Easter break

It's been a dry spell for the last month with Fillmore, but like the feeling you get when March morphs into April.....I feel things are a changing. Last night Randy and I moved Fillmore from one garage to a second. The later being "Standens" a long time local heavy duty spring shop. I'm having the springs refurbished and bushings replaced. They were excited to see such an old project back on the road. While I was inside doing the paperwork you could see a few of the guys walking around Fillmore kicking the tires and having a peak.
I sincerely hope that I do not turn out like the Easter bunny and get a surprise I am not expecting here....

UUUUUUUGH!

Oh boy, the waiting game is driving me nuts. My issue is I'm Mr. Nice guy, I need to be the squeaky wheel. I took Fillmore in to the city to have some work done. My mistake was saying to the shop owner that this was a restoration project and when he can get to it would be great. Bad decision. Its been 3 weeks and today I called to be the squeaky wheel, and nothing has been done.
So I am facilitating the process, I am going down there Wednesday night to move Fillmore to another yard to get the leaf springs refurbished, then I'll take it back to the original shop with a strict timeline.
Wish me luck....

Waiting........

Well, the OOPSI has come and gone. My spidey senses were tingling when I took Fillmore in for the safety inspection. I was real confident with the body and the electrical, engine/tranny/rear diff upgrade. As I was driving into the city I worried about the steering, alignment was fine but there was "play" in the system.
Well results are back, and the shop had two comments. First was they were impressed with the engine etc and the electrical work....Nice!......second was not so positive.The steering linkage has to much play and will need attention before the  pass on the safety inspection, as well the bushings in the leaf spring hangers are worn and warrant replacement.
I wasn't surprised, but I was disappointed, even if I knew deep down it was coming. So next step is to investigate the cause of the play in the steering. Is it the steering box, pitman arm, drag link, idler arm? We will find out!
Stay tuned!

Snow Day

There is something fairly therapeutic about a snow day. You can lounge around, drink a pot of coffee and feel totally justified because you can't go anywhere. Sunday was a day like that. I was to be in the city for a rehersal, Michelle was to be at a baby shower, the kids in various directions from there. As it turned out we woke to a bunch of snow, and it was still coming down. All of our respective events were cancelled, and we all just squirrelled away and did "stuff".
Being that Fillmore was still in the city, I turned to cleaning up the shop.

It started with a general clean up, but then I decided to tackle a job I had been thinking about all winter. Granted it has been a mild winter thus far so the priority for this was low. But when opportunity knocks!!
I have two fairly large insulated tarps. I had been using them by throwing them over the bus when I was working on it in cold conditions. But now my plan was to hoist it up the the roof to the bus shelter.

I was in my happy place CBC radio on, puttering around. It was great I was so relaxed that when Michelle started to clear the drive way I didn't even feel guilty! I Tell ya there is nothing sexier than a girl and a John Deer

At the end of the day Fillmore's Hangout is ready for him to come back home. Now I just wait......wait for the results of the safety inspection......I'm having a funny feeling about this.

Sucker punch

 Yesterday, Friday March 1 was the day I took Fillmore into the city for his OOPSI. They open at 8am so I wanted to get there first thing in the morning to avoid all the city traffic etc. So Thursday night I decided that I wanted to back Fillmore out of the driveway, turn him around and then back him in. That way in the wee hours of the morning I would have a clean get away. Fillmore had other ideas. I think he had stage fright. I got up at 6am, did a couple final things to get ready, then.........nothing. He refused to start, "BAM"- sucker punch to the head.The battery was drained to 50%. I don't remember if I left something on OR the battery has a bad cell....I'm not sure. None the less my 8am appointment came and went while I patiently waited for the charger to bring the battery up to firing speed

I actually pulled him out of the shelter with Michelle's Volvo so that we could have a better chance of a jump start if need be, but for now the charger trickles away....as does my patience.

While I waited I decided to dress up a temporary mounting wall beside the driver. I little laminate and contact cement do wonders.

It's far from perfect but it cleans things up and makes me feel better with something to do while I wait for Fillmore to get over it and get on the road!

I also created a little template for the shifter, which I cut out of 3/4" ply for now. I would like to make it a plate in 1/4" steel....but that's a detail for down the road.

FINALLY! At 10:30Fillmore finally decided to give it up and he turned over. After a not so brief stop at the gas bar for a fill. We trundled off to the city. There were a few things that went through my mind on that journey. First Fillmore was on his longest trip since the Cummins was dropped in, and he was performing admirably. Lots of power for the hills, speed wasn't an issue and temp hovered around 175F. Second thing I realized is that Fillmore steering is still pretty sloppy, I wonder if that will be a problem for the inspection. And lastly, as I drive Fillmore he feels BIG, but look at this pic where I parked him at the inspection center. Compared to some of the other motor homes on the road Fillmore is a squirt!