My 2002 Bluebird all American re

[Njsurf73]

Here she sits in my driveway... The journey home was an adventure!

 

[EastCoastCB]

It always is! Congrats~~
The adventure has only begun.

 

[Njsurf73]

The journey home:
I took an Amtrak out to Indiana and caught an Uber to the dealership. That part went as smooth as silk...
I got to the dealership, but I didn't​ bring a cashier's check. I opted for a wire transfer. Who knew my bank would screw it up lol. Took all morning. And they finally let me take the bus before the funds had actually cleared (incredibly nice of them).
It's a Cummins 5.9 paired with an md3060
So let's start with the good.
Good tires all around.
Good brakes all around.
It has air ride at all 4 corners and an air ride seat that isn't in bad shape (mechanically) it needs to be recovered.
100 gallon fuel tank
Power heated mirrors
Pass through storage
HIGHWAY GEARS!! (have to find out the ratio but it is governed at 70 and goes right to it. 65 at 2200 rpm)
It has a door lock on the service door.
It ran like a raped ape and the trans shifts perfect.
The not good:
It developed an oil leak on the way home. Can't tell if it's the oil pan gasket, front main, or front cover. It ran for at least an hour plus a test drive before I took it and no sign of a leak till about 100 miles out on the road.
Cleavland ate my muffler. Was doing 10 under posted speed and a huge dip in the road tore it off. Luckily it hung by a scrap of metal and didn't hit anyone else.




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[Njsurf73]

Oh and at some point I broke the ignition key off in the door lock. I was on my cell saying goodnight to the family and didn't realize I had put the wrong key in the lock. Luckily a pair of needle nosed plyers did the trick to extract it... I was then able to put it in the ignition and use the point of my knife to start it.




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[FlyboyHPD]

Sounds like an adventure for sure. Glad you made it home safe. Let the new adventure begin and welcome to the Skoolie madness .

 

[Njsurf73]

Took the family out for a quick ride. Smiles on everyone's face!

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[Njsurf73]

Talked to a buddy who is good with Cummins... The front main seal is notoriously leaky, and easy to fix, especially when you only have to move the balancer and a couple of pulleys and not the whole front end of a pickup truck. Parts:70
Labor: 6pack and a steak.
Not too bad.

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[EastCoastCB]

Talked to a buddy who is good with Cummins... The front main seal is notoriously leaky, and easy to fix, especially when you only have to move the balancer and a couple of pulleys and not the whole front end of a pickup truck. Parts:70
Labor: 6pack and a steak.
Not too bad.

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Having awesome friends SURE HELPS when owning a bus!!!:wink1:
Did your fam enjoy the "169" ride?

 

[Njsurf73]

I have to degrease the engine and see where it is leaking from. Not that it matters... If it's the timing cover you may as well change the seal while in there.
There is a chance it's to oil pan seal. That's why I have to degrease it.

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[family wagon]

Glad to hear your trip went relatively well!

I'd be interested to know how you achieve the degreasing on the engine. I have several engines I'd love to get "paint-ready" clean, but no idea how to get there economically (in terms of hours and dollars). For what it can reach a pressure washer strips away thick deposits of dust and oil quickly, but often all it reaches is the valve cover. The block sides, timing cover, and oil pan seem impossible to reach with a pressure washer wand. The spray can degreasers don't penetrate deeply enough to make heavy deposits slough away, and it's difficult and extremely time-consuming to get in there with a brush to move things along mechanically. What's the "right" way to do it?

 

[Njsurf73]

A steam Genny would be a blessing. I am not planning on painting anything. But there was a lot of oil slung around the rear end and I want to get the fresh stuff off to where it's leaking from. I am a firm believer in a good coating of engine grease is healthy lol

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[Njsurf73]

Oh and the cassette deck and Intercom seem to function perfectly well (Haven't tested the cassette portion yet... Don't have any lol)

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[Njsurf73]

So I am going to be doing things a bit backwards to start off. A quick cleaning and light sanding of the yellow part of the bus and a coat of implement paint. I will get to the body work when the conversion is usable, but it needs to be other than national school bus chrome.

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[family wagon]

Oh I don't intend to actually paint anything on the engine.. I just find maintenance to be significantly more pleasant, and problem-finding much easier, on an engine that's clean and dry. Clean enough that it could be painted, even though I wouldn't.

 

[Robin97396]

If you use a degreaser to clean your engine, get yourself a sacrificial toilet brush that can get into a lot of the tight places to help the degreaser work. The brushes don't last long but it's worth a cheap brush to loosen up the heavier accumulations of dirt and oil.

From what I've seen the bottom half of a FE engine can be partially pressure washed while lying down on the ground. Get out your rain suit. Eye protection might be a good idea too. It would be nice if those pressure wands weren't so long for getting underneath.

 

[family wagon]

That's a great idea.

 

[Robin97396]

Oddly, I've found a toilet brush works best. With a degreaser and a brush you can just wash the gunk off with a hose.

I'm waiting for better weather before I pressure spray from underneath. I have a dripping power steering pump, but that's about it.

 

[cadillackid]

since I took off the transmission lines,. oil pump, radiator, and water pump, everything has been dripping EXCEPT the power steering on mine........

-Christopher

 

[Njsurf73]

So I have a question for all you that weld. I can weld, and I plan on welding on the bus. I have never welded on a vehicle before. Should I disconnect anything? Battery? Electronics?

And here is a pic of the first thing I will be welding. The outer rail is rusted pretty good. Replace it with some square tubing or angle and weld it to the drop frame. The rest of the storage bay is in good condition. That corner seems to have had a little love tap along the way. Maybe it scraped off the paint. The other side looks pretty decent.

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[Tango-SKO]

I have been "told" that if the vehicle has any computer controls at all to disconnect the battery before doing any welding anywhere on the rig. I "know" for a fact that Allison dictates such a disconnect for rigs with any tranny so controlled.

My Allison tech told me he had only sen a couple of cases where welding damage was done to the TCM...but the damage was total. And expensive.