LED Lamps installed part 1

Today, I installed the front turn signal lamps, and the rear turn signal, tail/brake, and reverse lamps, as well as the license plate illuminator.

It takes a lot of batteries and a lot of time to drill 10 4.5" diameter holes in the skin of a skoolie. That metal looks really thin, but it's much stronger than it looks. I ended up dulling my hole saw before I finished, and used a jig saw to make the last 2 holes, so they aren't perfectly round. Fortunately, the bezel covers them nicely.

A few minor issues remain. Firstly, I haven't installed the new wiring yet, so things are just tied into the original wiring. I forgot to tie in the license plate illuminator today. Also, the front turn signals can be parking lights, but I don't have the wiring to it yet.

The right front turn signal has a straight power connector, and I should have gotten a right angle one. It pushes against the air handler, so isn't mounted properly yet.

pics:

Front:


Rear:


Front turn signals lit:


Rear turn signals lit:


Rear brake lights lit:


Reverse lights lit:


Tomorrow I get to work on the upper clearance lamps, weather permitting. Oh joy.

LED Lamps arrived

The new LED lamps arrived Wednesday. I didn't realize when I ordered them that only the upper clearance lamps were surface mount. The rest of them are flush mount. This means I need to put some really big holes in metal.

I managed to get a 4.5" hole saw from Lowes for just under $45 w/tax. This should take care of the mounting flanges for the 4" LED lamps (stop/tail, turn, reverse).

The side turn signal lamps are 2" x 6" oval, and those holes will be a bit more fun to cut. However, I have a plan for that.

One thing though is that since the new lamps have to be flush mounted, some of them can't go into the original locations. So, it looks like I'll be redesigning the lamp layout on the rear of the bus after all.

Thursday I picked up a box of stainless steel sheet metal screws for mounting the various surface mount lamps. I also picked up a box of stainless steel bolts and stainless steel nylon lock nuts for mounting the flanges for the 4" lamps.

Dad and I tested some of the lamps Wednesday afternoon with a 12V power supply. I pity anyone riding behind that looks directly at one when it is on high (stop or turn). These things are really bright!

This weekend I hope to get many of the lamps mounted and hopefully even wired, weather permitting.

Exterior LED Lights ordered

unleashed is missing some of the exterior lights that are required to make it legal to operate it on the road. Since those were incandescent lights, and my intention has been to replace them all eventually with LED lights, I finally broke down and figured out what I would need.

I decided to stick with simplicity. I'm only replacing existing lights with new lights in the same exact location as the original lighting. Sure, I could have taken the opportunity to try to improve on the aesthetics of the light layout on the rear. However, I finally decided to just stick with what was proven to be good, which was the original layout.

I ordered 4 red 4" round LED tail/stop lights, which will replace the existing 2 4" round and 2 7" round tail/stop lights.

I ordered 4 amber 4" round LED marker/turn lights, which will replace the 2 7" round marker/turn lights on the front, and the 2 on the rear.

I ordered 2 white 4" round LED reverse lights, to replace the 2 that were there previously.

I ordered a single unit 3 lamp LED clearance lamp fixture, a red for the rear, and an amber for the front.

I ordered 4 amber clearance lamps (2 outside edges at the front, and 2 at the midpoint), and 2 red clearance lamps (2 outside edges at the rear).

I also ordered 2 amber marker/turn signal lamps that go on the sides, above the front wheels, so that someone beside the bus can see when I activate my turn signals.

I'll be doing some minor rewiring as I install these, removing the wiring harness for these functions from the interior of the vehicle and relocating it under the vehicle. The midpoint clearance and marker/turn signal lamps will still be wired via the interior for now. Once the roof raise is complete, they will be rewired differently, but still within the shell walls somehow.

Hopefully the LED lights will arrive before Memorial day, so I'll have a fun project to do.

Initial weighing of the bus

So today I took the bus over to the farmer's market to get it weighed. Empty weight before starting is 21,560 pounds. Since the GVWR is 33,280 pounds, that leaves me 11,720 pounds for the conversion and cargo.

I also found the trick to getting the bus in and out of the driveway without casualties. It is nice not to destroy mailboxes or get stuck in mud.

Starting early

Due to some overtime, I got some extra time off for my vacation. So, I got started early on the process of raising the roof.

First step was to remove 2 windows, and get access to the pillar between the two windows, so that I know what steel to order.

I decided to take out a normal window first. That was fairly easy, 2 screws on each side, and one in the top center, and it pretty much just popped out (technically, it popped inward).

Removed window:


The second window I tried was an emergency exit window. This one was more of a PITA, as the window has to be swung out to access the screws. However, that wasn't too difficult. The real problem was that one of the screws had the head stripped, and I ended up using the angle grinder and destroying the window to get it removed.

Removed window:


Here's a shot from inside out showing the gaps where the windows used to be:


And a shot from outside:


Now I have some measurements:



It looks to me that the hollow is about 1 1/8" wide by 1 3/4" deep.

I still need to put together an order for steel and go pick that up.

Planning the roof raise

I'm taking some time off work (April 17 thru April 25) to focus on getting the bus conversion project back on track. At this point, everything is pretty much waiting for the roof raise to be done so that progress can happen with other things.

In the next week, I'll be putting together an order for some steel tubing and other supplies needed to accomplish this goal.

I plan to remove the roofing material that connects to the front and rear end caps, so that the roof basically is floating between them. I'll then raise the floating part, and deal with the end caps separately.

I'll post more as I make new progress.

stuck in the mud

So we've had a lot of snow (blizzards even) here this winter, and now we're getting tons of rain. This has been an unusually wet winter, and most of the roads have standing water. The ground is beyond saturated.

During the blizzards, we started to store trash (in bags) in my bus. We also did some major housecleaning, and that went into the bus as well. Today, when the rain stopped and the sun came out, we decided to haul off the trash, and since the gas station and the trash transfer station are across the street from each other, I decided to take the opportunity to fill up the tank.

Before I could move the main bus out of the yard though, I had to get the shed bus (the stowaway) out of the way. I had mom drive it so she could get some experience with it. Well, about 10 feet from it's final parking spot, the left rear wheels sunk into mud, and we lost all traction. It sits there now, with the wheel sunk into the mud, waiting for a dry day to get moving again.

pictures: shed bus stuck in the mud

Now some of you might see where this story is heading already. I admit it is tragically funny.

Our driveway is carved into the ground quite a bit due to years of people driving in and out. It is also a bit narrow. Getting the bus in and out of the driveway has been a chore in the past, and I decided to try going out differently this trip. I didn't swing quite wide enough, and took out the mailbox. That's the second time in a month the mailbox got taken out, once by the snow plow. So, after killing the mailbox, I figure we've had our excitement for the day.

After getting onto the street, I started to worry, as I couldn't seem to get the bus up to 2nd gear, and it finally did it when the engine got around 2200rpm. Then, it didn't seem to want to hit 3rd. It took me a while to get the bus all the way up to 4th gear and lockup. After that though, it seemed to be smooth driving. I think I need a front end alignment unfortunately. I got up to 55mph, at 2500rpm, with only a small amount of diesel smoking. The ride was fairly smooth (for a mostly empty bus). Getting into and out of the transfer station was fairly easy. Unloading all the trash was also easy.

As luck would have it, the gas station was mostly empty, so it was trivial to swing in and get pulled up to a pump. Unlike when I took my trip from GA to VA in the bus, the diesel pump at this station had a really nice automatic shutoff when the tank was close to full. I put 20 gallons of fuel into my bus in less time than it takes to put 10 gallons into my little corolla. I really like that fuel pump.

As I tried to figure the best way back home from the fuel station, I realized it would be all left turns, with no spots really adequate for swinging such a large vehicle around. So, I took a right, and took the long way home. This gave me an opportunity to run up to 55mph for a while on several different roads, and to get a feel for her again. It was enjoyable.

Then, I arrived at home. Here's where the fun really began.

I missed the mailbox this time. I swung wide, but not quite wide enough... The left front wheel went up over the ditch bank on the far side of the driveway, but I should have gone another 3 feet out. The right rear wheels ended up coming into the shallow part of the ditch before hitting the right side ditch bank... And the storage box is on the right side. The storage box dug into the ditch bank, then the wheels started spinning on that side. You can't hear that from inside the bus like you can in a car.

Mom got out and looked to see what the problem was. She says the storage box was barely touching the ground. I sent her to get the 4x4 (5000 pound vehicle... but all we had to try with), while I sat there trying to think of a better answer. By the time she got the 4x4 pulled up in front of the bus, the bus had sunk into the mud up to the axle, and the box was definitely in the ground.

pictures: main bus stuck in the mud

We used the 4x4 to go down to the neighbor's house, and got them to bring their small tractor (not small, just the smallest one they have), and they pulled me out of the mud. I don't have pictures of that, as I was operating the bus at the time.

After he got me unstuck, we talked for a bit about the situation, and I asked him what he would recommend for us to do to get the driveway widened at the end and shaped properly for decent ingress/egress. He said legally we are supposed to get the state to do it, but that it takes many months to get them to do anything, and costs a lot, and even then, it won't be how you want it. He then offered to do the work for us, as well as install a 21' culvert, and make sure everything would drain properly. So, when the area dries out, he'll be fixing our driveway for us.

All in all, it has been an interesting day.

I have to say, I definitely liked getting the bus moving again. It's been too long. I definitely need some new tires on the back. I think if the right rear tires weren't pretty much slick, I might not have gotten stuck, as I probably could have kept moving enough. I also learned that hydroplaning isn't a concern in a big bus. I had to hit a large area of flooding faster than I would have liked, and the water just parted (leaving a huge wake) and the bus just drove right on.

Anyway, I'm hoping that in mid april to early may I'll be able to do the roof raise. I can't wait. Then I can fix my clearance lights, and actually be mostly legal on the road.

Anyway, I'll post more if I ever make any progress.