Plans

Retro needs a lot of work in different areas.   He has good bones, which makes it worthwhile to do the work that is needed - it is likely that if the various problem areas are properly addressed he will be a fine coach to travel and camp in.

By taking stock of Retro's condition and listing all the areas that need work I can plan the work so that where part of a system in one area affects a different area that I may not be working on yet  I can perhaps do a few extras that make the later work easier.

So here is a first draft of the things that need to be addressed in Retro - broken down by driving issues and living issues.

Driving Issues:

1.  Radiator needs to be cleaned.  When under high load like going up mountains,  Retro overheats.  this is mainly (probably) due to the radiator being clogged up.   The radiator needs to be removed and taken to a specialty shop and rodded out (rods pushed through the tubing to clean out gunk).

2. Brake lights don't work.   I think the hydraulic brakelight switch is bad.  There is electricity in the wire going to the switch, but not coming out.  The switch was replaced with the master cylinder rebuild so this kind of bugs me.  Some things I have read seem to indicate that these switches fail when used with the newer silicon based brake fluid.  I need to check into this.  There are mechanical replacement switches,  I might check those out.

3. No emergency brake.   This is a big deal.   There is a brake that is supposed to be installed on the back of the transmission and to the driveline.  It was removed by a previous owner for rebuild and the shop lost the pieces and so now Retro has no emergency and parking brake.   I think I can buy an old transmission that has the parts or maybe get a newer design that will fit Retro.

4. Gas tanks.  The two gas tanks are almost certainly rusty inside.  I can remove them and take them to a shop that will clean and then coat the inside.  

5. Radiator fans.    Retro has electric radiator fans.  The two fans do not cover all of the radiator.  I may be able to redesign the system with 4 fans and cover the whole thing better.

6.  Redo 12 Volt electrical system.    Right now,  Retro has 1 starting battery for starting the engine as well as running all the 12 volt items in the house part of the coach - lights,  water pump, refrigerator etc.    I want to split the system so that the house stuff has 2 or 4  deep-cycle batteries (how ever much fits physically) and the starting battery is used for starting the motor,  starting the generator  and for things like headlights / marker lights / brakelights / windshield wipers / turn signals etc.

7.  Redo  instrument panel - make beautiful and add a few instruments - gas gauge for each tank instead of switching one gauge between tanks,  fix transmission temp gauge, add brakelight indicator lamp etc.

Livability issues:

1.  Water damaged wood.    There have been water leaks over the years that have affected Retro's interior wood.   There are spots in the bedroom and living room and possibly more that I have not found yet.    I am going to remove the paneling in the bedroom,  remove most of the furring (the wood behind the wall that is screwed to Retro's steel frame and to which the paneling is nailed) and replace with new wood.     The living room has some problems of this type also, and I will do the same work there.

2.  Replace sofa & loveseat.    Retro was infested with rodents at one point so all the textiles in the bus are going to be replaced.  All the foam too.    

3.  Replace old window style air-conditioners with RV rooftop units.    This will also include removing the "boxes" that hang off of Retro's back and side and replacing them with smooth new steel panels painted to match the existing scheme.

4.  Replace lighting.   I am certainly going to LED lighting.   I may switch to all 12 Volt lighting. Right now the lighting is a combination of 120VAC fluorescent lights  and  12 volt lights in the same fixtures.  I could just replace the 12V bulbs with LEDs,  though I think I want to use LED strip lighting.   The fluorescents could be replaced with regular  120VAC lamp sockets with LED bulbs in them.  Put 2 or 3  in each existing fluorescent fixture and it should work fine.  But perhaps just having a 12 volt lighting system is good enough ? When I am plugged into power  the electricity would come from 120VAC  through the converter keeping the batteries charged.   I will think about this.   The 120 Volt circuits are already there and may be a good backup if something goes wrong with the 12 volt systems.


5. Convert two twin beds to one queen bed.

6. Add microwave / convection oven  (perhaps over stove as fan hood?)

7. Replace old fanless propane heaters with modern  RV  forced-air heaters, suplimented with 120VAC heaters - perhaps oil-filled radiant baseboard heaters ?

8. Redo coach plumbing with PEX pipe / fittings   and new faucets.   Maybe add outside shower.

9. Maybe replace current electric / motorheat only water heater with a modern  RV  propane / electric / motorheat water heater.   The current one works, but I am concerned about needing to have electricity when boondocking  to have hot water.   I don't want to have to run the generator for hot water.


There are lots of other small issues,  I will work on all of them over time.   When I first looked at Retro it seemed like I was looking at a 2-3 year project.  That still seems to be the case, however I want to try to work in a way that lets me use the coach even while the project is going on.  There will be times when things are pretty torn up and we can not go camping, but there should be time between the phases of work when we can use the coach and evaluate our work so far as well as how the original equipment that we have not gotten to yet is working.

The Tarp of Shame!

It has rained for about 10 days out of the last 15 or so. 

Retro has leaks, and I am not in a position to look for them from the inside, so I have covered him up with a couple of 17' X 19'  tarps.   I bought the 40 pack of bungee cords at Harbor Frieght and the tarps are pretty secure.

The tarps intersection is in line with Retro's door,  so I could still get in and work.

Now that the rains have stopped,  I have pulled the tarps off and Retro has regained some of his dignity.

Big Changes

When Jeff and I parted ways, we agreed to keep in contact and I told him that I was always interested in getting Retro back if he was unable to continue for some reason.

Jeff has worked with Retro for the last couple of months. He got the brakes working well, good tires and wheels, fixed some of the light issues, got the electric engine cooling fans working etc. He got the coach to the point where it is safely drive-able.

I had been keeping in touch with Jeff and keeping track of what I thought were reasonable costs for the work and components he was investing into Retro on my mental notepad. I had also been actively looking for another Bluebird opportunity (low-cost coach that did not need an engine overhaul or transmission rebuild - you know, something that would nickle and dime me rather than killing my bank account in one fell swoop!). I found an 80 FC with a cat that was only a little out of my price range. I spoke with my Wife about it and we were going to go for it, but she noticed that I was not very excited. The 80 was in okay shape and certainly had many more options that Retro did not have - icemaker, big fridge, awnings, air bags and brakes etc., but I was just not quite as exited as I could have been. We talked some more and I explained that I thought there was some chance that Jeff was about ready to sell Retro - although he sounded pretty excited the last time I spoke with him. Virginia brilliantly suggested that I call Jeff. What a stroke of Genius!! Why did I not think of that? When I spoke with Jeff the next day he explained that he is at a very busy point in life and did not really have time for Retro and my heart jumped! I was instantly overjoyed at the prospect of having this 49 year old dirty, partially broken, leaky money pit full of opportunity for genius and stupidity back in my life. Jeff asked for almost exactly what was on my mental notepad and we made the deal.

RETRO IS OURS AGAIN!

My son and I drove south from our S.F. Bay area home to L.A. in our towable Jeep Cherokee (full of tools - of course) and showed up at Jeff's about 9:00 AM on Friday. A couple of hours later, Zeke was driving the Jeep as I took Retro on the road for the first time. I had decided that driving independently rather than towing the Jeep would be better in the L.A. area traffic - boy was I right!! 

Traffic in L.A. sucks. Wait, thats not good enough. hmmm. SUCKS!

I was in heavy stop and go freeway traffic within 10 minutes of leaving Jeff's place. The temps were climbing and I realized I did not know the correct switch for the fan thermostat override! ( The switch is invisible. From my driving position it is exactly behind the steering wheel! ) I called Jeff and asked about the switch - I had been fooling with a different switch (unmarked of course) and it sure was not helping cool the engine. Anyway, Jeff straightened me out on the switch and things became much cooler quickly. The traffic was annoying, but not terrible, and the bus was doing well. It was forgiving my ignorance and trying to teach me how to drive it, and within the hour or so I had developed the proper throttle techniques to keep it from lurching through the gears.

Retro loves the road. I can not believe how smoothly he handles the highway. I see bumps in the road but never feel them. Oh, there are certain road conditions which give us a rattle, but he tracks straight and true and is better than I expected in nearly all respects.


Friday night found us in Santa Maria where we stopped and slept in a motel - the rig is unlivable now because of the mess left behind by some rodents that feasted on the food that had been left in it 13 years ago. All of the textiles will be replaced as well as a deep and thorough cleaning of hard surfaces before we live in Retro.

Leaving Santa Maria, we hooked up the Jeep and headed North. Retro towed the Jeep with no problem till we hit the Cuesta grade. Almost immediately the temps began climbing, even with the fans on and locking retro down into the lower ranges. I pulled into a turnout and we disconnected Indy (the Jeep) and let the bus idle with the fans on to cool.

Cooling was slow to happen. I decided to turn off the engine. It did not stop. This could be a problem, I think to myself. (I am quick that way). I figured that maybe it was some kind of circuit to keep things running to let the engine cool, though that would actually be dumb if one had a broken fanbelt for example.

It turned out that the fan-override switch being on in conjunction with the fan thermostatic control being on feeds juice back into the ignition from the override circuit through the thermostatic switch. I semi-randomly turned off the fan override and the engine quit (key off), then I turned on the override again.

Between the fans running, convective circulation and restarting the engine every few minutes, we got cooled down to an indicated 160 in perhaps 20 minutes. Note that the temps never got past an indicated ~ 210 or so, but I had been running about 170 on the highway when towing. We never blew any steam, but I am very sensitive to engines getting hot and prefer to sit on the side of the road to recasting engine components into interesting but inefficient new shapes.

I put Retro into low gear and restarted our ascent. My target speed was maybe 10 mph. Temps climbed. Within just a couple of minutes, we were back at 200 degrees. I stopped again and re-cooled and thought. My concern was not the absolute number of the temperature, but that it was always going up - I had not found the speed at which the work required of the engine was within the cooling systems ability to remove heat. It seems to me ( here is where I can embarrass myself ) that if it takes X work to move the coach 100 feet, doing X in 2 minutes gives the cooling system twice as much time to get rid of heat that if I do X in one minute by going twice as fast. Since the maximum cooling (lets call it Y) is fixed - determined by coolant flow and air flow through the radiator as well as the relative temperatures of coolant an air, there should be some speed where the heat generated is below the heat that the cooling system can get rid of and the system stabilizes at some temperature. If X > Y temps go up, If X<= Y temps stabilize or cool down. Since temps were going up, and I cant turn a magic dial to increase cooling, the only way is to slow down, right? How does 2mph sound. Seriously. I really was watching the flowers grow! 2mph up the Cuesta grade on the shoulder, watching the flowers grow.


I think the radiator may be clogged up. If the radiator is 40% clogged, but retro only needs 50% of the cooling capacity on the highway, then 50 < 60 and we are good. But on the hill, Retro need maybe 80 or 90 % and 90 > 60 and things heat up. I think the reason that slowing down did not help is that I was doing it wrong. Me locking the transmission down into low range may not have been the right thing to do. There is another decent hill between Salinas and Gilroy. On that one, I decided to let Retro do the thinking. All I did was limit to 5th gear on the uphill parts after he had already shifted into 5th. The temps stayed below 180, even though speeds got down to 40 or so (fans on via override). Of course, this hill is not Cuesta grade, Cuesta is about 4-5 miles of always up at a pretty good 6-7% grade, I think. The one north of Salinas has some up, then a little down, some level, some more up and so on till the end where there is a pretty good strech of climb. Letting the transmission do it's thing without my interference seems to help though. And I do think I am going to drain and inspect the radiator - maybe pull it and get it rodded, boiled or whatever they do to them to make them more better gooder.

We did get home about 8:30 Saturday night, and I did have a grin on my face.

One of the first things I did Sunday morning was to break out the shop vac and run the hose in through an open window. I proceeded to vacuum up all the evidence that rodents had left behind throughout the coach - I vacuumed floors and drawers, wiped counters and walls and generally cleaned up. As I vacuumed, I took a closer look at some of the damaged areas in the paneling - clear evidence of water damage in several places. I poked at the damaged wood with the shop vac and it pushed right through the paneling easily, as I expected it would. Behind the damaged wood was soggy fiberglass insulation and then the galvanized steel of the body panels and the ribs of the frame - also galvanized steel. Like a cyclone fence. Fairly rust resistant.


I have found some areas with rust, but right now do not expect it to be a major problem. You see, I was in the Navy. You know, those people who don't admit that they are fighting an unwinnable battle with nature and corrosion. Ships require constant maintenance - chipping away old paint and rust, applying new paint, lather, rinse, repeat. Forever.


Retro does not require constant cycles of rust treatment and prevention, but he does need a good stretch at the motorhome spa. The interior cabinetry and paneling will be removed in the bedroom and living room. The old insulation will be removed and the frame / body panels will be inspected and treated as required. Depending on the outcome of that work, the kitchen / bathroom (with much more complex cabinetry) may or may not be disassembled. The right thing will be done to ensure that all areas requiring work are taken care of. Retro will be pressurized with inert smoke to find leaks. Window frames, ceiling vents and other penetrations will be removed, refreshed and installed with new sealants. Roof panels will be cap-sealed at the joints, even the ones that might not be leaking now.

There are lots of ideas turning into plans for the future of Retro - with the tear-out that is planned lots of options are open.

Retro is now parked next to the garage in the special community approved "behind a fence" RV parking spot. He is covered with blue tarps because of some leaks around window frames and perhaps even in the roof panel overlaps. We have a week of El Ninio rains in the forecast, and with years of drought I am not going to begrudge the rain.

More to come on the "before" condition of Retro and some of the plans for dealing with the issues presented.

Update

Jeff has been working on the coach quite a bit.

The wheels were pulled and the brake components repaired / inspected as needed.   In addition, the wheel bearings were inspected and lubed.  Everything looked good and the brakes now work properly.

Jeff installed 4 new aluminum wheels,  moving the two steel wheels from the front to the inside rear position, and the new wheels on the rear outer and front positions.   New tires installed and the rig is ready to run.

After the first driving test,  Jeff called with some questions about my installation of the rebuilt carb and I explained that the throttle connections had puzzled me a bit, but I finally got it setup to where pushing on the gas increased the engine speed.   Jeff said the rig would only do about 20mph, and nowhere near full throttle.   I suggested that I may have used the wrong mounting hole for the ball post that the throttle linkage snaps on to and Jeff said he would look at the pictures I sent of the original carb and see if he could figure it out.   

Jeff got the carb straightened out and says the bus runs well now.