Well, from where we left off, there were several hours of bleeding the brake system with a Harbor Freight pneumatic brake bleeder. This is a gadget that you hook to an air compressor and when you pull the trigger and air blows through it, it creates suction in a collection bottle with a hose attached that you connect to the brakes. This sucks the air out of the brake system. In Theory. It actually works that way about half the time, but somehow I kept managing to get air pressure blowing INTO the brake system. This is a bad thing (tm). Hydraulic brake systems are not supposed to have ANY air in them because the air will compress rather than having the hydraulic fluid move the wheel cylinders causing the brakes to work. As the end of the day was approaching, I calmed myself down and put away my tools and toys and cleaned myself up as best I could. I realized that in general the vacuum bleeder worked at first, but as the air pressure dropped it seemed to have more of a chance of blowing air into the system. I thought about this as I went to the el-cheapo hotel and cleaned up more, and decided that in the morning I would only have the thing attached to the brakes while the air pressure was at it's highest. Great idea, but wrong. The thing still blew air into the brakes. This is Friday now, and I have to get the brakes working before I am willing to order the $2,750 worth of tires. If I don't order the tires on Friday, they will not be installed Saturday, but on Monday. I have to be back in the Bay area on Monday. I am beginning to feel the pressure and decide to invent my own tool. I go to Harbor freight and buy a vacuum pump. These are sold for working on air conditioning, but will serve my needs also. I rig up an air-hose connection to the vacuum pump and block off the air-exhaust of the brake bleeder gadget, and viola! I have a brake bleeder that provides constant vacuum - no blowing air this time !
I work through the booster and then each of the 4 wheel brakes. They keep providing air as well as brake fluid. I go through about 2 1/2 quarts of brake fluid. I call Jeff at the brake shop and he gives me some advice and encouragement. I keep plugging away. Finally, about 6 PM I am getting a bit of pedal, particularly if I pump the brakes. I call Jeff again and he offers to come out Saturday morning.
Saturday morning, I decide not to mess with the brakes too much before Jeff arrives, and I spent some time spiffying up the dash / driver area, playing with the lights and turn signals etc. There is plenty of opportunity to learn about electricity in this rig, cause lots of things don't quite work. Most disturbing is that with the left turn signal on (and the lights actually blinking) there is no electricity on any of the trailer light connector plug pins. This is bad cause U-Haul is known to actually care about trailer lights working properly. Without the U-Haul tow dolly, I won't be able to get my car home.
Jeff shows up and we start messing with the brakes. His expert eye finds several small leaks, all due to my being a little too shy about tightening things too tight. We get the brakes to the point of actually holding pressure and it comes time to test! We move the chocks a few feet in front of and behind the wheels, start the bus and..... put it in gear! MOTION! and... BRAKES! the brakes actually stop the feeble 2 mph motion of the rig. We pull the chocks completely away and discuss a route I will take that avoids tight turns and minimizes potential collisions. I take the rig out of it's parking stall for the first time in 10 years and drive around a couple hundred yard ciricle. I step on the brakes several times, stopping the bus and re-starting. The idle settles down to the 550 or so that it belongs at and the transmission seems to shift.
We stop the bus and park and check the wheels. It seems like one is actually working, one is not and two others maybe sorta. The brake drums should all be about equally warm if the brakes are all working the same.
At this point several things are running through my mind.
1. IT RUNS! ! ! IT DRIVES ! ! ! YIPPIE let's head for home! oh wait - need tires. hmmmm
2. Brakes are not working RIGHT.
3. We discovered that the power steering hoses are leaking, and the power steering belt is shot.
4. The lights don't work right
5. Can't get tires till Monday and I have to be at WORK monday, not playing with an antique bus.
2&3 are real show stoppers. Where I work, we take safety very seriously. It seems to have seeped into my hard skull somehow over the last 30 years. The risk of running over some minivan full of kids is not worth attempting to drive this thing on any public street, much less a highway. #4&5 could maybe be mitigated, but only worth doing if 2&3 are completely resolved. Not gonna happen on the apron of El Toro Marine Air base without jacks, stands and appropriate tools.
Jeff had been getting more and more interested in the bus as we worked on it. I was happy to let him take over the project - he has all the required skills (more than I do in any case) and I knew the bus would have a good home. I spoke with Jeff today (Tuesday 2 days later) and the rig is now at his house. One of the wheels (most likely) has leaked all of the brake fluid out - so #2 above was a much bigger issue than I had anticipated. It would have been very unsafe to drive the rig for any distance. If Jeff decides he does not want to keep the rig, he will contact me and give me the opportunity to take it back, which I appreciate. Somehow, this thing has gotten under my skin.
o7
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Friday, January 8, 2016
Back in the South
I drove down yesterday with an uneventful trip.
Got to Karp's Power Brake about 10:30 ( okay - so I slept in till 3:41 instead of 2:00 ) and picked up the master cylinder and power booster. Jeff took a good 20 minutes going over things with me and gave me some good suggestions for my initial efforts with the brakes after getting the system bled. I will write about them in another post tonight, after they work.
I got back to Retro and immediately sprayed the lug nuts with PB Blaster in anticipation of Pete's coming out tomorrow (actually today as I write this) to put new tires on - a little blaster should help with getting the rusty looking lugs off.
Then I proceeded to spray paint the new brake parts red. It's not that I like red, you understand, it's that I like color coding engineering system components. If there are 4 3/8" metallic lines running along a section of frame rail, which one is brakes and which are fuel? I will know, when I am done with Retro, because the fuel lines will be purple and the brake lines will be red. Vacuum will be yellow, clean water blue and waste water brown. In addition, the lines have white stripes (more blobs really at this point) for each individual segment of line - one blob closest to engine, two blobs for next most distal segment etc. I am disoriented enough upside down under a car, any help I can get is gladly accepted.
I spiffed up the bolts etc. for the master cylinder and proceeded to install it. Sort of. Mostly. You see, there is this spring. It sort of fell out of a little box section of the chassis in front of the master cylinder. It fell out before I could use my whiffy jiffy $69 Harbor Frieght inspection camera to see where the other end was hooked on inside the box section. The end I could see was connected to the clevis pin that attaches the brake pedal linkage to the master cylinder yoke. This is the pedal return spring and is probably kind of important. I used my camera to look for where I would hook on. Did I mention disorientation under the bus? Multiply that by a zillion when using the inspection camera. The camera end of the flexible shaft tends to spin around so you don't know which way is up unless you pay attention to the little white arrow on top of the camera end. Anyway, I took useless pictures with my cellphone camera. I finally found it by feeling around. It is a little hole in a lip on the bottom front of the box section, about 1/4 of the way from the passenger side of the box. (consider this as otherwise unfindable on the Internet knowledge). Getting the spring on was a whole nother story - it is not an evil spring.... well maybe not TOTALLY evil.. The routine is to get the front of the spring hooked on to the chassis, use vice grips to pull the spring taut slip a screwdriver into the hook part of the spring and put the end of the screwdriver behind the yoke of the pedal linkage (with clevis and cotter installed) to leverage the spring even more taut then re-position the vice grips further away from the end of the spring remove screwdriver and slip spring end over notchy part on clevis pin. Springs fly when suddenly released from tension. This easy to understand 84 odd word sentence is the result of 45 minutes of cussing, flying springs, and sheer determined tenacity. Probably 40 trials of other technique and about 5 of this one. Good Luck if you ever have to re-install this spring. It can be done and if you have beefy manly muscles (I don't) it will probably be easier. I am a particularly doughy variety of techno-geek.
The booster went on with no complaints, the 2 section line from the master to the booster installed and initial efforts at bleeding the system started. More about bleeding in a later post. Daylight's a wasting.
o7
Got to Karp's Power Brake about 10:30 ( okay - so I slept in till 3:41 instead of 2:00 ) and picked up the master cylinder and power booster. Jeff took a good 20 minutes going over things with me and gave me some good suggestions for my initial efforts with the brakes after getting the system bled. I will write about them in another post tonight, after they work.
I got back to Retro and immediately sprayed the lug nuts with PB Blaster in anticipation of Pete's coming out tomorrow (actually today as I write this) to put new tires on - a little blaster should help with getting the rusty looking lugs off.
Then I proceeded to spray paint the new brake parts red. It's not that I like red, you understand, it's that I like color coding engineering system components. If there are 4 3/8" metallic lines running along a section of frame rail, which one is brakes and which are fuel? I will know, when I am done with Retro, because the fuel lines will be purple and the brake lines will be red. Vacuum will be yellow, clean water blue and waste water brown. In addition, the lines have white stripes (more blobs really at this point) for each individual segment of line - one blob closest to engine, two blobs for next most distal segment etc. I am disoriented enough upside down under a car, any help I can get is gladly accepted.
I spiffed up the bolts etc. for the master cylinder and proceeded to install it. Sort of. Mostly. You see, there is this spring. It sort of fell out of a little box section of the chassis in front of the master cylinder. It fell out before I could use my whiffy jiffy $69 Harbor Frieght inspection camera to see where the other end was hooked on inside the box section. The end I could see was connected to the clevis pin that attaches the brake pedal linkage to the master cylinder yoke. This is the pedal return spring and is probably kind of important. I used my camera to look for where I would hook on. Did I mention disorientation under the bus? Multiply that by a zillion when using the inspection camera. The camera end of the flexible shaft tends to spin around so you don't know which way is up unless you pay attention to the little white arrow on top of the camera end. Anyway, I took useless pictures with my cellphone camera. I finally found it by feeling around. It is a little hole in a lip on the bottom front of the box section, about 1/4 of the way from the passenger side of the box. (consider this as otherwise unfindable on the Internet knowledge). Getting the spring on was a whole nother story - it is not an evil spring.... well maybe not TOTALLY evil.. The routine is to get the front of the spring hooked on to the chassis, use vice grips to pull the spring taut slip a screwdriver into the hook part of the spring and put the end of the screwdriver behind the yoke of the pedal linkage (with clevis and cotter installed) to leverage the spring even more taut then re-position the vice grips further away from the end of the spring remove screwdriver and slip spring end over notchy part on clevis pin. Springs fly when suddenly released from tension. This easy to understand 84 odd word sentence is the result of 45 minutes of cussing, flying springs, and sheer determined tenacity. Probably 40 trials of other technique and about 5 of this one. Good Luck if you ever have to re-install this spring. It can be done and if you have beefy manly muscles (I don't) it will probably be easier. I am a particularly doughy variety of techno-geek.
The booster went on with no complaints, the 2 section line from the master to the booster installed and initial efforts at bleeding the system started. More about bleeding in a later post. Daylight's a wasting.
o7
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
The trip South
After speaking with the previous owner and looking at the dozens of pictures he sent me, I felt it was worth the trip from the San Francisco Bay area to Irvine to see the coach. I left at about 2 AM and drove down I-5 listening to the all-night talk shows, various CDs or my own excited thoughts about what might be in store.
I arrived at the designated intersection and with a phone call was able to fine-tune and locate the owner. We drove onto the re-purposed Marine Air Base and after not quite a mile stopped at a guard shack. The owner showed an ID card, gestured to my car and we drove on with a smile and a wave from the guard. As we proceeded RVs parked on the aprons and ramps of the former airbase increased in number. Some fairly shiny and new, some outright antiques, lined up and sitting in the California sun. As we approached a hangar decorated with an air-wings mascot on the huge doors, I saw the Wanderlodge.
At first glance I could see that it was pretty straight - no obvious dents or dings. Looked like all the trim was in place and even the glass was all there. Sure, the window seals on the windshield and back windows was dried out and cracked, but rubber certainly decays with time.
As the owner opened up the rig and showed me the inside, I was a little taken aback. This rig had been sitting for 10 years and had hosted some rodents during some of that time. I had brought a shop vacuum with me, expecting it to be dirty and I was not disappointed. During the time we were looking at the rig, he got a phone call in which he learned that the RV storage yard was closing in 20 days, and any rigs left after that time would be towed and stored at owners expen$e. In our phone conversations he had told me there would be at least 30 days, but the RV storage yard moved the date up.
After showing me what was where etc. the owner left me with the ID card and keys and wished me luck. He had informed me that the master brake cylinder was bad, and so that was high on my priority list. Here is my assessment of the problems I needed to address to get the rig out of jepoardy:
1. 10 year old gas in tanks & lines - harmful to engine if I try to run it on that old gas.
2. Dead chassis battery - need a battery to be able to run rig.
3. Defective brakes.
4. 10 year (or more) old tires must be replaced.
My plan was to use a borrowed battery to address #2 (no cost - borrowed batt from my jeep)
fix the brakes, and if I could get the motor running and the brakes worked well, then buy the tires.
This has the benefit of incremental cost with the option of bailing on the project at any point were the cost of proceeding exceeded ( Insanity / BankAccount ) * Spousal Justification Coefficient.
I had anticipated #1 and brought empty fuel cans and a siphon pump with me. Having thought about the problem, I knew that the rig had 2 55 gallon fuel tanks, and according to the owner, neither had much in them. I proceeded to siphon the fuel from the rear tank (which tanks fuel pump sounded like it works) into a 5 gallon can, pour the gas into the front tank, lather, rinse repeat. While the fuel (about 14 gallons) slowly siphoned out, I began inspecting the brake master cylinder and preparing to remove it.
Once all the gas was moved, I began in earnest to pull the master cylinder out - not too badly stuck except for where the brake line attached to a fitting on the side of the cylinder. The line was not coming off that fitting, even using the special tubing wrench I had picked up for the purpose. The fitting was attached to the cylinder with a hollow bolt, which was fairly easy to remove and so the master was free in about a half-hours work.
Having the cylinder out enabled me to start trying to find a replacement - it had numbers on the side and part numbers are the key to getting parts, right? Wrong. Google was available on my phone and I am reasonably good at google-fu. There may be a NOS master cylinder somewhere, but I wasn't finding it. I became increasingly discouraged, particularly because the emergency brake had been removed years earlier and none of the parts are with the rig. Also the brake system on this bus is a single-circuit type. Both the front and rear brakes operate off of a single master cylinder. Most more modern cars have dual systems where the master cylinder is two hydraulically independent sections, one for the front brakes and one for the rear. A failure (think leak) in the front brakes will not affect the rear brakes in a dual system. In a single system this is not true. I became convinced that I would not keep going on the project because I felt that the single brake system was not safe, and besides, I could not get the parts anyway.
I put my tools away and locked up the rig, got myself a cheap hotel room and took a hot but water conservative (not very helpful after lying on ones back all afternoon) shower. After a bit of rest, I started widening my google search - now on my laptop rather than the constrained screen of a phone. I found places that specialized in building brake systems for hotrods and classic cars. Some of the places could build dual systems to replace what had been single systems when the cars were produced. This information began to re-encourage me and before long I had found a place in Virginia that could rebuild my master cylinder for a few hundred dollars and would even overnight ship it back to me. Realizing that the greater Los Angeles area might just have a similar service, I focused my search and found Karps Power Brake in Upland ( at least that's what they say - my GPS says they are actually in Montclair! Do I care if they are GeoSpatially challenged ? NO! and besides, maybe the GPS is wrong. or perhaps there is an ongoing turf war between the civic governments of Montclair and Upland. I am not Political- I am keeping out of it.)
I called Karps and spoke with Jeff and he assured me that they could rebuild and possibly re-sleeve the master cylinder. Then he asked me about the booster. I replied, there is no booster - just the master cylinder. He gently pointed out that my foot and that master were not going to stop a 28,000 pound bus that was lumbering along a road. Regarding the safety and reliability of the single system, Jeff pointed out the millions of miles driven on such systems before the dual-systems became popular and he told me that the brakes would give a warning before failure - it may be a whisper, but it would be there. With the idea of possibly converting to a dual system in the future, and knowing I would be able to restore the emergency / parking brake (more googlefication gave me some confidence on that subject) I decided to move ahead. There had to be a booster somewhere. I crawled back under the bus and slid south on my creeper. Lo and behold, a rather large boosterish looking thingamajig.
I proceeded to remove the booster, and the brake line from the master to the booster so I could get a new line that was not stuck in the fitting for the master cylinder. I called Jeff and discussed the booster and it's potential for rebuilding and agreed to bring both components by later in the day.
Since I had done about as much damage to the brake system as possible, I decided to work on the engine next. I had filled my trusty gas cans with fresh fuel, poured it into the rear tank and ran the fuel pump with an oil-change pan under the fuel filter from which I disconnected the output line. The gas was at first amber and smelled like varnish, but after a gallon or two, started getting clearer and fresher smelling. I pumped about 7 gallons through and then put the output line back in place. The pumped out gas was added to the mess in the forward gas tank.
Having been alive in the 60's I was familiar with the hair singing technique known as "put a few thimblefuls of gas down the throat of the carb and see what happens when you turn the key". I proceeded to pour the aforementioned fuel into the carb, leaned back and twisted the key. I was rewarded with a healthy rumble of Detroit's finest technology for about 4 seconds - then the sounds of silence. This was so much fun that I did it a few more times. (did I mention the Edelbrock manifold, headers and glass packs?) The carb, however was resolutely uncooperative.
So, I did what any geek would do - I USED THE GOOGLE ! ! I found a carb-rebuilding shop that was on the way (if you drove that way) to the brake shop. I called them and got a quote for rebuilding the Holly 4 Barrel, pulled the carb (after taking some "how the heck was this connected" photos) and was on to the next task - cleaning. ( it was a little to late to brave LA rush hour at this point - the parts run would wait till morning )
I had a few hours before they would kick me out so I began removing all the textile and foam that looked like the varmints had been there. Two dinette seat cushions (the backs are attached and will wait till I have the rig home for removal) two mattresses etc. The only fabric I believe I will keep is the snap-on privacy curtains for the front, driverside and passenger windows. It looks relatively clean and I will get it dry cleaned and then evaluate it. Cleaning out cabinets, closets, all kinds of stuff - campers accumulate stuff nearly as well as houses do, and the previous owner had moved across country and had no interest in anything in the rig. I vacuumed. and vacuumed. and vacuumed. I burned out my little 5 gallon shop vac vacuuming so much, but I got nearly all of the obvious evidence of the varmints out of the rig. I sprayed nearly every surface with Clorox Disinfecting bathroom cleaner. All while wearing a dust mask and gloves. I may stop on the way home at a gas station with a big vacuum with a long hose and do another pass or two.
Next morning - my last day this trip - off to the carb shop. Oh HAPPY DAY ! they have a Holley 4 Barrel on the shelf - looks like a dead-on match for mine. A quick trip to the ATM ( Cash Only at Carb-X ) and I am the proud owner of a shiny carburetor. On to Karps Power Brake. ( Los Angeles area is BIG! At home I can drive 2 miles and pass 2 auto parts stores, Home Depot, Lowes, Target and Wal Mart. From the RV it is 8 miles to AutoZone and about 10 to Home Depot. How do they do it???? ) Anyway, I get there, show Jeff the parts, and get the good news that the Master Cylinder is in fairly good shape for pushing 50 years and should be rebuild-able. The booster could be problematic - there were two types that looked about like mine, one is very rebuild-able and the other not so much. Can't tell till they open them up. I head back to the RV to see if the new carb works.
I install the carb. hmmm something is wrong. Backfire. Backfire. hmmmmm oh! Throttle linkage on wrong. Try again - much better ! a running engine! The idle is high, (1500 RPM) despite my plugging the vacuum line to the brake booster, not sure what it could be. well, it runs, it has oil pressure, it is getting warm and the temp gauge works. I am thinking I may have a vacuum leak, but it is getting late and I want to hit the road, so I will worry about the high idle next trip.
This brings us to now. It is 9:23 PM and I am about to hit the rack. At about 2:00 AM I am going back south with a Hyundai full of tools, a head full of hope and enthusiasm I have not felt in far too long. If all goes well, the brakes will work well enough tomorrow that I will call Pete's road service and order the $2,600 worth of tires to be installed on Friday. I will also sign up for Coach - Net roadside service in case of trouble on the way home. I will futz around with the lights and check the cooling system carefully. I will inspect the belts and hoses, maybe pick up spares, maybe change them out. Remember that I am working in field conditions and under a bit of pressure and duress. I need the coach to run for about 10 hours to get home and be able to park it and then give it the patient care and attention it requires and deserves, so wise old purists, realize I am trying to make a calculated assessment of the probability of getting home okay with as little field work as possible.
The plan is to tow the Hyundai on one of the cute little front-wheel-only dollies from u-haul and you better believe I am going to toe the 55mph line. Or maybe 45 if the wind is the wrong way. Going North via 101 so no 4500 foot Tejon pass (Grapevine) just a couple of 1200 footers. No hurry here, just enjoying the ride as much as I can while going to full GQ over every new little sound I hear.
o7
I arrived at the designated intersection and with a phone call was able to fine-tune and locate the owner. We drove onto the re-purposed Marine Air Base and after not quite a mile stopped at a guard shack. The owner showed an ID card, gestured to my car and we drove on with a smile and a wave from the guard. As we proceeded RVs parked on the aprons and ramps of the former airbase increased in number. Some fairly shiny and new, some outright antiques, lined up and sitting in the California sun. As we approached a hangar decorated with an air-wings mascot on the huge doors, I saw the Wanderlodge.
At first glance I could see that it was pretty straight - no obvious dents or dings. Looked like all the trim was in place and even the glass was all there. Sure, the window seals on the windshield and back windows was dried out and cracked, but rubber certainly decays with time.
As the owner opened up the rig and showed me the inside, I was a little taken aback. This rig had been sitting for 10 years and had hosted some rodents during some of that time. I had brought a shop vacuum with me, expecting it to be dirty and I was not disappointed. During the time we were looking at the rig, he got a phone call in which he learned that the RV storage yard was closing in 20 days, and any rigs left after that time would be towed and stored at owners expen$e. In our phone conversations he had told me there would be at least 30 days, but the RV storage yard moved the date up.
After showing me what was where etc. the owner left me with the ID card and keys and wished me luck. He had informed me that the master brake cylinder was bad, and so that was high on my priority list. Here is my assessment of the problems I needed to address to get the rig out of jepoardy:
1. 10 year old gas in tanks & lines - harmful to engine if I try to run it on that old gas.
2. Dead chassis battery - need a battery to be able to run rig.
3. Defective brakes.
4. 10 year (or more) old tires must be replaced.
My plan was to use a borrowed battery to address #2 (no cost - borrowed batt from my jeep)
fix the brakes, and if I could get the motor running and the brakes worked well, then buy the tires.
This has the benefit of incremental cost with the option of bailing on the project at any point were the cost of proceeding exceeded ( Insanity / BankAccount ) * Spousal Justification Coefficient.
I had anticipated #1 and brought empty fuel cans and a siphon pump with me. Having thought about the problem, I knew that the rig had 2 55 gallon fuel tanks, and according to the owner, neither had much in them. I proceeded to siphon the fuel from the rear tank (which tanks fuel pump sounded like it works) into a 5 gallon can, pour the gas into the front tank, lather, rinse repeat. While the fuel (about 14 gallons) slowly siphoned out, I began inspecting the brake master cylinder and preparing to remove it.
Once all the gas was moved, I began in earnest to pull the master cylinder out - not too badly stuck except for where the brake line attached to a fitting on the side of the cylinder. The line was not coming off that fitting, even using the special tubing wrench I had picked up for the purpose. The fitting was attached to the cylinder with a hollow bolt, which was fairly easy to remove and so the master was free in about a half-hours work.
Having the cylinder out enabled me to start trying to find a replacement - it had numbers on the side and part numbers are the key to getting parts, right? Wrong. Google was available on my phone and I am reasonably good at google-fu. There may be a NOS master cylinder somewhere, but I wasn't finding it. I became increasingly discouraged, particularly because the emergency brake had been removed years earlier and none of the parts are with the rig. Also the brake system on this bus is a single-circuit type. Both the front and rear brakes operate off of a single master cylinder. Most more modern cars have dual systems where the master cylinder is two hydraulically independent sections, one for the front brakes and one for the rear. A failure (think leak) in the front brakes will not affect the rear brakes in a dual system. In a single system this is not true. I became convinced that I would not keep going on the project because I felt that the single brake system was not safe, and besides, I could not get the parts anyway.
I put my tools away and locked up the rig, got myself a cheap hotel room and took a hot but water conservative (not very helpful after lying on ones back all afternoon) shower. After a bit of rest, I started widening my google search - now on my laptop rather than the constrained screen of a phone. I found places that specialized in building brake systems for hotrods and classic cars. Some of the places could build dual systems to replace what had been single systems when the cars were produced. This information began to re-encourage me and before long I had found a place in Virginia that could rebuild my master cylinder for a few hundred dollars and would even overnight ship it back to me. Realizing that the greater Los Angeles area might just have a similar service, I focused my search and found Karps Power Brake in Upland ( at least that's what they say - my GPS says they are actually in Montclair! Do I care if they are GeoSpatially challenged ? NO! and besides, maybe the GPS is wrong. or perhaps there is an ongoing turf war between the civic governments of Montclair and Upland. I am not Political- I am keeping out of it.)
I called Karps and spoke with Jeff and he assured me that they could rebuild and possibly re-sleeve the master cylinder. Then he asked me about the booster. I replied, there is no booster - just the master cylinder. He gently pointed out that my foot and that master were not going to stop a 28,000 pound bus that was lumbering along a road. Regarding the safety and reliability of the single system, Jeff pointed out the millions of miles driven on such systems before the dual-systems became popular and he told me that the brakes would give a warning before failure - it may be a whisper, but it would be there. With the idea of possibly converting to a dual system in the future, and knowing I would be able to restore the emergency / parking brake (more googlefication gave me some confidence on that subject) I decided to move ahead. There had to be a booster somewhere. I crawled back under the bus and slid south on my creeper. Lo and behold, a rather large boosterish looking thingamajig.
I proceeded to remove the booster, and the brake line from the master to the booster so I could get a new line that was not stuck in the fitting for the master cylinder. I called Jeff and discussed the booster and it's potential for rebuilding and agreed to bring both components by later in the day.
Since I had done about as much damage to the brake system as possible, I decided to work on the engine next. I had filled my trusty gas cans with fresh fuel, poured it into the rear tank and ran the fuel pump with an oil-change pan under the fuel filter from which I disconnected the output line. The gas was at first amber and smelled like varnish, but after a gallon or two, started getting clearer and fresher smelling. I pumped about 7 gallons through and then put the output line back in place. The pumped out gas was added to the mess in the forward gas tank.
Having been alive in the 60's I was familiar with the hair singing technique known as "put a few thimblefuls of gas down the throat of the carb and see what happens when you turn the key". I proceeded to pour the aforementioned fuel into the carb, leaned back and twisted the key. I was rewarded with a healthy rumble of Detroit's finest technology for about 4 seconds - then the sounds of silence. This was so much fun that I did it a few more times. (did I mention the Edelbrock manifold, headers and glass packs?) The carb, however was resolutely uncooperative.
So, I did what any geek would do - I USED THE GOOGLE ! ! I found a carb-rebuilding shop that was on the way (if you drove that way) to the brake shop. I called them and got a quote for rebuilding the Holly 4 Barrel, pulled the carb (after taking some "how the heck was this connected" photos) and was on to the next task - cleaning. ( it was a little to late to brave LA rush hour at this point - the parts run would wait till morning )
I had a few hours before they would kick me out so I began removing all the textile and foam that looked like the varmints had been there. Two dinette seat cushions (the backs are attached and will wait till I have the rig home for removal) two mattresses etc. The only fabric I believe I will keep is the snap-on privacy curtains for the front, driverside and passenger windows. It looks relatively clean and I will get it dry cleaned and then evaluate it. Cleaning out cabinets, closets, all kinds of stuff - campers accumulate stuff nearly as well as houses do, and the previous owner had moved across country and had no interest in anything in the rig. I vacuumed. and vacuumed. and vacuumed. I burned out my little 5 gallon shop vac vacuuming so much, but I got nearly all of the obvious evidence of the varmints out of the rig. I sprayed nearly every surface with Clorox Disinfecting bathroom cleaner. All while wearing a dust mask and gloves. I may stop on the way home at a gas station with a big vacuum with a long hose and do another pass or two.
Next morning - my last day this trip - off to the carb shop. Oh HAPPY DAY ! they have a Holley 4 Barrel on the shelf - looks like a dead-on match for mine. A quick trip to the ATM ( Cash Only at Carb-X ) and I am the proud owner of a shiny carburetor. On to Karps Power Brake. ( Los Angeles area is BIG! At home I can drive 2 miles and pass 2 auto parts stores, Home Depot, Lowes, Target and Wal Mart. From the RV it is 8 miles to AutoZone and about 10 to Home Depot. How do they do it???? ) Anyway, I get there, show Jeff the parts, and get the good news that the Master Cylinder is in fairly good shape for pushing 50 years and should be rebuild-able. The booster could be problematic - there were two types that looked about like mine, one is very rebuild-able and the other not so much. Can't tell till they open them up. I head back to the RV to see if the new carb works.
I install the carb. hmmm something is wrong. Backfire. Backfire. hmmmmm oh! Throttle linkage on wrong. Try again - much better ! a running engine! The idle is high, (1500 RPM) despite my plugging the vacuum line to the brake booster, not sure what it could be. well, it runs, it has oil pressure, it is getting warm and the temp gauge works. I am thinking I may have a vacuum leak, but it is getting late and I want to hit the road, so I will worry about the high idle next trip.
This brings us to now. It is 9:23 PM and I am about to hit the rack. At about 2:00 AM I am going back south with a Hyundai full of tools, a head full of hope and enthusiasm I have not felt in far too long. If all goes well, the brakes will work well enough tomorrow that I will call Pete's road service and order the $2,600 worth of tires to be installed on Friday. I will also sign up for Coach - Net roadside service in case of trouble on the way home. I will futz around with the lights and check the cooling system carefully. I will inspect the belts and hoses, maybe pick up spares, maybe change them out. Remember that I am working in field conditions and under a bit of pressure and duress. I need the coach to run for about 10 hours to get home and be able to park it and then give it the patient care and attention it requires and deserves, so wise old purists, realize I am trying to make a calculated assessment of the probability of getting home okay with as little field work as possible.
The plan is to tow the Hyundai on one of the cute little front-wheel-only dollies from u-haul and you better believe I am going to toe the 55mph line. Or maybe 45 if the wind is the wrong way. Going North via 101 so no 4500 foot Tejon pass (Grapevine) just a couple of 1200 footers. No hurry here, just enjoying the ride as much as I can while going to full GQ over every new little sound I hear.
o7
Monday, January 4, 2016
Welcome
This blog is dedicated to the restoration of RetroActive, a 1968 Bluebird Wanderlodge motorcoach.
I found a post on the Wanderlodge Owners Group website which stated that a Bluebird was free for the taking, but it needed tires and brakes. This is not a trivial need, 6 new tires cost about $2500 and the cost of the brakes can also be significant, depending on exactly what is wrong.
I considered for a few days, during the busy holiday times and decided to give the provided number a call to see if the coach was still available. It was available and I asked the owner to send me some pictures, which they did:
In speaking with the owner, he said the rig had been sitting 10 years, which is never a good thing for any vehicle. I was intrigued by the overall condition of the body, that all the glass and trim appeared to be intact and the fact that this was a Bluebird.
The significant thing about a Bluebird relative to most other motorhomes is that the Bluebird has an allstainless steel frame and body. Most modern motorhomes are made with aluminum or wood framing bonded inside fiberglass panels with foam insulation and an inner wall of a wood laminate. The Bluebirds are all stainless steel, which makes the basic "bones" of the coach very strong and long-lasting. Another point about the construction of the Bluebird is that the interiors are mostly screwed together. This means that they can be unscrewed apart without destroying the wood components making up the interior of the coach. Most modern coaches are glued and stapled, except for the very high end coaches. The idea of taking apart the inside of this motorhome and rebuilding it exactly as I wanted began to form in my mind. I have owned two previous motorhomes, both of which were the glued & stapled variety. I worked on each of them in the course of normal maintenance and was never impressed with the quality of construction or design that went into them. The idea of building a motorhome my way began to grow stronger in my mind.
The next post will continue with my trip to see the coach for the first time.
I found a post on the Wanderlodge Owners Group website which stated that a Bluebird was free for the taking, but it needed tires and brakes. This is not a trivial need, 6 new tires cost about $2500 and the cost of the brakes can also be significant, depending on exactly what is wrong.
I considered for a few days, during the busy holiday times and decided to give the provided number a call to see if the coach was still available. It was available and I asked the owner to send me some pictures, which they did:
In speaking with the owner, he said the rig had been sitting 10 years, which is never a good thing for any vehicle. I was intrigued by the overall condition of the body, that all the glass and trim appeared to be intact and the fact that this was a Bluebird.
The significant thing about a Bluebird relative to most other motorhomes is that the Bluebird has an all
The next post will continue with my trip to see the coach for the first time.
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