1935 Chevy school bus

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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by Stealth Camper »

Geez....fun times at the tire shop! I cringe every time!

Can hardly wait to get to work on the front two wheels on my bus. I bought some replacement Dayton wheels so I can use 22.5" tires, but the old ones are split rims and I really don't want that excitement. I think I will just loosen everything up, stand way to the side with a long bar, and try to pry them off. Should go approximately straight out from the side of the bus and since there will be a 10 acre field for it to fly at, I am hoping to avoid major impact issues.
ol trunt
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by ol trunt »

Hello All.
We finally got tired of lighting the stove burners on the Magic Chef stove with a match or a spark wand. The matches are scary and wifey's hands aren't strong to make the spark lighter work which results in a BIG whoosh when she finally does. My hands are too strong and I keep snapping off the business end of the lighter--luckily I had a can of bondo and found a pop top for a repair or our meals would have been cold on the last camp out.

That said, I scouted the Depot and Lowe's BBQ section to see how their BBQs electric lighters worked and pieced together a spark generator and a pack of igniters on ebay. The total cost was less than twenty bucks and my MacGyvered system lights with a snap!
Jack

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stuartcnz
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by stuartcnz »

Thanks for this update! It never occurred to me that you could retrofit a piezio ignition system to a stove.
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by Stealth Camper »

That is pretty cool!
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by ol trunt »

Actually I didn't use a piezio igniter but rather an electronic igniter which uses a battery to charge up (and discharge) a small coil to produce the spark. The one I used can fire 6 electrodes simultaneously and having only used 5 I thought I might use the sixth as a deterrent on the entry door. Ha.
Jack
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by stuartcnz »

Interesting, I didn't realize that there were electric igniters, that were not piezio.
ol trunt
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by ol trunt »

Hello All.
As usual I’m stuck in the 30’s. This time however it’s the 1830’s.

I had become enamored of the pneumatic parallelogram plug bus door mechanism often found on shuttle buses and adapted one for use on my bus. The mechanism opens by pushing the door out a couple of inches and then sliding it back along the side of the bus. Quite a space saving device. When the door is closed it is securely locked in place—as long as there is air pressure in the tank. Unfortunately, eventually the pressure leaks down and the door loses its lock and can easily be pulled open. Until just now I have been dropping a metal rod through the lowest stair tread to mechanically lock the door by jamming the track bar.

As I’ve grown older it has become increasingly less fun to stand on my head in the stairway while trying to position or retrieve the locking rod. I tried various lock designs and finally settled on a bell crank and power door lock actuator.

Here’s where the 1830’s comes in. While we all can think of many applications of the bell crank I began to wonder where the term came from. Credit for the term seems to go back to the Elizabethan Era (1837-1901 Queen E l). It was a device which routed a rope pull from one room to another to effect the ringing of a bell somewhere else in the building. For example, the master of the house could suman a servant from the servant’s quarters by simply tugging a rope. Varying bell tones signified different locations. Thanks to the bell crank I made up I can now suman my door lock with my key fob or with a momentary switch inside the bus. No more standing on my head! Jack

As usual I’m stuck in the 30’s. This time however it’s the 1830’s.

I had become enamored of the pneumatic parallelogram plug bus door mechanism often found on shuttle buses and adapted one for use on my bus. The mechanism opens by pushing the door out a couple of inches and then sliding it back along the side of the bus. Quite a space saving device. When the door is closed it is securely locked in place—as long as there is air pressure in the tank. Unfortunately, eventually the pressure leaks down and the door loses its lock and can easily be pulled open. Until just now I have been dropping a metal rod through the lowest stair tread to mechanically lock the door by jamming the track bar.

As I’ve grown older it has become increasingly less fun to stand on my head in the stairway while trying to position or retrieve the locking rod. I tried various lock designs and finally settled on a bell crank and power door lock actuator.

Here’s where the 1830’s comes in. While we all can think of many applications of the bell crank I began to wonder where the term came from. Credit for the term seems to go back to the Elizabethan Era (1837-1901 Queen E l). It was a device which routed a rope pull from one room to another to effect the ringing of a bell somewhere else in the building. For example, the master of the house could suman a servant from the servant’s quarters by simply tugging a rope. Varying bell tones signified different locations. Thanks to the bell crank I made up I can now suman my door lock with my key fob or with a momentary switch inside the bus. No more standing on my head! Jack

Finished product.

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Door in unlocked position.

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Door in locked position.

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ol trunt
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by ol trunt »

Hello all.
Just got back from a few days camping in a local County park. It was a bit warm at 95 degrees but it cooled down to the 60's at night.
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Our camping friends went with us. They have just acquired a small tent trailer to fix up and we are looking forward to our first tent trailer camp out with them. We'll take Clarence (HS's toad) and our little motorcycle tent trailer. This campground has a group of camp sites that have only water so I'm working on "glamperizing" the tent trailer with AC, Genny, frig and LED lighting. I've restored a couple of old Coleman stoves and now I need to decide which one to take along.

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OR-----------------

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It may be a while before that trip comes about. I had a little medical tune up earlier this year and I go in for my quarterly check up on 8/11. I'm told that will slow me up for a couple of weeks even if things are good. if not, well it'll be longer. At least I have the tent trailer camp out to look forward to! Jack
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by Stealth Camper »

Stoves look great! Take them both....

Where did you get new decals? Coleman??
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by ol trunt »

I wish I had been able to get new decals. Since I couldn't, I took a screen shot from the correct stove on ebay, printed it up on real thin smooth finish paper and embedded it in casting resin on the stove. Once set I did a bit of color sanding and a quick buff and they look pretty much like the original decal. Jack

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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by Stealth Camper »

.
So our entire family has been into camping for at least the last 63 years - I can't remember anything before I was about 5 or so... Sister wanted to go camping this weekend - not sure why since it is 100 degrees and a gazilliabillion percent humidity here right now! She calls the RV park to make reservation and has this conversation;

Me: Hi I would like to see if you have a spot to rent for an RV on Sunday night.
RV: Yes we do.
Me: I would like to book that spot.
RV: I'm sorry it is a 2 night minimum on a holiday weekend.
Me: OK book me for 2 nights please.
RV: We don't have any two night bookings available...

If I had an easy way to post pics,it would be the one with Jean Luc Picard doing the double facepalm...!

I told her that if she does get to go there after all, give them a $2 bill just to see what happens!
ol trunt
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by ol trunt »

We finally get to go camping mid month--2 day minimum. Camp ground must not want to clean the "room" for just one day.

We won't be taking Clarence (toad) and his tent trailer this time as while I was recuperating I designed a set of shock absorbers for the torsion axles on the tent trailer and I doubt I'll have the project completed in time. Wifey is happy enough to stick with Honeysuckle Rose and the creature comforts therein. Jack
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by ol trunt »

Hello All. Promises promises. I actually did get to try out camping with the Toad and Golden the modified motorcycle trailer--it worked perfectly and deserves more discussion than it will get right now. I was forced to cancel my Christmas trip to Lake Mead Az this year because of an unexpected need for coronary stenting (hopefully not bipass surgery) on 12/14/21. I did make reservations at a local camp ground for those days as the camp ground is close to help-- should I need it. I feel fine and have never had any heart related discomfort but I guess my arteries are somewhat clogged--not too surprising for a guy pushing 80 I guess.

I think I posted this last Christmas--perhaps not but being a skoolie at heart I'll post it now. Jack

Christmas school bus light show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlzUQ-XklkU
ol trunt
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by ol trunt »

Hello All. It's been quite a year so far this year what with successful bladder cancer surgery in May and an upcoming round of quadruple bi-pass surgery on 12/28. I've elected to spend Christmas camping in my bus. Wifey will be baking a mince meat pie in the bus as has been our normal routine and I look forward to the trip.

Well wishes to All and I hope to return to brag about our camp out.

Jack
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Re: 1935 Chevy school bus

Post by Stealth Camper »

Not sure how I missed this when you wrote it. Just not paying attention, I guess!

Hope you are doing well and recover from the surgery quickly!

And well wishes to you and everyone else who happens to come across this place!!
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