~~ Succubus ~~ 2003 Bluebird 40' Talltop STFE 4800

[bamper]

Bus looks great Rusty !! I read through all the stuff about the peak power and whatnot for the 5.9l and it's gets me thinking .... we have a 5.9l in our Case IH 2144 combine and it runs at 3100 rpms no load. The poor little guy has it's shorts full with what we put it though but has never let us down and has almost 3,000hrs on it already. Using some fluffy math that's around 100k miles if it were in a truck so it's just getting broken in

Originally Posted by Rusty

I had one of these laying around, so I tried it...not such a good match, maybe as a resonator. I have Aero on wife's 5.9L Grand Cherokee and love it, just not on RV.

I gotta be a bit nosey and ask about the Niner. I have one hiding under a cover in my shed and I must know more !! Is it stock or have you done a few things to spice it up ???

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by bamper

Bus looks great Rusty !!

I gotta be a bit nosey and ask about the Niner. I have one hiding under a cover in my shed and I must know more !! Is it stock or have you done a few things to spice it up ???

Thanks ! It's a work in progress.

I have not turned-up the 24V yet. I did run fresh fuel lines and put a good lift pump. Also ran the 4" exhaust back in preparation for later tune.

Next I need to get some gauges on it- pyro, boost, etc. before I squeeze a bit more out of it. 3,100 RPM's- wowsa.

[cadillackid]

whats the valve float RPM on a medium duty 5.9? from what I undersdtand the medioum duty engines have different cam profiles than the consumer pickup versions..
-Christopher

[bamper]

Originally Posted by Rusty

I had one of these laying around, so I tried it...not such a good match, maybe as a resonator. I have Aero on wife's 5.9L Grand Cherokee and love it, just not on RV.?

I guess I should have specified which Niner I was referring too

I've got a 98' 5.9l Grand Cherokee in the shed that has become more of a toy than a daily driver over the years. Stroked, Supercharged, Intercooled, Ford 8.8 rear end, Thorley Headers and a full 3" SS mandrel bent exhaust are a few of the goodies .....

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by bamper

I guess I should have specified which Niner I was referring too

I've got a 98' 5.9l Grand Cherokee in the shed that has become more of a toy than a daily driver over the years. Stroked, Supercharged, Intercooled, Ford 8.8 rear end, Thorley Headers and a full 3" SS mandrel bent exhaust are a few of the goodies .....

Lol. Her 5.9 is mostly stock- We have had it since new- slate metallic. 90k mi. I did the intake plenum fix for that shield, has a mild lift, nice street wheels. Is a daily driver. Re-did that aluminum rear-end, should have replaced like you.

Great truck. Expensive tastes in fuel.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

whats the valve float RPM on a medium duty 5.9? from what I undersdtand the medioum duty engines have different cam profiles than the consumer pickup versions..
-Christopher

Not sure. I want to stay 5 RPM below that....

$399 will get you these: 4500 RPM!


Dodge 5.9L & 6.7L 24 Valve Commonrail Cummins Heavy Duty Valve Springs
By Hamilton Diesel.
Good for up to 4500 RPM!
Heavy Duty Valve Springs 1998.5-2011+ 24 Valve Cummins - 103 pressure
Features include:
Beehive design to reduce mass on the top part of the spring with the most linear motion
Ovate wire to handle high lift cams without coil bind
Triple shot peened to reduce stresses and promote long life
Nitrided finish to prevent corrosion
Will handle cams with over .500" valve lift

[Rusty]

I have been neglecting updates...so far behind.

I have been painting- going on 3 weeks now. I powerwashed with phosphate detergent, hand sanded the ENTIRE bus with 220. Was going to use deglosser, but wussed-out and did it old school as I wanted to get the oxidation layer. Sanded just enough to take top layer of paint off, not break through to primer.

Bus looked so good after a light sand I wanted to leave it. Wiped it down with some petro chemicals. Removed old marker lights- will get some LEDs.

Painting using Rustoleum products. I primed entire bus with white primer that I tinted blue with a bit of paint. Makes it much easier to see and gave me an idea of what it'll look like. Didn't thin primer much, per directions >10%. Went on nice, dries super quick.

I used the Harbor Freight $50 purple gun kit. Is great setup, got the disposable cups, but use 'em a few times as am cheap. I didn't strain paint- was fine, no spitting chunks. 41 psi for primer as is thick. Maybe shoulda swapped for bigger needle/tip it came with, but looks good. 60 gal 2-stage 220V compressor w/ FR, no L, but no chilled drier. Highly recommend this gun Item#94572.



Here is how to use it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNIsHCkZ5xA

I've used both a roller to paint big vehicles and a spray gun- gun does MUCH better job. Spray gun is a pita to clean- use wooden toothpicks, pen caps, q-tips, but no metal to dig out paint.

Sanded-off lettering and graphics to prevent bleed-thru. Looks like they used 1-Shot paint for lettering. I went through half a box of 6" 220 discs- 45 or so. I use them on a DynaBrade palm sander and when they are dull, I use them on my hands for rub rails and curves.

[Rusty]

Once I had both sides and back primed, on to paint.

I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the design- fooled around with photoshop ideas....I always liked the WanderLodge look, so I went to their archives and settled on a 1970 scheme. I changed the color to more blue, less green than they had.

Like this beauty:



I mixed-up my own 'special blend' of colors using primarily white as a base. I settled on a ratio by taking a kabob skewer and dipping dull end into paint and counting drips- 4 drips white, 2 blue, 1 green, 1 yellow... and made a color chip sheet (paper plate). Tried all the combos and settled on one I hoped to reproduce in gallon quantity. You have to realize there are many color combinations of seafoamy green/turquoise that have that Mental Ward/old Hospital vibe- did NOT want that.

First coat, just wanted to block-on some paint, didn't bother with tape as I knew there would be more coats and my priority with painting is to protect the metal.







This is the ratio of paint used:
5 parts paint
2 parts acetone
.3 parts gloss hardener

I sure didn' want to measure this messy stuff each time, so I took a 32 oz gatorade bottle and did my measurements into that and marked with sharpie. Simple to transfer lines to other bottles, no more measuring ! I call these "Bombers" and I'd make few up at a time, just what I was using at that session as once hardener is in, gotta spray it. End of session, leftover bombers get chucked, fresh bottle for next session. I don't put paint back in the can, so I don't need no stinkin' strainers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uMmNFOH6EY

[Rusty]

Seems like it never ends....

Started finalizing design (about time, eh?), so broke out the rolls of 3-M blue tape (4 rolls used) for the stripes. Used a lot of eyeballing, fudging and cajoling to get it to look decent. I based everything off of center rub rail- it was ground zero- and measured from there for consistency. Same trick, use tape measure ONCE and make story sticks, like in cabinet making. Worked killer.

The bad thing about the tape is it'll screw-up your paint if you leave it on fresh paint too long, but you need a few coats of stripes...and they need to dry between. It's a tightrope act as you are never safe from screwing-up a paint job until the gun is put away.


So, back and forth between colors until stripes were well defined. Overspray was not a problem, except for one gusty day I was impatient- oops. Just let it dry and paint over later- futzing with wet pain never ends well. Very few runs with that gun. Paint top-down for best results (gravity). Bugs were biggest problem- for a day or 2, there were these tiny gnats that LOVED my fresh white paint. Let 'em be- the paint dried with them attached by their little legs I blew them off with compressed air the next day- couldn't tell. The joys of outdoor body shop !

[Rusty]

Oh, boy. More bus to paint...

I pulled off the bumper and grill and whatever else was bolted on so I could do a better job. It's prep, takes a boatload of time, but results are worth it (i hope). I removed the lettering from the grille, all the headlights, blinkers and chrome trim pieces with the million tiny screws. I wanted to sand, prime and paint behind all that in case of rust, but found none.

I deleted the blinkers 'cuz big ugly bus blinkers and will get some spiffy LED lights the young kids have. I deleted the lower fisheye mirrors because I don't care if I run over pedestrians. I welded the holes shut and bondo'ed. If I had made a video of my welding, it'd look a lot like Transcendance's video, but without the skill.





My solar eclipse outfit:



I straightened-out some bent brackets that had my headlights aimed a bit wonky and taped it up. LED headlights are on order. I shot a coat of primer on it today (no pic), once it cooled down outside. I still need to figure out the design- if I keep the 'box' the WanderLodge used or what. It will be a surprise for ALL of us !!

[Rusty]

So, out of sequence, but I still had to remove the bathroom from my bus (bookmobile). They did an amazing job constructing the interior- all done in maple. The bathroom had an electric incinolet toilet (no water). That came out real easy- unplugged and 4 bolts. I removed the Norcold AC/DC fridge that was in there- not sure if it'll go back in the build yet. Great shape.

I tore out the maple cabinets, can recycle much of that. I tore-up the linoleum, yuck. Plywood below wasn't super bad, but bad enough for me to replace. Floor underneath was pristine and painted. Wheeew. This bus has no body rust, luckily. Replaced plywood w/ new.

One of the interesting things is how this coachbuilder built the walls: 2x4 studs with 1/2 maple ply on both sides- plywood was drywall screwed and pin nailed on so it came off neatly. Will reuse.



The wall had a short stud- 2 1/2 feet or so- attached to ceiling rib w/ 4 screws and a dot of construction adhesive to prevent squeaks. This is the only place attached to ceiling and wall was sturdy. The stud was angled to match profile of ceiling and shimmed w/ plywood scrap in center. The wall bottom plate was not attached to floor except by 2 screws on each side of doorway. Common studs were attached to the horizontal 2x4's running lengthwise of the bus. I was surprised how sturdy the wall was for so few attachment points and this is the company's core biz- making these buses for bookmobiles and mobile police command units.

A full sheet of plywood was used on each side of the doorway, cut to ceiling profile. They extended the top of the plywood over the head trimmer 6" so as not to continue up the door frame straight up, was a staggered joint for strength. 2x4's were just screwed, nothing fancy.

studs leaning toward camera, red arrow is attached piece.

[cadillackid]

lovin the paint job!!! so are you going to cut windows after you have painted? or just have a darker style interior?
-Christopher

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

lovin the paint job!!! so are you going to cut windows after you have painted? or just have a darker style interior?
-Christopher

Thanks ! Dunno about the windows. I was fooling around with the thermometer yesterday and no windows is much cooler.

I used to do HVAC design work and we'd do bidding based off blueprints. # of windows, direction faced, live loads from people, etc. so I understand the principles, but when you feel the difference....

I was thinking with a couple 4K flatscreen tvs and a few HD cameras for "virtual" windows.

There is no plan.....

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

lovin the paint job!!! so are you going to cut windows after you have painted? or just have a darker style interior?
-Christopher

Was wondering this myself. The original pic has the center black to break up the big block. I like it with that. Without big windows or something to break up the rear, it's just too much of the same color. But to each their own.

Otherwise, great job. I'm going to have to go back when it's all done and do a fancier paint job.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

Was wondering this myself. The original pic has the center black to break up the big block. I like it with that. Without big windows or something to break up the rear, it's just too much of the same color. But to each their own.

Otherwise, great job. I'm going to have to go back when it's all done and do a fancier paint job.

It's not done. Still needs the dark blue stripe. It's mobile billboard with no windows, but it is comfortable temperature wise.

How do you expect to finish your bus when you are partying down in Florida?

I'm going outside now to paint the front.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by Rusty

I was thinking with a couple 4K flatscreen tvs and a few HD cameras for "virtual" windows.

1) That's cheating.
2) That's just not right.
3) Kinda hard to open those.

I still like my TDI wagon sunroof. Maybe instead of putting them in the roof of the bus (like Transcendence's transition), put them in the side of the bus? It has an electric screen. I've no idea what they would cost from a dealer/junk yard.

[EastCoastCB]

Man, I REALLY LOVE that paint job!

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Thanks ! Dunno about the windows. I was fooling around with the thermometer yesterday and no windows is much cooler.

I used to do HVAC design work and we'd do bidding based off blueprints. # of windows, direction faced, live loads from people, etc. so I understand the principles, but when you feel the difference....

I was thinking with a couple 4K flatscreen tvs and a few HD cameras for "virtual" windows.

There is no plan.....

I did HVAC design also.. back in the 90s.. man I wish I had the computer tools and TIC's available now , back then!..

I did do sun load sensing in commercial buildings using multiple temperature sensors on different sides of a building, wind gauging... but there was only so much i could do with a barber-coleman Network 8000 and pneumatic VAV boxes..

windows are the hard pieces to dial in.. nevertheless the psychological benefits of lots of windows in offices outweighed the energy conservation of no windows..
-Christopher

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

windows are the hard pieces to dial in.. nevertheless the psychological benefits of lots of windows in offices outweighed the energy conservation of no windows..
-Christopher

The government doesn't care. We've got windows with blinds that are down 24/7. Other places I've worked are zero windows.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

I did HVAC design also.. back in the 90s.. man I wish I had the computer tools and TIC's available now , back then!..


-Christopher

Yeah, this was in the mid 80's....Our tools were pretty crude, as in monochrome and text (before Hercules graphics-- MDA)

I was studying Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering and applied for a Summer job. I think they thought I had already graduated by the work they gave me- "Here is a blueprint for new Hospital... Draw up the mechanicals and bid it.

Me: "Ummmm, can't we start smaller?"