"If you don't need it cut it off..."

 You know the title of this is kind of funny....and yet not. I've had two people say this with very different intentions. Most recently my brother who is here for Christmas and is helping with the bus. My Dad and I were trying to figure out the best way to safely remove the engine/tranny from the frame of the donor. Shawn came out and said.." Spend 20 min to save you an hour of headache!...Do you need the frame? If you don't need it, cut it off. "-he was right

A couple of years ago after our second child.....my wife said the same thing to me...

 But seriously...Here we are just over a week ago getting ready for the work to begin.

 This is me after Shawn' inspirational 'cut it off' speech

 This is what ended up in the trash can. Well truth be known this is only half of the chaff we took off the frame.

 Here is what we have now. The engine and tranny on blocks, the diff is still in the lower frame. I may need to get someone with an acetylene torch to help finish things off here.

 

But, for Christmas....I gave my wife the present she wanted....to park in the garage.

Even if it was only for two nights.

Merry Christmas to all!!

 Well today was just a great day...busy as all blankety blank but it was a great day. Got up early, drank coffee while we watched the kids go crazy under the tree, and then prepared for the onslaught of 24 people for Christmas dinner! Just so you know we all made it out alive. Funny thing when you have that many for a sit down dinner, when they leave...and you are just left with your 9 house guests (and 1 extra dog), it seems really quiet!

These pics are actually from yesterday (DEC 24th) I had promised Michelle that I would refrain from any bus work on Christmas day. And although I did look longingly at it...I was true to my word!

 Yesterday was a very good progress day. What ever ground we had lost in the mishaps of the previous days, we were back on track. Dad had gotten a 12lb spool of welding wire while we were skiing the previous day, so we were good to go!
 Shawn's creative design resulted in an engine hoist that will likely lift the bus itself!...(not)

 Here we are all welded up and ready to go....nervous?....Damn right I was!

 But all that was for not, the hoist worked like a charm, lifted her up. Swung her around...

I felt like I should have had cigars and scotch on hand. I tip my hat to my proud work crew!

Ski Day!

 Today, there were a few things that just HAD to be done. Like skiing! My sister-in-law had never been on skis before so we decided it was high time to give it a try.

 On the bus front, we were at a stale mate until the hoist was repaired, which was waiting on new wire for the MIG welder. So Dad had a few things on the 'guy' shopping list.

In the meantime we spent a few hours in the morning stripping off, or harvesting as I like to call it, the air bag suspension from the donor.

 

A few(who am I kidding?) more hours and we should be ready to take it all apart...

The power of positive thinking!!

one step forward...TWO steps back

 Sound familiar?....yup it happened again!

 Today we finally got everything cleaned off the engine/tranny combo. All the extra wires and buggered pipes and tubes, ready to lift the combo out of the frame. Everything was going swimmingly....but then....

 I think I was so eager to get this lifted, I overlooked a MAJOR detail!
 Ed (the friend who lent me his hoist) if you are reading this I am sorry. I will fix it but I will also offer to buy you a replacement......crap!
we were lifting engine, I had it pretty much out of the frame and I heard a funny sound from the lift. I looked at it and realized it was the crackling of the paint. The boom was bending.

 In my 'rush' I failed to double check where the boom length was. half, full, one and a half and then two ton settings. I had it on 1 ton....it should have been one and a half or two tons to be safe.
As you can see....

 After a little heat...a 10 foot 'persuasion' bar... a bench vise and an angle grinder...

 We were off to the races, in the end(sparing you some whacked out physics) we needed to weld the top back into place.

 All was good until....I ran out of wire from my self feed spool...CRAPOLA!!!!

Welcome! Welcome....NOW GET TO WORK!!!

Yay! the holidays are here! We have a house full of family so this is a busy place around here lately...having said that I have eager helpers!

 Today my Dad and I spent a good chunk of the day (save a limited amount of coffee breaks) stripping all the unnecessary stuff from the donor vehicle.

 While we worked away inside I got my brother Shawn to get his creative juices flowing and figure out a way of getting the new radiator up in the tower.

 Slow and steady, bit by bit...

At days end we are ready to pull the engine and tranny from the frame......cross your fingers!

And you wonder why...

When ever we get something to put together, a table, a bookshelf, a lamp. We, and I use the papal "we" here for men, tend to try to put things together without looking at the instructions. This male attribute often infuriates my wife. She often says..."Why don't you look at the directions? They are right there!"

But often experience has taught us...right or wrong... that instructions have been over simplified to the point that they become useless....in fact comical!

Really?....I mean someone in this world actually needs this?....or worse yet, finds this actually useful?

Getting ready for company.

 It's Christmas time in the city....and in the country!
I knew this weekend would be a very little progress on the bus kind of weekend. We have a mitt full of family coming for Christmas this coming Monday. So of course that means we are madly cleaning the house, trying to make it look like Martha Stewart got some of her ideas from us. There was a lull in activity this afternoon, shortly after we got the tree, cleared the end of the driveway and then helped Jeff build a snow fort. So what better time than to "clean house" for Fillmore too!

 With the new donor axle in the garage it was high time to move the old one out. Of course when we pulled it from Fillmore we thought "We'll jut put it here for now...until the new one comes next week"
Ha! little did I realize.

So after chipping away at the snow pack and ice to get some chains around it, Jeff and I lifted it up and then backed my heavy duty utility trailer underneath.

It's likely exceeding the max payload limits on this bad boy....It's a damn good thing I am secure in my masculinity because when I show up anywhere with this trailer guys snicker and say words like " it's so cute"
I don't think I'll be using this trailer to get her out on the highway, we'd blow a tire faster than a....ahh never mind.

One of these things is not like the other...

In the words of Homer...."Doahhh!"
I HATE feeling like a moron. In my working life, I don't know everything and I am constantly learning, but my knowledge base is extensive and substantial enough that the learning happens in small and seemingly controlled little bits. Doing this restoration project I am learning at, lets say, an accelerated pace. So there have been times where I might imply my knowledge base is slightly more than it is, in an effort to save face...or not look like I have no idea what the hell I am doing..to those in "the industry".In the end however, just like I tell my kids, a little fib will grow and then 'get ya!'

 

Take today for example. With the new rear diff, the axle size is slightly larger than the previous axle. So, I need new 'U'-bolts to fix the axle to the leaf springs. I call my usual manufacturing guy in Cochrane, who put me on to a suspension specialty shop closer to my place of work who they would sub contract to anyway. I gave them a call, Standens suspension. What I thought was going to take a few days at best, he said he could have made up in 1/2 hour. Like a teenager in the backseat of a parked car, I got very excited and started talkin' big in hopes that this would move to the next level.
The service rep on the phone started asking me dimensions,to which I was already prepared with my hand drawn"blue print" so I started firing back answers as quick as he could ask them. I was in the know, I was on top of things, I knew what I wanted!
Then came the question...
As they always do, in hindsight the question makes perfect sense. At the moment however, while the bravado is draining out of my ego like the blood from my face, I had no idea what he meant...Round top or square top?....huh?....I already told this joker that I need a 7/8 diameter 'U'-bolt 4  3/4" width and 16 1/8" length. Any moron knows that 'diameter' means round!
So I blurt it out. As quick as the thought had entered my mind, it left my lips. I had a queezy feeling about this, but the sales guy seemed to be OK with it!
It wasn't until I picked them up an hour later I realized my mistake. I think I actually heard my pride hit the floor. BUT, rather than take an offensive stance and get into a row with the service guy. I took ownership. I told the guy that the u-bolts were wrong, I went to the car and brought in the old style so he could see. What happened next was really kind of funny . I fessed up that he made them according to what I had told him but that I misunderstood the question due to my lack of experience. I said it was my mistake, and although it would be costly I was going to have to ask him to remake the order. He got a real mad look on his face and said " These can't just be restocked you know' this is a problem because it is custom, I really should charge you for two sets"
"Yes you should" I replied "It was my mistake"
He cocked his head to one side, wrinkled his nose like he didn't know what to make of that, I don't think he was expecting that response....he walked away.
No more than 15 minutes later he returned with newly made u bolts with a flat top.
And a bill for only a fraction of the costs.
Lesson learned. Ask, communicate, be honest and accountable.

Oh ya, and floss.

Where do we begin?

 Well, now we are safe and sound, covered, heated,dry....no more reasons to procrastinate.

 Now begins the job of separating the wheat from the chaff. There is a lot of wiring on this bad boy that was needed for it's former application, but won't be needed here. I'm going to start by simply removing some of the obvious parts that need to be saved and stored. Then a general identification and clean up.

 Now I don't know the full history of the '92 Motor home that this engine came from, but I'm thinking this can't be all good...

 After some basic clean up, things are looking a little more clear, there's the Cummins I recognize!

It's hard to envision at this point and from this angle that this is going to fit into THAT!!

OMG!

The day has come!  Today I spent in a continuing education course discussing implants don't get to excited they were dental implants. Mike from Calgary Cranes was picking up the new power plant and delivering it to the house @ 4:30. So I left the meeting and high tailed it home as soon as I could. And a good thing I did!

As I was zipping home down the west Bragg Creek road I saw this truck out of the corner of my eye, it had turned down a secondary road. Thankfully I recognized the payload. I quickly caught up to him and told him to follow me, otherwise this may not have happened today!

Mike backed up his rig into the driveway, I kept an eye on his back so as to not back up into Fillmore's shed. Jeff waved at him when the crane was lined up with the garage door.

It seemed kind of magical at one point, this two tonne block of steel seemingly hovering in the air.

We decided to put the tires on and then simply wheel it into place! Sounds easy...well it wasn't. But Mike 'the crane guy' was good and he made it seem easy.

Soon enough there it was safe and sound....and big...man I have a lot of work to do...

Nesting?

"Nesting brings about some unique and seemingly irrational behaviors in expectant women." As taken from a very reliable Internet source...but what about expectant men?

I guess it's not really nesting because my behavior is perfectly rational!....Just don't ask my wife.
 You may remember a post from a while back(October 8th I believe), I decided that I was going to take the opportunity that presented itself to upgrade the engine tranny combo that I am putting in Fillmore. I was able to track down a 1992 Monaco motor home with a C8.3 and Allison 4 speed tranny.
After much contemplation, measuring and re-measuring, nail biting, and a heavy dose of waffling, the day has finally arrived. Tomorrow the power-train shows up! At 4:30 to be precise. It's almost like a scheduled 'C'-section if we are going to follow the expectant father theme here.
I decided on the engine and transmission, then called back and said I was interested in the rear axle, then called back and said "of course I want the cooling system, only to be followed by a other call to make sure he sends all of the rear axle bracketing etc etc.
Finally the guys said "ENOUGH"....and he cut the whole ass end off the motor home and said "here take the whole damn thing!" Sooooooooo tomorrow I am having the whole back end of the motor home (which was simply cut off the remainder of the frame) delivered and hopefully set into the garage by a local company with a picker truck!
So it is perfectly logical for me to clear and clean my side of the garage for the new arrival!
Stay tuned....