1983 PT35 Project - modernification / restomod

[DW SD]

Too cool on the new sensors!
next time you need to twist wires. Put a pair in a drill and the other ends in a vise. Or.. maybe I'm missing something.
Enjoy the updates.
Cheers,
Doug

[badandy]

Originally Posted by DW SD

Too cool on the new sensors!
next time you need to twist wires. Put a pair in a drill and the other ends in a vise. Or.. maybe I'm missing something.
Enjoy the updates.
Cheers,
Doug

That isn't really the right way to do it because it twists the wires around the wrong way, if that makes sense. For a short run it's ok to do, but a long one like this would end in disaster...

[isp2952]

Originally Posted by badandy

I got all my new tank level sensors done. These are capacitive, non-contact. In the photo here you can see the grey and black tanks. The actual sensing elements are 1" wide 0.040" stainless strips on the tank sides. The black box with all the wires is what I designed and there's one down here and one up by the fresh water tank. All connected with CAN bus, which makes me happy. I had to hand twist 50 feet of 18ga wire for it though, that was not fun. I built it to survive 100% immersion in water and junk like that. We'll see how it does in the rain because those sensor strips are bare. I might end up coating them in something non-conductive. But they are very robust, unlike the circuit-board based sensors like the Seelevel.

They have so much resolution I can measure 1 tablespoon of water. I tried a teaspoon but it was inconsistent when running down the drain pipe. Yeah stupid I know, but it works really well.

Now I just need to put an overflow pipe from the grey into the black.

The easiest solution to that is to just ad a manual valve in you discharge pipe, before the end cap and after the air valves. I cut my pipe stuck in a manual not only for your reason, but for that occasional unexpected "SURPRISE" when the air valve doesn't seal completely due to some debri. All you have to do to increase your grey water capacity is open up both air valves and keep the manual closed, with the added benefit of no surprises.

[Butch Charpentier]

I got tired of the air valves and scraped them. They have been replaced with electric waste valves that can be operated from outside as well as the bathroom. They come with a stainless steel blade for smooth operation, no surprises. Also you don't have to build air in order to operate them. I also gave fair warning to the step and step slide/cover that the next time they gave me trouble, they were going to be replaced with electric ones. I honestly don't know what Blue Bird was thinking when they did all this air operated stuff. By the way Andy if you are at WOG I would very much like to talk with you about your step slide.

[badandy]

Originally Posted by isp2952

The easiest solution to that is to just ad a manual valve in you discharge pipe, before the end cap and after the air valves.

This seems like an easy way to get this done, I think I will do it!

Originally Posted by Butch Charpentier

I got tired of the air valves and scraped them. They have been replaced with electric waste valves that can be operated from outside as well as the bathroom. They come with a stainless steel blade for smooth operation, no surprises. Also you don't have to build air in order to operate them. I also gave fair warning to the step and step slide/cover that the next time they gave me trouble, they were going to be replaced with electric ones. I honestly don't know what Blue Bird was thinking when they did all this air operated stuff. By the way Andy if you are at WOG I would very much like to talk with you about your step slide.

Butch - mine came with old fashioned manual valves with handles - no air. My step is electric, slide for the stepwell is electric, too I'm just thankful they didn't put air wipers on the windshield! I'll be at WOG, stop over any time!

[CrashTestDummy]

Originally Posted by Butch Charpentier

I got tired of the air valves and scraped them. They have been replaced with electric waste valves that can be operated from outside as well as the bathroom. They come with a stainless steel blade for smooth operation, no surprises. Also you don't have to build air in order to operate them. I also gave fair warning to the step and step slide/cover that the next time they gave me trouble, they were going to be replaced with electric ones. I honestly don't know what Blue Bird was thinking when they did all this air operated stuff. By the way Andy if you are at WOG I would very much like to talk with you about your step slide.

It's like if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So with a bus company, if you have an air compressor on board, everything is air operated.

"And that's the way we've always done it!!" =8-0

[Butch Charpentier]

AMEN

[NoGas]

Originally Posted by Butch Charpentier

I got tired of the air valves and scraped them... I honestly don't know what Blue Bird was thinking when they did all this air operated stuff...

When tracking down air leaks have thought this many times. There are too many places for air to leak and BB never learned! They used both in some places - electric power powers the rear slide and air the front . The rear operates perfect every time, but the front sometimes needs a little help . Opposite thing for the step cover, which will “chop your legs off” if activated by mistake. Thankfully, the dump valves came with old fashioned manual powered Dupree versions. When those cantankerous and always sticking dump valves were replaced with Valterras, I was tempted to go with their electric models. Their manual ones work perfect so am very glad I didn’t! BTW, highly recommend making that swap out.

That’s a nice waste tank level system Andy has and I really like how his floor turned out! One of these years I’m gonna have to drive the 4K miles to see what this “little” east coast PM get together is all about .

[Butch Charpentier]

Hey Andy I'm in site 141 but I haven't figured out where you are yet.

[badandy]

I decided to run the generator for a while to keep it limber while stopped for a while, but after a few hours it stopped producing power. I don't know if it's the regulator or what, but I'm just going to replace the head with a brushless one and be done with it. I need to replace the insulation and run a new exhaust while I'm in there, and the hydraulic ram is seeping, too. Project time!