3 months working on brake lines

It's hard to believe but I've been working on my brake lines for 3 months. I have all the bits I need and the tools too. The big problem is that I've been doing other things and usually when the weather for working on the brake lines is good but when the weather is bad I'm not doing anything.

Anyway, the lines at the front are almost completed. There's one line that has to be put on, going from the chassis to the blended line from the brake booster. Getting the original brake line off is somewhat of a challenge as there's so little room in which to work.  I did get an air cut-off tool to cut the old brake line but an air chisel would probably have been a better choice. It's definitely getting to the stage where I have enough air tools that it'll be worth putting an air tank on the bus with a 12v pump that can be powered from solar panels to inflate it.

It was impossible to remove the old front cross chassis brake line because it had been put on in one piece before the radiator and turbo intercooler had been installed. Thus I had no line to work from as an example. The new line has had to be made in 4 pieces as opposed to one. One piece I'm not happy with. I'm glad I bought a lot of brake line because I'll definitely use a lot. I am not shy of remaking lines when I'm not 110% happy with what I've done. I have a thing about brakes - they have to work. The work mechanic will testify to my fussiness over brakes, steering, air tanks, lights, tyres etc.

On a fairly cold and miserable day I switched out the old semi-circular Busboy mirrors for some circular convex mirrors. These are about half the size, unfortunately but they're more the kind of mirror I like because I can see the roofline. That's important to me because I can see how close I am to overhanging branches etc. The tubular mounts that the mirrors are attached to had no end cap so I ended up filling the end with Bondo. Probably about the only worthwhile use for Bondo!

The lighting problem continues. I tried one of the LED spotlight bulbs in the bathroom light but because of where I mounted the bathroom light, it'll have to be moved. In order to get better light I've put a white paper reflector above it. That worked really well.

Replacing the existing lights is something that's definitely going to happen. I bought some bulb holders for standard E26/E27 bulbs but they have yet to arrive. According to the tracking I bought them on November 30th. They arrived in the USA on December 12th and they're supposed to arrive on February 18th. This is why I dislike ordering from China. Fortunately there is no rush. I do have some bulb holders for standard car turn signal bulbs and converters to use my existing G4 bulbs. If the bulb holders I've ordered arrive, I can put just about any adapter in them. I'm thus holding off on building new light fixtures until they arrive. Only then can I decide which way I'm going with the bulbs.

A few days ago I found the lights were out in the bus. It seems that there just hasn't been enough light to recharge the battery. In the end I had to put a 15W panel on the ground to collect extra light. It took about 3 days but with the power off, the battery did get to 100%.  That had me thinking of alternative ways of powering the battery. 

On YouTube there are several videos by people that have taken standard nitro glow-plug model aircraft engines and used them to turn 150W 12v motors with a 1:1 conversion ratio. One even had theirs set up with an electric start. That's the kind of thing that would be invaluable. Not only are they very small - the whole thing would fit in the space taken up by a can of baked beans - but they're going to produce enough power to fill - from flat - a 30AH battery in about 2 1/2 hours. Very handy as a get-you-out-of-trouble device. With an electric start and a decent muffler those could be mounted under the bus as emergency generators.

Meanwhile there was another YouTube video that showed how the horn button on my bus works. I was baffled as to how to access it. It seems that the plastic on the steering wheel unscrews from the back. That means I now know more about the horn button. Apparently pressing the button fires a relay. I have heard a relay clicking when I have pressed the horn button. I have no idea where that relay is, however. One of my tasks will be to trace the horn wire back to the relay and from the relay to the horn. I would much rather the horn worked from its original button than the hillbilly wire connected to my momentary action switch. I bet the actual problem with the horn will be pretty simple when I find it.

Some LED sidelights arrived. I know some of my clearance lights are out so I'll go up there to check if the new lights will fit. If they do then I shall be very happy. Though the whole unit will need replacing as opposed to just a bulb, I gather they last reasonably well and are much more visible. For the turn signals etc I might replace the bulbs with LED bulbs as they might be brighter.

The immediate goal is to complete replacing the brake lines. Reading around, the torque specifications very from 23psi to 30psi. I don't think there is a standard. Some say as tight as you can or until it won't tighten any more. 

When the new lines are installed I'll have to test them. That's just going to be a case of putting cotton wool around each joint, filling the lines with brake fluid, evacuating air from the lines and then pressing the brake pedal hard with the brake booster turned on. That should bring the pressure up to 1200psi. Any leakage should show fairly readily. I thank my lucky stars that the brake line failed when stationary and on level ground. Then it'll be a case of using the brakes and driving the bus to see if the fluid level goes down.

The paint on the bus seems to be peeling off the outside, I will have to go over it with a grit blaster and go over it in sections, repainting. Though I do like my grey paint I might just paint it all white. This time I'll bring it back to bare metal and paint a primer then a topcoat. At least with it all white, it should be cooler inside. Finally I'll redo the roof coating with something better than the Rustoleum elastometric paint. That seems to do nothing but peel. In fact that's something I find about every can of Rustoleum - it does nothing but peel. Time to use a different brand. I have had plenty cans of Rustoleum spray just go lumpy then clog on me. I've tried different nozzles but the clog has been inside. I've given up counting how many refund checks I've had from Rustoleum for their lousy paint. They need to start giving their product away - that's about all it's worth!