1973 Blue Bird

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:43 pm

ezrablu wrote:Hurray Rudy! I was sending out my good vibes to you all day and I didn't even know about this hose job I'm so glad you accomplished replacing the hose and it looks like a fine job.

P.S. Very good photos...and you're a good story teller, too

Blu, Thanks for your support and the compliment about story telling.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:45 pm

Griff wrote:Well done, Rudy! Nice feeling knowing that's resolved, eh? (...and with time to spare with T-minus 8 and counting, heh).

Griff, I will remember your contributions to my efforts. Thank you so much.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:51 pm

One of the things I inherited when my dad died (a year ago), is a GPS unit. It is a Sony. It is a very great device.

I wanted to hook it up in my bus. My bus did not have a 12 volt receptacle.

I was going to use an old receptacle, but I did not have the connector to connect the positive terminal.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:15 pm

Feeling somewhat disheartened, I started to put my tools away when I realized I could MacGuyver a socket.

I remembered that I had a splitter for 12 volt sockets. Plug one end into the lighter receptacle and you had two sockets.

I cut one of the sockets. It has 8 inches of wire. I have many terminals with which to connect to wires.

I connected to one of the many circuit breakers located on the panel to the left of the driver's area. Many of those circuits have been rendered inop.

I grounded the neg. wire to the metal of the bus. I used an Adel clamp to hold the socket.

I now have a socket for the GPS.

dburt · Post by **dburt** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:55 am

Git 'er done Rudy!

Mark R. Obtinario · Post by **Mark R. Obtinario** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:51 am

Nice work on the lower radiator hose.

I especially like the way in which you get yourself covered to keep from getting your hands and clothes nasty.

I, on the other hand, usually look like I have been rolling in yuck by the time I have gotten done with working under a bus. Consequently I have clothes that my wife refers to as my "under the bus clothes".

And woe betide me if I should try to wash them without washing something else before my wife washes her clothes.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:36 pm

When I bought this bus, there had been a diesel generator in the back. The exhaust for that generator was piped in to one of the bus exhaust pipes.

When I installed my gasoline powered Onan generator, I put the exhaust on that 1 1/2 pipe that was welded to the bus engine tailpipe.

I later discovered that there was quite a bit of exhaust coming out of that tube.

I did not want that diesel exhaust to enter the engine of my generator, so I disconnected the generator from it.

That left a hole where the bus exhaust would come out of. I fabricated a sleeve and cap which Danno welded onto the tailpipe thereby stopping the exhaust from coming out of that hole.

I was under the bus today and checked the adjustment of my brakes. I am happy to report that they are in very good adjustment.

I am more happy to report that ALL the mechanical issues I could think of have been addressed.

I am ready to roll. Yippee.

Gonna take some test drives this week. Gonna get my front tires installed.

It's getting scary close to leaving time.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:26 pm

Sounds like you are very well prepared! Once you get on the road it won't be scary anymore

Get yourself some sage to burn before you leave..it will calm you, it is good for the bus and the doggies AND it smells great!

Jones'n4chrome · Post by **Jones'n4chrome** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:36 pm

Rudy, If you keep at it like this, you will need to change the title of this thread to "Rudy's Garage"

Dennis The Bus Dweller · Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:44 pm

Didn't Frank Zappa do a song about jammin in Rudys garage

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:51 am

Shawn came over today and we managed to extract the bus from the wet ground it was parked on.

I got it to the gravel driveway and washed the outside. I used Simple Green cleaner, a brush on a handle, and rags. I parked next to the water spigot for rinsing.

Here are some pics of the mess I had to get out of. It took many tries of jockeying back and forth.

It appears that I have an anti-spin differential. We noticed that sometimes the driver's side wheels would turn and then sometimes the passenger side wheels would turn.

As you can see, while barely making it up that grassy (wet) grade, the drivers side wheels were churning.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 12:03 pm

The bus is immensely cleaner. It took us two hours of scrubbing and rinsing. It looks great.

Once again, Shawn has been a great help.

Here are pics of the bus in the driveway and pics of it being washed.

TOMORROW I GET THE FRONT TIRES MOUNTED!!!!

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:07 pm

What a GREAT time! It's looking really awesome...wish I was there to share the joy! Any circus tricks?

Post by **Sharkey** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:29 pm

Rudy wrote:It appears that I have an anti-spin differential. We noticed that sometimes the driver's side wheels would turn and then sometimes the passenger side wheels would turn.

Uhm, no, that's normal differential action. It only means that the amount ot traction available to each side was roughly equal, with the spinning side having a bit less than the non-spinning side.

A limited-slip differential would not have allowed one side to spin, the only way to lose traction is to break both sides loose at the same time.

Then you're ~really~ stuck.

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).

ezrablu · Post by **ezrablu** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 3:56 pm

Good photos, Rudy! I'm so happy you've got your bus out and all cleaned up! Those wet ruts look pretty close to the same as what I'm stuck in but my dirt is MUCH blacker

I'll take photos when I got out there tomorrow.

I'm really bummed cuz it's supposed to rain here tomorrow and several more days during the next 10 days. But! Saturday and Sunday night it's supposed to drop down to 33Â° and 30Â°...so early Sunday morning before the sun comes up I'm shoot out to my bus and try to drive it out while the ground is still really cold. I'll just give a try or two and if it don't drive out right away I'm not sinking it down anymore. I'll just be leaving it sit a few weeks till some of the moisture dries up. That's what I did last summer. I had it stuck pretty good but I let the ground dry up and it drove right out.

Rudy, I think your trip is going to go just fine

NOMADICISTA

1973 Blue Bird

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