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Old 05-25-2016, 01:07 PM   #61
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango View Post
Dry rot in the sidewalls is potentially dangerous and not something you want to overlook for long. When they go...they go big time.
thats why im getting new tires.. 6 of them... it looks like I have a bunch of room between the tandems so im hoping I can go to an 11R22.5, the tire man should know hopefully..

-Christopher

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Old 05-26-2016, 07:40 AM   #62
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did a little bit of work to the DEV..

first off I decided to take the plunge and open up the wiring compartment.. I found a carpenter wiring diagram.. which is cool.. my wiring is a lot simpler than i thiught it would be.. it should be straight forward to yank out all the old school bus flasher wiring and such.. will also give me some extra switches to work with for various items I may want to install.

I dont think this looks too bad compared to someof the bus wiring ive seen.. thats a project AFTER the A/C...



-Christopher
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Old 05-26-2016, 07:48 AM   #63
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Next I got my Air conditioning coils mounted under the bus.. and figured out how im going to route my freon lines and wires to it.. I didnt want a skirt mounted unit as the skirting on this bus doesnt have the bottom support (snow bank rail).. to do a skirt condenser I wouldve lost 2 of the supports on the skirt.. so I opted for an under-body mount style. slightly oversized for the job.. mainly because I know there will be quite a bit of road heat underneath the bus.. airflow is good.. I powered up the fans as a test and they do move lots of air even in the tight quarters.. miunting wasnt bad.. I only had to make 2 brackets to get it to fit where i wanted and clear everything..

when you are a single guy you do what you have to for extra "hands".. to hold stuff..




and now it supports itself time to pipe it in..



-Christopher
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Old 05-26-2016, 08:18 AM   #64
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Originally Posted by Offgr1d View Post
Ohh!! That looks fun - what are you up to with those boxes of goodies?!? Is that a mini rooftop condensing unit?
Looks kinda like the inside of a walk in cooler evaporator.

Where did you buy your a/c system, did it come as a kit and what did it cost? Looks like a great setup for any conversion.
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Old 05-26-2016, 09:28 AM   #65
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I bought it from ProAir LLC... the kit I got is a 53,000 BTU kit With heat.. (I didnt order heat specifically but the inside unit I got came with it)..

this is an Engine driven system.. so its not designed to provide service when the Bus is turned off.. (but for me since my main interest is in the bus being on the road or idling parked for short periods.. it works perfect)..

the kit is actually designed for an E-350 Style Bus.. the indoor unit I got has no vrnts or such because im ducting it to the various areas.. its a nice little square box and will be house in a cabinet in the area of my bus where the work table goes and mini frig and network gear..

I paid $2750 for the whole system (half of what TK or Transair wanted).. it came with everythung and I mean everything... fittings, hose, vents, ducts, plenum, wires, relays, switches,.. compressor of my choice..and indoor and outdoor units. (the DTA360 needed a V-belt drive).. the only thing it did not come with was my engine bracket.. I had to source that from elsewhere since my engine isnt real common.. )..

they have all different kinds of gear available and kits. these guys do a lot of OEM work for manufacturers... when I went to pick my system up they had about 50 of the new Nissan taxi-cabs getting rear A/C added.. its actualy a nissan factory option but ProAir does the work for Nissan...

obviously i'll know better how it works once I get it hooked up and running..

which by the way I got the compressor bolted up.. pics will be coming for that later but I have an apointment with a tire man first to see what we can put together for new rubber..

-Christopher
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Old 05-26-2016, 11:24 AM   #66
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Amen on the extra hands thing for anyone working alone.

Impressive job. I want one, but in Oregon I'd probably be using the heat function more than AC.
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Old 05-27-2016, 05:29 PM   #67
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Got my Freon piped in today and evacuated down to 500 microns... will check it in a little bit to see if I lost any vacuum.. I cant charge up the system till i wire the electrical in.. these new Burgaflex BurgaClip linesets are MUCH EASIER to put together than my old crimp style.. will see how they hold up



YES!!! the nice man in the brown truck brought me a whole set 5 volumes of the 1991 IHC service manuals for my chassis.. that will come in handy!! includes service info on the fuel injection system too!



oh and I finally scribble scratched a sort of layout for my bus.. ha! im the High tech one and then i dont use CAD to draw my bus.. just a piece of paper with some lines on it... i'll blue tape it to a window...



time to spend time wiring up that A/C.. it got up to 90 today here... good weather to use an A/C.

also went to the tire shop today... gonna take it in tuesday so we can test fit some 11R22.5's.. hoping I can.. 10R22.5's are so much harder to come by... looking at some nice Uniroyals...

-Christopher
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Old 05-27-2016, 06:26 PM   #68
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Lookin' good Cadillac! --- Just wish you were closer so I could pick your brain. I am just beginning to try and figure out some dash air. Since I have so little space, I tried looking up "compact evaporator dash units". Only saw one and I have no idea if it is any good or not. All I have to start with is the compressor. An '02 Ford Expedition FS10. It was one of few that would fit the adapter I had to use. Lots more to put together, just need to find someone that knows more about this stuff than me.

Which would be just about anything.
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Old 05-27-2016, 07:27 PM   #69
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango View Post
Lookin' good Cadillac! --- Just wish you were closer so I could pick your brain. I am just beginning to try and figure out some dash air. Since I have so little space, I tried looking up "compact evaporator dash units". Only saw one and I have no idea if it is any good or not. All I have to start with is the compressor. An '02 Ford Expedition FS10. It was one of few that would fit the adapter I had to use. Lots more to put together, just need to find someone that knows more about this stuff than me.

Which would be just about anything.
For the dash unit vintage air is one I would look at.. I used one with a friend in a cutlass where he wanted the race car appearance under the hood so he wanted a flat firewall.. Void of the ugly GM air box.. We got a unit to fit in place of the glove box behind the dash.. Heat air and defrost.. For the condensor we would use a smaller version of mine .. Like a single fan unit under the bus to keep the heat load off of your already crowded engine compartment.

The fs10 is a good compressor as long as you don't get a used one.. They are notorious for Black Death .. New ones are good and the system will be all new so it will give you many years of service..

On this job I discovers burgaflex lines which are so easy to crimp compared to the old ones.. Well we will see how good they are when I pressurize nitrogen up to 150 psi and leak test.

Christopher
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Old 05-27-2016, 07:58 PM   #70
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The comp is new, so let's hope for a few years there. The biggest problem is that I don't have any under dash area at all, so I will probably have to hang something off to one side or maybe even overhead. The smallest unit I have seen so far is this one...

All New Mini-Kooler AC ONLY small unit

Decent "claims" but no idea if it is worth it or not but shouldn't need a lot of output if I can direct it all on the pilot's seat.
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Old 05-27-2016, 08:00 PM   #71
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The comp is new, so let's hope for a few years there. The biggest problem is that I don't have any under dash area at all, so I will probably have to hang something off to one side or maybe even overhead. The smallest unit I have seen so far is this one...

All New Mini-Kooler AC ONLY small unit

Decent "claims" but no idea if it is worth it or not. But I shouldn't need a lot of output if I can direct it all on the pilot's seat.
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Old 05-27-2016, 10:56 PM   #72
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango View Post
The comp is new, so let's hope for a few years there. The biggest problem is that I don't have any under dash area at all, so I will probably have to hang something off to one side or maybe even overhead. The smallest unit I have seen so far is this one...

All New Mini-Kooler AC ONLY small unit

Decent "claims" but no idea if it is worth it or not. But I shouldn't need a lot of output if I can direct it all on the pilot's seat.

these guys make a lot of the units that are designed for limos..

Danhard Inc. Automotive Air Conditioners


anither thought i had is are you doing say a dinette behind ther driver? if so you can [ut an A/C under a seat pretty easily.. and then duct it with flexible duct and surface mount vents... A/C mini split 'Line-hide' makes a great decorative cover for the black automoitive A/C flex duct... you'll see how I do mine once I get it ducted.. im still waiting on the plastic line-hide covers to arrive from big-brown...

the people where I got mine make a ton of stuff..

Evaporators

from mild to wild.. even inwall type where you could mount it in a cabinet...

-Christopher
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Old 05-29-2016, 10:16 PM   #73
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I got to do some work on the DEV yesterday and today between the raindrops.. amazingly when I ripped a whole crapload of wiring out of my drivers console I didint break anything.. at first i thought havinbg the OEM carpenter wiring diagram posted on the wall was goingto be a godsend.. However in reality hardly a single wire color matches... and in Caprenter's infinite wisdom.. going into the main heater box for the fans.. ALL the wires are orange... every last one of them!!..

alas I accidentilly Deleted the progress pictures of me doing the A/C wiring.. I'll try and take some pics..

BUT TODAY I TURNED UP THE A/C!!

I think its blowing cold air!!



Ok it may be cold but its not right... I believe that the manufacturer sent me a plenum which restricts the airflow too much.. there are 4 round lines of 3 inches and on high fan they almost flap around like firehoses.. so im thinking the air duct pressure is way too high.. so im going to contact them... I did a square inch calculation from the original blower openings 4" x 4" each.. there are 2 of them.. and then the plenum stops that down to the 4 holes.. so im pretty much likely air starving my evaporator... meaning lost capacity...

the gauge reading below shows a head pressure running above where it should be.. (more or less me being a dumbass and charging more 134A in trying to raise the suction pressure.. so its over-charged here.. by quite a bit if I go by the weight calculatuons I shouldve been running on... Low suction pressure CAN mean a Blockage in the expansion valve.. however if thats the case you usually DROP head pressure as the condenser has less work to do.. my subcool was good.. a tad low (over-charged)..

now if we AIR starve an evaporator then the expansion valve gets lost... it sees the coil temp drop quickly and tries to reduce.. the compressor ends up pulling down the load side quite easily... and since my head pressure is still above where it should be... that says ive severely overcharged it... the presence of such cold air also indicates air-starvation ...



my makeshoft 3" duct to the driver dash... Proof-of-Concepting we call this in the DEV world! just to see if one run can keep the driver area cool... it wasnt bad till i was running 65 into the sun... lots of engine heat.. so I'll be running some more air up to the cockpit... also my digital control is just kind of sitting there until I get it mounted up and the top of the electrical cabinet was rusty so its off for now so I can paint it...



tomorrow I'll recover the freon, evacuate and recharge purely by weight,.. im also going to remove that plastic plenum and see if that brings up my suction pressure..
-Christopher
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Old 05-31-2016, 06:47 PM   #74
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did a little bit of work today on the bus.. and so did other people... !

Look ma!! no cracks!! went and got 6 brand new uniroyal RD30's.. went from 10R22.5 up to 11R22.5 the bus rides fantastic.. and cruises at 65 now without running against the rev limiter!...



then I had to reprogram the speedometer to match the new tires.. on the IHC's that use electrically driven gauges its a matter of running a calculation of how many rotations the driveshaft makes per mile and then setting the switches.. i DO have the FULL charts if any of you with the same dashboard want to reprogram yours..

the switches are on the Top of the cluster so you just need to take out the screws, dislodge the retaining screws and then tilt the panel out.. there are your switches..




here is the manpage for what each bank of switches means..



tyou can also reset your tachometer if it is reading erratic... which mine was WACKO!! my switches didnt match correctly any of the settings listed in the book.. likely one got tripped by accident when they had the dash apart and no one bothered to fix it...



so now I have brand new tires, a tach that works again and a speedo that works..

I also diagnosed why my alternator seems to need to be "excited" to turn on without driving for 5+ minutes.. the 'I' terminal was left empty on it... logic would say that you would just place switched ignition here to give the alternator its VOltage Sense... WRONG! Bosch has internally wired voltage to that terminal a low voltage.. but enouygh that it would break stuff if it was hooked up to main ignition.. so it would try to reverse energize gear connected..

if you start the bus and then apply Ignition+ to that terminal the alternator turns on right away... so the solutuon is to plasce DIODE on that wire so that Ignition+ can flow TO that terminal but not FROM it... a test of this worked perfectly.. so now I just need to solder it up, heat shrink it and make it permanent...

it is indeed nice to learn that I do have a 200 AMP alternator installed.. so the fact I want to add a secoindary "house" battery of 8D and isolate it but charge it from the main system will work perfectly as I have the alternator that will do it..

also added some more freon to the A/C.. seemed to balance out a bit.. not like id expect.. HOWEVER I could be fooled all along.. and it just Under charged the whole time...

-Christopher
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Old 05-31-2016, 07:07 PM   #75
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Cool, enjoy those new tires man!

Thanks for the great info on the speedo, too.
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Old 05-31-2016, 08:04 PM   #76
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I have the full chart and how to calculate the speedo if yours is off we can probably get you fixed up pretty easily if they kept the IHC dash cluster
-Christopher
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Old 05-31-2016, 09:24 PM   #77
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I have the full chart and how to calculate the speedo if yours is off we can probably get you fixed up pretty easily if they kept the IHC dash cluster
-Christopher
Mines accurate now, but I'm looking to go with the 11R's too.
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Old 06-01-2016, 08:04 AM   #78
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Great to have someone onboard with full International manuals! Some time back I managed to find on the internet a very grainy photocopied, photocopied then scanned spreadsheet of DIP switch settings for the dash which was enough to get my speedo accurate, but that was a pain. I'll have to try the tachometer settings since mine hasn't worked since I got the bus
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Old 06-01-2016, 08:14 AM   #79
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my tach was just way off and wacko... one of the switches likely got bumped when the dashboard was replaced way back when and they never cared...

if your tach just doesnt work at all , check the sensor that goes into the housing right at the flywheel on the right side of the bus underneath... its not held in really well.. if it gets loose then the tach will just fail to operate.. or if one of the wires goes bad...

-Christopher
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Old 06-01-2016, 08:17 AM   #80
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Ah hah!! Well, since I was sitting having my coffee and checking this forum only 2 feet away from the driver's seat I figured I might as well play with the tach. It's fixed! The dash was set for an International, but being an electronically controlled engine the DIP switches needed to be set for Data Link (or so it seems).
I had previously troubleshooted this issue and found that the appropriate pulses were being sent through the harness all the way to the dash, but didn't know about the switches. Life is good.

Christopher - if it isn't too much trouble - would you post the switch settings for the speedometer? That could prove to be useful for future forum searches.
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