on my new bus.

Still working on it bit by bit. I took a break from it, sort of, to pour myself into getting rid of some CC debt that's been hanging over my head. Got that zero'd now. Taking care of a couple things and then back on it. I'm putting new shocks on it this weekend and working on a rear bumper build like my front one (with trailer hitch). My brake chambers should be coming in soon so I'll be able to move it around the yard some. I'll have some more posts coming soon providing life doesn't throw a wrench in the mix (like it usually does).

[cowlitzcoach]

Originally Posted by sojourner

About air brakes. My brake chambers are made by MGM. I was just informed that the original part number no longer exists and the current PN is 3624051 (TR2430LHD). That being said, I've been looking for a cross reference to a more readily available replacement. The current wait is 23 days. I can't imagine, if out on the road, having to wait almost a month for a brake chamber. I'd like to use a more common readily available replacement. It's a 24/30 long stroke (2.5"). Will any manufacture brake chamber with those specs work?

I would swap the 24/30 chambers out for the very common 30/30 chambers. Most brake chambers that work on 'S'-cam air brakes have similar mounting points. As long as the stroke is the same and the mounting points are the same the larger chamber (we usually refer to them as "cans") will work very well.



Be warned you will stop quicker with a lot less brake application.


But I am of the school of thought that you can never have too much braking ability.

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach

I would swap the 24/30 chambers out for the very common 30/30 chambers. Most brake chambers that work on 'S'-cam air brakes have similar mounting points. As long as the stroke is the same and the mounting points are the same the larger chamber (we usually refer to them as "cans") will work very well.



Be warned you will stop quicker with a lot less brake application.


But I am of the school of thought that you can never have too much braking ability.

Thanks for the info. That's what I was hoping. Unfortunately, since I didn't get a timely reply I went ahead and ordered the original replacements (over $300.00/pair) and just got them in after the three week wait. I agree any improvement in braking capability is a good thing!! I'm looking into an ABS retrofit kit. We'll be doing ABS upfit on container chassis's where I work and I'm considering removing my Dayton spokes and installing stud piloted (unless I can find hub piloted) hubs on my axles. This will allow me to get hubs with tone rings for the ABS system. One things for sure, I have to do a complete seals, bearings, brake job and ujoints as part of my build. Getting all the chassis work done before I begin the interior. I see so many doing it the other way around. Personally, I think it's a bad idea to leave the mechanicals until they need repair. That strategy, you would agree, will always bite you in the behind.
Now, if I can only find a salvage bus with the axles I'm looking for.

[cowlitzcoach]

Originally Posted by sojourner

Thanks for the info. That's what I was hoping. Unfortunately, since I didn't get a timely reply I went ahead and ordered the original replacements (over $300.00/pair) and just got them in after the three week wait. I agree any improvement in braking capability is a good thing!! I'm looking into an ABS retrofit kit. We'll be doing ABS upfit on container chassis's where I work and I'm considering removing my Dayton spokes and installing stud piloted (unless I can find hub piloted) hubs on my axles. This will allow me to get hubs with tone rings for the ABS system. One things for sure, I have to do a complete seals, bearings, brake job and ujoints as part of my build. Getting all the chassis work done before I begin the interior. I see so many doing it the other way around. Personally, I think it's a bad idea to leave the mechanicals until they need repair. That strategy, you would agree, will always bite you in the behind.
Now, if I can only find a salvage bus with the axles I'm looking for.

Not sure exactly what you are hoping to achieve by swapping axles, axle ends, or going to ABS.


In my experience the ABS in most buses was not much of an improvement over the non-ABS brakes. You would be adding a LOT of complexity and achieving very little increase in stopping ability.


Now if you were swapping axles to get bigger brake drums, now that I can understand.


The Crown Supercoach our church owns has 11" brakes up front and 13" brakes in back. It has 30 cans up front and 36/36 cans in the rear. When you step on the brakes in that bus you stop right NOW!



The WA state spe'c for new RE buses is the front brakes have to be at least 6" and the rear brakes are at least 8". IMHO those are some pretty whimpy brakes. They definitely would get hot very fast on any sort of downgrade. Fortunately most of the new buses also come with an engine exhaust auxiliary braking system that can help slow the bus down.


One other thought about swapping the Dayton spokes for 10-hole Budd wheels--it is very easy to remove a Dayton spoke wheel with hand tools and it is very hard to remove a 10-hole Budd wheel with hand tools.

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach

Not sure exactly what you are hoping to achieve by swapping axles, axle ends, or going to ABS.


In my experience the ABS in most buses was not much of an improvement over the non-ABS brakes. You would be adding a LOT of complexity and achieving very little increase in stopping ability.


Now if you were swapping axles to get bigger brake drums, now that I can understand.


The Crown Supercoach our church owns has 11" brakes up front and 13" brakes in back. It has 30 cans up front and 36/36 cans in the rear. When you step on the brakes in that bus you stop right NOW!



The WA state spe'c for new RE buses is the front brakes have to be at least 6" and the rear brakes are at least 8". IMHO those are some pretty whimpy brakes. They definitely would get hot very fast on any sort of downgrade. Fortunately most of the new buses also come with an engine exhaust auxiliary braking system that can help slow the bus down.


One other thought about swapping the Dayton spokes for 10-hole Budd wheels--it is very easy to remove a Dayton spoke wheel with hand tools and it is very hard to remove a 10-hole Budd wheel with hand tools.

Thanks for the info. Things worth considering to be sure.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by sojourner

Getting all the chassis work done before I begin the interior. I see so many doing it the other way around. Personally, I think it's a bad idea to leave the mechanicals until they need repair. That strategy, you would agree, will always bite you in the behind.

I'm waiting. I have a tranny leak at a heat exchanger. The bus isn't being driven anywhere so no need to fix it just yet. I'm going to let whatever is rusting away keep rusting. Then I'll fix whatever mechanical issues show up. Rather have fresh parts when I'm ready to drive than two years worth of dry-rot/rust/whatever.

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

I'm waiting. I have a tranny leak at a heat exchanger. The bus isn't being driven anywhere so no need to fix it just yet. I'm going to let whatever is rusting away keep rusting. Then I'll fix whatever mechanical issues show up. Rather have fresh parts when I'm ready to drive than two years worth of dry-rot/rust/whatever.

Typically the only things that will "dry rot" are those things exposed to UV. Tires, for sure. Brake shoes, brake drums, u-joints, shocks, etc, no problem. The brake chambers (diaphrams) are in need of service on mine so I'll change them. Now I have a set of chambers to rebuild (yes I know how to do it safely albeit not the emergency brake side that's permanently crimped).


I'd much rather have a serviced and repaired drivetrain. Been doing maintenance and repair on equipment for over 40 years. PM's are ALWAYS a good idea. One never knows when they need their vehicle able to move safely.

[sojourner]

cowlitzcoach, you don't know of a reasonable place to get brake drums for these Dayton spokes do you? $400.00 each is a bit crazy when stud piloted hubs are much cheaper (another reason I'm considering changing over).