Things that bump and shift.

There was a time in my life that I would have scoffed at mermaid band aids. As I get older  function trumps form and my main concern is getting me back out there......and to stop the bleeding of course.
Yes I pulled a dumb ass move, I had my superman cape on and thought(or perhaps I didn't think) that I could hold a piece of sharp metal steady while I tried to loosen a nut tightened with an impact wrench.

It ripped through my glove and sliced me open faster than I could say 'moron'.

Friday was a beautiful autumn day, Randy came over and we set to puttering. Randy was charged with the rear bumper. I had the bumper piece come back from the Rod Shop. They did a great job of reshaping the bumper for me. Not Perfect but we can work with it.








Randy put some of the levelling jacks to good use. It's pretty finicky work trying to get things "just so"

While Randy toiled away at the bumper. I put the finishing touches on the shifter.

After a few failed attempts at leaving the shifter in it's original position and trying to create a linkage. I decided to bite the bullet and move the whole assembly. Today was to finish that off.

(special thanks to Trevor, I forgot to give you the hot tub steps, but they come in handy right now...)

After it's all said and done, it really doesn't look like much, moved back about 11", but it makes a world of difference when you're in the drivers seat. The patches are glued into place with a metal strap underneath for support. I have a few more things to get at this week in preparation of Chris's visit next week. We really are close to extended movement.......what ever that means!!

Wake up and smell the coffee

I figured that I need to utilize the kids while I can. There are plenty of places on Fillmore that are way more suited for a small body. Replacing the air horn body was one of them. Oh yes I could have backed up the bus and done it myself, but you know that every kid really wants to crawl up on a roof.
Anna was all over it when I said who wants to help with Fillmore?

I found a new horn body on eBay. The trumpets on it are plastic, but that is OK because I have saved the original chrome ones. (they are just getting spruced up). Once they come back we'll swap out the trumpets and we'll be back in business. Anna loved being the first one to sound the horn when we tested it.....it was LOUD!!!!

No matter how much you try we all fall into a rut where we grow so accustomed  to something that we forget that it is there. We live on the eastern slopes in the foothills of the rocky mountains. After being here for 17 years you never cease to appreciate the mountains but sometimes you can go for very long stretches where you just don't seem to notice them. I find it usually takes a visitor  who looks at the western horizon in awe to make me take a step back, wake up and smell the coffee if you will, and say "Oh ya! Look at that!"
I recently had a similar happening with Fillmore. It's been well over a year or more since the windows have been refurbished (largely due to Randy's hard work). I have been walking up and down the sides of the bus  more times than I can shake a stick at. It wasn't until I had made contact with another Flxy owner looking to source some of the hard to find window seals that I made a startling discovery.

The very first window that I put together was installed in the rear most window bay on the passenger side. This was done before I had found a place to custom make the exterior window seal on the stationary window. Thinking back I remember saying, when I get the rubber, I'll install it then.

Guess what never happened?

But how many times did I walk right by, never registering the defect?

The last order of business for the weekend was to reposition the shifter. I played around with a linkage system but that was a "FAIL". So I went back to the drawing board and found the best way was to disassemble and reposition. Trim the shifter shaft, re drill and remount the assembly in a position about 10" rear of the original. This will allow the driver to get in and out of the drivers seat without accidentally pushing it into gear.

Changing gears

I'm never to old to learn, it just really burns my britches when what I am learning was right under my nose....and in my haste and arrogance I ignored a seemingly simple yet creative solution.
Allow me to explain. A couple of weeks ago my friend Trevor ( Good Friends, good times) came out to get my hot tub. The two of us wrestled with that damn thing for 3 hours trying to get it up onto a trailer that ended up being too small. A week later another friend of mine(Jeff) was moving. Having done the lions share of transferring the household belongings to the new digs he was left with a couple of big ticket items.....a piano....and a hot tub! UUUUUUUUGGGGGHhhh!
But I threw caution (for my back) to the wind and showed up to help move the big behemoths. Much to my surprise and my shame Jeff was way more prepared and organized than I was. First off he had 6 guys, second he had this awesome moving cart...a simple 3 foot by 5 foot platform with big pneumatic wheels. We simple hefted the tub on an edge, shoved the cart underneath and then wheeled it up on his trailer.
My heart sank....
I knew I had the frame at home...and the tires...just not together.......sigh.....lesson learned.

First thing Friday morning, I sandblasted and painted the old engine cradle frame, mounted the wheels and topped it off with 3/4" Plywood. I can't wait to move that #@##** hot tub again!!

Now onto something more bus related. I don't like the shifter position relative to the seat. When seated it's fine, but if you want to set it in park and then get up out of the seat you have to dance around the stick. Biggest issue is there is a very high risk of bumping the stick into gear. I found some old linkage pieces from the original set up for the clutch assembly I think...

Cut, sandblasted, drilled, and tapped...

Voila....a new shifter linkage!

Good news is that it will allow me to keep the original shifter in the same spot, as it would be a nightmare to move it now.

Bad news is that the linkage lever arm is too short, not giving enough travel. I could move the linkage arm on the lever but I don't want it to be too tall.....

Back to the drawing board.

"Quick and easy" a Fillmore Fib

This summer I quite purposefully took a step back from all "my stuff". I'm not even sure it's fair to say " my stuff" because "my stuff" still includes all the fun stuff like hanging with the kids and spending time with the family, you know moonlit walks with my wife and exercise.......well OK, moonlit walks with my wife anyway. What I did consciously put on the back burner was " my Fillmore stuff".
But progress is still moving forward, even if it's at a snails pace.

My last entry we talked about making the wiper retention bracket. Soldering is complete...

Test fit is almost there, I had to trip the inside flange a bit to make it work.

Once in place it fit like a glove and created a very reliable,stable, and retrievable mounting.

Looking good, for what the second or third time around?

Next I wanted to clean up the window vents in the engine compartment. A challenge they were to remove. Nothing like flat head metal screws rusted into place at near impossible angles to reach. But, if they got them in there I can get them out!

Now they sit in the back of my car waiting for refurbishment!

Inspiration from my baby brother

Today starts on a sad note. The big "C" has taken yet another good person from this world. My good buddy Trevor lost his Dad after a courageous battle with cancer. Knowing full well what you are going through my friend, my heart and all the uplifting wishes in the world are with you and your family.

Last summer when I was in Winnipeg, my "little" brother was showing me his portfolio for school (architecture). Of course I was amazing and impressed with his whacky way of thinking and his creative designs, but then the selfish part of me really started to study his model. You know the part of you that says..." I want to do that!". So I made him show me the technique he used in his model construction. Quite simple he said, just plain old solder technique but using silver solder. More expensive but a better hold.

One afternoon while at the skate park with the kids. I brought all my soldering "stuff". When Anna walked up and asked what I was doing I started to explain, half way through my explanation she started to laugh. Puzzled I asked "what's so funny?" "You sound like a TV show" she snorted!

And thus the solder segment was born...

So I applied Shawn's teachings to Fillmore....not quite in such an artistic creative way....but a much more practical way.

"Well that's a fail!"

Right from the mouth of babes. The title today came from a quote from my son Jeff. It refers to the attempt at a job I had to do on the whole bumper saga, which is explained in the entry below. Fillmore still hasn't taken much more than a few spins around the neighbourhood but it always brings a smile to my face ( and a puzzled look on the neighbour's) when I back Fillmore out into the sunshine and listen to his engine purr.

Back to the Fail

Although I can't say I am done with the two side bumpers (the passenger side needs "tweaking") I set out to work on the centerpiece. The bumper piece I have looks like it's from another vintage truck of the period. The one smaller curve (top to bottom) of the bumper is a dead match the larger curve (left to right) isn't sharp enough.



So I thought, "what the heck, lets try out a red neck bending technique......











I don't need to bend it much......









Problem is I couldn't generate enough force to actually deform the metal, I would start putting pressure on the come-a-long, and the damn car would just be dragged across the driveway. Even after I chocked the tires of the car, my little 1/2 ton Jetta just didn't have the curb weight to "get 'er done".
After trying a time or two my son skidded up on his bike and said..."Well that's a fail!"

Bump and run!

This weekend was a fabulous weekend. Looking back I don't know where all the time went, but the sun was shining and we were busy doing stuff.

I got back into my routine of bus work on Fridays. This past Friday took me to the back of the bus. It was time to finally play with the bumpers. To see what I had and what I need.

During the tear out phase(many moons ago) I bagged and tagged lots of things. Some of which were the bumper rubber....things!


I moaned and groaned trying to figure out where I might find some new ones like this. These ones are old and weathered, the rubber is cracking and brittle. As well some of them were 2-3 inches thick and others were only an inch or so. I thought if I could fine a material that is a similar consistency but only an inch thick, then I could use as many as I needed for the specific location on the rear end.
But what would satisfy those requirements?......




As stompin' Tom Conners sang...."The good ol' hockey game...it's the best game you can name...."

Yup, a Canadian staple...Hockey Pucks!

Test fit on the drivers side went really well. The passenger side (not shown), not so much. It seems a previous owner backed into something at some point. So the body that the bumper mounts onto is bent back and angled up, thus the bumper sits too far in and down. I will have to do some repair work for this to work.

clean and shape

There are many times where , as a family, you'll take a big trip, or go on an epic vacation and those are memorable events. Not every memory has to be a well planned out holiday, sometimes it can be just another day at home, helping Dad in the bus shelter.
At least it will be for me, I can only hope that it means as much to them.
Sometimes when we come home from a family vacation, the kids hit a low, their friends are often still away and they are bored.....perfect....have I got a job for you! Anna happily agreed to help me out with some Fillmore work.
In the engine compartment, on the passenger side, the walls still needed "attention"

So we set out at it with grinding. Get the two of us in there with sanding disks, things get a little cloudy with old rust and paint dust. Proper protection is key, but even then the air is  pretty thick. Enter the power fan!

I had an in line fan in the workshop for the past few years because I thought my ventilation fan was shot. (turned out the wiring just needed to be redone) So I pulled it out and made a mobile construction fan!

So we cleaned and painted, and in the end it looks pretty sharp!

Boxed in

With a little patience, a few cardboard templates and a fan to keep the ambient temperature below 30C I piddled away at a new block cover for the fuse panel.As you can see I still need to trim out the one side and the top but it's starting to look good!

My end vision is to cover the wood with something to dress it up....maybe polished aluminum maybe laminate, maybe just a coat of paint.....details,details!!

Back in the saddle again...

Gene Autry sang about it, getting back to something you love. And I have grown to love the process of the Fillmore remake. Having said that , I thoroughly enjoyed the break I had this summer. June and July flew by in the blink of an eye, but what great times we have had.

The first order of business was to clean up all the new wiring. It wasn't a mess, it was really quite neat, but the problem was the fuse box I had created before wasn't big enough for all the new wiring. So I couldn't actually close the block into the box.

So I decided to grab the bull by the horns and dismantle everything. Keeping the sides for a template was a good idea (saved me some time)

Next I had to plan, design and build. This would have been a lot easier if I had spent some time with paper and pencil, but I found myself in the in-the-moment fabrication. The kids think I'm a pack rat, keeping all sorts of seemingly scrap metal but truth be known these "extras" are just metal that haven't reached their full potential.

A few odds and ends and the next thing you know we have an idea on the way...

Sometimes I buy things knowing deep in my heart that I will use them....I just don't know when. Like these weldable  hinges. I think I have had them for at least a year or more. FINALLY I have the perfect application!

"It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys!"-Longfellow Deeds