I haven't updated This Old Bus for over two weeks. I haven't had time. This retirement schedule, or lack thereof, is getting out of hand! Well, I had 50 yards of fill dirt delivered to get a level place for Bus parking. Last week I moved The Bus to it's new parking spot.

Teri tracked down the original purchaser of our Bus! It was a tour bus in Miami, FL. Owned by Red Adam's Bus Line. He bought five buses in 1956 – serial numbers PD 41041951 to PD 41041956. Ours is PD 41041953. It was assigned number 530 in the Red Adam's fleet. We haven't yet discovered when it was retired. We did find a postcard of Red Adam's buses, but it was printed in the late 1940's, before our bus was built. We were hoping to find out how it was painted, but so far no luck - other than the paint schemes on the earlier postcard buses.

We also found an ad!

My last two projects were to remove the old heater core and assembly and clean off 56 years of grime. In doing so, I discovered another over-engineering gem.
 

This is a part of the heater fan housing. It's made of spun aluminum. An aluminum tube is put over a mold on a lathe spun and at high speed; then shaped by applying pressure with a blunt tool which heats and deforms the metal. The process is much like forming clay pottery on a wheel. Today this would be made of molded ABS plastic.

The second project was to remove the accelerator cable and lube it. The accelerator cable is 35 feet long and runs through a copper tube with minimal clearance to keep the cable from buckling or bow stringing. One end of the linkage was removed, then the cable was pulled out of the tube. I cleaned the tube by spraying carburetor cleaner into the tube until it ran out the other end. Then, I blew it out with air. I soaked the cable in a solvent, then sprayed it with the carb cleaner and wiped it dry with a rag. I used graphite to lube it as this will not gum up over time and is VERY slippery!

I drilled holes in opposite sides of the container and lid, slid the cable through the holes, and turned the container upside-down. As I reinserted the cable into the tube it went through the container where it was coated with the graphite. Now it moves so smoothly, you could put and egg between your foot and accelerator and not break it.

The next project is to build a new air cleaner system for the engine. In this case, the 1956 technology just doesn't cut it. I went online and found a site that has a formula for sizing air cleaners for diesel engines based on horsepower and displacement. I needed 850 cfm capacity. I ordered a new air cleaner for a modern diesel truck with 900 cfm capacity. It's about five times as big as a car filter. It arrived last week, so I can get started on that next.