Trying to keep your cool

This past weekend found me trying to prevent the re-occurrence of the rad fan carnage incident again. So friday I spent some time mapping out what I needed to get the job done. Thank fully I had all the materials I need. Now I just need time.

Saturday and sunday found us hosting friends and team mates of Jeff's for Team Alberta. All three team Alberta U16 teams made it to the semi finals, with Jeff and his partner playing for the gold. It was close and a well fought battle but this time he found himself with silver around his neck and I couldn't be more proud. His competitors and team mates are a force to be reckoned with and the game was hard fought and respectful.

Jeff was obviously disappointed they couldn't go all the way and take home the gold. He is hardest on himself, so we were thankful that Jeff's buddy Grace showed up with someone that could help put things into perspective and let him focus on more than just Volleyball. Nationals are in a week in Toronto, so there will be plenty of time to be super focused in the time ahead.

Monday, being a local holiday, I was able to squeak out a little time and get the fan guard almost complete

I still want to trim, finish, and weld, but right now it's functional. I await the new fan tomorrow, so hopefully I can get it into place before we leave for holidays!

One more little drop...

I figure every inch is sacred. When I built the split galley I tried to capture every single inch I could for storage. Plates, cups, utensils, cleaning supplies...they all have to go somewhere. And having camped in Fillmore a few times now we know that we can use every nook and cranny that we can. So when I had to modify the under counter apron on the sink side I realized there was enough space for another drawer!

Not much to say about it but it will work great for cutlery!

May the odds be ever in your favor

For those who have seen the films(Hunger Games), the blog title brings an ominous air of dread to mind when hearing that statement. I've been to Vegas 3-4 times in my life but never have I sat down at a table and played against the house in an effort to walk away with winnings. So I sit here and ask myself, why did I think I had better odds with the engine room in Fillmore than at a blackjack table in Vegas?

As we packed up and came home from Camping we used the engine room to transport some of our "stuff". As I get more and more comfortable with camping with Fillmore I start getting more reckless or less attentive to detail, and mess up my odds. What happened on the way home from Little Bow Provincial Park was a rag I had used was not properly stowed away. It got loose and sucked up into the fan blades. If you remember a few years ago on the maiden voyage to Manitoba we ran into a heat issue in the engine room in Fillmore. The fan was pulling air in from outside through the radiator and heating up the engine room, which caused issues....electrical issues...
So I decided to alter the pitch of the fan blades to push the air out . Problem soled, but new issue created. By doing so the fan blades are spinning with the thin trailing edge forward and as such are inherently weak. So it didn't take much to break them up.

I usually have all the tools I need for the job at hand but this time I was up the creek without a puller. Thankfully another friend in the cool tool network had exactly what I needed to remove the split lock bushing!

With the damaged pieces removed all I need now are the new parts. A quick email to the manufacturer and some specific measurements and the new blades are on the way!

Now for the second surprise that Fillmore gave me upon arriving home after camping. I went to start it up and it turns over- but no firing occurred. I was thinking a vapor lock in the fuel pump but you rarely hear of that with Diesel, none the less I self primed the pump to see....but to no avail. Further investigation found that my fuel shut of valve wasn't opening on start. If I manually held it open then the solenoid would seem to hold it open and I could start Fillmore and keep him running, but if I shut him down the same problem existed. Putting a voltmeter on the leads to the solenoid found that I had power at the appropriate times, so the relays were fine. That meant the problem was the solenoid itself. They, apparently, are known to burn out every now and again. The down side is, the cost of replacement is upwards of $600.

I removed the solenoid and took it with me into Calgary to get a new one. As I sat in the parking lot at the Kenworth dealer I looked at the ground wire for the solenoid and realized my issue was really nothing more than a bad (corroded ) ground.

So I cancelled my order of the solenoid with Cummins and cleaned and rewired the solenoid back into place. Works like a charm.

While we wait for the fan, progress is at a snails pace with the furnace. The water damaged furnace fan has been replaced. The top video is the noise level of the furnace when we realized the fan was shot.

The bottom video is the sound levels with the new replacement fan. The rate determining step now is the water drain solenoid. It was leaking so I ordered a new piece. From the same company that sent me the fan in 3 days, this part has been 'in transit' for three weeks now, and we are still not even sure where it is....

Keep your cool man!

It's a tough racket coming out of grade 12. By the time you are done exams, all the university students have swarmed in and have grabbed a lot of the service industry jobs in the area. Unfortunate for Anna, but kinds nice for me! She's had some spare time on her hands and more than willing to help me out in the shop! On the docket these days is the medicine cabinet. Anna and I built a series of  6" deep drawers that fit under the sink in the bathroom.

Drawer fronts have still yet to be fabricated but they are perfect! In my humble opinion of course...
It's been a busy summer but we managed to squeeze in some family time camping in Fillmore. We went to a provincial Park called 'Little Bow' a great little lake in SE Alberta. Along the way we went through Vulcan

who could resist stopping to take pictures with the Enterprise! and the obligatory wall of fame. Jeff was less than enthused , as you can tell by his rendition of spock

Camping was awesome. Awesome because it was at a lake, awesome because it was in Fillmore, awesome because we were all together in a cell service deadspot! No snap, no instagram, no email, no facebook! Just us, a campfire....and a project...

One of the design, drawbacks that I have with Fillmore is Air conditioning while parked. On the road we have the system that is driven by the compressor and evaporator running of the engine. But once parked that system is a no go. I refused to have a root top system, and I ran out of underfloor space for a undermount system. So, to be honest I don't have a solution yet. BUT! a friend of mine had an old roof top air conditioner that he was going to simply throw away, but it was still working!

So Anna and I devised a plan to put some simple mods on the existing A/C unit and pipe it into the bus. It worked well....for the most part. Some how the condenser gets too cold and freezes up the heat exchanger not allowing any more air flow. If we let it sit and melt.....it works again...thankfully we didn't spend a lot of time inside the bus!

A good portion of our days were on the water!!

Of course, like always on every trip Fillmore throws us a curve ball. We are about 25 KMS from home when I begin to notice that the engine running temp starts to climb. It rises about 10-15 degrees and then holds. So I push through and get home. When I shut down, Two things happen.
1. I take a look at the Radiator fan and notice some blade carnage
2. He refuses to start.....UUUUUUGGGH!

Milestone Moment

 The expression is "time flies when you're having fun".......Well OMG I must be having a blast, because I blinked and my little girl is all grown up.

 On Friday June 29,  my little girl took some big steps across the stage of life and graduated from high school. Surrounded by family and friends she gracefully navigated through a day of laughter and tears.

The day started early, and Fillmore was a part of the fun. Although not complete (I doubt it ever will be) I was moved and touched when Anna approached me a few months back and asked if I would be willing to act as "the limo" for Anna and her buds for the day. I didn't have to ponder the question for too long...of course!

It seemed like only yesterday that Anna was helping me gut out the interior,

Time flew by and Fillmore was a part of her transition from Middle school to high school...

 And now, Fillmore had the honor of being part of the next chapter.

 The day was great, the kids were fantastic, and Fillmore didn't leave anyone behind!

 But he did leave me in the cold. On the grad night, as the kids were in the grad after party. I was parked off in the distance awaiting the time to pick up my brood of teenage craziness. As I sat in the evening trying to catch a few Zzz, I tried to turn on the furnace. It would fire up, heat up, and then give me error codes that the overheat temp sensor was kicking on and shutting it down!

 So thankfully I had reinforcements. With the help of Ron we pulled the furnace, cleaned it out and then ran it through a bench test.

 OK the bench test was really an under the bus test but at least I could look and see what was happening. It seemed that everything would work as it should but the main blower fan just wouldn't kick in, so the unit eventually would overheat.

 Fully disconnecting the unit from the bus I was able to get a close look at the control board on the blower assembly. Sure enough there was water damage. I know exactly when it was from too.

Last summer we went camping on September long weekend. It was the first time I had tried the hot water component of the Dual Top. There were issues (didn't have the proper pressure regulator)and there was leakage. That caused damage to the board.

 Although it looks like I have to replace the blower assembly(parts on order), Ron and I made sure that a proper bench pressure test was performed to evaluate the integrity of the water connections.

Blow Out!

Now that we are through the golf of June, it was time to get things fixed for the next adventure for Fillmore. Grad 2018. Yes Anna is graduating from high school, and to my delight she has asked me to act as their limo driver for her and a bunch of buds going to and fro for pictures and the dinner and such.

When we were in Manitoba and the destination window blew in, the mess was mostly contained within the cabinet above the drivers head. Although some pieces blew in, it was mostly help in the cabinet space awaiting for me to take everything apart for clean up.

The nice thing was....I have done this tear apart numerous times, so it was relatively easy and fast in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks to a wonderful suggestion from Chris Kruse, I sourced out some plexi-glass for (at minimum) a temporary fix. The lass was .2mm thinner than the plexi-glass, but there was wiggle room in the rubber seal.

The big site boss gave her seal of approval, it wasn't a vivacious endorsement but given that I really didn't have to twist her arm to come check out the final product speaks volumes.

With Grad looming around the corner, I didn't want to start to tear things apart. So it's status quo until this next milestone is finished. Having said that a guy has to enjoy the creature comforts of his workspace.

I wasn't tearing apart but there was no reason why I can't continue to build. The under counter medicine cabinet is on the agenda.

With the cutest little drawer pulls! These things are 6" deep!!

All the while Jeff is working on replacing the brake calipers on the 240Z

Grey Owl 2018

I know this is a blog about working on Fillmore, but I take poetic licence in sharing some Fillmore escapades. Every year I take a few days (more than a few in my wife's eyes) and I travel to my home province of Manitoba to take part in "The Grey Owl" golf tournament. Since the inception of Fillmore it had been part of my plan, my vision to have Fillmore be a part of that annual journey. This year marked the third year of making the trek across western Canada in the bus!

I worked a half day on my last day, had a lunch with the boys from the building and then picked up my father in law at the airport for the trek back to Manitoba

There is always something that makes me smile when I'm driving and the copilot is able to rustle up snacks on the fly!

It also makes me smile when I hand over the reigns to someone else....

And I grab a snooze....                                                                           ...or make fresh coffee



The tournament was great, we golfed like chumps, but the company was awesome and the food was(as usual) more plentiful and flavourful than the previous year!

But the trip was not , and seemingly never is, without incident. While enroute a big truck threw up a rock and "BOOM!" My destination window took it right in the kisser!!

Which meant on the way up to the lake before the airport we had to make an emergency stop to get roadside repair supplies. Thank goodness I brought the tools!.....always bring tools!

Mac and I did a decent job, was't super pretty but it was functional and got us home! Chris Kruse saved my butt yet again with a long distance mobile repair service call(thats another story for another time) but he gave me an idea of a more permanent fix.....acrylic!. I owe that man a good bottle of scotch!