Coach Journal (Week 4)
Day 13 - 8/23/04
Over the weekend Trevor and I did a little research on manuals
and manual transmission oil pressure and found nothing. But what we did find
(thanks to my favorite Bus Conversion Central website) was a forum on Yahoo!
Groups for GMC bus owners called gmc-busnuts. We joined and posted a question
about the transmission oil pressure concern and got confirmation that the
manual transmission in a 4104 does not rely on oil pressure. The gauge was
most likely put in during the conversion and really isn't essential or important.
One fellow busnut explained that the Spicer 4 gear manual transmission the
4104 came with have in fact have oil pressure lubed bearings in the shafts
- but the pump is driven by the main shaft and it doesn't turn unless the
bus is moving - BINGO! So that must be what the gauge is measuring. So we've
checked that off the list! At this point we're left with very little to do
in preparation for our maiden voyage on Saturday.
Trevor
hauled out the pressure washer and gave Sweet Baby a bath. As suspected a
lot of paint chipped off in the process. Generally it's not advised to use
a pressure washer on a car, or in this case an RV, but we're pretty much settled
on eventually getting a new paint job down the road so we're not too concerned
about babying the paint job that's on there now. Most of the paint is bubbling
and chipping away on its own. I know that my Dad had been fighting with this
for years and it's probably way overdue for a much needed facelift - so we'll
add that to our list of things to do. While the pressure washer was out Trevor
fed the hose through the window and hosed out the toilet tanks - hopefully
that loosened up some of the gunk clinging to the walls in there. The smell
has subsided quite a bit since dumping those enzymes down there a week or
so ago which is promising. That about covers it for Monday - not a whole lot
went on. The remaining items on our to-do list is minimal; seat belt installation
for the driver's seat, oil change, battening down of all hatches and all loose
things stowed for travel.
Day 14 - 8/24/04
Today was pretty much limited to an oil change and any misc.
items that might draw our attention.
I helped Trevor drain out the oil, which had already
turned black from the few times we'd started the engine and let it run. We
replenished the oil supply with Heavy Duty 30W which is what's recommended
(we were unable to obtain HD for our first oil change). Trevor pulled out
the pressure washer and engine degreaser to clean up the engine compartment.
What a change - I had no idea the transmission was green! While rummaging
through a box I found in the underbay that belonged to my folks I found a
bag of Perko Door Latch parts. Perko is the manufacturer of the stateroom
and bathroom door handles. The bathroom door know was missing parts and no
longer working (as stated in earlier journal entries). Trevor and I stopped
by West Marine over the weekend to see if they might carry the same brand
if not a few replacement parts. They in fact have the latch sets - but no
replacement parts. Given that a whole new latch set costs $60 we decided to
wait on that given that there were plenty of things on the Coach we could
spend $60 on that came first in line - a bathroom door with no latch was not
going to kill us.
So I was thrilled to find a stash of parts
for the very same latch set! Having nothing else pressing going on, I went
onboard and disassembled the stateroom door latch (the only working example
I have) to see how the thing's innards worked. I sorted out the parts I found
to learn that while there are enough parts to assemble two additional latch
sets, the one piece the was missing in the first place ceases to exist in
all the sets. In short, I now have one working set (from the stateroom door)
and three sets all missing the same exact piece. How my dad ended up with
these extra sets - all missing the exact part is beyond me. But something
tells me this part that's missing is the weakest one and prone to breaking.
As I'm thinking this I'm putting together the only working set I have and
testing it to make sure it's working right before I return it to the door
when "clink!" and it fails to work. I open the mechanism to find that the
very piece that's missing in all the other sets is now broken. Now I have
4 non-working door latch sets - all in need of the same replacement piece.
Ok - I'll have to get back to that later. At this point Trevor came on board
caked in engine grease, looking more like the engine did before he washed
it. Seemed like a good stopping point. We'll be returning on Friday to install
the driver's chair seatbelt and to make one last go-round before our departure
on Saturday morning.
Day 15 - 8/27/04
Our long road worthy preparations have finally come to an end.
Tonight will be our last night at Baron Park Trailer Park and tomorrow we'll
be pulling up anchor (water, sewer, and electricity to be specific) and set
sail. The last thing on our agenda was to install a seat belt for the captain's
chair.
Trevor had stopped by Bugformance in Sunnyvale to pick one
up that would be tall enough as the captain's chair sits pretty high off the
ground. Not much excitement to report here, belt was relatively uneventful
to install. Trevor did incur his first injury by slamming the captain's chair
down on his index finger when putting it back into place. Hopefully it won't
swell up over night making it difficult to drive in the morning. I spent most
of the evening wondering around picking things up and getting the rig ready
for lift off tomorrow. Hoses had to be put away, oil changing supplies cleaned
and stowed. We dropped another one of the batteries off at Kragen for recycling.
One unnerving discovery we made was the case of the batteries and the alternator.
A few weeks ago Trevor tested the battery system to make sure that the alternator
was still working - and as far as the gauges were telling him everything was
fine. Tonight however, while running the AC we blew a circuit and lost 110
for a few minutes.
Trevor happened to take a glance at the battery power
gauges and noticed that the needle didn't dip like it should have. When batteries
are taking a charge from a converter they will usually charge near 14v - which
is what the gauge had read. As soon as you cut an auxiliary power supply and
force the batteries to work alone they will drop down to 12v - in this case
they didn't, indicating a bad gauge. Basically this has determined that we
have no idea if the alternator is working and therefore we may not be able
to make our drive all the way to Sacramento tomorrow. The battery will only
have power for so long and then eventually it will die, having no alternator
to keep it charged, and possibly killing the engine in the process. With no
option but to push forward tomorrow we're left with just taking the risk and
keeping an eye on the faulty gauge. If it shows a drop in power we can take
that seriously - we just won't know the exact reading. With not much left
to do we took one last walk around the perimeter, stashed a few last minute
items on board and went home for the evening to get some rest before our Maiden
Voyage in the morning.
Back to the Perko Door Latch drama from the other day…I did some internet research earlier today and found a company at Go2Marine.com that specializes in (surprise surprise) marine supplies. They interested me because they sold the replacement cartridge for the door latch for the bargain price of $8 a piece. It'll take 4 weeks for them to come, so I'll have to be patient, but I'm very glad we don't have to shell out $120 for two new door latch sets!