1973 Blue Bird

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:42 pm

I'm really excited for you, Rudy, you're gonna have a great time!

Congratulations on your new adventure, especially getting paid to play! (I don't play any more, but it sure was fun & profitable while it lasted, heh.)

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:04 pm

Sharkey wrote:BTW, I'd be a little nervous about having blue lamp lenses anywhere on my vehicle. Around here, that will get you pulled over in a hurry, only official emergency vehicles (Fire, Police, Ambulance) can show blue lights anywhere on the body. Only authorized tow vehicles, school buses or worker transport vehicles can show red lenses to the front (rear is OK).

Might be worth a few minutes time to disguise those (paint, black electrical tape, replace with clear or amber lenses, etc).

Sharkey, I will paint the lenses white. Thanks for the head's up.

Jones'n4chrome · Post by **Jones'n4chrome** » Sun May 01, 2011 8:35 am

Rudy,

Your bus looks great!
Try to get some pics of your trip.

When you have your front tires put on, see if they will check the air pressure in the rear ones also.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sun May 01, 2011 9:42 am

I had the front tires mounted today.The guy also checked the air on the back tires. It cost me $25 apiece to get them mounted plus 8 a piece for leaving the old tires there. I also gave the kid doing the job a ten dollar tip. $76 altogether.

I also spray painted the blue lenses in the front of the bus white. I also painted over the remnants of the writing on the side of my bus.

It felt good to drive the bus.

Very quickly I got the hang of where I was on the road. Only twice did I slip off the right hand side of the road.

I've got big tires and I've got a big motor. Get in my way, and I'll run you over.

I will post pics of the tire change on my Blue Bird thread later today.

ezrablu · Post by **ezrablu** » Sun May 01, 2011 10:16 am

Rudy...you make me smile and laugh when I read your posts

I'm loving your attitude and confidence

I hope your trip goes so perfect you wish it were longer.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 12:47 am

Buddy likes to sleep in the closet.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 12:55 am

Here's a tool I forgot I had. I paid a lot of money for it, and I haven't even used it yet. It is a Cornwell compression tester.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:02 am

A couple of weeks ago, when the bus was still parked beside the shop, I had this view of a dogwood tree.

The swirly thing you see on the dashboard is an art piece that I made decades ago. It is comprised of a rug beater (made from cane) that I cut the handle off of and then inserted into a wooden candlestick holder.

I call this piece Neck With Brain.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:09 am

I have eight plastic bins of canned foods. That's over 150 cans. I also have another 100 cans which are stored on a shelf, in a closet, AND inside my oven.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:26 am

This is my bathroom. Here you see storage for my two oil filled electric radiator heaters.

The valuable items here are my wire collection.

On the top of the pile is 75 feet of Romex attached to a box that has the three pronged receptacle for a thirty amp RV wire.

Underneath that is 100 lbs of copper wire. Some of it is 30 amp RV wire, and some of it is 50 amp RV wire.

This stuff (6 gauge and 8 gauge, and 10 gauge) will come in handy when I wire my photo-voltaic system.

I will also be able to make up several wire feeds to my bus.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:38 am

AND NOW! The moment you have been waiting for.

The Tire Change.

In these first three photos you see that one wheel has been removed.

Jesse (at the tire shop) used a pneumatic jack to raise the bus.

Jesse used the two stage compressor mounted on the back of his Ford pickup to power the jack as well as a very heavy (50lbs) air gun.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:51 am

Here are some pictures of that air gun.

Here you see the passenger side wheel with new (to me) tire being installed. It is a used tire that is excellent.

OH, by the way, we were wondering why the driver's side wheel was being extremely difficult in getting the lug nuts off.

We sprayed WD40 on the threads yet the nuts weren't coming off.

I suggested to Jesse that they might be left hand threads.

Lo and Behold they were indeed left hand threads, which of course means that you have to turn clockwise to remove the nut.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 2:06 am

Jesse working on removing the old tire from the rim.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 2:11 am

A pic of my nice front tire. I had both the front tires replaced. Also the air pressure was checked on the four rear tires. 100 psi is what they put in, but I read the side of the tires and realized they need 120 psi.

I am going back to have the tires filled to the proper psi.

These are Bridgestone 11R 22.5 tires. They are not recaps.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 2:18 am

As per Sharkey's suggestion, I painted over the blue and amber lenses in the front at the top of the bus.

NOMADICISTA

1973 Blue Bird

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