Transplant a roof?

[TinnedFish]

Greetings all,

My family purchased the excellent bus that was offered in the for sale section of this informative site (redwood bus).

Some current pics (careful, the images are very big):
http://www.ingri.com/bruce/bus/index.htm

It's been in the shop in Eugene for a while, and they're suffering trying to find the rear brake cylinders. If they can't track em down, the only way to get it back on the road is to replace the rear axle.

If this is necessary, our budget probably can't handle the other repairs that this rig needs. We'd have to tow it to our land and she might not roll again, which seems a damn shame.

I'm calling out for some brainstorming options - is there anyone in the Eugene area w/ the skills and wherewithal to transplant the top 1/2 of the bus onto an updated chassis? This could even be cheaper than what we're faced w/ now to get this old beast on the road!

Are there any secret stashes of old-school ford brake cylinders in anyones barn? I can try to get details on the part, but it appears the part numbers have been transferred to new parts that are no longer compatible. This one has a second hose mating the 2 cylinders. All of the parts we've ordered have a single port and can't be modified for a second one.

Thanks!

Bruce

[Sharkey]

Swapping the roof to a new bus would mean pretty much knocking it to pieces and starting over with any of the materials that you managed to salvage. Installing a new rear axle isn't all that terribly difficult, but yes, it is expensive.

Wheel cylinders can be rebuilt. A good machine shop that is confident in brake system repairs can bore out the old cylinders, insert a stainless steel sleeve and then ream the sleeve to the cylinder's original specification. Don't ask me who does this, I just know that it can be done, and frequenly is in classic car restoration. Seems like adding an additional brake line port shouldn't be too difficult.

Also consider not daisy-chaining the two cylinders, but bring the two individual inlets together with a Tee adapter, probably outside the backing plate. The two cylinders just need to see equal pressure, no reason that they have to pass one through the other, that's just the way some engineer designed it. My Housetruck is the same way, hope I don't run into this myself, but that's how I'd solve it.

Who is doing your brake work? When Greg sold his bus (the 1951 White Super Power on the site), the brakes hadn't worked in 20 years. The new owner drove the bus the few blocks to Tru Line Alignment and Brake on highway 99 north. I don't know where he found the parts, but Carl replaced everything in the brake system, the master cylinder, the lines, the cylinders, shoes, drums, everything. Maybe he has a wayback machine?

[TinnedFish]

It's at Mid Lane, 4237 W 5th in Eugene. Gordon has been working on it, he's been a great guy so far. He's tried to talk us out of spending our money on this at every step! <grin>

I'll let him know about the T idea. And I'll give Tru Line Alignment and Brake a call too.

thanks

[forgottenhighway]

Bruce,
Try http://www.alrettatruckparts.com/ 508-788-9409 ....they might have the original cylinders. Another option is having brass sleaves pressed into your cylinders..I think Whitepost Restorations does this. Somebody somewhere has these sitting on a shelf...post back if you have no luck.
Cheers, Pat

[ken]

Having worked most of my life in the Brake Manufacturing and rebuilding industry, I agree with the other poster that WhiteHorse can probably help you out.
http://www.whitepost.com/brake.html

Where I used to work, we did this for older brake calipers (sorry, they no longer offer that service), it really doesn't take that long, but would be more of a challenge with your cylinders, as they are pretty rare.

Best of luck.


ken

[TinnedFish]

Using the resources posted here, we were able to track down 4 brake cylinders. 2 of them fit perfectly. The other 2 were the right size, but missing the second set of ports for balancing the pressure between them. The solution was to drill them out and then craft the necessary set of push rods. A lot like Sharkey's T idea. Now the system has been filled, bled, and is working perfectly.

Restoring the originals wasn't very promising. Rust had enjoyed the bulk of the metal, and we'd have to pay for complete restructuring.

We're now working on getting a seat bolted in, a gas tank strapped on, and silly things like brake lights (so the Fuzz will know where to find me as I cross each county line on the way home!)

Bruce