Monday, January 12, 2009

IT IS ALIVE

Well, good news, the bus is running. Bad news, it's not running well. The bus spent 2 weeks at a VW shop near Freeburg, MO. They did a few things; got it running, replaced the clutch cable so it would shift while driving, replaced all gas lines and the gas tank (the old one was rusty and someone had drilled a hole through the top of it, which could explain some of the smell). So I drove it the 45 minutes, back to Rolla (with Diane in close behind in the Jeep), and it seemed to be running great.

Pulling out of B&C to jump on 63!

What an experience! That was my first time ever driving the bus and US 63 isn't exactly a straight slow road for your first time. Eventually, of course, I had a line of cars behind me so on a straightaway I put the pedal down and got to almost 70, then decided better of that and returned to a safe slow 55.

But bad news, when we got home and shut him down, he didn't want to restart (we think it's a he, stubborn bastard). So I checked the battery voltage and the voltage was pretty low, then I remembered that while I was driving the generator light would flicker on and off, so I am currently testing the voltage regulator and alternator, more to come.

Voltage Regulator

Diane has been hard at work cleaning the interior, scrubbing it all with a toothbrush, it is pretty grimy in some places. She put contact paper on the cabinet shelves and lining the drawers. She is planning on sewing a curtain to cover the spare tire storage area, and then I will put shelves in (we are mounting the spare on the nose). She has also been working on resurfacing the cabinet doors and drawer faces and other synthetic wood face areas that are damaged. She has peeled them all, we just need to find the right formica.

Recently contact papered cabinets shelves.


All in all we are excited, I charge the battery (unhooking it completely) then start it and let it run for a while, it's good to hear it run.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Haulin Her In.

I got my first experience with The Bus over my Christmas trip back to MO. What had originally been planned as an inaugural short trip in the bus turned in to a trip to the VDubb shop with the green machine in tow.


Matt piloting the bus out of the garage and onto the trailer.


We hauled her to B & C auto repair, an Osage County classic that started out as a VW junk yard that eventually grew into a you-haul-it-here-we'll-get-er-working-again-just-don't-ask-too-many-questions type of place. After talking to THE Ozark Wood-Hippy who runs the place for a while, we left feeling somewhat comforted that Mike would treat us right. The news came New Years Eve, the bus once again was breathing life!


Now it's just all those nickel-and-dime issues that need to be addressed (inspection, insurance, licensing, cosmetic repairs, etc. etc.), but as far as getting the machine out of the garage, we are well on our way. Not saying that she'll actually make it to the desired destination every time or anything, but we're well on our way. First accessories to invest in: functioning fire extinguisher and a full set of emergency tools.


Oh let the posts of busly adventures come flying in (at 45 mph).