| Author |
Message |
Jojo Colina (Du1jec)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 5:01 pm: | |
I am once again bitten. I am starting on a new conversion project. An 87 Setra S215 is my latest victim. I will be driving it home from Huntsville, AL to Ramona, CA in a mad dash across I-40 starting tomorrow evening.
I will be serializing my exploits and adventures on this project in a weblog at:
http://vici.nextfone.net/blogs
Come visit and give comments, suggestions, criticisms (all are wlcome), anecdotes and all. |
H3-40
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 6:07 pm: | |
Great story though sad events kept you from keeping the MCI. I will say, you tried hard!
Good luck with the Setra! Keep us updated to your conversion progress!
Ace |
Jim Stewart (H3jim)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 10:16 pm: | |
Sounds to me like a dire warning to stay away from Valley DD in San Diego!! |
Craig (Ceieio)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 10:48 pm: | |
Note to self - Valley DD stinks. What a line of bull. Professional shops like Southern Oregon Diesel stand behind all their repairs, as a reputable shop should. Too bad you got taken by Valley DD, and too bad Valley DD does not have the pride in their work to stand behind it.
That being said, the Setra looks cool! I hope you have a great trip home. The trip home with the bus is always a memorable one. Mine was a blast and we had no mechanical problems coming home.
Good luck with the trip and have fun!
Craig - MC7 Oregon |
Jojo Colina (Du1jec)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 10:50 pm: | |
You now know where I WON'T be taking my new bus to get worked on. |
ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 12:15 am: | |
Gee Jojo - that was a sweet looking MCI, but the Setra sure has a flair that you don't see everyday.
Your blog is now in my aggregator and as I follow your progress here's hoping your travels are uneventful. |
RJ Long (Rjlong)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 12:47 am: | |
Jojo -
Setra's are cool! Only forty foot bus I know of that has a 35-foot turning circle! Serious! Their new SDH417 forty-five footer's turning circle is only 39 feet! Pivoting tag and sharp front axle cut is the secret, but, shhhhhhh, you didn't hear that from me.
Watch the tailswing, tho - easy to catch something.
Are you aware that this model Setra's floor in the main seating area is of a "dropped center aisle" design? This is going to present some interesting challenges for you, for a couple of reasons. First, the baggage bin operating mechanism is under the seating area, and second, there are several engine compartment/suspension framing structure members in the rear that's also under the seats. Will be interesting to see what you come up with for solutions.
A plus however: Setra was the first to install the Series 60 in their coaches, so one will fit in yours w/o major bodywork, should you decide to repower.
They're a good coach (better built than a VanHool!!), and, from what I hear, Daimler-Chrysler is trying real hard to support their customers well.
Have a safe and enjoyable journey!!
RJ
PD4106-2784
Fresno CA |
HondoJoeMC5
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 1:57 am: | |
Hi JOJO,
The MC5 looked real nice.
Enjoy that Setra!
What happened to Bill W from MT?
Have FUN Joe in Palm Desert |
Jojo Colina (Du1jec)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 8:14 am: | |
Joe,
Bill is still working hard in Montana. I spoke to him a few weeks back. He should be down here in a couple of weeks. He will be doing my mechanical work on this bus exclusively.
I'll tell him you said hi.
Jojo |
Jojo Colina (Du1jec)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 16, 2005 - 11:27 am: | |
Now in Sallisaw, OK and all is well! |
Pete/RTS Daytona (Pete_rtsdaytona)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 16, 2005 - 11:55 am: | |
Joe
Safe trip my friend
be safe - be happy - enjoy
Pete RTS/Daytona
If you don't remember - I puchased your used Honda generator and then proceeded to lock myself out of my car |
Brian Brown (Blue_velvet)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 5:08 am: | |
Best of luck, Joe. I look forward to reading about your travels and bus projects on your blog.
I'll be curious to read about how much it costs to feed your 8v92 in these days of near $3/gallon fuel. Our recent trip to your neck of the woods (San Diego) sure cost a bunch. But I still would have done it at $6/gal, because we made a lifetime of memories in our bus.
So what's to become of "dddrip"?
Good luck with your un-named bus!
Brian Brown
Longmont CO
GMC PD4106-1175 |
Jojo Colina (Du1jec)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 4:18 pm: | |
Writing whie moving down the road is cool. This Sony GC-83 GPRS edge card works slick. I am traveling west on I-40 at 72mph as I am writing this.
I will post more details of the trip as I get time to collect all my data.
I was going to pay John Marbury a visit at Gallup but the breakdown has put me behind sched. Sorry John. Maybe next time.
Updates are at my blog.
http://vici.nextfone.net/blogs |
Jojo Colina (Du1jec)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 18, 2005 - 3:36 pm: | |
I am back home in Ramona, CA. Arrived 4AM PDT this morning. The bus is now parked beside my house ready for work to start.
The only event during the trip was the leaky fuel pump. I imagine this was leaking all along until I found it. Average fuel consumption for the 2100 mile trip was 5.8 mpg. My co driver was a bit of a lead foot driving at about 75mph when he was on the wheel trying to pass all the semis.
My hours were spent at a more leisurely 65-70 mph pace. |