getting there by bus

WVO Filtration!

2011-04-23T11:04:00.001-07:00

Coming soon to a Bus Girl near you!!

Pressure washed, dried, pressure washed again, and onto the trailer to bring home and set up!!

Stay tuned!

CONGRATULATIONS, ALEX!

2011-04-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

I would like to take a time-out from the normal bus updates to acknowledge the accomplishments of my little sister, Alex.

Despite being sisters, we really are as different as night and day. Walking down the street, you would never guess we are related. We do share a few qualities, however; one of which being that we both work very hard pursuing our dreams.

Alex is graduating from Smith college on May 15th with a double major (I think) in English and French. On top of that, she just got the news that she got her dream job at a publishing company in NYC - WOW!! This has been her dream since I can remember, so I am really proud of her for working so hard, always doing her best, and chasing after her dreams without worrying about the "what ifs" of it all.

I had talked to her on the phone on her birthday (April 19th) this past week, and she had mentioned the job, and how there were so many other better-qualified applicants than herself, but she went ahead and applied anyways.

Success comes in all sizes: it can be an intangible idea, a life-changing email, a letter of acceptance, or a 45' X 8' bus.

Congratulations, Alex! I am so proud of you!!!!!

Facing my Humanity through Radiator pulling

2011-04-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

Alright, I almost didn't post any of this, because I didn't really accomplish much yesterday, I just spent several hours becoming frustrated and so there was nothing really to "say" about the "bus" - which is the POINT of this blog.

But then I thought about it for a second. This is everything to say about the bus, because the point of the bus is not just the END of this journey - you know? It isn't JUST to LIVE in the thing, which is going to be AMAZING, but it is about everything that comes along the way. This bus has only begun to provide the wealth of knowledge and growth and development that I am to obtain through my dedication, patience, and perseverance in working on it. So... why should I skip over these things?

Why should I hide these parts of the story?
I feel like doing so would do a disservice to myself and to my message.

There is no need to conceal the fact that I, just like everyone else in this crazy life, become: scared, angry, overwhelmed, exhausted, lost, confused, terrified, and - at times - utterly hopeless. Why hide the fact that at times I am vulnerable, inexperienced, weak, and in need of help and guidance?

This isn't just me, this is all of us at some time in life, and it is what makes us beautifully human. Sometimes the greatest thing that one can say, is simply, "I don't know" because you open up a world of opportunity for yourself. That statement can be the starting point of a journey of discovery, but it all depends on what direction you take. You can give up and close the door, or you can step forward into the unknown, embrace the challenge, and use it to make yourself a better human.
Really, who would want to "know" all of the time? Would that not make life incredibly boring? Where is the space for growth in that moment?

Yes, there is security in the comfort of knowing, but I encourage you - push the boundaries today to see what you can become!

And now, here are some videos.

So, here I am, beginning the evening. I am super-psyched, ready to pull this darn thing and get out of here and get myself some dinner. It's about 4:30 (I think is what I remember saying?) and I am expecting an hour or so of work before I can throw the radiator in the back of the car, drive it home with me, and check it out and make some calls about getting it re-cored on it Monday morning.

Yeeeaaahhh... not so much.

Here is a video from about two hours later.
I had tried to remove the large tube and a few other rusty pieces from around the engine bay that were blocking the radiator (as I mentioned in the above vid), but I ended up breaking things (ie MASSIVE hose clamp) and being unable to move them, so I tried to approach the problem from a different angle; i.e. the outside door. I discovered that what I thought were rivets holding the screen in place from the outside access door were actually small screws, so I decided to pull off the cover to the outside of the radiator and access it that way. Though there were still quite a few things to detach form the inside still, I had become frustrated from breaking heavily-rusted hose clamps and lacking the proper tools with which to right the situation. The "whiz wheel" that I am referring to in the second video is one of those air-powered cutting discs, which would slice through the thick metal clamp no problem-o.

In this video you can see that I am so frustrated and defeated that I can hardly explain myself!

While I never actually finished the task yesterday (the sun went down and it got too cold and too dark!), I didn't give up (!!!) and eventually, I did get all of those bolts undone and screws removed (or drilled out!) through some creative tool creation. Now all that I have to do is remove a few accessories that are attached to the radiator, and two large bolts at the bottom which attach it to the frame of the bus, and the thing should slide right out through the outside access door.

Lesson learned: I will save another entire day to accomplish this, and I will be armed with the appropriate tools, or at the least, the time to go get them (because, no; 5 on Sunday evening does not fall under that category!).

Two whole years of Bus ownership!

2011-04-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

On this day in 2009, a wonderful adventure began!

Some days I still can't believe everything that I went through to be where I am right now (which I don't even know where exactly THAT is, or what is next, or where I am going or where the end is!! Ah, the joys of a life of freedom and exploration!). Amazing things can happen to you and direct you down the most incredible path...

*whew*

People, you can accomplish ANYTHING.
All it takes is to START.

You don't need to be ready,
you don't need to have all the money,
you don't need to have it all planned and figured out,
you don't need for the time to be perfect.

NOW is perfect.
What do you want?
Go out there and BEGIN!

Recycled fuel! Coming soon to a bus near you!

2011-03-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Quick update:

I did it!!
I had to.
I bought a waste vegetable oil filtration system from a very competent and creative DIY-er from Warwick, RI.

I will be picking it up and bringing it home tomorrow!

More pictures to follow, these are just a few from the Craig's List Ad. I will go into more detail (about how they work, and why I chose to purchase this one, and how I intend to use it) in future posts, but right now, it's 15 minutes past my bedtime.

Goodnight!
Love,
The Bus Girl

just to add...

2011-03-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

I just had to add to my last post, and also share some pictures. Alright so the 5-year plan is nice, but I think I want to move on this whole "no money" idea a little faster. As soon as the bus is safe and drivable (meaning brakes work, tires are good, engine runs, etc., not finished interior or anything like that) I want to try this plan - for one year. This is one of my many ongoing current goals.

I have noticed that dumpster diving for food when one is a gluten-free vegan is a little trying. Possible, but you can't really "expect" anything. No one can get sued for contaminating your food with wheat products if you are stealing it from their waste.

Whatever.

As it is, I live pretty money-less, in terms of spending. I try not to spend often, mainly because consumerism gets me down. I can't help but think about who is being affected along the line.
"Made in China"
"Made in Taiwan"
What land was subjected to deforestation for that factory, how much petroleum was used to transport these metals, which were probably mined in South Africa, how much profit is this company making by skimping out on health insurance for its workers.... AH!

Even putting fuel in my car, which I haven't done in over a month now because I sold the old Benz and the Rabbit is in storage until possibly the weekend. Actually, I hope to revive the the Rabbit ("Gaia" is her name) this Saturday, so that I can drive down to Warwick, RI to check out a WVO filtration system that some guy (who sounds pretty rad) is selling. I may just check out his design, but it's like... I am not sure that I could just explain to him my life plan and see if he would be willing to donate to the cause (or, even better, exchange for something that I have, or some labor, or whatnot. His son does have a mk2 diesel Jetta, so we'll see!). There are many obstacles that are getting int he way of living for free that I Have to jump over, or avoid all together.

But, if I want to drive the bus, and I want to live without money, then WVO is kind of going to be a necessity. I am not sure how to handle this now, so I promise I'll get back to it.

I have another interesting story about manifesting that involves my website idea and meeting a person this afternoon, but I don't want to jinx it, but I'll just say that I am super in touch with the Universe currently. Rock.

And, as promised, I have a few cool pictures of the current inside of the bus. I am hoping to organize a bus interior-gutting party soon, as well as a bus-frame-painting-party, which can be really all-inclusive. Anyone who can wield a paintbrush can show up to help and earn karmic points that can be redeemed at any point.

This series is fun, because it looks like you're walking up into the bus from behind. (See the picture on the right sidebar where I am standing in the rear doors of the bus! There's one step back even further!) This is looking up from where the engine used to be.

Pardon the scattered ranting... this post brought to you by a brain dump at 16 minutes past my bedtime. :)

Transmission detach Part 1, + general rambling

2011-03-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I have a lot to say today.

Firstly, I have done a bunch of work to the bus recently, but I am not going to write about it all right now, but rather, try to spread it out a little bit so that my posting is more consistent and less sporadic and brain-dump-like.

Yesterday, I was joined at the machine shop by my dear friend John*, who is a fan of my bus and was psyched to be my second hand for some heavy tasks that I was hoping to accomplish. He also helped me to make this video that I am sharing with you. See, I had hoped to upload and share my random audio brain dumping, but couldn't for the life of me figure it out, (perhaps it is not Mac-compatible??) so I decided to step up my game.

The rest of this procedure will also be uploaded in video form and put here on the web for your viewing pleasure. And, if you ever wanted to know how to detach an Allison automatic transmission from an 8V92 Detroit Diesel, well then here is an instructional video, just don't hold me liable for my novice (and perhaps improper) tool use, procedure, or safety precautions, thank you very much!!

Yeah, so this is actually kind of embarrassing for me to put myself out there to the world, (I have a hard time watching this video without being like, "Oh dear god!! Is that really me talking!?!") but I think that it is a good step in the right direction. We shouldn't be ashamed of ourselves for who we are, what we look like, what we sound like, how we talk, whatever... but so often, these small, simple insecurities will get in the way of people accomplishing great things and putting themselves out there into the world to share their gifts. Now, I am not saying that this blog is necessarily the greatest gift, but whatever. You can draw from it what you will.

Moving on, I wanted to share a quote that I found on the website justfortheloveofit.org, which has been really inspiring to me recently:

“Do not ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. For what the world needs right now is people who have come alive." -Howard Thurman

In case you haven't guessed, this project makes me feel very, very alive. I wish for all humans to have something like this as a driving force (ha, ha) in their lives. Something that propels them forward, makes them excited to get up in the morning, makes the day go by like NOTHING because the whole day has raced by with daydreaming, planning, enthusiasm, and positive energy. This is how my days have been going recently; how lucky I am!

I have been thinking recently about ways in which I can share this energy with the fulltiming community in a more tangible form, and I think that the answer may perhaps lie in my social networking skills.

SO!

I need help making a website! I am kind of in the process of struggling through this one solo right now, and I have found my skills (and finds) to be limited, so if anyone knows of someone with website-development skills who would be willing, then please direct them my way! Thank you. That is enough of that for now.

I would also like to put out there in the Universe that I have a 5-year plan of weaning myself off of the need for money. I know, it sounds really extremist, un-doable, difficult, dangerous, impossible, yeah, yeah, yeah, BUT! It has been done before, and if there is someone else out there doing it, then you bet you're britches that I can do it, too!

Why 5 years, you ask?

Well, I have to get the bus fully prepared and functional. I mean, I am pretty good at manifesting, but manifesting some fresh engine bearings, sleeves, transmission fluid and however many gallons of oil that I need... meh, I don't want to overwear my welcome into the Freeconomy just yet.

Fully prepared, you ask?

Yes. Well, the bus at least. ~~I think~~ I am ready.

What does that mean?

Fully prepared to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO), keep me warm using wood and WVO, charge my computer (for blogging and running my website, writing for the mag, and making free phone calls, naturally!) with solar energy, compost my humanure, hold air in the airbags, have functional brakes, install some very simple plumbing with human-powered pumps, etc., etc., etc.

I think that's enough rambling on for today.

Sincerely,

The Bus Girl & her Urge

*names may have been changed for confidentiality ;)

Get Out Of Your Own Way!

2011-03-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

Well, you read the title of this post.

This blog entry is going to have absolutely nothing to do with working on the bus, but EVERYTHING to do with living the dream. So often when I tell people about what I am planning on doing, I have a reaction similar to:
"Oh wow! I wish I could do something like that!"
or
"Oh, I have always wanted to live my life like that!"
or
"If I didn't have to [insert lame excuse here, such as 'raise my kids', 'work in an office', 'take care of ___' ... you get the idea] I would be there in a heartbeat!"

When I hear things like that, AND NOT EVEN about bus-living mind you, I only have one response: ONLY YOU ARE HOLDING YOURSELF BACK. (Which leads me to believe that this person must not really want it.) If you truly want it, you can make it happen. Then you think to yourself, "No, I really DO want it! I just can't!"
"Why?"
Obligations, responsibility, the "shoulds" of life ("I should do this, because that is what a good person does!" or "I made a promise to so-and-so, and so I should just sacrifice myself for the rest of my life." etc., though said not quite so sarcastically of course!) All of these perceived obstacles that are nothing more than figments of your own imagination. This goes for bus living, this goes for traveling, this goes for going back to school, starting up your own business, leaving an abusive spouse, you name it!

All that you have to do is listen to your heart, DECIDE that you truly want it, take a chance and put your energy out in the right direction, start working, and not be judgmental about the process! Oh, and most importantly, GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY!

The only person putting these restraints on yourself is yourself. We teach other people how to treat us. If we teach people that we are their doormats to use, abuse, and to follow the path of the perfect little person who lets society's morals and standards define for us who we are to be, well... that is no one's fault but your own. Perhaps you can live the rest of your life trying to fit into their beauty standards while you are at it, or the standards of materialism, and spend your days following the bread trail of the ones who seek to control you...

NO! Take control of your life! Take control of your own destiny! That which we manifest is before us, and do not let anyone or anything stand in your way! Certainly, do not step on, abuse, or do any harm to others, but first and foremost, be true to YOURSELF and the correct path will follow.

Trust yourself, you are all that you have.
Share yourself, and let others know of your goals.

This just happened to me yesterday, a little side story: one of my blog followers had read that I was in need of a torque wrench capable of handling 250 lb ft, and what do you know! Hand delivered only days after I wrote about it was the tool that I needed! See, you never know what you can create by sharing your passions with the world, and this is only a small example.

Now go out there and be brilliant, damnit!!

Sincerely,
The Busgirl and Urge

Deeper into the depths of confusion

2011-03-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

Well, the bearings are currently in a plastic zip lock bag on the floor of my kitchen and every now and then, I will forget that they are there and step on them with bare feet, or trip over them in my slippers, or kick them across the room. It’s pretty good because it’s a reminder to myself that I have to make a decision.

A few things to address here:

1) decision about what?

2) your kitchen floor? Wait, kitchen? …so, you do not live in the bus?

The latter first.

No, I am not currently living in the bus. Whatever. There is currently no floor in the bus because I ripped it out for rust repair, better insulation, and to make trap doors. In fact, here: I will share a picture of the current state of the bus.

As soon as there is a floor in the bus, I will live in it again. Well, as soon as the engine runs, maybe. I am working in Cambridge, MA right now and the bus is in Pawtucket. Long commute, and I am without a car since my rabbit is still in storage until another few rainstorms get rid of enough salt to keep her rust-free.

The former: decision about what?

Augh. Engine stuff. That’s what. The best way to make one good engine out of two crappy ones. There is a “best” way to do it. There is also a “cheap” way to do it, and I am sure that there is the “cheapest” way to do it, and these 3 ways may have nothing in common with one another, and if you start to throw in more variables, such as “easy” or “according to the manual” or “in the advice of a DD service tech” or “what Joe says is good” or…

All of this information being thrown at me and it is up to my pigeon brain to process it all and make a damn decision one way or the other.

I was actually feeling so scattered that I had to get the information out of my head, but I have been finding it really difficult to write recently. I think that this may be due to the fact that I have decided that I want to become a writer, because I love to write and I do it often, but now suddenly I find myself with a constant case of debilitating writer’s block. Augh! So, as I was riding my bike from Pascale’s in Pawtucket to the coffee shop in Providence where I was meeting up with a friend, I whipped out my voice recorder and started talking and talking and talking and talking and just spewed it all out in verbal form and it felt amazing!! I am contemplating listening to it and writing it down verbatim and then posting it, or figuring out how to make it into a voice clip and posting it here for you to listen to my insanity. The second option may be a little embarrassing for me, because I was talking with only the intention of myself hearing it, but hey; we are all human, and we all sound kind of stupid every now and then, and if you know me personally, then you have witnessed this first-hand and still talk to me, so whatever. I may post it. We’ll see.

But anyways, a friend gave me a couple bunches of collard greens for free from “Food not Bombs” yesterday and I am hungry and I need my calcium, so I am going to eat the big pot of sautéed collard greens that I just made and contemplate this puzzle with a full tummy a little later.

Let me get my bearings...

2011-03-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

So, on Saturday I went to spend some time with Urge. I figured it was about time to pull a couple of the bearings out so that I could order some new ones and replace the darn things. After all, the ground is beginning to thaw which means that I can actually stand to be outdoors for more than 10 minutes, and Urge is no longer an icy buscicle coffin waiting for me to freeze to death.

So, anyways.

The crankshaft is kind of hidden behind these two sets of metal plates. I whipped out my manual. "Supports" they are called....

well, duh.
Apparently they play a crucial role in keeping the crank in place since it is so big and heavy. When you remove them, you actually have to make shims before putting the bolts back in place, so a trip to the local hardware store was in order. They didn't have the right size, so a little fab was necessary.

Whoa, I am getting a little ahead of myself.

BACK UP!
First of all,
The bolts.
Were huge.
ARE huge. I peered down at my tool options. I had my little craftsman ratcheting wrench in my hand. Erm... I don't think so.
I grabbed my favorite Snap-On breaker bar, placed it over the bolt, and pulled with ALL OF MY STRENGTH!
Nothing.
I then repositioned the angle, and forced all of my weight upon it, letting my feet come off of the floor.
Nothing.
I had just so happened to still have the handle to my aluminum jack handy: laying patiently across the top of the motor, gleaming sparkly blue (I swear that's not the reason that I bought it!) as if to say, "You're gonna neeeeeeeed meeeeeeeee!!!"
Humph. I was gonna need a whole lot more than just that. I would rather break the Craftsman wrench than the Snap-On bar, so the jack handle went over the end of the Craftsman wrench and then I called in for backup! Thankfully, Dave had come with me on this bus trip because he had needed to use the shop to fix some subframe something-or-other on his GTi. When he snapped the bolts loose, they made this wonderful metallic snapping noise! I thought the wrench had broken or something, but nope!

One of the other guys in the shop had turned his head to look over at where the sound had come from. "Wow!" he said. "Now, here's a question, before you take any more off, do you have a torque wrench to put those things back on?"
Hmmm... good question. I didn't even know what the torque spec was. Thankfully, the manual was handy... "250 to 260 foot pounds" Dave read to me from the book. "Holy Moly!" I exclaimed, "that's AMAZING!"

Every time I hang out with this motor, I think that my bus is even more amazing.

Alright, so I got the supports off, time to remove the caps. BUT WAIT! What is the most important thing that you must do first??
(Oh, C'mon, you MUST KNOW by now!)

Labeling!! With metal pieces, you do this with punches, of course. Just like I did on the inside of the heads. As I further inspected the rod caps, though, I noticed something WONDERFUL!

Someone had already done it for me!! Does this mean that the motor had been rebuilt before?? And there were some initials stamped into the tops of the main bearing caps. "AW" hmm... interesting.
I speculated for a bit and then moved on to taking off the caps and removing the lower bearing shells of one main bearing and one rod bearing, to see the size so I would know what to order.

Here they are! Both lower shells in all of their glory - and to my surprise and delight, they are both STD (standard) bore, which means that this engine has not been rebuilt before! I consulted the manual about the procedure for replacing the upper shells with the crank still in place, and I happened to read that the rods, as well as the main caps, came marked from the factory. How awesome! So could be that I am the first one to touch this motor.

Close inspection to my bearings reveals that they are actually not bad at all! I mean, replace them, definitely, but notice the wear... on a stock motor from 1989! Whoa I got my $350 worth and then some!

Inspirational Video

2011-02-24T14:37:00.000-08:00

Read the manual!

2011-02-20T08:21:00.000-08:00

Wowee, so whenever I get bummed that things are moving slowly, I just have to come back here and read this blog and remind myself that a little over a month ago, I was just beginning to take apart 8V92 #2. :)

So, where are we now...

This past Saturday was quite eventful! For starters, my heads were returned to me with a clean bill of health, thanks to my buddy Joe over at Pascale's! Thanks, Joe! He had pressure tested them in the big machines over there to make sure that they had no cracks anywhere; which, apparently, is a common problem with old Detriots (especially after such damage as mine was subjected to, the poor dear!!). And I spent the later part of the evening sitting right here:

I really like this picture; it replaces any of the need that I have for actually writing anything, because you can tell exactly what has taken place over the last month of work. (which, can I just quickly add - has been only 3 days total due to significant life changes! whoa!)

Perhaps you can tell the story to yourself. What do you notice here?

I can point out a few things that are significant:
1) My favorite tool, the Snap-On breaker bar. You can tell that I am removing big things with big bolts when I break out this one!

2) My second favorite tool, the orange soft hammer! I have been breaking things free (even after removing their bolts) that have been fused to the side of the engine block with age and neglect.

3) The things that you cannot tear down an engine without: my permanent marker and plastic bags!! I have been doing some labeling of parts!

So in 1-3, you can tell that I have begun to swap things over from one engine to the other. Recall that the accessories from the DDEC are different than the MUI (naturally, such as the engine computer and electronic components, but there is also a larger trans cooler and heat exchanger... erm... "thingy". Observe:

MUI:

Aww, little ittybitty heat exchanger! Note: You can see the coils in the first picture!! (at the very top)

DDEC:

It's a lot rustier and filthier, but also much bigger!

Back to the observations!

4) A block of wood wedged against the crankshaft?? Huh??
Oh yeah, maybe that one deserves an explanation!
So, for those of you who read my article in Bus Conversions Magazine, you know of my experience with the lovely humans at Connecticut Detroit Diesel. Well, anyhow, I had been told that the camshafts were different, and so even though I didn't trust him, I thought it best to remove them and compare the two between the two engines. I decided to set about this work on Monday, the day after a winter autocross that I had helped to plan and put on. At the autocross I had mistakenly poisoned myself with wheat (I am a Celiac!) whilst munching on some corn chips that someone else had offered me. (Who would've thought corn chips? Eh, oh well...) So this day, I was still feeling lousy, foggy-headed, and just plain out-of-it. WHAT A BETTER TIME TO DO SOME ENGINE REBUILDING, YEEAAHHH!!

Erm...

Anyways, so there I was, after removing my Turbocharger and Supercharger (this was the same as the other engine, so it went smooth as clockwork!) and the heads, of course, trying to figure out how the heck to get those darn camshafts out without removing the flywheel bellhousing. Not only is the bellhousing huge and probably weighs as much as I do, but it is attached to the engine stand that is keeping my engine in the air... There was no way I was gonna detach that! So... what to do, what to do!

I was standing there puzzled when my friends Jason and Cheryl came into the shop to visit. They had driven up all the way from New York to drive in the Autocross, and so they had stayed some extra days just to hang with us. They hadn't seen Urge since his engine had been removed, so they were excited to see the bigness. Jason had just rebuilt the motor in his VW golf TDi, so I decided to explain my predicament, hoping that he would have some insight. ...maybe I have to put jack stands under it and actually remove the bellhousing... Jason and I were contemplating, talking and looking things over. But it was Cheryl who noticed my two huge volumes of bus manual that were sitting patiently in the corner, waiting for me to notice them. "Whoa look at the size of the manuals!" she exclaimed in awe, "I bet the answer is in here!"

Lo and Behold! It was. Which leads me to observation #5:

5) The manual is OPEN! And to the proper page! These things were written for a reason. :/

and, perhaps most importantly:
6) The engine is... ON ITS SIDE?? What's that all about? Well, if a picture was worth all of those words, then what is a movie worth?

Let's find out, shall we?

So, you get the idea! Now I am onto the next step of engine rebuilding: the bottom end! Thankfully, with an engine as huge as this, there are ways of removing and reinstalling the bearing shells without removing the crankshaft, which is what I am planning to do!

One more thing to mention before I sign off: all of that work to free the camshafts, and it turns out that I actually don't need to swap them, because they are the exact same camshaft. WOOHOO! This is fabulous news.

Alright, that's all for now!
Until next time,
Anja & Urge

Motorhead Magazine

2011-01-23T06:37:00.001-08:00

Urge and I are famous!

I walked into Tasca Ford on Friday to deliver something, and was overwhelmed by the service advisers exclaiming, "It's the Motorhead girl!" and asked me for my autograph... it was really cute. If only Urge had been there, too! He would have beamed with pride.

Motorhead is a local Rhode Island car enthusiast magazine. One of he owners came into the machine shop where I work to talk to us about some advertising, and he took a liking to the bus outside and the enormous engines inside. I did a little explaining about what was going on, and he thought it was good enough for a story in his mag, apparently! :)

Fire and Hammer!

2011-01-12T12:28:00.000-08:00

SNOW DAYYYY!!!

Wow, 8 inches out there and it is still falling! Go Rhode Island! Dave and I are one of the few who have decided to brave the streets and leave our homes in a car, let alone drive the car to work and actually do something! (and we're driving down to Jamestown tonight... mostly all via back roads! Hooray for studded snow tires! Hooray for diesel Mercedes RWD power!!!)

Not too much good it does to have the Service Manager in the shop today (that would be MOI!) because no one's calling, that's for sure! And every time I try to order parts, the suppliers are all closed! The only thing that I ordered today came from Texas! (and the guy was really cute on the phone, he kept on calling me "ma'am")

Anyhow, after writing up some quotes and making tea, I have started messing around with the bus engines again. The heads from the DDEC motor are going to be pressure-tested by a friend of mine, Joe, who works at a local truck and trailer repair place that has all of this wonderful equipment. Our pressure-testing machine is awesome, but is ... *sigh* alas! Too small.

The heads are all clean and waiting patiently for Joe to come by tomorrow evening. Hoorah!

So.. Jee... what should the next step be?
Take apart the second motor, I suppose! Remove those heads, start pulling stuff off and comparing. I will use the best parts of what I have, and make sure to switch over anything that is different. The guy from CT Detroit Diesel told me that the camshafts were different. DO I believe him? Well... meh. I will see for myself!

Undo the bolts for the turbo... check!
Remove the huge pipes from the turbo... erm... hmm... harder than I expected.

THIS CALLS FOR SOME FIRE!!!
Fire, and a BIG HAMMER!

Always fun!

Now, on a total side note: for those of you who know me, you know that I hate cats. HATE THEM! They make my eyes itch and nose run and skin get red and swollen... I am allergic to cats. Some more than others.

BUT!

Urge doesn't mind cats at all. In fact, he likes them! Urge has 2 faithful watch cats. I panicked the other day (I do this a lot about my bus) when I realized that I hadn't put mouse traps in my bus and feared that there was bound to be a rodent infestation! However, when I went to survey the damage, I noticed that there was nothing: no signs of vermon! No droppings, no smell, no stuffing stolen from the couch... NADA! No mice.

Maybe I don't hate cats so much anymore.

I saw their prints in the snow all around my bus, and it made me happy.
Doesn't mean that I'll ever get a cat, or start liking cats, but maybe now... I am neutral. :)

The Bigness.

2011-01-08T17:53:00.000-08:00

So, I have begun to feel very overwhelmed with the BIGNESS of this project.

There.

I said it.

I got about 2.5 hours of sleep last night. I was in bed by 9:30pm, exhausted and worn-out by a long night in the shop, waiting for a customer who never showed and working on a set of the bus's heads. But yet for some reason, the sleep wouldn't come. I tossed about in my crumpled blankets until almost 4am, wondering what the hell I am going to do. The alarm went off at 6:30 reminding me it was time to get to the shop to face my battle once more. Nothing worse sometimes than being in the same room with the motor - the elephant - and not being able to touch it. Not during a busy work day.

It sat there, ominously, taunting me.

Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself with that picture. I'll start from the beginning: vacuum testing.
So, a quick and simply vacuum test is a great way to check if your valves are good and seating properly and whatnot. There were a few valves that seemed a bit depressed into the head and needed to be checked out.

First, the valves were removed from their keepers and springs:

With a little bit of creativity, and a lot of help from Dave, the bus's right head was mounted onto the Rottler.
LET THE TESTING BEGIN!!!

Suction...

kind of...

almost...

Nope.

A little tapping on the valves and the vacuum would spike a bit and then fall back down... augh.

A little inspection of the valves revealed... blech! Pitting and nastiness. Some of these valves are no good... but HOW un-good are they?
Well, they have to sit down in the seats all nice to create a nice seal. Dave gave me a quick lesson on how to "lap" the valves.

It goes like this:

1: clean the valves.

2: apply the lapping compound.

3: suction the tool thingy to the head of the valve and rub your hands back and forth like you're trying to start a fire, and put a significant amount of downward pressure onto the tool.
Here's a video so you can see what I'm doing. Yes, it was pretty cold, even indoors and I am wearing like 3 winter jackets. Yes, it made it kind of difficult to move my arms!

4: repeat with all of the valves in question.

Then what?
Do the test again and see if anything changed.
Things changed, but not quite enough. And honestly, the pitting on the valves was lousy enough that I decided that I didn't want to use those valves anyways. Thus, the sad faces on the tops of the valve surfaces.
They need replacing.
Sadness.

I mean, I am all for doing it right - I mean, do it once, do it right, no matter what. The struggle is the financial burden. This is part of the reason why I couldn't sleep last night. I currently have a little under $1,500.00 to my name. Not bad for a young female with minimal responsibilities, a cheap apartment, fuel-efficient car, and no cell phone bill. BUT!! How about a girl trying to get across the country in a bus?

Yeah.

That's not going to do it.

Not with diesel being $3.30 a gallon, my bus getting 6-8 miles per gallon, and 3,000 miles to go. It's just not happening.

Let's say that the fuel prices go up more.
Let's say ~$4.00
Let's assume the worst.
Let's say Urge will get 6 mpgs.
Let's say that I get lost more than twice,
So let's estimate that it will take 3,500 miles.
_ _
3,500mi / 6mi/gal = 583.3gal X $4/gal = $2,333.3

So, it will take more money to drive to Oregon than I currently possess. HOWEVER, I will be selling my Mercedes in the spring when the salt is no longer poisoning the roads and I can drive my Rabbit on the road once more.

That's $1,200 to add to that.
Well, no (let's make it less to be on the safe side) $1,000 for the Benz.
That's $1,500 + $1,000 = $2,500, which will be enough for diesel.

But let's not forget that I need some new valves, and that I also need some new guides. Let's also not forget that I need to have some travel money for campsites as I drive across the U.S., that I won't be working in that time period, and will need a stash of savings to feed myself and provide the basic necessities... so that, plus however much it is going to take to get the bus in safe running condition. I definitely need some replacement valves to fix the leak in my air system, as well as a new gauge on the cluster that leaks, may need brakes, definitely need new batteries, both an engine bank and a house bank, need electrical components, need rust-inhibiting paint to finish the floor install, insulation, and flooring material, stainless steel plates to fasten above the rear wheel wells of the bus, a water tank or two (gray water and clean water - I already have a black water), a wood stove and fittings, and some plumbing materials to install my sink and the in-line shower heater (though the electric heater can come later) and the foot pumps to operate the sink and shower water... who knows what else... the broken windshield wiper and missing wiper motor... who knows how many other engine components (gaskets that I don't yet have, pistons, bearings, o-rings, etc.) I will need to do the job "properly" and (oops - almost forgot, sorry mom!) can't forget a carbon monoxide detector for above the wood stove... heh.

And no, I am not going joy-riding, I have an absolute NEED. I !!MUST!! get out of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and all of these East Coast states... I need to get home, to Portland, Oregon, where my soul is free and my spirit is satiated!!

Oof. So this is the conclusion that I came to after hours of processing and talking it over with a friend: the most that I can save each month to dedicate to the bus would be $1,000.
I make $400 a week, cash in hand.
That's 4 X $400 = $1,600 a month.
There are only 2 unwaivering expenses that I have each month, $200 for rent and $50 for the minimum payment on my student loans. $1,600 - $250 = $1,350

Now, I set aside the $1,000 per month, and now I have $350 a month to spend on food, fuel for my Mercedes, and whatever other necessities are needed in that time span, be it toothpaste or toilet paper or one of those things that you need that life would be very difficult without it.

Doable? For me? Absolutely.
It just means giving up a few luxuries that I, like many other people, indulge in. This would be the cup of coffee that I get out every now and then, kombucha tea in the bottles, buying everything organic, and some specialty gluten-free vegan foods that are nichey and really expensive. I mean, I don't want for much; I hate shopping, I get almost all of my clothes as hand-me-downs (or that I buy with store credit that I get from trading in all of those leftover hand-me-downs), don't go to movies, don't drink beer at the bar (and I don't like gluten-free beer), don't get my hair cut or my nails done or whatever else people spend their money on... movies, video games, I don't know. Nothing I spend it on.

I can do this.

Totally.

The Bus's Heads

2011-01-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally pulled the heads off of the first motor (the original, the DDEC) after much struggle. All of the hoses had been rusted miserably together to form unbreakable bonds. A day of soaking in PB Blaster and I managed to break a few free, and only damaging one, which thankfully I have a backup for on the other motor. Whew.
After detaching the electrical injectors, breaking all of the enormous head bolts free and labeling everything obsessively, I ended up asking for a hand from a strong friend to muscle them onto a wheelie cart for me, then into (and back out of,) the washing machine.

Mmmm... Downy fresh heads!!

After they were clean, I learned how to Vacuum Test the heads. 3 out of the 4 cylinders held vacuum, which means that the cylinder that doesn't... needs a valve job! Augh. Well, not too bad, because I've been interested in learning how to do one of those. The problem is now to figure out: do the one bad one, or do them all? If one is bad... then are the others going? Or is this just the case of damage from my internal issue, and all of the damage that will be done, has been done?

But cost, too. I am dead broke. I could do the one cylinder, and it would save me in time and money... and the others ARE fine.

Oooohhhhh the decisions! DECISIONS! Input, anyone??

Here, I will include some more pictures of my motor for fun!!
(note: objects in pictures are larger than they appear!)

The heads, freshly removed from the block.

Thank goodness to rebuilding the VW engine first! Priceless things that you learn: LABEL EVERYTHING!!! No, don't even THINK about it, there is NO WAYYYYY that you will remember where that bolt goes in a month from now, I don't care how obvious it looks today!!! Label it!

I guess now you could say I am a bit obsessive about the labeling... BUT it will save my butt when I go to put the thing back together. I also stamped into the heads "R" and "L" and the numbers of the cylinders so that the labels on the injectors make sense. *sigh* I am such an overachiever...

HERE! Thoroughly cleaned heads, ready for the next step.

OH! And as promised, here is a neat picture of the intake.

Yes! That's right! The intakes are on the bottom of the cylinders. Tell me that's not awesome! Silly 2-strokes...
I love old things and outdated technology!

Now, speaking of, perhaps its time to go write some letters on my typewriter...

catching up...

2010-12-28T06:21:00.000-08:00

So, you really write articles for a bus magazine, you ask?

Why yes, yes indeed I do. And just for a little bit of fun, here is a cover and the table of contents, with our names prominently posted in writing. :) We're famous!

I write an article every other month. My most recent is coming out this January, so the following will be in March, however I always write them a month ahead of time, so March's will have to be written by early February. This is awesome, because it gives me time in between articles to get things done, and I am also driven by the need to have something to write about... and then I get my story out. Sometimes, the act of telling the story reminds you why you do something and what you believe, the importance of your undertaking, and to what extent you will go to accomplish your dreams.

*ahem*

But enough of that.
Onto the updating, which you may think is more important anyhow.

So, perhaps some of you know, perhaps some of you don't, but I am no longer a college student anymore! I have graduated. Hoorah. Last May, to be precise, with a degree in Psychology. I worked in my field for about 9 months before I realized that it just was not my thing... well, at least not the time, nor the application of my information. (Does anyone really use their degrees anyhow? Well, I'd like to again at some point, but certainly not in Rhode Island!)

Jeez, there is so much to explain between now and last February, but basically here is where I am now: (and the middle will fill itself in at some point) I am working at a machine shop in Pawtucket, RI (www.sparmachine.com). Two days ago was a huge blizzard, and somehow Dave and I managed to make it to work, but no one else did... so what else is there to do but work on a bus motor?

Here is a picture for fun:

This was my motor last week, right before I drove to New Hampshire for the Holidays. Well, after about 20 minutes of vacuuming filth and grime off of in between where the heads and supercharger came together. So, in the middle there is where the supercharger goes, and then the turbo on top of that. I have been spending evenings taking this thing apart, and it is no small task. I do my best not to become overwhelmed by the bigness of this whole project - just take it one day at a time. As my dear friend Jesse tells me, as long as I am doing something every day. It doesn't matter if it is only removing one bolt: as long as I am constantly moving forward. Once the project slows to a stop, then inertia can be an evil thing to have to fight against.

One of the motor's mammoth heads. And look! No headgasket! And if you think that is strange, see the valves? All EXHAUST valves. So, where are the intake valves, you ask? Well, you'll have to wait and see in my next post, because I had the foresight to leave my camera at home this morning!!! (rolls eyes) Don't forget - this motor is a 2-stroke. Yes, my bus is powered by an extra large lawnmower motor. Eh, make that weed-wacker, even.

FAQs

2010-12-26T17:45:00.000-08:00

Q: Heyyy, what happened to your blog?? Did you finally give up on that bus project after all?? Good! That was a stupid idea. Girls don't do that kind of stuff. Plus, you don't know anything about buses. And, you don't have any money. It was a plan meant to fail!!

A: WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, HOLD UP THERE!! No, I did not give up on my project. Did I stop writing for a bit (okay, almost a year...)? Yes, I did! Sorry 'bout that.

Q: So why DID you stop writing? Did you lose your motivation? Did you stop working? Was it too much of a challenge? Too hard for you?

A: Two reasons why I stopped writing: 1) I forgot the password to my blog, and 2) I started writing a series of articles for a bus magazine documenting my conversion (http://www.busconversions.com/) and so I figured that in order to keep people reading the magazine and following my articles, I would stop the blog, but here I am a year later, still writing for the mag, and most of the people reading my blog don't read the magazine, so I figure that all in all, it's pretty safe to write in both.

Q: Oh, alright, cool. So, are you actually still working on the bus??

A: Yes, absolutely!

Q: Well, then when will you actually start updating and catching us up on everything that has happened in the past 11 1/2 months??

A: In little bits and pieces over time. And don't worry, I will include pictures.

Q: Will we ever get to see the articles that you have written?

A: You can buy the magazine at the above website for $5 an issue. It is a copyright violation for me to post the magazine here for free, sorry, and I wouldn't do that, anyways, since my article is a selling point for the mag, and I like the people who work hard to put it together.

Q: How are you ever going to fix that big engine?

A: Don't worry. Stay tuned!!

:)

Getting ready

2010-02-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

If you wait for the absolute perfect time to do something, you’ll never end up doing it. Why? Because there is no perfect time!
We have to make the perfect time ourselves, not just by changing our environment, but changing the way that we think about things. We make our own luck, and luck favors the prepared mind.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2009-12-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

Is that a house?

2009-06-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

No no, that's the bus.

2009-06-18T15:26:00.001-07:00

So!

I am now living in the bus. Last night was night #2.

Kind of cold, but so so peaceful. I leave the windows cracked so that I can hear the crickets chirping and the croaking of the bullfrogs.

There has been some major interior work going on recently. So much so, that when I post up the next set of pictures, you will not believe that it is the same bus.

YAY!

Oh, and if you are wealthy, or feel like being really nice to us, you can now donate funds to support our bus project!!! Safe paypal transaction comes directly to US! :-D

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Pickup truck? Who needs one of those!?!?!

2009-06-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

... Is that the same bus!?!

2009-06-09T14:59:00.001-07:00

... Okay, so maybe not that drastic of a change since day 1, but we're getting there!

But, what I am most excited about is getting that engine out of there so that we can start to take is apart...

The time will come soon enough!

2009-05-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Bus update!

So, old rotten wood floor is out, and now a new floor is going in. The money from selling the seats went to buying some marine plywood, as recommended by Robbie Baker (who happens to be a professional boat-builder, and thus, is experienced in dealing with wet wood, and wood getting wet but staying dry).

Why marine? Different type of wood, and different type of glue, which makes it repel water without all of the lousy chemicals.

At first, when we went to buy the wood, they only had one type of marine which was not the desired width. They tried to sell me on some normal ply. I said no thanks... I don't want to sit on top of those things when they're off-gassing!

"Oh, they use something different now!" he assured me.
I wasn't convinced. "Do you have the info on that?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure I've got the flyer here somewhere..." he said. He couldn't find it, which was fine, because I didn't want to read what the producers had to say. "That's alright, can you pull up the MSDS or something?"
It ended up being this huge production, but eventually I ended up behind the desk reading the MSDS on the computer. "repeated exposure has been shown to cause respiratory cancer in rats..." "eye and throat irritant.." no thanks.

In the end, thinner marine turned out perfect. The wood was actually supposed to be a special order for someone else, so they gave me a "special deal" and so on.

If you remember, before, there was a layer of stainless steel between the wood and the wheel wells to keep water and dirt out...

We decided to take a different route to prevent that sort of rotting to happen again.

So, the undercarriage was pressure washed by Jesse and Robbie, the wood was sized, cut, (including escape hatch cutouts) painted (almost done!), and will be ready to install as soon as the weekend is over!

Afterall, my car still doesn't run, and I have to show it at Primer... last second stuff as always!

and as lovely as the seafoam and brown color combination is... the paint will soon be buffed entirely off to show the shiny stainless underneath, and the black window moldings and fiberglass... and then what we will do from there... is a secret for now!

More to come...

Rotten floor removal

2009-05-11T22:14:00.001-07:00

So, this will be a quick update, since I really should be studying for the last two finals that I have, one of which is tomorrow... *checks the time* oh wait... Today!

Anyhow, enough of that!

Since it has been a while since I have updated, and the interior of the bus has since changed quite a bit, here are some pictures:

From the front:

and from the back:

Last weekend we ripped up the floor panels to reveal the metal underneath. There was quite a bit of wet, rotten, decaying pieces of stuff which smelled, molded, and looked like THIS. (eww.) I poked at it with a stick. I'm guessing that is what aluminum hydroxide looks like in its precipitate form? It's really asking too much to expect me to remember my chemistry from last semester.

ANYHOW, here you can see how directly underneath the metal panels are the storage units (in the far back, there is a thin layer of sound dampening material right above the transmission.) which... we are going to use to our advantage and make escape hatches! They were going to be secret, but I am excited, so I have to write about it here.

I was also thinking about maybe putting a chicken coop down there, so that I could let them outside, and I could have them play with me in the bus by just lifting the trap door, but then I decided that it might be too loud for 'em down there while the bus is in motion, and too dark for 'em when the door is shut.

Anyhow, another exciting happening for the weekend, our other bus seat guy came and bought the rest of our seats. He had seen my listing on Craig's List. (one again, CL to the rescue!) He bought the last 9 pairs for $170, which was awesome. Initially the price was $150, but Jesse and I wanted sushi and kombucha for dinner at whole foods. + $20 cha-ching! (well, okay, we gave him some hardware stuff too...)

Anyhow, so Tim came down and Jesse told me, "He'll be coming in his bus, so we'll get to see it!"
Of course, I was thrilled. MORE BUSES!
Tim's bus was not quite on the same level as Urge, of course. And when Tim got the grand tour of ours, he was a little envious.
"Wow, I'd love to get my hands on one of these!" he said, "I got mine for real cheap, though! Only paid $1,500 for it!"
I did all I could to keep my mouth shut as I mentally compared our two buses in my head. (surely you must remember that this is the same price as Urge had cost me!) Of course, his did have some cool two-toned exterior paint, but... well, that's pretty much all it had going for it. (it's gas, too!) But, I am pretty biased afterall, so I'll let you be the judge of this one!

Here, I snapped a shot of Tim and his "bus" (Jesse and I now refer to these as "vans" - we have achieved a new understanding of the word "bus") while he was loading up with his new seats.

And of course, here is Urge, sitting peacefully and patiently in all of his glory.

Is there really a comparison here!?!
I think not.

Oh, the horror!

2009-04-28T19:52:00.001-07:00

Three weeks, and no bus time!
What is going on here?
What is this?!?
Some kind of TORTURE!?!

Such is the life of a busy college student with way too many hobbies for her own good. But, I won't let this turn into a "woe is me" post.

Nor will I let this blog entry turn into an "Ode to Jesse" post, although this could also be accomplished with hardly any effort.
He did afterall
1) find a lead on some bus engine parts,
2) came up with an excellent idea for obtaining solar panels (part of my dream!), and
3) a diesel generator... which we plan on running off of grease.
The generator idea: a while ago, we had bought a diesel Mercedes engine with the hopes of installing it into the 220, BUTTTT it appears that Jesse has now found a turbo diesel, which is much more desirable.
"alright, so what are we going to do with the other diesel? sell it? part it out then sell the parts and scrap it for metal $$ ??" I asked. (DUH!)

Alright, so before I get too ahead of myself here, let me explain the happenings of the past 3 weekends which have prevented us from having time for the bus:
#1 - Easter. Don't get me wrong, I could care less, but Jesse's family invited me... so I went.
#2 - Little sister's 20th birthday and Badminton extravaganza. (and no, I'm not in that picture)
#3 - Rallycross and Dustoff

Hopefully these are good enough reasons for you all.
LET IT BE KNOWN THAT NOTHING WILL STOP US FROM GETTING DOWN THERE THIS WEEKEND!!!
I could break both legs, be mysteriously teleported to Arizona by UFOs, and I would still hobble across the entire Grand Canyon to get to my bus.

Enough.

Recent happenings:
FURNITURE KARMA + Craig's List addiction = An almost completely furnished bus.

The other night, Jesse and I made a trip to pick up an awesome dresser and end table that I determined I could not live without. We arrived in Woburn around 8:15 pm.
"I tried to represent them as accurately as possible" said Tim, as I admired the free bureau and end table that Jesse and I were preparing to load onto the Golf. "I said that they were old and ugly!"
"What are you talking about, I love them!" I said, jumping up and down a little.
"You must really like things from the '70s!" Tim said.
Jesse just laughed. "If only he knew the half of it!" he muttered to me under his breath.

So, barely visible, but you get the idea: once again, the golf filled to the brim with stuff! (if you click on the picture, in the large view you can see all of the cute tree pieces that have adhered themselves to Jesse's wheels!)

We got back into the car to make our trip back with our prizes. Again, we had to take moment to reflect, because of the situation. You see, this has been our fourth furniture pickup thus far, and we seem to get the same reaction every time. "Be sure to bring a truck and a couple strong guys to help you out!" is the warning that I normally get.
"I'll bring a friend!" I'll say, "But don't be expecting a truck!"

Then, of course, when Jesse and I show up in his little golf, the responses vary from, "Well, you can look at it, but you won't be able to take it in that..." to, "Oh, there's no way that you're going to be able to lift it yourselves, and I can't help you..."
Always polite, but never positive, and certainly not expecting the two of us to happily admire the free piece(s) of furniture, lift it up with ease onto the roof of the golf, strap it down with only the one yellow strap, and be ready to drive off withing minutes - with hardly an ounce of effort. We had the routine down.

"Wow," Tim had said, "I guess you guys have done this a few times before! I won't interfere then!"

Jesse and I took a few minutes to laugh and give high-fives.

"Anja, we can do anything!" he said.

Perhaps its true.

Bus blueprint!

2009-04-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

So, a classmate asked me if she could read over my notes from Wednesday's lecture, because she missed the first half...
"Uh, well, you're welcome to look over them, but you might not gain anything useful from them. You see, I just got this bus...!!!" I tried to explain to her.

It's a good thing I happened to have done the readings that were assigned, because I don't think I wrote down a single word from anything school-related all week. So, I decided that perhaps I could prevent future class distractions by trying my hand at some computer-generated schematics.

Turns out, I am pretty terrible at them, but "Easter" weekend has found us far, far from the beloved bus, so I had to satisfy my addiction somehow.

So, observe my rendition below:

And now, descriptions to go with the schematic:
A) The wooden bunk-bed that we found on the side of the road. Complete with tons of pillows and my black satin VW Beetle comforter.

B) The bathroom. Tile floors, custom-designed wallpaper, shelving units, and gravity flushing system. Obviously when parked on the farm, this shall not be in use, but I will be building a composting toilet in the woods. (Maybe I'll build a cute little path out to it made from flat rocks.

C) Workstation/desk. Even though there will be no electricity, so no computer, there is still need of a desk for drawing pictures, writing stories, and doing paperwork, so there it is. Hopefully I will find a nice rolly chair on Craig's list for free.

NOTE: between this section and the rest of the bus, there is a wall partition thingy. I am thinking that a sliding door would be cool there, but tapestry + beaded curtain would also = awesome.
In this section there is also an emergency escape hatch, which is going to be accessible by ladder. I would like to make the ladder a permanent fixture (moving it around would be difficult and I would most likely break things) with hinges on the roof, and have a pulley system so that it is like a drawbridge and stays out of the way, up against the ceiling when not being used. Also I could hang stuff from it when its not being used. As for the emergency escape at the front, well maybe that one can have a removable ladder, but what I would really like is if it had a slide that would shoot you right into the open space near the kitchen. I bet I can make this happen. (I did find a pool slide for free on CL, but it was too far North, and I had to get to school.)

D) These two chairs would be those awesome victorian chairs with the carved wooden dragons and ladies on them. To the left, against the partition that separates the desk
area, will be some shelving and storage space. In front of these, in between the chairs and the couch (item O) there will be a nice rug and coffee table, I was just having problems trying to make a circle with photoshop, which was the lousy program that I was using.

E) Countertop for the kitchen! Complete with dish drying rack, cutting board surface, etc. Underneath there will be compost bins. The goal will be to have hardly any waste produced by/in/related to the bus. Recycle, compost, burn in the fire pit = okay.

F) The counter on the other side of the kitchen. Hoping to build shelving on it, with a small "pass through" window in the middle to reach the dining table on the other side. Above and to either side, storage units for stuff.

G) The only remaining original seats from the bus, facing each other, with
H) table in the middle! Maybe I'll attach the Craig's List bread box to it.

I) Floor of the "mud area" will be tiled, or some sort of laminating that will be easy to clean.

J) These are the '60s couches that we found on CL. Because the legs broke off, we were going to make new ones, but then I thought, "storage!" so, we are going to build a cabinet for them to rest on top of, so shoes, boots, tools, backpacks, etc. can slide underneath and out of sight.

K) Partition between the driver's seat and the couch. There will be hooks for jackets on the couch side, and hanging folders for maps, paperwork, etc., on the driver's side.

L) SHELVES! And there will be planties on top of it.

M) Kitchen floor = tiled.

N) OOps, I already said this. Coffee table, rug, etc. You know!

O) This would be the famous gold couch. Hanging slightly over/to the right of it, is where one of the hammocks is going to go. It will be adjustable, so that it can hang either lower or higher depending on the occupancy of the couch... ;-)

P) Ladder for the bunk bed. There will be a nightstand behind it with a lantern, some candles, and flashlights... probably some plants.

Q) This is the location of the fire escape where the ladder is going to go.

R) There is a shelf here over the engine bay. I am going to put a pole here to hang clothes on.

S) bookshelf

T) Sink - hopefully two - found on CL. They will drain in to greywater buckets underneath (yes, yes I know that I could build a septic system easily - I am choosing not to) so that I can wash things with that soap that degrades into plant nutrients, and pour it on the gardens. Above the sink will be an iron rack that takes up the whole window, with multiple shelves where I can put pots full of herbs and baby plants.

Projects:
1. We are going to build a diesel generator that will run off of used fryer oil.
2. Also, stove setup... perhaps some other type of flammable gas, and then have some ventilation system.
3. The roof of the bus: there will be a deck built on top, with railings of course. Up there will be a picnic table with benches, lounge chairs, a BBQ grill, and maybe some tiki torches.
4. The bus seats are ending on eBay tomorrow morning!

Interesting notes:
-There is lots of storage, but... not really any stuff to put into the storage spaces. Oh well. Stuff = unnecessary.

Building a bus on a budget

2009-04-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

So, these gigantic books...

Those would be the manuals to the bus!
One of Jesse's friends found them on the internet, I think, and had them printed and bound.
I originally titled this page, "building a bus on a budget" because, well... we have limited $ funds to put into the bus; only time, energy, enthusiasm, and in Jesse's case: a whole lot of knowledge and skill.
So, the title came from the fact that I had decided that the entire interior would be furnished and decorated using nothing but things collected for free off of Craig's List (for those of you who do not know of this magical website: www.craigslist.org), found by the side of the road, of given by friends.
I still haven't settled on an appropriate title yet, but that one doesn't work, because budget implies that we have SOMETHING saved up somewhere, money-related... but this is not the case!

But, back to the important stuff: the bus.
After removing all of the seats, I swept, and then started bleaching the floor. There was significant mold and gum stuck all over, (I am never ever going to chew gum on a bus again!) but things were going well until I realized that the floor was... spongy... especially in the back. Not sure why, I began ripping up the carpeting and rubbery matting, to reveal a completely rotten wooden base.

Next project: remove all of the floor, replace with new wood, refinish.
I'm thinking tiling the "kitchen" area - not entirely across, and not too much because the bus bends. Then something that is easy to wash for the rest of it, covered by some tasteful Craig's list rugs.

This weekend's project was to:
1) remove the overhead storage bins on the driver's side of the bus
2) figure out what was wrong with the engine of the bus
BOTH = ACCOMPLISHED!!!
So, here's how it went. Saturday had been mostly dedicated to repairing my poor car after she had an unfortunate incident with a large SUV/truck thing.
Sunday was our day. The Universe knew it. I think the Universe likes the bus project, and is acting as a kind of "oversee-er" of this entire thing, because it keeps on gifting us with these little things that are too much of a coincidence to explain.

I wanted to put bunk beds in the back, for good reason:
1) fit people!!! Sleep over-H2O!!!!!!!!!
2) extra storage for blankets and pillows and stuff.
3) bunk beds are cool.

So, I was planning on building some, perhaps out of random wood found at the "Banch Barn" (you can find anything you need in that place!) and maybe left-over palates from CP, but then, as we were driving to the shop to drop off some stuff before heading to the bus... there is some stuff... on the side of the road. Jesse spots it.
"Anything there look good?" he points.
I see an old Victorian-looking cushion-y chair. Its got some crazy golden floral design on it, with a similar color to the magical golden couch.
"Pull over!" I demand with excitement.
Upon closer inspection, the white wooden carvings that make up the arms, legs, and back of the chair resembled a pair of dragons, a Ukulele, and some nude ladies... AWESOME! There ended up being two... and then, much to my pleasure and surprise, the Mexican family getting rid of these lovely chairs also had... what else but a wooden twin size bunk bed frame!!! We took that as well, and a cool round mirror, which I am planning to put in the bathroom, across from the other mirror, so that when you look into one, you see the other one, and the back of your head, and it looks like the bathroom goes on forever! This is a spatial trick: it gives the illusion that our bathroom is huge! (and is also kind of trippy)

So, Jesse manages to fit more stuff on the top of his car (mind you, there are already two couches up there already, left over from a CL retrieval from the previous night) and the rest goes into the back of a VW pickup truck, which is following us. We're always prepared, it seems.
We then form a chain and drive together with our goods down to the bus!!!

"Bobbert" here in the Jetta wagon ahead of me:

and Jesse in his diesel behind me:

So then of course, we arrive and the work begins!
Jesse once again disappears into the bowels of the bus,

and I begin to tackle the storage bins, not knowing exactly how they are attached, or where is a good place to begin, so I just grab a drill and begin unscrewing all bolts within view. Apparently I made some headway, because after a while I began to hear some creaking, and pieces begin to sag. Before the entire unit came crashing down to smoosh me, I called for backup.

... though no one answered, so I ran around back of the bus where Jesse was still buried underneath it.

"Come look at this!" he said. Always looking for an excuse to crawl around on the grass, I got onto my back and squirmed underneath the engine bay, where the oil pan had been removed. Jesse was pointing his flashlight up into the engine. "There were some chunks in the oil pan," he explained, "so I thought this would be a good place to start looking for the problem!"
Sure enough, he had found it: a large crack... in the crankshaft.

He didn't seem too bothered by this, though. We both stared up at it in silence for a moment. "Imagine the amount of force that went into cracking that!" he said, with obvious amazement. I smiled. It was amazing. Our bus is powerful!
"The good news is now we know what's wrong with it!" he said.
Fixing it, of course, is no small task. The entire engine will have to be removed.
"We can build a shelf for it, and then it slides right out!" Jesse explained excitedly. I looked at the thing. The engine weighs more than my car... with all the furniture on the roof... and then some!

We thought about it for a while, and came to the conclusion that the idea of having the engine out of the bus... WILL BE AWESOME! Then we can check it out from all angles!
Better yet, we can put it on the back of the Unimog, and drive it down to the Peter Pan place for E-rock's dad to take a look at, or anyone to look at, or purely for the pure joy of driving around with a gigantic engine behind us....!!!

Even better yet, then we can repair the damage to the shelf where all of the metal had started to rust due to the deteriorating wood. I can fire up my welding skillz and get in there and do it right, without that giganto engine in the way...

So, really, these are all great things...

With the combined forces of Jesse, Bobbert, Dave, and myself, we managed to let the storage bins drop to the ground. With a few quick slices from the saws-all, the mouse-pee infested storage unit was sliced and ejected swiftly from the bus, either through the door, or tossed out fire escape windows.
With this new spacious section, the bunk bed will fit perfectly in the rear, and the holes in the roof will be useful for hammock-hanging... more to come on that later!

And of course, as before, you can view the complete set of photos here!

Preview of this past weekend...

2009-04-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

Because it is late, and I am too tired to upload photos and write about it all, I am sharing this video as a sneak preview of this past weekend's craziness!!!

Introduction

2009-04-06T21:15:00.001-07:00

Instead of sending a bunch of emails to everyone who wants to follow our but project, I decided that it would be a wonderful idea to create a "bus blog" for everyone's viewing pleasure.

I suppose I should start with some sort of introduction to how this whole process began:
It was March 5th, over a month ago now, when Jesse found the ad on Craig's list and emailed it to me. He had made a habit of it by this point, because he knows that I miss living in a bus, and that it has always been my dream to have my own, custom-build it, live in it, and drive it around places. He also loves old diesel things like I do, so he's always got en eye open for cool stuff.
He had sent me a couple others this week, but this one actually had a price tag that I could [almost] swing...
The ad read as follows:
"Coach Bus - 1990 Prevost best offer

Coach Bus - 1990 Prevost 8V92 Diesel.
This bus has been used for commercial charter work, but the engine is no longer running. Can be used for parts, or rebuilt by someone with the know-how and ambition. Make an offer and it's yours.

* Location: Harvard MA
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests"

I responded with something to the effect of: "I wish I wish I wish I wish I had more then $250 to my name!" I emailed the guy anyways, and let him know that I was interested, and wanted to make an appointment to swing by and check it out. I decided on the following Saturday, not really believing that by that time, the bus would actually be there, unsold, waiting for me to check it out.
Surprisingly enough, however, when Saturday morning rolled around, the bus was still there, and Jesse and I got ready to check it out.
"I don't know, Jesse, you sure you still want to go up there? There's no way to afford it, and I don't want to waste your time." I remember saying.
Jesse just shrugged his shoulders, "What do we have to lose?" he asked. Good question.

We drove up to Harvard, MA to the small, independent bus company where the bus was sitting, crippled, next to the large service barn. I immediately jumped out of the car, and ran to the door of the bus, pulled it open, and climbed inside.
This was no ordinary bus... this was a legit coach bus, outfitted with all of the luxuries, tons of storage space, and a bathroom! Immediately, my mind began to run wild with ideas and plans for what I would do if the bus were mine. First of all, I'd turn all of the luggage compartments underneath into a giant grease system... !!! I ran up and down the aisle a few times, (waaaaay too excited at this point to smell the overbearing pee smell that had drenched the cabin) then met Jesse around back, where he had disappeared into the engine bay. The size of the engine was huge - 12.6L displacement, which would total over eight times the size of my little VW, Gaia!
I'm guessing Jesse's excitement was parallel to my own. After we found someone to talk to us about the history of the bus, we ended up standing outside in the cold, listening to the bus maintenance guy tell us everything he knew about it for over an hour. I hardly noticed the time pass.

The following week was spent mostly in front of my email, contacting various people, and trying to get a plan together. As soon as we left that place, I knew I had to have it. Jesse knew I had to have it... we just... HAD to have it. There was no debating it.

I sent a text message to a good friend of mine - someone who has known me for quite a while. "I need to borrow [insert absurd amount of money here]" was all it said. He knew I was serious.
I emailed Jesse, "I think I can buy the bus. Can you figure out towing?"
Jesse had already been thinking from the other side. He had found information online about every mechanical component of the bus, how it all works, where it all is located, the specs, the known issues, where to find parts, what they are worth... He spoke pure technical bus for days...
... actually, he still hasn't really stopped.
There remained only one problem: where to put the bus?
You can't just stick a bus anywhere, you know... we scrambled to find a place: searched Craig's list, looked for rentable storage units (they won't let you live IN your bus while it stays there), but eventually a mutual friend let us put it on his property, alongside a menagerie of other cool vehicles.

I drove to my friend's house, and we went to the bank.
Jesse found an awesome tow company that had experience with busses, and could be there on Monday...

Monday afternoon, we drove back to Harvard, MA and sat in the window seat at a dunkin donuts, eating apples from whole foods, and watching for our tow truck to go by.
I grabbed a piece of paper, which happened to be a DD job application, and drew out schematics for how I envisioned putting the bus together.

A few hours later, and $2200 more broke, (towing cost $700), we pulled into Dave's yard with this following behind us:

It was then carefully backed into its resting spot, which is where it shall stay while it gets refurbished and rebuilt!

You can view the complete photo album of this day here: BUS ALBUM DAY 1

Oh, and this is important: here is a picture of the original interior!

Now, stay tuned and watch it metamorphose into something amazing!!!!