Get back in the saddle

When you fall you need to get right back up on the horse, when at first you don't succeed, try and try again....and I'm sure there are many others. Whichever is the best phrase, I'm there, time to address this problem....again!
Well I'm a little behind schedule. Now I know what your thinking," schedule?....when the heck did he get a schedule?"
Well OK technically your correct, however this is a mini schedule...which I have blown. After the cradle lift catastrophe last weekend, my job this week was to get:
1. New Motor mounts-check
2.Gasket for the new sump(Oil pan for the non Brits)-check
3.Get material and manufacture new engine lift-uhhhh, not so check


The good news is that I have a great start on it, the bad news is that it isn't done and as a result the mechanic is not coming over today because there is very little we can do without the lift.
More bad news is that between his schedule and mine the next time we can get together is 3 weeks from now....CRAP....this is the foothills, there could be snow by then!

Bottom rails are 2x2x.125"

I'm sure the welding isn't pretty enough for the pros but I was actually quite happy with it. I got some good beads, it's solid AND it's square! (will the wonders never cease)
More of the same on the block for today...until my physio appointment....my neck is buggered.

OOOOO, Ahhhhhhh, OOOhhhh

Today the furniture came!

Knighthill automotive from Vancouver called and said they had shipped out our RV furniture. Not to be deceived by the company name, 5 days later, sameday shipping company called to say they have our stuff. Ever so gracious Rob lent me his truck....once again...

Anna was very excited to see the new stuff.

I think she approves.(drivers Seat)

And so do I.

Two steps forward...one step back

Saturday marked another day where my loving wife and partner in crime showed me amazing patience and allowed me to play with my new friends. Albeit unlike my other friends I am paying this one. So today we wanted to mount the engine in the cradle and time permitting do a dry fit in the bus.

It all started so well, John stripping down the engine while I constructed a dolly that would carry the cradle. Not only carry the cradle but also allow us to raise and lower the outfit to get it to loading height.

I finally finished the dolly, and it seemed to be great. The point of load were centered directly over the scissor jacks which then transferred the load along the long axis of the wheel plate.

With a little head scratching and armchair math, we managed to figure out where the engine mount plates had to be drilled to accept the rubber core engine mounts

Behold it works! The engine fit nicely in the cradle, from all measurements it looks like the cradle should slide right in to the bus. But the hour was late, and we had a dinner party to get to(hence the patience of Michelle), so we decide to call it a day.BUT......
As we were cleaning up, the engine/tranny/cradle was in the middle of the garage- so I decided to move it off to the side. I was quite happy with the fact that with only moderate effort I was able to wheel the whole....1200LBS combo around quite easily. I first pushed it back and then moved to the side and put a lateral force on the contraption.......

Crap!

Finally back to the task at hand!

So there has been quite a delay in postings, but last week was a family week, this past week was "getting back into the swing of things" week. But I did manage to get a few hours a few evenings to do some window work.

After some clean up of the frames(Randy's handiwork) I have been putting the pieces back together. Window panes into rubber channel, channel and glass into frame,schlegal into frame, and then all sealed with the manufactured seals!

The final step of the process was placing the exterior seal.

Not bad, they look quite attractive If I do say so myself.

The cradle and block are ready for the visit from the Mechanic. The goal will be mounting the engine in the cradle and then see if we have time for a dry fit in the bus!

Clean up

So it's been awhile since I had a post. But then it's been a while since I have worked on the bus. I did a couple of hours a couple of days ago, but I promised myself that although I was on holidays....that didn't mean that I could spend all the time on the bus....my family might divorce me!
So it's been slow on the bus front but great on the family activity front!

Today the bad news was that it rained for a good chunk of the day, the good news is that I had a chance to "bus it"

You have seen this picture from the last post I think, but it kind of gives you a good 'before' idea of the cradle

Given the poor weather forecast, I darted out early before the troupes got out of bed, and went and sandblasted the engine cradle.

Then after a little monkeying around I gave it a real good slathering of....?...Yup POR-15.

"Out, out damn Spot!"

OK it may be a little rich to be quoting Shakespeare in a blog about your bus but, come on I'm a Dentist not a poet.

OK that might be the smallest video link I think I have ever seen....sorry about that!
This is where we started to "pull the engine". In a normal vehicle I've always thought it should be lift the engine, as you lift the engine out of the front....but with the bus, it was definitely a "pull".
You can hear Randy screw nailing the braces onto the roof trusses, I promised I wouldn't use the extreme close up of his face that Jeff took, so this sound bite is the only recorded evidence of his attendance.

So, where did we leave off....ahh yes no fork lift. Well some of the old barn timbers that I have been saving for a special project, came in handy. No this isn't their final purpose in life, they too will be re-used for another more noble project. But stacked and braced they did what we needed. Support the cradle until we could clear the bus chassis.

After we had blocked up the engine... time to slide her back...

It wasn't the fastest process in the land but slow and steady wins the race.It's amazing once everything was removed, how spacious it seems in the engine bay.

The GMC engine has served the old girl well....for how long? who knows. But it did get us from Montana to Bragg and a number of little trips since then. Why then swap to a new engine?..Torque, durability, efficiency...etc etc.

The empty engine bay seems big the extracted engine (yes, yes a dental term...so what?..) now out of the beast, seems small!

Out with the old, In with the new(er)

wow what a great day. Considering the forecast was for rain...it turned out to be a sunny warm slight breeze kinda day. A perfect day to start a power plant swap out!
John showed up at 9:30 right on schedule, and we went right to work

Pulling some of the floor out had some advantages!

Simply disconnecting the linkages was a little more time consuming than I had anticipated but we picked away at it and had a laugh or two along the way

While John and I were picking apart the insides, Randy was here to lend a hand crawling around on the top side playing closer for some of the frame work of the shelter.

At this point she's all stripped down and disconnected ready to slide her out.......uh huh, just slide her out!!....riiiiight!

John at this point usually has access to other industrial shop "tools" like fork lifts and such. So we had to make due.....some old posts from a Manitoba barn look like they could work!

Exciting!!

So I had Been wrestling with the question of who should help me with the engine swap. I had two options. John the mobile mechanic, great guy, will come to the house and we'll do all the work right here. A great opportunity for me to learn if I want. The second option is the local garage, another good option, more of a drop it off and come back it's done kinda thing. But good after the fact help if need be too. Well after a chat with the local garage, I got the feeling that they can definitely do it....in Sept....or late Sept...or maybe October. But they also said that if I went another way they still would be there for me if there was trouble down the road. Both are great options...but th opportunity to learn is greater with John....and he does air brakes too!
So, John is coming in the morning to pull the old engine and tranny out!! Should be fun!!
I'll take lots of photos!