R. TERRY (205.188.198.153)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 - 2:54 am: | |
My missing mechanic reminded me of that recent movie with George Clooney, "Oh Brother, Where art thou?"
After several phone calls, I tracked him down to a paving company where he was working full-time as their head mechanic. His mobile RV service folded when the bank repossessed his truck after the transmission shop he co-owned went bankrupt. Long, sad story, but oddly enough fits perfectly into the saga of the SYOW.
This whole thing would make most folks go nuts. I mean, who wants to drive their bus 20 feet a year, half of it in reverse? What good is a brand new radiator as a nice piece of art when you would rather be driving your bus? Unbelievably, there was a silver lining here.
Earlier this year, I found a 1950 GMC 3704 in Wickenberg, AZ, begging me to take it home. Absolutely BEGGING! Some of you will remember this story a few months ago. I told the seller I would NOT buy a bus that didn't run, a trick I learned from the 4104. One evening, we took it for a test drive. Then we walked the rest of the way back when its 4-71 diesel engine quit running, leaving us stranded out on the dark highway. I gave him the money as fast as I could, becoming the proud owner of another old bucket of rust that didn't run.
As far as I was concerned, my RV guy could not have gone to work for a more fortuitous outfit, at least for me, anyway. The towing company I had contracted to haul my new 3704 to Phoenix fell into the same Bermuda Triangle I had been in for the past two years—their flat bed truck broke down before they got to the job! Several days later, they told me to call someone else. Although it didn't occur to me, paving companies have low-boys. My wayward mechanic arranged for one of their drivers to go pick up the bus on his day off. The 120-mile round-trip ride in their semi took four hours and only cost $265, plus one red chili burrito and a large Coke. As Jim Carrey is fond of saying, "Smokin-n-n'!"
The paving company had even more benefits. Their engine shop agreed to perform an overhaul, at their convenience, which allowed me to leave the bus on their secured lot, worry-free and rent-free and within eyesight of "my mechanic". By coincidence, they happen to be located a little over a mile from my place, a real bonus.
But what about the 4104?
The young, bankrupt RV guy, who, after he took off his hat was obviously NOT a kid, never billed me for the work he had done and at some point was going to need that money. Motivation? He showed up shortly afterwards with an assistant, installed the muffler, installed the radiator, a new thermostat and coolant, and fired up the engine to check for leaks. There were none. He kicked the RPMs up to about 1800 and waited for the temp gauge to climb. It settled on 180 degrees, not budging from there. What an improvement!
He said, "Com'ere, I want to show you something. Put your hand right here." Standing beside the bus in front of the hurricane created by the fan, I put my hand on the radiator core just below the top tank. It was hot! Then he said, "Slide your hand down to the bottom." As I slid my hand down the core, the radiator got cooler and cooler until just above the bottom tank, it was cold! Well, DUH!! So that's how a radiator works, hot on top, cold on the bottom. I had never thought about it before. Every time I had ever opened the drain valve at the bottom of a radiator, I got my hand scalded. I must have figured that all the water in the radiator gets cooled all at once, much like air blowing through cooler pads. Well, excuse me while I remove my mail-order engineering diploma from the wall and place it in the bottom of the parakeet cage where it belongs.
Following that enlightenment, the traveling diesel tutor did an oil change and promised to return to do a tune-up and lube the chassis. As of this writing, it appears to be business as usual. In other words, "Oh Brother, Where art thou?"
In my final installment, I will explain how an innocuous little rubber part has kept the Salvage Yard on Wheels from moving one single inch.
Good busin' to ya!
R.Terry |