| Author | Message | ||
| JW Smythe (Jwsmythe)
Rating: N/A |
For those that care...  It looks like I won't have to drop the engine myself. I went to the shop today, and had a nice long talk with the mechanic. He's a good guy. I blew away a few misconceptions. He expected me to be older (I'm 32). He wasn't quite sure exactly what I was looking for. It wasn't really necessary to get the work list done, but now he knows more of who I am and what I'm trying to do with it. He had found that there was a stripped bolt, which was spraying a good bit of the oil. He pulled it, helicoil'd it, and put a new bolt in. There's also a braided oil line that's a bit leaky that will be replaced. He found the access panel behind the rear seat, that gives full access to the forward most head, and the top of the engine. I guess it was good that I wanted to get the mechanical stuff done before starting the interior. How have any of you handled that panel? Most of the pictures I've seen, seem to cover the panel up in a somewhat unremovable fashion. The air handler has been removed, and tossed in the recycle bin. I'm sure the recycler will enjoy that. He'll be pulling the old air compressor pretty soon. I didn't realize how big that thing was. For some reason, I had looked at it, and assumed it was part of the block. He pointed me back in the right direction, and I said "oh shit, that thing is big." I guess for a 10 ton air conditioner, it needs a big freakin' compressor. He did tell me, when he tried to recover the freon, there was 0 pressure. So much for that assurance that the A/C should work. I'm glad I wasn't depending on it. I'm waiting for a few calls back, before I go with Pete's ring & pinion gears. Mostly, it'll just be competing prices, and I'm sure several places will say they can't even get them. I'm no trying too hard on that, since I know Pete already did all the leg work. This week, I'll be talking to a construction company about the interior. Turns out, the foreman of the crew has been looking into this for quite a while now. I don't know, maybe he's already lurking here. I know a work crew will be able to get through the faster than just myself working on it, no matter how optimistic I can be. Now we'll just have to see if they'll work for a price that I can afford. So far, I'm happy with the progress, although a bit slow. It's ok, slow means I have more time to save a bit more money to put into it. The most unreasonable expense so far has been filling up the damned fuel tank. | ||
| donnr@optonline.net
Rating: N/A |
Jw, I'm assumeing you are working on an RTS.If so,most of us have put removable finish panels over the access hatches.It suprises me that you could even get a firm price to do the interior of an RTS.The only thing straight and flat is the floor,and that has wheelwells.An RTS is a lot more labor intensive than some other shells.Those of us that have them ,love them,but you better have deep pockets if you plan to farm out the thousands of hours labor it takes to finish one. Donn '80 RTS NJ | ||
| Pete/RTS Daytona (Pete_rtsdaytona)
Rating: N/A |
JW, RTS's do have 10 Tons of A/C (120,000 BTUs) - enough to keep the RTS cool with all the doors open. After removing the A/C compressor - Look for a Grumman Flx PTO Bracket - They make idel platforms to mount PTO driven aux equipment - like a 12v alternator to fix the awful 12 volt charing system on the RTS. Don't let the curved wall bother you - actually 3/8 plywood walls over contact cemented RMAX insulation board (use RMAX - it's better insulation than the stuff at Home Depot and Lowes) is very very srong because of the bow in the walls - the plywood only requires screwing at the 5 foot vertical frame rails (I added 3/4" x 2" furring strips underneath to provide for additional RMAX insulation) pa because of the strenght added by the curved walls Important - Create an ceiling and floor center line for the bus by putting screws in the ceiling and floor at the front and rear of the bus - so that you can use a string to re-create center line any time - EVERTHING you mount thereafter will be off these center lines - worked well for me I used a finished but removable panel over the rear seat engine access panel as well as a removable panel over the muffler acces panel - think about keeping the access panel over the difeerential - very handy I sell both 4.10 and 4.56 Rockwell 59000 series V-drive rear end Ring and Pinion Gear by Arvin Meritor <>The 4.10s Ring and Pinion Gear Set (A-38152-1) are $1957 and include shipping - but require 90-120 day lead time <>The 4.56s Ring and Pinion Gear Set (A-38158-1) are $1489 and include shipping - I have 2 available to be shipping immediately (Message edited by pete RTS/daytona on May 03, 2006) | ||
| JW Smythe (Jwsmythe)
Rating: N/A |
Donn, When I started out on this project, I had the full intention of doing it all myself. I've told my friends, which is how I'm ending up talking to the construction guys. If they're willing to do a substantial part of the interior to my spec, I know it'll save me a lot of time. Ya, I'll have to weigh the time vs money factor. Really, if they can do a good portion of the interior, that'll leave me the rest to do myself. I suspect the foreman wants to help with it, so he can practice for his own. I'm fairly confident there's nothing on it that's beyond my ability. Well, obviously the gears and the oil leak I felt were best farmed out, but sometimes we all have to make that judgement call. This week, I'm spending at a friends place, doing a lot of work. So far I've redone the kitchen sink and disposal, fixed a long since dead dishwasher, fixed a roof leak. Now I'm on to a freaky electrical problem, which I believe lives in the attic. The only "problem" I've run into there, was that the disposal was rusted in place, and the sink was cast iron, and I had to lift the whole thing ou as one unit, without scuffing up the counter top. It looks beautiful. I agreed to do it, so I could get some practice in for the bus. While we went shopping for her stuff, I was looking at options for what to get for my bus. | ||
| JW Smythe (Jwsmythe)
Rating: N/A |
Pete, I'll probably be getting the 4.10 gears from you. I didn't get a response to the email, but I'm sure you were flooded with them about the gears. Your follow up post on the Yahoo group answered most of my questions. I'm waiting for a few other prices to come in, but it's only so I'll have an educated decision on buying from you. I'll send you the other prices, if we get any back, so you can show the competitive pricing on them. I'm not terribly worried about the curved walls. Really, I've worked with worse things before. There's always a way around it. A curved surface that's a regular shape (the same the whole length) won't screw me up much. I'll be leaving quite a few windows exposed, so most of the wall surface will be only from the window down. Cabinetry will be covering most of the rest, so that doesn't even have to be pretty. Any access panels that I find, I'll make a way to get to them. I already have some odd plans for the rear area, that will still allow access to the hatch. I'm one of those kinda wierd people. I want to effectively carry a full set of ambulance equipment, plus a little, like a couple sets of NBC gear. Larger things like back board, neck braces, etc, will be stored under the bed. I'm thinking of rigging up the bed to move easily (maybe hinged to one side). Something happened recently, in a fairly remote area, where I would have *REALLY* liked to have a backboard and neck brace. Without going into details (to protect the innocent), someone with me got hurt on a mountain playing in the snow. There were people around, so it would have been nothing to move the victim on a back board. I didn't have one, and I suspected the nearest ambulance was probably an hour away. I checked the victim over as well as I could, and they insisted on walking. I saw no reason against it, except for a little concussion. I saw the incident happen and honestly, I was expecting broken parts. While I was running over to where it happened, I made a mental checklist of what was likely broken. Right leg, head, upper spine. Nope, just a headache, brused back and leg, and a very light abrasion on the scalp that didn't even bleed. I was trained as a "first responder" years ago. Far from a paramedic's level, but it was enough for a LEO to handle a broken person until the ambulance arrives. I'm planning on going for a refresher. in LA, they offer the same training as LEO's and the Fire Department to civilians, so they can be on call in case of a large scale disaster (read: earthquake) Yup, putting a good alternator where the A/C compressor was is definately already in the plans. I'm really anal about measurements, so I guarantee you that I'll have a few marks in strategic places. My girlfriend was teasing me that I arranged my living room, with every component in place to less than 1/4". That's the projector screen, speakers and couch. She knows I get bent out of shape if the couch is crooked, or off alignment by a couple inches. I've had people test me on it before. While I wasn't home, they'd slide the couch just a few inches, arrange the end tables so it seemed everything was perfect, but I'd come home, sit down, and know something wasn't quite right. A friend just bought me an acoustic dB meter, because I built him a computer (his parts), and I wanted one. I spent over an hour tuning my speakers, even though there was only about a 3dB difference at 50% volume, in any of them. I think it sounds much better now. That part of me is why I *HAVE* to put more gauges in. I know there are things that really don't matter, but there's plenty of information that I could have available that currently don't. Hell, my bus doesn't even have a tach in it yet. Once the mechanical stuff is complete, the dash is one of the first pieces to go. |