Must remain Flexible with a Flxible

One of my favorite things with this project is the little gems along the way. Sometimes they show up as time spent with one of the kids, like when Jeff and Anna spend the day riveting the body panels on. Sometimes they come when Anna wrinkles her nose and says..."you stink like bus"
And sometimes it's in the bling. Here is an emblem that was custom made. Another Flxy enthusiast was wanting one for his rig, so he put the call out to other owners looking for a finishing touch. Yes, yes I know I am FAR from finishing.... but like a squirrel I will tuck this little nut away, waiting for spring time.....when I am ready.

So, in the last post I mentioned the need for addressing the rear end gear ratio. After chatting with a guy from the gear center here in Calgary, he told me what to look for to help identify the axle type. I also dug up photocopied Original Flxible maintenance manual that I had ordered last year around the same time I bought the bus. Turns out it is a Timkins!
In a previous post I mentioned the gear ratio as I had calculated it. My Flxy friend from the coast pointed out he figured I might have my gearing calculation wrong. Sure enough... I am man enough to admit when I am wrong....and I was wrong. I had jacked up the back end and had both wheels free.... that screwed my results... I figured my gear ratio was 2.8. What the...???
In actual fact the gear ratio for the standard Timkins axle that was used in the clipper was
6.2 :1

I got under there with the angle grinder and wire brush.....

Yup... the ol' H110 PX10.
The good news was we identified the axle and now could better look to see if we can find a gear set that we can use to change the gear ratio.
The bad news is it's not looking promising....I may have to swap the rear axle.......UUUUUUUGH!

one step forward...TWO steps back

There are good days and there are bad. Sometimes though a bad day at your passion is better than a god day at 'work'
This weekend was a whirlwind. A quick trip to Manitoba for an alumni meeting and class reunion....man it's good to reconnect with old friends.
Anyway I grabbed an early morning flight home(that hurt) and my loving family was extremely understanding to let me have a work day with the Mechanic.

As planned, I wanted John to get a chance to see the engine in dry fit stage. The good news is everything fits and with some minor modifications we can make things work.

As planned, we replaced the damaged oil pan. Which meant we pulled the engine from the bus, then hoisted it out of the cradle.

This is the bad news, or the two steps back. If we had the engine out anyway, and it was hoisted out of the cradle....now was the time to make things as good as possible. Ideally to keep the engine angle to a minimum we would like to drop the engine within the cradle by 4-5". Soooooo, while John replaced the 'sump' I cut through the welds holding the engine mounts to the cradle. Now we can idealize the engine position prior to final placement.
We'll put the engine in it's mount, the mount within the cradle, the cradle within the bus....idealize the position....tack weld and bolt.
BUT!!....I know the gearing in the rear diff is wrong....so that needs to be changed prior to the drive shaft fabrication.AND... with the engine out it is way easier to mount the rad...

So....we wait...again....still.

Dry fit.

OK dri fit usually refers to athletic clothing....you know the stuff that you love to see supermodels in but the rest of us are delusional in thinking that we actually have a good enough body to wear, but scoff when we see like bodied individuals daring to venture out in public in ?
This has nothing to do with that.......
Last Saturday when the Mechanic left me on my own I worked away at a number of little jobs, but after the lunch hour I decided I could wait no more.It was time for a "Dry Fit"....a practice run!

Two sheets of 3/4" plywood...one fancy engine lift(well OK not fancy but very utilitarian)

A few ounces of determination and patience...

And "whoop there it is" (sorry I just dated myself there)

It worked like a charm. I was able to very easily push the engine in place. The last 2" I had to use a come-a-long to wiggle it into the final position but not bad at all!
After the engine was in place I was able to get a better idea about the transmission position and how much room I have for a drive shaft. I think I will have the worlds shortest drive shaft...I figure 11" long. This includes the u joints...on both ends...!!

Left waiting at the alter...

So....a beautiful morning...cold...but sunny. My family's blessing to have a bus day....so what's missing from this scene??
The Mechanic's truck.

Yes, there must have been some communication breakdown. A few weeks ago I had to cancel on him. Then we couldn't make schedules work for 3 weeks. The big day came....and nothin'
Jilted.
Alone....sniff sniff. Feel sorry for me yet? Well don't I still did a whack of work and had a great time doing it!

Jeff was busy making a sign for the bus shelter......it is the buses name.
Yes at long last the bus has a name!
BUT I won't let that secret out quite yet. It's not a state secret but I kinda want to have a post all to itself for that.

I spent the morning FINALLY tearing out the drivers side flooring in the engine bay. Allowed me better access to the air tanks and to work in the rear.
In the afternoon I decided to take the plunge. I waited around hoping John was at home treating this like a golf course and waiting out the frost delay. But to no avail, John was not coming.
So I decided to do the dry fit by myself. First order of business....can one guy move a ton of engine and tranny??

And so it returns....

I know all over the country this summer has been atypical. To hot out east, to cold out west. It is what it is. But I was a little shocked to wake up to the white on the roof this morning.
I'm glad the bus has a cover!
Today was not a productive bus day. I got a start but then an emergency call from a patient required me to drop what I was doing and head into the city. Just as well I had an appointment at the hospital for some tests anyway.(Frankly I'm glad it's done....it damned near killed me!-not the tests but rather the fact that I couldn't have coffee this morning!!)

Chuggin' along

This weekend wasn't a strong bus weekend, but a great one none the less.
Friday Ron and I went on a hunting and scavenging. We met a real colorful character Larry at the local radiator shop, they just don't make 'em like they used to.
As it turns out the rad that we have will work just fine, now I just have to figure out where I'm going to put the turbo CAC.

I put the final touches on the engine cradle, notice the cross bracing.(Thanks Harold)

I spent a little time cleaning up the engine bay, a few years of 'gunk' from the previous few engines.Lone and behold the "VIN" number was exactly where everyone said it should be....I just had to get a few layers of grease and dirt off

She's got great buns....

I know this is non bus related, but for those close to us you know that we have had some radical changes to our home life. Our daughter has recently been diagnosed with Celiac disease. One of our challenges is our life without Gluten. So Michelle was tickled when her GF hamburger buns turned out perfectly.
Nice buns baby!

Whistle while you work.....

In the evenings...while it gently RAINS outside Ron and I have been chipping away at the windows here at home, while Randy does the final stage at his house. So far 9 of 14 windows are done.

Rear end work....Part duex?Trois?quatre?

Another day another root canal...saving the world one tooth at a time! But lucky for me Michelle's parents are here, and Ron can only read so many books, so I happily put him to work and he happily accepts, by the end of the day he too "stinks like bus"
Today while I was drilling and filling, Ron was pulling the fan housing off the radiator getting it ready for removal.

When I got home we were ready to pull the radiator, it took a little persuasion, ingenuity and persistence but we 'got 'er done!'

The more we remove the more it seems like we need a bigger engine....kidding....maybe...

Once the rad was out we could more easily visualize the secondary transmission rad. Yes 'secondary'. Under the floor in the engine room there is a transmission cooler, but apparently it maybe didn't work? they didn't figure out that you actually have to have the fan wired up, or maybe it was the wrong color. I don't know but the tranny seemed to be cool but the engine always ran hot.
Anyway we will pull everything and perhaps simply just put it all back, or maybe it will be totally revamped.

I don't know. But I do know I'm lovin' the journey...

Nice to be high and dry!

Today, the weather forecaster was 100% correct. He called for rain and cold....it rained and hit a high of 5 C. So Ron and I gladly canceled our 2:40 tee time and spent the day doing bus stuff!(I love the bus shelter)
Ron started the day clipping and shaving rivet heads while I worked on the engine lift.

Early work looked easy enough... but it always takes longer than you think. We started around 10am and by 3 we broke for lunch.

After lunch it was time to get back at 'er

By then I had finished the engine lift, Ron and I man handled the cradle onto the lift, then welded some extra lateral supports. I haven't put the transport supports on yet (sorry Harold) but they WILL go on so as we don't have a second catastrophic failure...like last time.

The engine just dropped into place...with a little TLC and care...of course.

We then ended the day with a little hodge podge of jobs. Ron cleaned out more "stuff"(aka junk) from the engine room, while I prepped the bus for a little gear figuring. I had the charge the air system with my shop compressor so we could release the brakes. Why?....so we could jack up the rear end and calculate the rear diff gear ratio.
2.8 by the way.

I hope it rains again tomorrow...