The Black Plague II (The new Jacuzzi Bus)

[Eric von Kleist]

I look forward to seeing pictures of your propane setup!

[lapeer20m]

a problem i forgot to mention.....

I think it started in nebraska. Everytime the driver pushed on the brake pedal, the "low brake pressure" warning lights and audible alarm would go off then continue until the key was turned off and the bus restarted.

this bus has hydraulic brakes. the first thing we did was stop and check the level of power steering fluid, then the brake fluid in the backup resivoir. both were fine. I have been told the brakes operate off of the power steering pump in the bus. The power steering in the bus worked fine, no whining or difficulty steering, even at low speeds. We parked on a hill, unplugged the electric backup system, and made certian the primary braking system would stop the bus bus sufficiently. I could't feel any difference in the brakes. We then shut off the engine, and made sure the backup electric braking system was working properly, and it was. My parking/emergency brake is adjusted properly.

We made it through the rocky mountains going west, then coming back east with no braking problems. It's still a mystery, but we determined at the time that the most likely explanation is a faulty sensor. To "fix" the problem, i simply unplugged the audible alarm. The low brake pressure lights are still lit up on the dash. When i have time i plan to cruise over to the local bus garage and ask them if they have had this problem before and see if they have any suggestions on what i should look for.

anyone else ever have this problem?

[lapeer20m]

here are some photos from the Burningman 2006 bus trip

This is the beginning of the trip with out first stop at the tire store to buy new heavier duty tires for the trailer





here's a group of guys working on the trailer somewhere in wyoming just before dark saturday nite. We thought we had a bearing going bad, but it turned out to be a brake shoe dragging on the drum....that was an easy fix since we weren't using trailer brakes



I don't remember what state this is, but i think it's in Utah East of salt lake city. We were at a rest area. Notice the 47 bicycles!



here is the bus parked at our camp on the playa. The geodesic dome behind the bus is really pretty cool. It's made from pieces of 3/4" conduit about 3' long.



here's another random pic of the bus parked at our camp. the weather was pleasant in the high 80's and low 90's most of the week

[lapeer20m]

it's not sand, it's dust. It's still not too pleasant in your bed however.

I was just talking yesterday about building a ventilation system utilizing hepa furnace filters for next year. we try hard to close the bus up when the wind really starts blowing to help keep the playa out of the bus.

I hauled bikes that belonged to other people for a donation of $35 each to help offset my fuel costs. I spent $2,800 on fuel roundtrip. Next year i'll haul fewer bikes but charge more money. They are really easy to haul, and not too heavy.

[busone]

Gee if I should read the boards more often. I would have known you were going to be so close. We are just outside Twin Falls, Idaho.

I know what you mean about the passes in Wyoming. My bus never got hot but it did slow way down. Not having a turbo combined with the 8000' elevation really zapped my power and made lots of smoke.

The only time I got hot was going up a steep winding mountain road to a camp site here. 12 miles of that and she started to warm up. I down shifted to get the RPMS up and she cooled off.

What HP is your DT360 at?

[lapeer20m]

it was at the factory setting of 170 during the trip. That's with at turbo, but without an intercooler.

I've since turned up the hp a bit, don't have a dyno for my bus, so i can't really say how much HP she is currently producing, but it is noticably more.

[lapeer20m]

i'm taking the bus to London ontario canada for a weekend of college homecoming festivities. It's getting chilly here in the north. The high temps are only in the 50's for the weekend, and lows in the 40's. I decided my bus needs more heat for the interior.

Since i dismantled the rear bus heater for jacuzzi heating, i don't have any source heat for the rear 2/3 of the bus. (unless you count the jacuzzi)

Today's projects include:

Re-installing the rear bus heater fans to produce lots of hot air while driving,

Installing a radiator i just got for free to allow the boiler to heat the interior of the bus while parked.

photos to come.....

[phillbus914]

Jason, hook me up with a boiler & I can hook you up with some radiator & fans. Kim's dad works at a scrap yard and gave me 2 complete new radiators with electric fans, one even came with a "tow package" stand alone transmission cooler... all brand new, never used. I guess he gets them in all the time. We should get together some weekend and get a boiler in my bus and get heat going in both busses.

[lapeer20m]

i'll call the heating guy today and ask him to look out for another boiler for me. i know he sent a couple of them to the scrap yard earlier this summer.

I sure wish i had in-floor heat in this bus....i am contemplating removing the flooring in the bus just so i can add that feature.....

[the_experience03]

If you're unsuccessful, Jason, I can talk to my old boss too. We used to replace a lot of boilers based on age, not funcitonality when I worked for Nortemp Heatind and Cooling. I know I personally will be looking for a boiler and would be more than happy to find something for someone else as well. I know shipping will be a killer, but I'm sure I can find you something if all else fails, Phill.

[lapeer20m]

well, nothing is ever as easy as it seems.....but i had a busy day yesterday.

I seem to have lost or more likely thrown away the original rear bus heater fans and shroud. I did locate the unit from my old bus. It didn't really fit together perfect, but that's the actual intended purpose of duct tape. Before i could do that however, i had to make the fans work. Niether one would spin freely, so i tore the unit apart, cleaned up the motors and freed the shafts. One motor works great now, the other one is non-reparable...well, perhaps some new brushes would fix it, but i dind't have time to tear the motor down.



In it's final incarnation i think i'll work at straightening out the heater grill a bit.
Here is the unit installed:



I also ducted the stock bus heater to allow it to provide heat to the seating area. I used flexible dryer vent ducting and some fancy furnace vents. That seems to work quite well. I drove the bus about 30 minutes to work today, the outside temperatures were hovering around freezing and i stayed nice and toasty warm inside the bus.





I got this fancy radiator from a pontiac grand am that the fire department used for vehicle extrication. I should have taken a photo of me with the jaws of life trying to open the hood of the car, but i guess that's a story for another day

The radiator is connected to the boiler. Currently it has jazucci water running through it, so it does not produce as much heat as a heat as it would with 160 degree water. I'll probably add a secondary pump and thermostat system to allow the boiler to run hotter water when not heating the jacuzzi. I attached a radiator fan to the back of the radiator, this thing kicks out a ton of heat even with 110 degree water. I still need to build a cabinet to hold the radiator and make a screen for the front of it, but it's a good start.

[Steve]

Do you have a zoomed out version of this or can you explain whats going on here, I'd like to see how it looks and where it is in relation to everything else.

[the_experience03]

That would appear to be a heater vent boot with a grill over it to me.

[lapeer20m]

I'm considering taking the plunge and transfering my bus from RV status to a commercial vehicle so i can startup a limo service. I'd have to get new plates, a commercial drivers liscense for me, and talk to the insurance guy. A friend of mine and i have been talking about this concept and i think it could be fun AND profitable. I'm still thinking about the option, but at this point it is a really good possibility.

and on a side note:

i took some new photos to help explain the ducting better, i'll post them later

[lapeer20m]

updated my website:

http://geocities.com/blackplaguetour/

[lapeer20m]

i have been on vacation from the bus the past few months. I really need to get back to work and "finish" things up.

I would like to have the bus finished and ready to sell on ebay by the spring.

The last of the big projects is the convertable roof above the jacuzzi. I think i've decided on a final design. It'll pretty much just hinge in the front and a small atv winch or electric linear actuators on the roof will open and close the roof while parked. The bus cannot be driven with the roof in the upright position.




I also want to add an air compressor to once again make the front door open/close by remote keyless

Add electronic cruise control

mount a hose reel to keep garden hoses nice and tidy

Touch up a few things, like re-treading the front stairs

replace broken/cracked windows

add a flat panel TV/DVD player

add twin chrome exhaust stacks on the roof with small (3-5 foot) user friendly flame throwers.

overall, the bus is currently in excellent shape.

to sell the bus on ebay, i first want to shoot a short amateur video of the bus. Think music video/car commercial. I also want to have a photo shoot with some hot model girls. bus photos always look better when there are hot women in the camera frame. The photos hopefully will suggest that if you own this bus, you too can attract incredibly hot women.....come to think of it, having the bus has attracted incredibly hot women! where do you think i found the girls for the photo shoot? lol

be interesting to see what kind of price THIS bus fetches on EBAY

the original black plague went for over $7,300. That was with my zero feedback rating as I was a first time ebay user, and an engine that had almost 300,000 miles on it. The new bus is much nicer than the old one from the powertrain to the interior. if you google "black plague bus" or "jacuzzi bus" the first 4 or 5 hits all come back to my bus which i think is pretty cool. my ebay rating is now around 30 with 100% positive feedback.

then it's on to the tour bus.......

[Griff]

Originally Posted by lapeer20m

. . .The last of the big projects is the convertable roof above the jacuzzi. I think i've decided on a final design. It'll pretty much just hinge in the front and a small atv winch or electric linear actuators on the roof will open and close the roof while parked.

Have you considered splitting the roof down the center longitudinally, hinging at each side, and using struts with bearing-eye rod ends attached - one end to the roof halves and the other end attached to the jacuzzi frame? That way you don't need the extra winches or actuators, it would open as the jacuzzi rises, and close as the jacuzzi sets.

[lapeer20m]

that whole jacuzzi rising through the roof project never really worked out. I wasted a lot of time, money, effort, and energy on that portion of the project.

[Griff]

Bummer!

[captainkf]

Did I miss somthing? I thought you were looking into running it as a business and now you're selling it. What happened?

Did you get sick of skoolie's?

The coach you plan on getting, is it going to be an rv or a party bus?

I wish you luck on your future projects, and hope you can sell it for what you would like.

-Richard