Meet our new bus... Mr. Beefy!

[TheHubbardBus]

Well, our heater core didn't cost $200.00. I was looking at the wrong one. It was closer to $800.00. But it all worked out for the best, since it prompted me to pressure test the one we have.

We removed the control valve (which will be replaced), plugged one end of the core with a rubber/stopper / vacuum cap combo, and attached the other end via hose/fittings to the 0-30 psi pressure gauge we'll be using to test our propane distribution system.

System (cap) pressure is 10 psi. I brought the core up slowly to 10psi, and it held rock steady for a few minutes. Then (nervously) brought it up to 15 and it held as well Without knowing the specs from the manufacturer I won't test it higher, but see no need, as it's holding more than it will ever see in actual service, even in an overheating event.

Also went through with a very small flat-head, straightened out any bent fins as best as possible, and then blew the unit out with compressed air to make sure it could exchange heat with the best of 'em.

Word of advice: If you test your heater assembly before pulling it and it doesn't leak, that doesn't mean it won't leak when you put it back in. Often times o-rings used in things like the interfaces between the control valve & the core/inputs will seal only because they've bonded to the materials they're joining. But any little bit of movement - like prying off old heater hoses - will break that bond, and then the now-brittle and hardened o-rings will leak like a sieve. The control valve o-rings I pulled out literally snapped in half when I squeezed them.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

yes and for heater components things still expand and contract with temperatures.
not saying this situation but i do heavy commercial industrial mechanical piping install.
i do not let my men just test with air or nitrogen as my experienced opinion.
we have found water leaks after the air testing so to me its a waste of time.
put the water to it and you will know exactly where the leak is instead of chasing bubbles.
and on some of my govt projects i have to test at a minimum with the temperature of fluid that the pipe is going to carrying.
we start with reguler temp water or whatever fluid at test pressure and find and fix leaks(sad to say from experienced crews) and some of the high temp systems i have to test at 1-1/2 times working pressure and temp at the same time and even with x-ray welds there are a few that show up.
not trying to scare anyone.
even gas piping that is working at less than a 1/2 of a psi is tested at 15 psi and the high pressure system of 2 psi is tested at 30 psi by international and most local code.
while you have your stuff visible and are playing with testing.
might as well simulate hot fluid and a stuck vent cap or just add an overflow reservoir.

[Oldyeller]

Great post Jolley Roger.

[TheHubbardBus]

I appreciate your insights and experience, Jolly Roger! Thanks for the input

I understand that testing cold components with air is not the ideal test scenario. But setting up & performing a bench test that simulates the working conditions of a bus cooling system at or exceeding working temps/pressures simply isn't practical or realistic. Nor is pushing our core to excesses it will never see in real life when it's $800.00 out of pocket if it lets loose. This is simply a due-diligence effort to narrow the chances we'll have a problem necessitating pulling the heater back out after installation down to a very small percentage.

Oh, and look what the FedEx Santa just delivered! Woohoo! New heater control valve/o-rings, bleeder fittings for the high points in the lines, & a couple elbows. These were the last parts we were waiting on to get the heater back in & the cooling system overhauled! With any luck Mr Beefy will be back to running status tomorrow!

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

just saying?
my work practice does not always get practiced on my vehichles or equipment at home but when i have a problem with a coolant system i cant figure out because it doesnt show?
make it hit temp at a minimum if it needs help with pressure then help it?
it might be as simple as an old hose clamp digging into the hose? usually?
whatever your issue dont buy one get two for your road side repair?

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

is that crimp fittings/? probably pex?
or the fire ring braze? several different versions of both?
still waffling about what to use on my wifes bus?
my bus is hard copper.
her bus is up in the air?
i have been introduced to pro press which is alot quicker once you own the tool which looks similar

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

of course test standards for what i do are brand new systems and what i would do with my own stuff is different but that differnce has left more than one of my family members on the side of the road more than once.
when i was a kid in the texas heat and learning mechanics the hard way/the only way to learn.
tractors gotta run trucks gotta get to town for groceries and fuel to fuel the tractor when it runs?
mommas car has to run every sunday regardless.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger bus 223

is that crimp fittings/? probably pex?
or the fire ring braze? several different versions of both?
still waffling about what to use on my wifes bus?
my bus is hard copper.
her bus is up in the air?
i have been introduced to pro press which is alot quicker once you own the tool which looks similar

The red/white/blue lines (I think that's what you're referring to, correct me if I'm wrong) running through the floor in the back and stubbed-out on the sides are PEX-A with expansion fittings (uponor and apollo). No personal experience but from my research, expansion fittings appear to be the undisputed champions of PEX-connection performance/longevity so long as installed properly. We're using a $100 manual expansion tool from Amazon (IWISS), which is waaay less expensive than the more common powered options. You have to rotate the tool head by hand as you expand the pipe/fitting (powered tools do that automatically), but if you do it right the end result is no less secure.

The tool has interchangeable heads for 3/8 through 1" pipe, though I will say the 1" fittings (the white pipe is 1" to connect the two fresh water tanks together) really pushed the limits of both the tool and my strength. I was sure the cast aluminum arms were going to snap before I was done (they were flexing!), and my arms/pecs were burning after 4 fittings lol. 1/2" was super-easy, though.

[TheHubbardBus]

We finally got the job I've been dreading for some time done now... rehabing the cooling system. And while it was a lot of work, things really couldn't have gone much better. So glad to have this done, for so many reasons. Not the least being peace of mind.

Except for the lines running to the trans cooler (I'll tackle those soon), we replaced every cooling system hose in the engine compartment. Also replaced the thermostat, degas tank cap, both heater valves, and the heater control valve. Thanks to Sharon for cleaning all the the hose fittings of corrosion... I torqued every hose clamp to exactly the same spec (low-middle range), and once we filled (new ELC/distilled) & brought it up to temp, there wasn't a single leak. Not one. Not a drop. I couldn't believe it. Pretty sure that's a first for me.

I thought the old hoses looked pretty decent before removal. And that was true of the upper/lower radiator hoses. But the rest... lol... we dodged a bullet. One smaller hose had a notch cut out of it due to poor routing with a paper-thin spot (no exaggeration) ready to let go at any moment. And the heater hoses... wow. They were so brittle, when I asked Sharon to hold one and bend it to catch the cracks on camera, it snapped in half like a twig!

First pics are of the old, the next are the new (last one also shows the driver seat floor insert we're building, but it's not yet completed).

[Oldyeller]

It's good that you got rid of the old cooling system hoses. I going to be doing that starting in the spring. Also getting rid of the stairwell heater.

[peakbus]

That's going to make for a much happier life on the road, crossing those worries off the list. Good job!

[TheHubbardBus]

Thanks guys!

Very excited... tomorrow Mr Beefy will be driven for the first time in - heck - I can't even remember when!

Today we finished up the seat base, which was actually a bit involved. Three sheets of 1/2" plywood are laminated together, as each had to be cut differently to fit the complicated shape it needed to fill. As much insulation was used as possible - a combination of polyiso & owens corning 703, filling cavities between the bolt holes where it's secured to the floor. All the wood was painted w/ the Andek Firegard we've been using, and diamond plate was secured over the top. Also not shown is a sheet of 1/8" MLV (mass loaded vinyl) that this sits on top of. Doubt it will do much but I had a roll I'm having a hard time finding a use for & 1/8" to fill.

The black square plate on top is what the original seat was attached to, only without the big heavy riser I eliminated (too heavy, too tall). The threaded studs are my addition, made to fit the new seat. Prepped & painted w/ KBS BlackTop, then secured w/ new grade 8 hardware, + rubber washers. Also used polyurethane sealant to create a gasket of sorts so there's no way water could make its way under the plate.

Allowing tonight for paint & sealant to finish curing, then tomorrow the new seat goes in (that will be quick).

[TheHubbardBus]

Thanks guys!

Very excited... tomorrow Mr Beefy will be driven for the first time in - heck - I can't even remember when!

Today we finished up the seat base, which was actually a bit involved. Three sheets of 1/2" plywood are laminated together, as each had to be cut differently to fit the complicated shape it needed to fill. As much insulation was used as possible - a combination of polyiso & owens corning 703, filling cavities between the bolt holes where it's secured to the floor. All the wood was painted w/ the Andek Firegard we've been using, and diamond plate was secured over the top.

The black square plate on top is what the original seat was attached to, only without the big heavy riser I eliminated (too heavy, too tall). The threaded studs are my addition, made to fit the new seat. Prepped & painted w/ KBS BlackTop, then secured w/ new grade 8 hardware, + rubber washers. Also used polyurethane sealant to create a gasket of sorts so there's no way water could make its way under the plate.

Allowing tonight for paint & sealant to finish curing, then tomorrow the new seat goes in (at least until we pull it again to finish up the heater/dash area).

[Tejon7]

First Mia, now Sophie. So glad to see that spam is a family business for the "Gmail" clan.

Spam report sent.

[Polarweasel]

Bye, Felicia, er, Sophie!

[TheHubbardBus]

LOL. Thanks Polarweasel. For some reason I doubted the Gmail's sincerity.

So new driver's seat in, and it's AMAZING. We took Beefy out for a test drive after install (more coming on that), and combined with new shocks / tires, the ride could almost be described as comfortable (which is a loooong way from where we started, which was 'tortuous'). Right now have tires aired up to max (trying to avoid flat-spotting), and the bus is still stink-bugged from zero loading in the rear, so as our build progresses the ride will only improve. I think in the end it will be quite pleasant.

Driver-side swivel, which we were hoping worked out in the tight confines. It does - sort of. You have to do a little forward/back, and/or up/down manuevering to clear the steering wheel / driver-side dash, but it's doable for 90-degrees. The bathroom wall will be behind the driver seat anyway so 90-degrees is all we were expecting to get. Without the optional armrests it would pivot in place easily w/o any of the aforementioned acrobatics, but the arm-rests are too nice to give up.

Picture of old seat just to give it the respect it deserves. It's alot like piss ants to me... I hate them, but I respect their work effort & tenacity. This seat has been out in the elements since we removed it (1 year ago?), and it honestly looks exactly the same as it did when we pulled it.

[TheHubbardBus]

So speaking of the test drive...

This was the first time we've driven it since gutting the interior. So it was the first time we got to test out the level of interior noise reduction afforded by the construction of the subfloor, walls, and (yet to be completed) ceiling - which was guided in a big way by our desire to reduce noise levels. Since I don't have anything to compare it to, it's hard to say "we nailed it", but I can say I'm certainly pleased with the result - and that's before addressing the huge sources of noise coming from the stairwell, firewall, & driver-side dash. We've already gone from yelling at each other to being able to hold a comfortable conversation without raising our voice one bit. By the time we're done, I fully expect this to be about as quiet a bus as one could expect considering we're keeping all the windows. Every bit of effort was worth it. I've got some ideas for the firewall that I can't wait to try out.

I can't show you a picture of what our ears perceived, so instead here's the warning we place over the shift lever & ignition switch to make sure we don't kill the stray kitties that like to sleep on top of the engine block.

Oh - and also the 1/8" baltic birch plywood we picked up to use for the interior of our ceiling. We picked this up at Woodworker's Source in Tempe, where we'll surely be going back to as our project progresses. Highly recommended... the sun doesn't rise & set at Home Depot. By the way, if the gent who helped us out there who's looking for a bus to convert is reading this - sorry we didn't catch your name - but wishing you the best of luck in finding what you're looking for!

[dennbea@comcast.net]

Really enjoyed reading your thread, quite the project you've taken on. Great job.


Dennis

[TheHubbardBus]

If you've read our thread you deserve equal appreciation for the project you've taken on, Dennis! Thanks-a-plenty.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by Sadie

This is a very nice bus. I travel on this bus. And its traveling is very enjoyable.

I almost forgot to mention you, Sadie! My sincere apologies! We've been so busy with the build as of late that the people, places, and - in this case - things that mean the most to us are sometimes temporarily forgotten.

Sadie is our resident harvester spider. But don't let her hear you say that! "I'm not a spider! I'm an arachnid of the order Opiliones!", she'll shout in her tiny, spider-like voice. Oh Sadie! You're too easy to tease.