January daze

I have said this time and again, 'baby steps, baby steps'. There is so much to do I sometimes loose track and find myself sitting in the engine compartment achieving nothing. My mind is racing saying..." You have to do this and this....but first do this so that will not impede those and then.....".ARRRRRGGGGG!

So Thursday Randy emailed and said...'we're home, had a great time golfing in Arizona, anything to do on Fillmore. So I threw him under the bus.....literally. We are updating the brakes. I have now added another air tank giving us a primary and a secondary system. As such the old brake lines are to be taken out, and hey copper is at a premium, maybe I'll make rent money!

While Randy toiled away under the bus I was working on a few other things. I installed an in-line lift pump. Being that there is quite a few feet of fuel line between the fuel tank and the engine, we thought it might be a good idea to help things along.

Next was routing the hydraulic suction line, the hydraulic line from the filter to the hydraulic rad and then the radiator surge line. Cut and grommet!

After that I moved on to design and fab of a bracket for the hydraulic filter to be mounted near the AD9 air dryer.

On the drivers side engine room......It's getting a little crowded in here!!

By days end Randy had racked up a pile of copper, a few skinned knuckles and a chill to the bone. Nothing a hot shower and some chicken soup wouldn't fix or was that a shower with a hot chicken....ehh another day of diesel fumes will get to ya!

All windows are not created equal

"The eyes are a window to the soul" I'm not sure who said it there is some debate...but the internet didn't know so, I figure if Mr. Google and Mr Wikipedia don't know then it must not be true(that should send a few of you into a literary tizzy....snicker snicker!)
But!...If the eyes are a window to the soul then what we see through our eyes affects our soul directly. On a deeper more profound level this is exactly why I am involved with an organization called "Dentistry for All". It is a group that travels to Guatemala and Nicaragua to provide dental care for impoverished populations where there is no care available. Now I'm not so naive to think that I can fix the world, what I can do is just a drop in the bucket, but it is a drop and it is what I can do. I may not be able to single handed 'FIX' the problem but I can be a part of the larger community who tries to help.
Keeping the theme of what we see affects the soul in mind, I wonder what happened to my soul when I walked into an "establishment", a proprietor of fermented and distilled beverages, and I saw this:

How far have we fallen that we need to be entertained for every second of the day, even during that!
On the other hand.......


Alas I digress, forgive me.

So many moons ago when we (Randy and I) were rehabbing the windows, we got new glass for everything. We put all the side windows together and in place. It was then my job to "work away" on the drivers and passenger(entry) door windows. Which I promptly forgot as they got piles of "stuff" thrown on top of them. Well during our cold snap, it allowed me some time to do an archaeological dig in the work shop. I once again spent some time on these, and then remembered why they weren't done. I messed up.
I know, I know a recurrent theme. When I had the glass cut I had figured the glazing thickness needed given the frame space, the thickness of the U channel etc etc. The mistake I made was assumption. I assumed that the front windows would be the same. Lone and behold, they are not. You can see the glass is too wide.

When trying to fit it in the frame I had visions of high school girls in the 80's trying to force their way into jeans 4 sizes to small.

So, tail between my legs I took the glass back to my glass guys, and fessed up. Once again thinking this was either going to cost my pride or my pocket book, I was pleasantly surprised when the guy said..." Oh ya retro fit restorations are always a challenge. We use this stuff...." and then he pulled out a whack of tacky rubber tar-like tape. It looks promising!......I'll keep you posted.

All the while I finished prepping the turbo intake tube. A nice midnight black engine enamel. I thought better to get it done now than kick myself every time I look at the rusty pipe!

Rabbit's foot has nothin' on me!

It's funny how people can be superstitious. Michelle and I watched the movie Moneyball last night, good movie about how GM for the Oakland A's, Billy Beane, changes baseball. Superstition occupies a huge part of the baseball psyche, and for some of us it's hard to say that we don't suffer from that ill-logic as well.

Late last week, I looked at the forecast, and it wasn't good it was cold. My first reaction was "well I'll wait for things to warm up a bit before I work on Fillmore" But then I asked myself......what if by not working I change the chain of events and it stays cold? What if fate has decided that I have to face the cold? Therefore if I don't do it now, I'll have to do it later. I don't want to jinx the rest of the winter."

This is my "silly ass" superstition, I know it's not logical, I know it has no bearing on the weather...but yet I find myself a slave to the ill-logic.

Or maybe it's just an elaborate cover up excuse for my obsession about getting this bus on the road.
None the less, I found myself in the dark of night with heaters going and three layers of warm clothes on, putting the hydraulic rad back in place.

I cleaned up and changed the fittings on the motor as well.Just have the tank to mount, hoses have been made, then we'll plug and play!

Brrrrrrrrrr!

Needless to say, the work on Fillmore has been a little slow this week, I got some of the hydraulic fittings, re-sized the compressed air hose from the compressor, but I'll be honest my movements in the engine compartment have been about a fast as molasses would be right now.

Turn into the skid!

So the other night, Bryce, Chris, Michelle and I were shooting the breeze. I think the topic started with questioning Bryce about his racing days. Not to imply those are over, but it sounds like he scared the competition enough that no one wants to race against him......or the economy tanked and no one can afford the fun stuff right now. I prefer the former, anyway my son Jeff was impressed with Bryce's "Sinclair" hat (he thought Bryce had it made to come work on Fillmore) but once he found out he raced a 4x4 and could fix them he was elevated to a god like status. None the less our discussion at one point was about learning how to drive, in particular drifting and using the movement of your vehicle to your advantage. Sometimes this technique is counter intuitive: the act of drifting is "about trying to remain in a state of over steer, sliding the car throughout the whole corner."

So sometimes you have to go with it even though you think this could be bad, have faith in the end goal and learn from the journey!

So when Chris started looking at my beautiful fuse box, at first I thought "awesome! this will be a quick re-route of some wires and bingo!". But Chris has a habit of talking to himself as he works, at least with the electrical stuff. So when I started to hear mutterings like..."hmmm well what about __" or " Well that's gunna be tough..." or the best..."Crap that won't work". I knew I was in trouble.

So when the option of a new fuse block was brought up I had already prepared myself for it. This is where I said..."just go with it, turn into the skid...it may feel like your loosing control but trust in the turn and it'll be OK!"

So out with the old....






And in with the new....

All the while poor Bryce was shoehorned into a wee corner. It was like his private little play pen. Working on Hydraulics and air systems he didn't have to travel far. There was a lot of grunting and groaning goin' on, but 3 hours at a time wedged into a tight spot will take it's toll on you!

The boys were very open to me hanging over their shoulders watching what was going on. The more I understand now, the less likely(or often ) there will be stupid questions coming in texts to them. So after a while they gave me a job. We replaced the drain valves on the primary tanks. The old ones I had to crawl underneath and drain them off, which ended up with me wearing half the crud in the tanks. Now we have pull release valves on cables, so I should be able to stay nice and dry/clean when I do this next time. A small job but it made me feel a part of the team.

Yahooooo!

This just tells it all.....never happier to hear this sound!

Call in the reinforcements

 There are times in a man's life where you have to swallow your pride and say...I need help. It takes a big man to say "I was wrong" it takes a bigger man to say " I don't know what the F*%# to do next". So that is exactly what I did. Chris, the mobile mechanic from Missoula, and I have always stayed in touch. Often it's me dropping him a line and a picture and saying...."ehhhh Chris?....what the hell is this?"
So I came to a point that I realized I was in need of help, and it wasn't the kind of help you can get from the internet, or even night school. There is a time and a place for the professionals....and the time was now. So I called up Chris and said....."How would you like to come up north and work on a bus outside in the cold doing virtually nothing but eat and sleep bus?"

Hot Damn, he said yes! He brought his buddy Bryce with him and the two of them let loose on Fillmore. They spent the first half day taking stock of what has been done and what needs to be done and...well....I'm man enough to admit it...what needs to be redone.
Then they spent the afternoon hunting and gathering in Calgary. Frankly they did WAY better than I ever did....I suspect you get a little more respect when you walk into a big rig parts place and know what the hell your talking about. Parts guys don't want to spend a lot of time with a guy asking for a thing-a-ma-jig that goes on the big round thing that sits next to the tank!

 I came home from work and found the boys busy working away. Chris was making sense of the electrical and Bryce was fabricating a new stand for a third air tank. We are designing a primary and secondary air tanks for safety. Looking like the kid who wants to play they took pity on me and gave me a job. Clean up the new tank.

 A little grinding and rust removal....Ha that's nothing, I'm a pro at that.

 Bryce moved on to repairing the turbo exhaust, unbeknownst to me the flange that was there was busted through.

I worked away on the tank, not bad for a dentist.

Promises promises!

 As many of you know, one of my biggest supporters in this project, on this journey was my father. Sadly as you will already know if you have read my previous post my Dad passed away last week. Always interested and always asking questions about progress and what's next, he had been musing all fall about the readiness of Fillmore for the road. My Dad realized in November that he would not be able to feel the ride of the bus, but in his final week we talked about the progress and time table, with particular interest.
Every spring we golf in a tournament in Manitoba called The Grey Owl, Dad has been going for 47 out of the last 50 years. This year we plan to show him the course one more time, and he wants to arrive in Fillmore. I promised him I would do my absolute best to get Fillmore on the road for Grey Owl. It may not be 100% done, but by golly I'm going to get him there.

So, with Michelle's blessing( and the fact she was going dress shopping with Anna) I quickly got back to it. First order of business, get the rad fan in place. I mounted the motor and did a dry test fit. After shaving 3/8" off the legs(to compensate for the thickness of the vibration dampeners)..
.

...it was time to weld them into place.

 Done!......next?...

A small touch, but when we are about to work on the engine I don't want the boys to get CO poisoning so I need a tail pipe to which I can attach a shop exhaust hose to.

After that, it was on to the sheet metal for the curve of the ram air chute. I can easily re-use the original metal. A little clean up and trimming and it should fit like a glove. A cold, sharp, hard to manage-causing you to dredge up new and colourful adjective kind of glove....but a glove.

The original edge to the chute was bent as one piece, as strong as I claim to be to my wife, I couldn't even begin to think that I could bend 37+ inches of metal in one continuous bend without making it look like road kill.

Donald Glen Sinclair 1935-2012

It is with deep sorrow that I announce the passing of my father. After a short  and courageous battle with cancer he slipped away, in his sleep, early Tuesday morning. A husband, a father, a "poppy", a friend, a mentor. Dad held a special place for so many people. I will miss his direction through example and his wisdom and gentle nature. I am proud to be his son and proud he was my father, and I am eternally grateful that I had the opportunity to look him in the eye,hold his hand and tell him those exact words.

When I take my first sip of a fresh cup of coffee, or bend down to put a tee into the ground I will smile and give a nod to a great man, a great friend, and I father I love so much.