WEATHER BASED WORK SCHEDULE

Winter in Michigan has gotten really weird. We never get deep snow like in the old days. Two weeks ago highs were in the teens, then up into the fifties, then down to six below, then up to sixty two. This week it's ranged from 55 to10 – crazy! So – the conversion process has become closely linked to the weather. On warm days I tackle “outside” projects. On really cold days I retreat to my heated shop and work there. Heating The Bus is a third option but not very efficient yet, so it's limited to the 30 to 40 degree days. I'm close to installing the propane furnace for The Bus which will improve that situation. But, for now, I work where the weather dictates. The last 65 degree day I installed all the outside marker lights and new engine sending units. I'm just finishing up linking all the marker wires. There are 16 marker lights in all. I don't have the original triple lights on the roof restored yet, so for now I'm using 2” round plug-ins. I can use the same plugs for the bulbs in the original triple housings, but they won't go back on The Bus until after it's painted.

Here's the new driver's panel in the process of rewire. The main ON/OFF switch on the dash controls a relay that powers a fuse block to all circuits that need to be on when The Bus is underway (fuel valve, high idle, starter solenoid, reverse solenoid, cooling fans, etc.). A second fuse block has constant power for circuits like marker lights, flashers, headlights, propane furnace, etc. The original GM wiring also had a “fail-safe” circuit that monitored oil pressure, water temperature, and some other stuff I can't remember. It would would shut the engine down automatically if parameters were out of bounds (apparently they thought the driver was too stupid to count on watching his gauges). The problem with this is that if any component (sensor, sending unit, relay, fuse, connector, ground, etc.) in the circuit fails and shuts the engine down, tracing the failure could take forever. I'm opting for watching the gauges on my own and not replacing this circuit. The really crazy thing about the original circuit is that it had and OVERRIDE switch! So if there was no oil pressure the driver (AKA idiot) could hold the override down, restart the engine and drive it 'til it seized up. Great idea!

I've started on the cabinets on the driver's side (head, kitchen and lounge). Just to be safe, I trial fit the driver's seat, futon and end tables to make sure there was room for the kitchen cabinets. Here you can see the head (way in the back), then tall pantry, then dishwasher, then sink (sink's not there – you'll have to imagine it there), then cook-top (cook-top's not there – you'll have to imagine it there), then more counter. I'm buying pre-built drawers with sliders at barkerdoor.com. Almost any size you could want, dovetailed corners, quality sliders and you just screw them down and add a drawer face. I switched tactics on making rounded corners. I'm borrowing a friend's wood lathe for a year (long story), so I turned a 4x4 down to a 3.5” diameter dowel, then rip sawed it into quarters and then screwed and glued to the end panel. Much less work than the original stove pipe idea that I used on the corner of the head.

I drew up the ceiling console grill on a CAD program and took it down to my water jet cutter guy. Greg Ahrens (http://www.mfg.com/Manufacturers/National-Waterjet-1205690_en.html).  We cut three pieces out of 3/16^th aluminum 84” x 16”. My plan was to back-light the grill with mini fluorescents, but I wanted to keep the ceiling as high as possible, so I decided on LED rope which is only 5/8^th inch diameter. The other option was LED adhesive strips, but they cost about $150 for 16 feet. I needed 150 feet! That's almost $1500! I bought a single 150' rope for $150. 

I taped them up on the ceiling in six rows to see if it would provide sufficient light. It works great! It lights up The Bus like Times Square on New Years Eve or the Superbowl at the start of the second half!