Ed's Build Thread

[dbsoundman]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

One thing I wonder about as a user of a BlueFire to compensate for my gauges not working at all half the time, is whether my bus would pass an inspection this way.

Inspection? Oh you mean PA cares about vehicle operability and safety? OH does not have those.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by dbsoundman

Inspection? Oh you mean PA cares about vehicle operability and safety? OH does not have those.

Well, I'm currently registered in Vermont, a state which does care about vehicle operability and safety but not if you don't ever actually travel in VT which I will never do. But I do want to eventually transfer my registration to PA and an inspection will have to happen then and I don't want to have to shell out mucho $$$ to pass it. I already have my ABS light on and my mechanic quoted me $6000 to replace it. I'm not sure if an ABS light would cause you to fail an inspection, but it probably would.

[dbsoundman]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Well, I'm currently registered in Vermont, a state which does care about vehicle operability and safety but not if you don't ever actually travel in VT which I will never do. But I do want to eventually transfer my registration to PA and an inspection will have to happen then and I don't want to have to shell out mucho $$$ to pass it. I already have my ABS light on and my mechanic quoted me $6000 to replace it. I'm not sure if an ABS light would cause you to fail an inspection, but it probably would.

$6k?! You might want to look at the details of that estimate, I think your mechanic is trying to replace your entire braking system or something.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by dbsoundman

$6k?! You might want to look at the details of that estimate, I think your mechanic is trying to replace your entire braking system or something.

The shop was actually just trying to get rid of me. The mechanic initially told me they'd have to trace the lines running to the left rear wheel and find the one that had been cut and it would take a few (unknown) hours and would be time and materials. Later his boss told me $6K to replace the whole ABS system and also recommended that I not do it at all. They do most of the school bus and a lot of the truck repairs in the area and I don't think they like wasting mechanics' time on small-ticket items when there's more to be made from people writing checks on large institutions' accounts.

[Oscar1]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Well, I'm currently registered in Vermont, a state which does care about vehicle operability and safety but not if you don't ever actually travel in VT which I will never do. But I do want to eventually transfer my registration to PA and an inspection will have to happen then and I don't want to have to shell out mucho $$$ to pass it. I already have my ABS light on and my mechanic quoted me $6000 to replace it. I'm not sure if an ABS light would cause you to fail an inspection, but it probably would.

My ABS light has been on since I bought the bus from a US school board almost two years ago. I found several references in the service records that I recieved regarding the ABS and them not being able to determine why the light was on but finding nothing wrong with the system. Importing to Canada and multiple federal inspections and the light was never mentioned.

[dbsoundman]

Took Ed to Menards this morning to pick up a bunch of lumber, luckily the lumberyard is covered as it was raining. Two different employees asked if I was doing a skoolie and seemed really excited about it. From there I crossed the state line to go to my in laws house for the day, where my father in law, who is much more experienced in general construction than I, helped me put in the subfloor and insulation. His advice and expertise was indispensable; my engineers mind would probably still be trying to piece things together; he knew how to GET IT DONE!

I’m still having some sort of electrical issue with my gauges. I left them hooked up the whole way up and back but they never showed anything while driving. I used BlueFire on my phone and that worked great, except there’s no way to get the fuel level through BlueFire. I also noticed the hazard switch seemed to be acting up; I tried to turn them on at one point and nothing happened. When I got home I kind of jiggled the switch and they came on, but flashed kind of fast.

Finally, when I parked in my driveway and shut off the engine, I heard what sounded like a relay erratically rattling in the electrical compartment. However it stopped before I could get around to see which one it was.

I’m wondering if there’s maybe something flakey in the ignition system. I can start the engine just fine and the batteries get charged, but I’m wondering if there’s some other relay or something that powers the electrical stuff while the alternator is running that could be acting up.

[dbsoundman]

Spent some time Sunday carefully extracting "extra" wiring from the bus; namely, the 8-way warning light wiring. Thomas makes the job easy by using modular connectors on everything. Each time I removed a harness, I would check to make sure the bus would start and run. Fortunately I don't think this bus has any of the "extra" interlock circuits so that makes things a whole lot easier.


Also pictured is my improvised bottom muffler bracket: a piece of 1/2" stainless steel banding commonly used for attaching street signs to poles. I actually think it's more sturdy than the original steel brackets, if only because it's not made of steel!


Wood floor is in, I just have to backtrack a bit and put in an access door for the top of my fuel tank, and clean up some work just behind the front wheels where I ran conduit from one side to the other.

[dbsoundman]

New shoes applied to the rear today, $1516.04. I can get the details on the brand later today, the guy asked what kind of tires I wanted and I just said "something highway rated", he asked "how many miles? 3000 per year?" and I was like, "yeah that sounds about right". Also they said the rear rims looked fine, they're a little rusty from water getting trapped in there but apparently they're perfectly sound, so that definitely saved me some money.

[dbsoundman]

New tires are Power King Navitrac N346.

[dbsoundman]

Well, my first trip in October was a definite success! I had a cold of some sort the day I departed, and it stuck with me most of the trip, but I felt "OK" the whole time, just made a pot of tea each day to help clear my sinuses and relieve my sore throat.

First night stay was at the Loleta Recreation Area in PA, there was literally only one other campsite occupied at the whole place when I was there. The site closed for the season the week after I left. It was truly beautiful, almost eerily silent; I realized it's been a long time since I've been to a place that's so peaceful and quiet.

I learned on my way there that one should not trust Google Maps navigation when driving a bus; instead of following my preplanned route, I chose to let Google give me the turn by turn directions to the campsite, which took me on some very narrow twisty/turny PA "state highways" with sudden unmarked grades. I only had one case where I almost felt like I wasn't in control of my speed - it was definitely a learning moment!




I took US 6 almost the entire way to my destination, which was much more enjoyable than the interstate, even if it was slower by at least an hour.

From there, it was on to Kingston NY to my friend's house. He had a nice sized turnaround at the end of his driveway which was a perfect spot for me.


On my way back, I took US 209, which was even more enjoyable than US 6. I went through an unexpected national park area, Jim Thorpe PA, and a number of other scenic PA towns. Really gave me a much bigger appreciation for PA - I had only really seen it from the interstates previously, and those drives are BORING. I will say that US 209 added at least 2 hours to my trip, if not more, so I didn't get to Prince Gallitzin State Park until after dark. Almost missed the turn into the campground because I couldn't see it, and finding the campsite was interesting. I want to find one of those police car searchlights to put on my bus now.


Since then, my wife and I have been working on waterproofing. We decided to pull the metal side walls off as we kept having water intrusion issues, and we discovered that there were lots of leaks around the window frames. I spent a couple days on and off applying Dynatron 550 when the sun was out, and I think I've gotten things more or less under control, albeit not perfect just yet. We also discovered that the windows were leaking between the glass and the window frame, so now the next job is to cover that with clear silicone. The first three trial windows were a little messy because she forgot to tape off first, but it's proving effective.

I also went about trying to diagnose an issue I discovered on the road: my hazard lights didn't flash, they just came on solid. I spent a couple days on and off trying to FIND the stupid flashers, I finally discovered that they had been shoved in between the side electrical panel and the void leading to the front electrical panel. It was like searching for the telltale heart; I could HEAR it, but I couldn't SEE it. When I pulled them both out, I found that they were really crusty with water intrusion; the whole side electrical panel leaks water pretty badly, not really sure how to shore that up yet.

The hazard flasher was the worst of the two; when I took it apart to examine, it literally FELL apart.


Ordered new ones from Autozone (Novita EL12 is the model name I finally found) and eureka, hazards work! I attempted to zip-tie the flashers back into proper factory installed position, but I'm not sure they'll stay put- we shall see.

The next trip will be at the end of January, going to Texas with my wife and daughter. Lots to do before then!

[Rochey6957]

ou should check out the PA grand canyon on your next outing!

Your going to be really thank full for taking early camping trips. Will help you figure out the features you want in your build before making serious build commitments. Congrats on a good trip!

[dbsoundman]

Winter has really slowed progress, but we've been trying! Decided to rip off the lower metal walls as we've been having constant water intrusion issues. So far, the passenger side metal is off, and we've put up 2x4 rails and Havelock wool. Facing will go on the wall once we're more sure the leaks have been sussed out.

We *think* at this point that the leaks are coming from water that's getting behind the rain gutters and leaking into the bottom edge of the roof. It's either that, or it's actually leaking in through the roof seams, in which case I don't know what to do right now honestly. It will be summer at least before I can do anything about that.

Today I got out there, scraped off what sealant existed between the top of the rain gutter and roof, and put on OSI QUAD as the replacement. Stuff is kind of weird to work with in that it sets up almost like hot glue very quickly. My work is really shoddy because I was in a hurry, but hopefully it will hold better than the old stuff until we repaint the bus, at which point I plan to pull off the gutters, scrape ALL the old sealant, and start over.

Definitely getting tired of water intrusion issues to say the least...

I did manage to install a diesel heater in the bus, which is great, but it took me 3 days to get it all installed. I tried to use the fuel line that goes into the Webasto heater (removed it from the Webasto), but I couldn't get any fuel through that line. I'm thinking the pickup is clogged. I just installed the dedicated 5 liter tank for the diesel heater, my plan for the future is to fix the old Webasto fuel line and put some sort of pump(?) on it so I can optionally fill the diesel heater tank from the main tank. Having a separate tank is helpful so I can run kerosene through the diesel heater if needed, so I'm not too upset with that compromise.


On the mechanical front, I had an axle seal leak in January, so I took it to the mechanic and had them do both rear seals. I also had them grease up the air brake components as I still haven't had time to locate all the grease fittings. I've since noticed that the boost pump for the rear heaters is leaking a little coolant, so next mechanic project will be to bypass that pump, and go ahead and remove the rear heaters from the loop. I wouldn't mind doing that work myself, but to be honest I barely have time to work on this thing as it is with an active 2 year old at home, and winter weather isn't helping either. We have a trip to FL planned at the end of March so I need to get this stuff going!


Upcoming projects:
-Build pull out couch
-Build bunk beds
-Miscellaneous interior electrical wiring (DC accessories)
-*hopefully* install MaxxAir fan

Among many many other items before our rapidly approaching March trip...

[dbsoundman]

Here's some random pictures from today, I finally got an hour to myself to do some electrical cleanup and other miscellany. Pictured is my diesel air heater, canine helper, temporarily location of fire/CO alarm and first aid kit, "DC accessory" panel where the wireless router, tool battery charger, and other stuff goes, and temporarily mounted bus battery maintainer with temporary fire extinguisher location.

[dbsoundman]

More progress!

Spent the weekend at my in-laws house with the bus, building our bench seat in my father-in-laws workshop. It was a little cold, but at least the shop offered a wind break! Free lumber too, I think we cleaned him out of 2x4s with this seat.


Some mistakes were made, a few were correctable (such as me forgetting about the wheel well being in the way), some not so much. The bench was built to be 24" tall, which is quite tall for a seat! We looked at it, looked briefly at what it would take to cut it down to 18", and decided that the passengers would just get footrests .


Obviously it's not complete yet, we just fitted it to the side wall to see how it fits. Have to pull it back out to complete a little electrical and put the wall on behind the seat, then put in all the slats for the pull out section (long side). *Hopefully* we will complete that at home next weekend, provided we have the bus back from the mechanic. What started as having the mechanic remove the coolant boost pump and rear heater lines turned into that PLUS fixing a leaking rear axle the second time (might have to put on a "speedy sleeve" if the axle is worn) and doing a drain/fill of the transmission fluid since it hasn't been done yet.

Fingers crossed I get it back on Thursday or Friday! It was up on the lift today. Don't we all wish we had a setup like this?!

[EastCoastCB]

Looks cold! But I'm jealous of the indoor shop that can fit a whole bus+ !!

[dbsoundman]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Looks cold! But I'm jealous of the indoor shop that can fit a whole bus+ !!

That shop is the mechanic's shop, I WISH I had that at my disposal without paying someone $95/hr

My in-laws workshop was heated, but he ran out of propane, so we were using the little portable propane blast heater. It was 20F outside and the barn isn't exactly insulated, so it was not warm. The bus, however, stayed nice and toasty thanks to my diesel heater! Left it running all day and without opening/closing the doors it got up to almost 70F in there at one point, and the heater wasn't on full blast. I'm pretty sure I went through about one full tank of diesel through the weekend, so that's 10L, so about 2.6 gallons? I left the heater on low while we weren't there Saturday night just to keep the inside temp up a bit to make the morning warm-up easier.

[EastCoastCB]

Oooof 20f is cold. No wonder my aunt and uncle just moved down here from Canton!

[dbsoundman]

Picked up Ed from the mechanic today. I still like this mechanic, but they are NOT good at asking questions when instructions are unclear, and they don't seem to take notes when I call and tell them what I want them to do.

I called ahead and told them I was dropping the bus off on Sunday night, and wanted them to reroute the coolant lines to bypass the rear heaters (I even included a diagram I left on the driver's seat), and bypass the coolant boost pump.

I called back on Monday because I noticed the axle seal I just had repaired was leaking again. They said it probably needed a seal saver or whatever they're called - no big deal, they already have it, so they'll take care of it. That work was actually covered under warranty too as it turns out, so no charge for that fix!

Additionally on Monday, I told them that sometimes the transmission was shifting a little slowly, so I asked if they would drain and fill the transmission. Now, it was my fault for not saying "and change the filter too", but you would think that they might suggest that.

Picked it up on Saturday, and immediately noticed they moved the coolant lines to bypass the rear heaters, but didn't bypass the coolant boost pump. I didn't go back in because I just wanted to get the bus home to work on it this weekend. They did clean up the axle seals so that's great. And, as I mentioned, they drained and filled the transmission, but didn't change the filter.

I'll call them back this coming week to ask about the boost pump, I can't remember if I put that on my notes in the bus but I definitely specifically requested that work be done, and I even left a box of parts for them to bypass the pump, which they just set aside.

[dbsoundman]

Bench seat is IN, after a false start (built it 24" tall! had to cut it down), passenger side windows are removed and sheeted over, ended up pulling all the passenger side rain gutters and resealing them in that process, various electrical things have been completed (including connecting the stereo to the house batteries), and today I got the MaxxAir fan installed! Not wired yet, just in place and sealed ready for rain tonight. Accidentally cut a wire for the ceiling lights in the process but that's easily fixed.

Progress! Heading to Miami at the end of April so we needed that fan...

[dbsoundman]

If you have a Thomas bus with the awesome (not) CAT gauge cluster, you might find this interesting.

My gauges all stopped working last year. The backlight on two of the gauges wouldn't shut off, and while the gauges would cycle when you started the bus, they wouldn't actually register anything afterward, or they'd get stuck in random positions. The odometer also usually just showed garbage.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I got on eBay and found an almost identical gauge cluster from a Freightliner truck for $300. Not cheap, but I wanted to get this thing going. I first tried swapping out the odometer module, as it "drives" all the gauges through some sort of multiplex style setup. No dice, but I did notice that the WATER gauge was stuck at a specific value. So, I started troubleshooting, unplugging each gauge one at a time until the backlight problem went away. Once I took the WATER gauge out of the loop, everything started working!

Pulled the WATER gauge out of the replacement cluster, put it in mine, tested everything out, and now IT WORKS! I don't have to guess my fuel level anymore. YAY!