The Millicent Chronicles; two foot roof raise, big tailgate

[Tango]

Oh yeah...you just GOTTA do this. Burning Man will never be the same without it!

[Elliot Naess]

There is a 747 at BM now.

Turns out, my Albatross is NOT smaller than in the illustration. In fact, it is larger. It fits a bus body exactly, with a big roof-raise. In a sense, it could be screwed right onto the front of Millicent, and only the radius of the upper corners would be off a bit.

And yes, we are buying it.

[BurlKing]

i can hardly wait to see this, if you post pictures anywhere other than here of it let us know! possibly the coolest thing i've seen in awhile.

[cadillackid]

what a great storage / and or place for water tanks and infrastructure.. you could make that whole front shark mouth thing fold down so you could climb in to work on anything!
-Christopher

[DoubleO7]

When you dream, dream BIG.
Your doing a good job of that so far!

[Tango]

THIS...is gonna be fun to watch! Rock on Elliot!!!

[WanderWoman]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

There is a 747 at BM now.

Turns out, my Albatross is NOT smaller than in the illustration. In fact, it is larger. It fits a bus body exactly, with a big roof-raise. In a sense, it could be screwed right onto the front of Millicent, and only the radius of the upper corners would be off a bit.

And yes, we are buying it.

WOO HOO!!! This is going to be awesome to watch!

[Elliot Naess]

Miss Albatross is safely home.
I will start a new "Chronicles" thread when we acquire a suitable bus. So I'm looking for an early 1990s Blue Bird in good mechanical condition, in or near Northern California. Reckon we could go up to 1,000 miles for the right bus, but best not to buy out of state.
Probably a Conventional, but not certain yet. I'm brainstorming Forward Control also.

[Stewzer55]

After going through the entire Millicent Chronicles in my free time over the last few days. Wow. I agree with a Conventional for the Albatross nose conversion, at first I thought it was a MiG with the missing Radome being an intake used in them. Best of luck on your search for another bus!

[EastCoastCB]

I'd think RE would be best for building the "alba-bus".

[Elliot Naess]

A pusher for Miss Albatross? That would simplify the mechanical Stuff up front. But the front axle is too far back. Of course, we could move the axle to the front of the frame -- it's just four brackets on the frame. So I'm not ruling it out completely.

Buuuuttttt.... That back porch in the cobbled-together illustration is not a joke. I want a "social gathering venue" back there, and then the engine noise would be a disturbance.

Also, I want a tailgate, like Millicent has, for loading rolling stock and other big Stuff.

But actually.... Strange as it may seem.... A Forward Control may be realistic -- by swapping the engine and the front axle! Front axle all the way forward, as on a conventional, and engine rearward to below the flight deck.

We would likely move the engine rearward a bit in a conventional anyway.

Remember, at this stage of the conversion, there will be no bodywork at all in that area, so we can move big parts around easily enough.

I'm going to inspect Millicent's frame in the morning, but I think I'm in the market for a twin to Millicent -- an early- to mid-1990s Blue Bird Forward Control (flat nose, front engine), the full 40 feet long, which should be 84 pax.

[Elliot Naess]

Alright....
I have started The Albatross Chronicles.

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/th...tml#post182530

.

[Elliot Naess]

Spring-time report

Millicent went on her first outing of the season on Memorial weekend -- to the Grand Championship Kinetic Skulpture Race. Only 450 miles or so, round trip.

But on the way home, the electricity failed. Alternator is not charging.
This is the same alternator which tossed its rear bearing a few years ago.

An upgrade may be in order.

Albatross has a much larger unit -- same bus, same engine, two years newer. I will pull it off for identification soon.

Meanwhile, here are photos of the failed one, with measurements. My notes say it is good for 105 Amps. My memory says this type is notorious for tossing the rear bearing.

The plug-in on the side has four pins, but there is only one wire going to it.

I'm simply asking if anyone has experience, knowledge, tips, or any such useful comments?

[Elliot Naess]

All right. This P.O.S. is definitely a Delco CS-130, with slightly different housings for the commercial market.

It has one small wire, which goes to the Field terminal.

Delco Type CS130 Series Alternator Used on Freightliner Vehicles - 105 Amp, 12 Volt, CW, 8-Groove Pulley, 03:00 Plug Clock

Will investigate the larger unit next. It has two small wires, which I need to figure out.

[Elliot Naess]

The larger alternator on the new bus is a Delco 22SI. 145 Amps. Who is familiar with that one? Costs much more than the little one, but not prohibitively so.

[BlackJohn]

Funny, I just changed one for a guy on an old safari van. Same alternator. Pretty small for a bus. His had a different connector than the replacement but one wire was what it needed.
By the size of your bus you should have around 150 amps minimum, even bigger if the price is right.

Not worth rebuilding I don't think.

John

[Elliot Naess]

Yeah, this CS-130 was repaired/rebuilt/whatever-they-did-with-it a few years ago, when the rear bearing disintegrated. Now it quit charging.

I now studied the differences in wiring on the CS-130 and the 22SI.

And I have figured out that the one small wire on the CS-130 is only for an idiot light, so is not really needed.
Likewise, the two small wires on my 22SI are for indicator light and for tachometer.
The factory tach is useless, as are the voltmeters. And probably idiot lights too.
So wiring is not an issue if I upgrade Millicent to a 22SI.

Whoa............ Can an alternator quit charging if the idiot light bulb burns out? Something deep in the back of my brain....
More research.

[Tango]

[QUOTEWhoa............ Can an alternator quit charging if the idiot light bulb burns out? Something deep in the back of my brain....
More research.[/QUOTE]

The way these geniuses wire and program things these days...I would not be at all surprised.

[Elliot Naess]

I was a journeyman auto mechanic half a century ago, and maybe I still remember some of these basics.

Regardless, I am interested in upgrading to a 22SI. I would need mounting brackets and pulley (with nut and whatnot)

Sooo.... Anybody parting out a Blue Bird? Still need a rear bumper too.

[Elliot Naess]

All right.... The (preposterously ambiguous) Engine Warning idiot light does light up, and roughly 11 Volts arrive at the alternator end of that wire (if that's what it is for), so there is no problem with that.
So I'm off to NAPA to let them test this thing.