Transfiguration II

We took the bus back up to St. Louis this weekend to finish up some of the interior work we had started and some other odds and ends I had wanted to take care of. As usual the drive to St. Louis was an ordeal. It had been a rainy day that was supposed to clear up, but never did, and as we left the house we were shocked to realize that we had no headlights or windshield wipers. We stuck to the side roads and made it to Cuba through the mist. Once in Cuba we stopped and ate some lunch to hopefully let the rain pass (which the weather said it would be clear in the late afternoon), and while there picked up some RainX to make the most of the drive. Well the rain never stopped and we just pushed on, pulling over frequently to clean off the windshield, and 4 hours after we left Rolla, we made it to St. Louis.

Once in StL, it was a quick stop by the Fish Fry and then to work. Friday night I tried to figure out the lights, but gave up quickly with the intention of reading up on the wiring before I messed with anything else. Diane prepped everything for finishing up her laminate job and we called it an early night.

Saturday was a much more eventful day. With a mission set forward by Diane to finish the laminate, she and Pat set to work at her tediously slow pace. While they worked on that I set to removing the luggage rack to clean off the mold and put on some new seals. Taking the luggage rack turned out to be bad news though, as I came across a mess of rust. Without the time or equipment to properly repair the rust, I gave it a thorough wire brushing and sprayed some rust repair primer on to hopefully retard the formation of rust until I can really get in there and fix it.

Removed Sink Cabinet

Where Sink Cabinet came out from (be a good place for a lounge chair I think)

Uh oh RUST!

Rust Temporarily Repaired

Seals on the luggage rack
Putting seals on the pop-top

Cabinet all laminated up

Diane working the router

Diane routering, Pat cleaning up the edges

Sink hole cut out thanks to Diane's Router work

About 1 am we finally headed home, beat. Diane had finished the laminate, but not gotten a chance to put the headliner back in. I had put on the new seals, sealed the holes left by the AC tubing, and started mounting the front tire mount (turns out the screws they sent were way too long and ran into the defroster tube).

We made it home all in one piece on Sunday. Today I figured out the lights, taught myself some stuff about wiring and reading wiring diagrams properly, so now we have working lights and wipers. I also finished mounting the spare tire. Good times for now.

Oh glorious day!

Isabel getting acquainted with the bus

Well we got the bus back, fully working and working good (well relatively good). We picked it up from B & C on Friday, and it was a beautiful day. Turns out the wiring harness that went from the alternator to the voltage regulator and solenoid was completely fried. So replacing it apparently solved our problems.

It being a beautiful day we headed for the nearest park which was Lane Spring National Forest Recreation Area. We went on a nice hike up to Blossom Rock and once done with the hike, took some time to relax in the large area of the bus I'm going to call the Living Room.


Thats pretty much it, more interior work planned but not completed, more engine adjustments planned but not completed, adventures planned but not completed.

Alternator Troubles

This will be a short post, just a quick update for all you readers out there.

I bought a new alternator. Spent about 6 hours removing the old one, not that it was super complicated, but just about every screw and bolt took some serious beating to get loose. Put in the new one, but didn't test anything before I fully installed it. As I went to hook up the battery thinking I had just fixed all my problems, BAMM! there was a huge spark when I touched the ground strap to the body, which means we had a short somewhere. So this led to removing the alternator again, but it went much faster this time, only about 20 minutes. Once the alternator was off again I checked all the connections and adjusted where I placed the washers of the backing plate, then tested the grounding strap before I installed everything again. After several adjustments and lots of big sparks I got evertyhing installed correctly and put the alternator back in its place.

The moment of truth was next, started up on the first try and SUCCESS no alternator warning light! So off to bed we went with high hopes of driving to STL the next morning. Woke up the next morning chipper and cheery, had a nice breakfast, finished packing and got ready to go. Started up the bus, everything is still fine, backed down the driveway, still fine, put it in first and travelled about 10 feet, alternator warning light comes back on. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! So we drove the Jeep to STL.

I fiddled with the wires some more, and the belt, but no luck, one new alternator down. So I had reached the limits of my knowledge and abilities, which meant it was time to go back to the shop. After being in the shop for 2 weeks we found out today that they fixed him up good, had to replace some wiring that was the root of all my troubles. So if all goes well and stays well, ENGINE TROUBLES ARE OVER.

Transfiguration or the First Rule of the Bus.

Well, I haven't posted for a while, but I've been really busy pumping out a thesis. But now that I finished and am getting caught up on sleep, I'll update.

Over Valentine's day weekend we took our first moderate distance trip in the bus, non-functioning alternator be damned. Turns out the bus is very drafty and will definitely need some new seals at least on the top (most the wind was coming in through the canvas of the pop top). Being Valentine's day it was a VERY cold drive to St. Louis, but we made it (it might have been the first time I haven't passed a single other car). And after stopping and checking the battery we had gone from 12.8 V to 11.9 V.

We went straight to Diane's family shop where we were planning on doing some repair work. The goal of the repair work was to get as much done as possible over the two day period. The shop was definitely a better work place than our cramped cold garage or our living room floor. So I set to work taking off the front disc brakes while Diane and Pat (her dad) began working on the cabinetry.

The brakes were surprisingly simple, although it did take me a long time to pull them off because of some super tight bolts. Once off Pat and I took the pads up to the local parts shop and looked at a picture of some new pads and realized ours still had a lot of pad left. Instead of buying the new pads we just sanded the face of the pad a little bit to remove any deformations and put them back on. After I had finished with the brakes themselves, I had to fix the brake lights. This required replacing a small switch on the master brake cylinder. This only took a few minutes and I was done with the brake job. I probably should have bled the brakes and plan to do this soon, but the brakes work good, the squeal is gone and the brake lights are fully functional.

Diane had already removed most of the old laminate, so she started the day measuring and planning out how to cut the roll of new laminate. After some AutoCAD manipulation she and Pat laid out their plan and began to cut the laminate. The cutting of the laminate went well but took a long time, and once finished Diane began sanding the faces of the wood to prep them for gluing. After sanding and cleaning it was time to glue on the laminate. With the laminate glued on, it was time to trim the edges, which was very easy thanks to Pat's router. We didn't get all the cabinets done, but we made a great start and it looks very nice.

The new laminate on the cooler top.

Some other things we did:

We finally succeeded in removing the air conditioning unit and now the front seats have so much more room. Another added bonus is that I can see and access all the wires much easier, turns out the radio doesn't work because its wires aren't plugged in to anything. With this AC unit out I was able to remove our kick panels, which were torn up anyway and replace some washer fluid tubing. See pictures below:

Before:

After:

I also painted the wheels to a classic white, now we just need to turn the tires around to show the white walls. The white looks good with the chrome.

So that was all we really were able to fit in over the weekend as we had to head over to Diane's cousin's bridal shower. After some good family time we had to get on the road because darkness was falling fast. We got on the road at about 4:30, much later than we should have (our original plan was to leave at 3:00). Darkness soon fell and we had to turn on the lights (remember the alternator still isn't functioning). About 45 minutes into the drive, just short of Sullivan, Diane asks if the lights are dimming and we come to a hill. Going up the hill we went from going 65 to 40 in about a quarter mile and had lost all power. The battery was dead.

Pulling off the side of the road, we debate on who to call, Diane's family or friends in Rolla. We decide on Diane's family and start calling, we get a hold of Tommy and he starts on his way down to help us. At this time our plan was to take out the battery and drive somewhere to charge it. Then we get a hold of Pat and he starts on his way down too. So Pat and Tommy both arrive and we use Pat's truck to charge the battery (good thing the bus engine is in the back) and send Tommy home. Once the battery is charged we start on our way again with Pat following close behind. We died twice more on the way home and had to drive through part of Rolla with the lights off to avoid a third time, but we made it successfully home.

So FIRST RULE of the BUS:

NO DRIVING AT NIGHT - when on road trips be at a campsite 1 hour before dark, never leave a campsite before sunrise.

Bus's first trip to campus

I can't figure out why the top is all underlined, oh well. Next up - alternator replacement.

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.

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).

Wow, I have been really bad about this blogging. It could be that nothing has really changed. The bus is still not running. I have replaced a lot of components in the hunt for what is ultimately wrong. These include the starter, the fuel pump, a new coil and battery. Some of these probably didn't need to be replaced, but can it really hurt to have new ones? I have recently (as of yesterday) figured out that the problem is in the ignition switch. The engine does still turn over! We just have to hotwire it until I get a new ignition switch in.

Diane has started repairing the cabinets. She is currently stripping off the old formica which was cracked and warped. Lowe's doesn't carry any formica even close to the wood finish we currently have, so now we are hunting for new formica.