What did you do with your Bus today

[JMorton]

Originally Posted by Randy Dupree

I love the purple!
Are those new tanks or just cleaned and painted?
Brackets look good too,nice job!
Having 2 nice limber kids to help is priceless!

I certainly do appreciate having helpers. I have 4 Sons and 3 Daughters that live locally, so I usually get a helper or two when I ask. ( payback for hundreds of hours cheering soccer teams! )

They are painted original tanks.

They were removed and sandblasted both inside and out, then Kreem coated inside and painted outside. The brackets were sandblasted and powder coated by a local metal wrangler.


The purple is to identify that they are fuel system components. Red is for brake system, Purple is fuel, Yellow is vacuum, Blue for fresh water, Brown for waste and maybe Green for engine coolant.


There are a few places where multiple systems lines run parallel along a frame rail, eventually I will replace the lines with properly painted ones. Eventually. When I have too much time on my hands.


As a refresher, Retro had been sitting on the tarmac of a closed Marine air base for about 12 years before I got him for free. The tanks were rusty and had a gas/varnish mix in them that was quite nasty. I put the stuff from the rear tank into the front tank and put clean gas in the rear, pumped it through the system to the disconnected outlet of the fuel filter where I collected it and put it in the front tank, then replaced the fuel filter, ran some more gas through it then re-connected before starting (with a rebuilt carb installed).



Also, hope I don't offend anyone by the male gender of my busses. Don't know why, but they both definitely seem male to me and being of Russian descent, I am okay with that - Russian ships are often Male names also.

[JMorton]

Originally Posted by NoGas

^^^___ Perfect examples of posts that deserve their own threads under the appropriate categories. Do you all realize the valuable information (and pics) you just posted will be lost almost as soon as someone else comes along and posts their “cleaned my toilet” comment?

You are completely correct. I will make threads in the appropriate areas for these sub-projects, going into painfully more detail including parts sources etc. Now that the rainy weather is here, I have more inside time to bash bits on the computer. Thank you for your suggestion.

[chiplamb]

Went by our local Truck Parts place and picked up some DOT air line fittings to valve out the water purge air line (along with a meaty ball valve). Done. Had some new Clippard MJTV-4 valves for the waste tank dump switches so pulled those, realized I needed other fittings, so will go back to Truck Parts in the AM and get them and that job will be done as well, black tank switch was leaking air and gray valve switch couldn't have been far behind. I'll rebuild the old switches for spares with the o-rings that Tom gave me at PM as well.

[chiplamb]

New Clippard valves in with all new DOT fittings (all brass). No more switch leak. Aux air still goes down in 3-4 hours from 100psi. Guess I'll keep looking. Rather than do any more real work I polished my front wheels with a Mothers Power Ball.

[chiplamb]

New sofa back from the upholsterer on Friday afternoon. Has been raining cats, dogs, elephants et.c. here since then so when it finally stopped this afternoon I managed to enlist help and get this back in, no more bare hole in the living area of the coach! I bought the fabric online for $10/yard and Liberty Upholstery here in Augusta do great work, other materials and labor $800. Not bad. No way anything else fits there due to LP and chassis heaters underneath.

[JMorton]

Retro's wheels are back on the ground. I also got the radiator hinge welded to the radiator sub-frame and bolted to the chassis. I got the alternator and power assist belts tightened also.

Connecting bypass hoses and obtaining new radiator hoses and connecting alternator wiring is next. Then assembling the fans to the radiator and installing the radiator, connect and fill. Then it's time to start it up and move it back!

[badandy]

I ordered new drapes for the living and bed rooms... They were 45% off for Black Friday and ended up about $800 for the 4. We'll see how they are when they get here!

[Kiwi3]

Decided to freeze proof my water bay while on shore power. I added a chicken coop heater. It draws 200w max and has its own thermostat control on at 35 off at 45 and is safe to touch when on. I'll probably still use my thermostat outlet that also temp regulates just to be sure it only runs when needed. I mean if chickens can't burn their coop down with it, I'm probably safe.
Coop Heater
Thermo Cube

[Crit Bliss]

Replaced the solenoid on the HWH pump, all is well in jack land again

[WanderRon]

Cummins 450 M11 ISM

Greased 26 chassis & drive shaft zerks.
Changed oil and filter.
Serviced oil bath bearing reservoir(s) on tag axle and front axle.

#1. Do I need to remove outer dually tire to access the drive axle oil bath bearing reservoir? (Or did those axle zerks take care of that?)

About to change coolant filter:
#2. Is there a coolant shut-off, or do I wear a diving mask and rubber coveralls while quickly changing that filter?

#3. Do I need to test engine coolant for proper phosphorus concentration to protect cylinder sleeves from electrolysis pitting?