Pura Vida!

 Hola Amigo!

 I usually give a heads up to an upcoming dry spell for my blog, but I neglected to give warning this time. We took off to Costa Rica for a once in a life time holiday opportunity last week. Although our family has been to Costa Rica once before this time was different. This time we were having a family reunion of sorts. Both Michelle and I had our siblings and their families as well as our parents join us all in Manuel Antonio, on the west coast of Costa Rica. Twenty of us in total, and we had a great time.

I could have a dozen blog entries with pictures of our trip, but being that this is a blog about Fillmore I'll keep it short. A proud moment was being a part of a deep sea fishing trip where Jeffrey landed (with a little help from Dad and his uncle Shawn)one of the 5 sail fish we caught that day. Made even more special when Jeff asked me to join him in the ceremonial picture op. because he felt bad that he landed a fish and mine got away!

Now on to things more Flxible...

I was working on placing the window vents in the engine bay, and then moved on to placing some of the stainless steel bolts that hold the fluted panels on the side of the bus.Should be easy right?

Nothing on Fillmore is easy, I would put them in place, finger tighten the nylock nut on and then finish the job with a socket. Problem was I was snapping the bolts like they were made of plastic. At first I thought the thread was wrong on the nuts...maybe I grabbed metric nuts for imperial sized bolts? But no, if that was the case they would be hard to thread right from the get go. These would easily thread on by hand until we reached the nylon retention ring, then things started to get harder and harder....
Of course, the nylon ring. The nuts had been out in the bus shelter, the nylon was cold and really hard!

So I gently heated them up (slowly) in the oven (250F for 10 min). This had two benefits, first the nylon softened and was easy to tighten into place, second was I kept the warm pieces in  my pocket, giving me a great warming bundle on a chilly day!

Bump(er) and Grind

In my younger days, that would have meant a wild night at the dance bar or some one's stag and we're going to a strip club.....but alas I am more mature and would rather spend my "extra" time working on Fillmore.
With the safety inspection date looming I want to temporarily close in the rear flashing around the engine compartment. Re- creating the removable section of the rear bumper.

I started with 3/16" x 2" flat stock. Jeff and I had traced the curvature of the rear engine door, and then it was a very technical bending process.More specifically I used my knee.

Next I cut off the original mounting brackets from the old removable piece and that, with some angle iron, helped to create a new bracket to weld the curved piece to.

Jeff snapped this one, I laugh because it looks like I am spent, but really I was just taking a moment to enjoy the sunshine on my face and listen to birds singing in the trees! February and there are birds singing like it's spring time...THAT is how mild it is these days!

After a little wrestling, I finally got things set up and then welded together!

Next was mods to the flashing. Because of the new cradle and rear position of the engine the edges of the cradle have to come through the flashing. I plan to use this to my advantage down the road but for now, this is as good as it gets.

I need to go to a custom motorcycle shop or someone with an English wheel, I doubt I have the patience to teach myself how to work one....and I highly doubt Michelle would let me get away with that kind of purchase. For now a simple single plane bend of some sheet metal helps to close things off.

Smiling on a Saturday

There is nothing that makes you feel more alive than the light of the morning sun. I love the sunrise, I love the feel of cold winter air on my face, I love dragging my hand down the side of Fillmore as I walk down the length of his shelter, things don't have to be complicated.

 Life is good.

Last weekend I was able to putter around a little. I was on Daddy duty as Michelle and Jeff were out of town. So I managed a couple of hours of bus time before picking Anna up from Dance. When coming home from the city , we past a wonderful sculpture outside the Bow Building in Calgary...we had to stop.

Made of 1.25" steel bar, the shaping of the face with compound bends is astounding. One of those pieces that at first glance looks so simple and "easy", but anyone with any experience with metal work can see the work and creativity that was required. The feeling you get when standing inside the sculpture looking out is hard to describe, but a sense of wonder is definitely in the air.

Life is Good

OMG!.....The wonders never cease!

Yes folks....this is my wife. And yes she IS wearing coveralls, and yes she is willingly coming to work on the bus.

This was my first thought when Michelle said she wanted to help me with something on the bus (as long as it was something where she wouldn't get too dirty). But after some reflection it made perfect sense, you see Michelle grew up in a family who has a history in farming. You know the good old salt of the earth kinda people who live within their means and pay cash for things because they don't like to be in debt.

So when Michelle gave me a card for Christmas (last year)saying she would give me 10 hours of her time to work on the bus, she knew it meant she had a promissory note out there.

So I did my best to make it a good experience. I decided that mounting the mud flaps was probably a good starting point for us to work together.

I made sure the work area was clean and as inviting as it can be.

Michelle actually surprised me and was in there like a dirty shirt.  I don't know if she was lovin' it but she never complained. You can see who was really out of sorts that his Chiquita was crawling around in the dirt with me working on 'that bus'. Yes our guard chihuahua didn't stray far from Michelle's side the entire time

We made sure that when we mounted the flaps we put releasing incisions incase some bone head backs up over them by mistake

Looks pretty Good!!

Another one bites the dust

 In a project like this there are jobs which you are constantly reminded of, but on the importance or relevance scale score low in terms of priority. Allow me to explain. The original side mirrors on the flxible were beat up, cracked glass with broken and jury rigged frames. So when taking them off...years ago now...I decided to replace them. I found a suitable mirror body and mounting system.Or so I thought.

 You can see back here in 2009 when I got Fillmore the original mirror set up is simple, clean, uncomplicated. That's exactly how I want the new ones to look. Although I did entertain some smaller sleeker designs, the reality is I wanted the mirrors to be functional too. There is nothing more nerve wracking than backing up this beast with  your kids hanging their head and bodies out the windows while screaming back-up directions at you because you can't see well enough from your mirrors alone.

 Unfortunately the mirror bracket set up that came with the mirror bodies didn't fit the bill of simple,clean and uncomplicated....

 So, I decided that this job wouldn't be a quick put together as I always hope, but rather will need some time and energy to create what I need. I liked the original set up so I thought I would start from there. The new mirror bodies are too big for this vertical bar, but I thought with some mods I could use them and keep the flavor.

 I cut and welded the original bars to allow the mirror body to be placed in between the mounting arms.

 The sun sets at an early hour in the north during the winter months, although it looks like I am doing a little midnight grinding, this is only the late hour of 5pm(ish)

 In the end I finished with my new mounting arms.

Clean, sleek, uncomplicated, and most of all functional.
Done!
That's another one off my list!