Beautiful spring Day!

So now that the engine is in 'dry dock' we decided that there is really nothing more that can be done until I have a chat with my machine shop about the drive shaft. That is now the deal breaker. If they can make me a drive shaft as short as I need then we are golden....if not then I have some crazy ass stuff to do...which may include pushing the engine back even further(which means I have to violate the rear door)....or changing the transmission to a shorter one, and I don't even know if that is an option yet.
Stay tuned.

In the mean time there are plenty of other things to be done. For those who don't know, the bus has two fuel tanks, one of mine was in pretty rough shape so I had to pull it and have it reconditioned. So today we put it back into place! You know spring is close in Canada when you can handle the nuts and bolts without gloves!.....and when you hold them in your mouth they don't instantly freeze to your lips!....don't ask.

The other job Ron and I tackled was starting to plan and build boxes(yet to be insulated) for the water tanks.

The inside of the bus is starting to get crowded, couch, sink,cook top,furnace,heaters, tanks, etc, etc.

The garage on the other hand hasn't looked this bare in,....a year?

Makin' headway!

So, the forecast was for rain and snow, but the bus gods gave us clear skies and sunshine, and a mere -8C. So after I got the kids on the bus I enlisted my father-in-law Ron's help and we moved the engine into the bus for the 'dry fit.

I was really glad that I had another set of hands and eyes to help out with this. Things moved along pretty quick and with relative ease

There were a few points in the snow pack that we just couldn't get the footing we needed to get the engine rolling, so a few times we had to hook up the come-a-long to make some headway.

Soon enough we were backing the engine into place.

The good news is that she fits, I pushed it back as far as I absolutely could in order to maximize the length of the drive shaft.

A moment of warm fuzzies and warm sunshine as I lay under the bus looking at the positioning of the engine/tranny. I chatted via email with my favorite welding shop. They are going to help me out and manufacture some new motor mounts when I have it in it's final resting place.

The bad news... although not catastrophic....we still have some magic to pull out of my.....ehhh never mind. The issue is the length of drive shaft...I have about 6" between yolks

I had to put this one in....last weekend I told you about going on a guys ski trip to Fernie. Well I am here to inform you that everyone came home safely. It's hard to get into trouble when you can't make 10pm....way to go boys...party on!

What a weekend!

So I don't have much to report on the bus front. Frankly I only managed a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon. I took off with the boys and went skiing at Fernie for Friday and Saturday. Then I travelled up to Golden B.C. to join the family for a night. This morning I got up early to bring Anna back to a dance commitment while the rest of the family skied another day. That was just fine with me...my legs were DONE after two days of hard powder skiing.

When I got back to Bragg, I poked around for a bit around the house. Then decided I should get outside and do something productive.

Being that I had been gone for a few days I decided that I needed to clear the driveway. Unfortunately it has been so cold, I needed to pull the blower into the garage and put a heater on it.

Soooooo, I took the opportunity to make a wee bit of progress. Small steps but every little bit helps along.

I know that I will need to fabricate a new engine mount/cradle. The old frame from the donor vehicle was 1/4" rectangular steel...perfect!!

I cut off a piece a little wider than what I will need, but it will allow me to jiggle the engine around to it's final resting place....hmm that doesn't sound all that good.

Anyway, just a simple spot weld for now. My plan is once I get the final measurements etc I will remove it, cut it to size, weld, sandblast and paint!....Huh!, nothing to it!!

-39C...

Enough said....