Brad's Shorty Bus - Page 2

cadillackid · 07-17-2017, 08:03 AM

bluetooth is your friend.. let your friends connect their phones to your radio to play what they like..

in my smart-car i installed an Android head unit, that also included a device that allowed people to connect with android and apple airplay as well.. most people bring their music on their phones or USB sticks these days so its easy. granted i didnt have a group of people in the smart, the technology allowed for it.

in my bus im likely going to install one of these devices too... or I may just go with bluetooth / USB / wifi connection to amp and speakers.. even local terrestrial radio is online these days so when i want local traffic through a city.. i just hit my iHeart radio app.

the stairwell light is connected through the door switch.. on my bus its connected to the door switch on the dash.. and only active when the headlights are on..

I have the full set of navistar wiring diagrams but i think since this is blue-bird parts that it wont show up..

is your door electric or air-eletric? mine is just electric with the red handle for manual open.
save the locations for the wires in the dash that go up to your 8 ways.. they can be used for powering things you want up above or.. speakers, etc.. they are nice size wires..
-Christopher

Brad_SwiftFur · 07-17-2017, 07:14 PM

Hmm, Bluetooth and USB connections aren't a bad idea. That's how most folks do things these days anyway. I'll ponder that some more.

I went in and removed some of the cut wiring, mostly stuff the school district removed and left wires dangling. Also removed the air line for the stop bar; I have not removed the air-relays.

My door is all-manual, no electric or air-electric for me. I disassembled the cover (since it had some controls for the 8-way's) and removed the control box. I left the wires to the door switch with the intent of reconnecting them ... there's 2 "gray" wires and I may need to ID which is which, and a blue wire. 1 red and 1 orange wire appear to control the 8-ways, another orange controls the "door unlock" (it's basically an electric solenoid that pushes up the door handle when the door is shut fully); the school district tells me some of these fail after some age so I may just remove it.

My headlights are set up as "always on" when the switch is on, some manner of auto-daytime running lights (tail lights too).

cadillackid · 07-17-2017, 07:22 PM

my bus has DRL's.. the DRL circuit interfered with my LED bulbs I installed.. so i pulled the fuse.. in the navistar dashboard fuse panel, theres a fuse that looks like it is piggybacked on the upper left corner of the fuse panel. i pulled it.. no more DRL;s but all my lights still work from the switch..

-Christopher

Brad_SwiftFur · 07-22-2017, 10:19 PM

So I've been out of town the last couple days (I'm a driver, it's what I do). On the way home I stopped by Summit Racing. I was a little surprised how much they actually have available for my bus (the T444E engine). Didn't get any engine parts but I did get a gallon of white paint along with the activator and thinner for it - and 5 rolls of 5% heat reflective window tint - yeah, Limo dark. It's legal in GA (not for everything; I read the laws), and if anyone asks I'll claim it was factory installed. I doubt anyone will ask, though.

Brad_SwiftFur · 12-01-2017, 06:53 PM

So, I've been insanely busy with work and household stuff, but I did get a chance to tinker with the bus today.

From the day I picked it up, whenever the parking lights were on, the right turn signal indicator would glow dimly. Being somewhat knowledgeable about vehicle electricals, I realized it was probably a bad ground and the bulb was grounding through the turn signal circuit.

I took off the turn signal, mostly just to remove the headlight trim piece. The headlight came out too, so I could inspect the wiring. Lo and behold, it appeared the headlight plug was replaced at some point, probably due to corrosion. The crimped connections had failed and the wires from the plug were all black (as in, not color coded). A quick Google search later, and a couple fresh crimped connections, everything was back in working order.

Robin97396 · 12-01-2017, 07:26 PM

For us colorblind guys the wires might as well be all black.

Brad_SwiftFur · 03-12-2018, 01:35 PM

So I went out today and fired up the bus so a friend could hear it run, as well as keeping the batteries charged and oil circulated.

My "Parking Brake" light had been out the last couple times I started it and I just figured it was the bulb. A low priority fix. Today, I noticed the oil pressure, voltage gauges, and tach not reading (but I did observe them doing the "gauge sweep" when powered up).

Am I looking at likely failed solder connections between the wiring harness and board? Or should I check some other cause?

cadillackid · 03-12-2018, 02:28 PM

Brad, it very well could be loose solder. Did your fuel gauge read?
The 5 main gauges Mph,rpm,volt,oil, temp are a comms link to your computer. If you reach behind the dash when the bus is running and press on the connectors from behind.. there are 3, the middle one has that comms link on it , you’ll likely see the gauges spring to life.

Brad_SwiftFur · 03-12-2018, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadillackid

Brad, it very well could be loose solder. Did your fuel gauge read?
The 5 main gauges Mph,rpm,volt,oil, temp are a comms link to your computer. If you reach behind the dash when the bus is running and press on the connectors from behind.. there are 3, the middle one has that comms link on it , you’ll likely see the gauges spring to life.

Yes, fuel showed about 3/8 tank (and is probably correct, or close to it). I didn't let it run long enough that the temp would have registered. Air pressure also registered.

cadillackid · 03-14-2018, 05:42 AM

air pressure and fuel are not paret of the comms link. the fuel gauge has its own sender unit, as does the trans temp if you have one, the air gauge is actually an air hose going to the back of the dash. (or 2 of them if you have air brakes).

I believe the Oil / Water alarm beeper and light are separate feed from the ECM as well..

-Christopher

Brad_SwiftFur · 04-22-2018, 12:03 AM

Well today I went out and began washing the bus in preparation for paint. I believe it's the cleanest it's been since I bought it. The lettering is all but gone on the sides; still working on the front and rear header and reflective tape. I fired it up and let it run a bit; the gauges all seemed to work today. I still plan to remove the dash and re-solder the joints anyway and check the parking brake light. I got half the roof washed since that's what I plan to paint first; I need to move the scaffolding to wash the other half and since that's a chore, I may just wash, sand, and paint one side at a time to minimize that.

Brad_SwiftFur · 06-30-2018, 07:50 PM

It's been a while since I've been able to do much with the bus. I went out last week to start it up - I let it go through it's pre-start sequence (remember, it's a T444E with glow plugs), spun it over, no start. No big deal, it usually starts on the second try. However, by the time I tried again - "Click, click, click". Batteries were weak. Since I've had the bus a year or so, and the batteries were of questionable age and condition when I bought it, I went ahead and got a pair of new ones (at $69.99 each, just under $150 for the pair, out the door.)

I put 'em in today and fired it up, let it run for a few minutes to run up the air pressure. After that, I got out the sander to work on the spray-painted sides. I got the sides sanded smooth (and most of the spray paint off), masked and primed the sides (I didn't do the entire sides, just where the lettering was). I finished removing the front "School Bus" lettering but still have a lot of adhesive residue to remove. The rear letting is still in place (spray-painted over).

Brad_SwiftFur · 03-10-2020, 03:42 PM

It's been a while since I've posted updates on my bus, though I've been somewhat active in the forums. I moved last year and had a child custody case (ending favorably), since my son did not want to leave his school district, hence the move. There's not much I can do in the way of major work on the bus in a rental home, I was fortunate enough to find parking for it here.

At some point I swapped all 8 of the 7" lights on the back for red LED's, the upper ones wired to mimic the lower ones, and the turn signals wired to illuminate with the other tail lights (since everything is red, the bus even had red turn signals when I got it, perhaps the way it was spec'ed when ordered?) Today, I noticed the tail lights come on when the engine is started, even with all other lights off. I was unaware of this previously, it did have Daytime Running Lights until I removed the fuse (at some point I want to remove this properly). I'm not sure if the tail lights function is "intended behavior" or something is doing something it shouldn't. The tail lights are *NOT* on when the switch is off, nor when the switch is on but engine is not running (I checked), so I'm leaning heavily towards this being "intended behavior".

musigenesis · 03-10-2020, 07:26 PM

My bus had red turn signals on the back as well, with a manufacture date of 2003 so I think they're original. I dunno why.

Brad_SwiftFur · 09-19-2020, 12:13 PM

So, after considerable time and some saving up, I got the gear ratio swap finished. I sourced the parts from an axle rebuilder for ~$1500, I found an Atlanta wrecking yard with refurb parts to do the job for ~$1900-and-some-change (and some warranty). Normally I'm a frugal sort but considering having to buy ~5 gallons of axle oil, seals, sealant, and tools to move a 300+ pound hunk of iron, and my time is worth something to me as well, it made sense to pay a bit extra for experienced mechanics with the proper tools to do the job. They did, as part of the price, replace the U-Joint retainer straps and bolts on the carrier input yoke.

I had a 5.38 gear ratio, I chose to go with a 3.91. For those who do not remember, I have a Spicer 5-speed manual with a 1:1 top gear. By the math, with 10R22.5 tires, this should bring me to a top speed around 78 MPH.

They were not able to reprogram the computer for the new gear ratio. I called a few places and either they weren't able to do the job, or wanted more money than I thought it was worth (in a couple cases, they would not quote a price but wanted an "open ticket" to charge whatever). Now, owning a medium duty computerized chassis, investing in some electronic diagnostic tools is a wise idea. A little searching on Amazon found me a Nexiq "clone" for around $200-and-some-change (which comes with software-a-plenty). Any reasonably intelligent member here will quickly realize it's 99% likely pirated/bootlegged/cracked software, and the hardware is probably manufactured for Nexiq (and they are selling surplus units unauthorized for a bit of extra profit). Now if I were doing this for a profit, as a legitimate business, I wouldn't bother with counterfeit goods, but since it's for my own personal use, I don't care.

I installed the included software on a spare laptop (which had been factory reset, so no sensitive data was on it to be hacked). But I ultimately ended up downloading the Navistar ServiceMaxx software, which installed easily enough. I went out and plugged in the device, the USB cord to it and the laptop, and opened the software. Key-On-Engine-Off, the software connected quickly and pulled up the ECM data. I changed the gear ratios (Low and High Axle, even though it's not a 2-speed rear end), just as the previous ratio had been. I went ahead and reset my Oil Change light, enabled the cruise, changed the "road speed limiter" (governor) to 80, and ... I forget what else. Programmed the changes to the ECM, and software said to cycle the key off-on for the changes to take effect.

I drove it home about a month ago with the new gears (but the old programming) and on the highways it would pass most cars and trucks. I need to start tracking fuel economy (I haven't done this with the old programming since the mileage would be "wrong"). I'll drive it later today/tomorrow and see how accurate the speedometer seems to be. I found it necessary to use 1st gear starting up any slight incline, where previously it was happy to take off in 2nd. Acceleration in 1st-4th gears did not seem to change as much as others had warned. Acceleration in 5th was, as predicted, not as fast, but I was aware of that going in to the swap. The extra top speed is well worth it to me.

The handling at ~75 is good. The short wheelbase gives it a bit of a see-saw effect on bumps, but lane control is still pretty good. I expect a set of shocks will help the ride.

Jolly Roger bus 223 · 09-19-2020, 12:57 PM

would you share the wrecking yard you used in atlanta please?
not that far away far me that a day trip wouldnt cover.

Brad_SwiftFur · 09-19-2020, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger bus 223

would you share the wrecking yard you used in atlanta please?
not that far away far me that a day trip wouldnt cover.

Kerns Truck Parts
2496 Forest Parkway
Ellenwood GA 30294
404-366-4843

I dropped mine off and came back a week later to get it. It's probably not a while-you-wait job, and in my case it entered a first-come-first-served basis queue (with about 6 ahead of it). I don't know if they will schedule appointments or not.