Continuing on an older project

Today was a day I achieved something different. For a long time I've been meaning to put up the last of the long-planned sheets of steel on the back door. This one will cover the upper door window. I was 50/50 over removing the glass but I think I will as it'll be hard to remove neatly from inside.  Really I would like to put a smaller window in place but that would be so challenging that it's not worth the fuss. Better just to have a solid back wall. 

So, working in cramped conditions inside a shipping container storage shed I set to with an old Harbor Freight drill press. The steel has been pre-bent which added a level of complexity to drilling the final line of holes as the steel had to be propped up at an angle then held in place with one hand while drilling the hole with the other.

The next step with that steel will be putting it in place and then drilling two locating holes in the door. Once those are in place, I can cut a margin around the door lock and hinge and paint the steel on both sides. Then it'll be a case of removing the glass (gently), drilling holes and riveting the new panel in place.

I did get on some with the brakes. The work mechanic has been a wonderful source of advice. The problem I'd been getting is that when I tightened down the top brake line - the shiny one in the photo - the line was turning as I got it reasonably tight. I'd worked out that it probably needed lubrication but was aware that getting lubricant into the brake line would be a definite faux pas. 

After looking up brake lines and lubricants online, nothing turned up that was at all helpful. This is pretty typical for the internet - good for general information but bloody worthless when it comes to the details. I did get a couple of dry lubricants but they didn't seem to do much good when sprayed on a test piece of steel. In the end, after consulting the work mechanic again it transpired that something called Assembly Grease would work. Looking that up online it seemed Advance Auto (laugh) had it on their website. Going into an Advance Auto proved them to be as laughable as always. They couldn't find their grease and didn't even bother looking, offering me some expensive pink brake caliper grease. In the end, not feeling like fighting or going anywhere else chasing something that would leave the local dingbats scratching their heads over, I bought the pink goop.

Following the mechanic's advice, I slipped some on the inside of the flange nut. Well, not quite - I painted it on the outside of the tube, in front of a slid back flange nut and kept it well away from the flange. When the nut tightens in the thread, the grease provides an inertia differential. It allows the nut to slide over the back of the flange while the bare side flange bites on the end of the socket. Thus I get to tighten the nut without turning the tube. And so the nut was tightened as far as it would go. I'm not sure of the correct torque but it doesn't seem the nut wants to shift further. The acid test will be whether there's a leak when brake fluid is put into the system.

The flange nut didn't go flush unlike the previous nut but that I realise now is a good thing - it means that if it needs further tightening, it can be further tightened. I suspect the old flange was thinner. I can measure that but I also suspect it was put on in the factory.

One of the other things that cropped up in conversation was that I thought replacing all the brake lines was a good idea. The mechanic agreed on the basis that they are hydraulic and likely all over 20 years old. The actual cost of replacing them is not that great. 5 feet of line is $7 and the 5 feet I bought will do all or most of the front brake portions. Say I have to use two pieces, that's only $14. In addition to that are the 4 flexible hoses to the wheels. Those are supplied by International. The two lines from the hydromax were $68 apiece but they were blended lines part steel and part flexible. If I add 30 feet of solid line plus another 5 feet to go around the differential then I'm still only talking 7 piece or $50. I'm not sure how much the lines to the wheels will be but even if they're $50 apiece that's only $200 or $400 total to replace every single brake line on the vehicle.

It would have been possible to do the second part of the brake line today but when I looked at it the other day it seemed to have a steel coil around it. Doing some research I found that is a protective casing that it's possible to get in 8 foot lengths. Needless to say I ordered an 8 foot length. That should in theory cover me for everything under the hood. If there's the same stuff on the rest of the brake system then I shall have to buy more. Brakes are so important and I'm not skimping on brakes.

The final thing with the brakes, when I get to the actual wheels themselves will be to pull the brake caliper pistons out and replace them with stainless. There are phenolic pistons available but I would prefer steel. That way I can avoid the seizing problem I get with the pistons.

I'd like to put more steel up - covering the unused windows. That way I can be more certain of security. One or two pieces will need a step fold which I could do myself but which it would probably be faster and easier to have done as well as inexpensive. 

When I first started with the brakes, it was scary and new. Now I'm finding they're really quite simple mechanical devices that are not at all scary. The fear that comes from lack of knowledge is pretty strong and probably the reason why some people said when I mentioned doing my own brakes that I was crazy and should hire a professional. 

 

Working my way through the braking muddle

Being stumped about the size of connectors on the braking system, I ordered a thread gauge from eBay. That arrived and seems pretty good. It seems to be of Russian origin with text on it in Russian. On one side it says M (metric) and on the other, Д (дюймы) which means "inches". The one connector (which I bought a brake line to fit), I measured at 13.8mm and the thread gauge said 18 threads per inch. That pretty well identified the big connector as being 9/16 at 18 threads per inch. That surprised me as I'd thought it would be metric.

Moving down the line to the broken bit, I didn't know what that would be since the two connectors were very well seized. After trying and failing to break them apart with brute force and two wrenches then one wrench and a pair of pliers when the corners came off the smaller nut, I turned to the old trick - heat. A few minutes of heat applied from my pocket butane torch did the trick. Suddenly there was a crack as the two threads separated. Then it all undid easily.

Measuring the threads came out with a puzzle. 10.8mm across the exposed thread and a thread of 22 threads per inch. Now that was a complete surprise since the brake line came in at 6mm rather than 1/4 inch. It makes me suspect that somebody used whatever brake line they had in stock. 

22 threads is a real puzzle as what I can see is 20 being used for coarse thread on a 7/16 flare nut or 24 being used as fine thread. Of course the real test will be whatever is on the other end of the cable I bought from International. I'll buy a couple of 7/16 and 9/16 connectors just to try them out. Once I know what connectors I'm using I'll probably switch the 6mm brake line for real 1/4 inch brake line.  I have to say I'm learning a lot about hydraulic brake lines at the moment.

I might replace all the brake lines with brand new lines. They're not expensive aside from the flexible lines supplied by International. Once that's done I'll have to overhaul the brakes themselves. The pistons are likely seized. I wonder whether I can replace the existing pistons with stainless. That would make it harder for them to seize from inactivity. 

I did look at replacing the hydraulic brakes with air brakes. That would seem to cost a lot more money than it's worth however. Turning the disk brakes would be nice but as that would involve removing the wheels, I'll leave that. Those Dayton wheels look like being a real challenge to get right. It should be possible to switch the hubs out for Budd wheels but again, that's extra cost and probably not worth it.

Having had to heat the brake line to separate the connector, there's no way in tarnation that it would have been possible to separate them any other way. Given that brake fluid is flammible, heating the lines with fluid inside would not have been advisable. That brake line was bound to be replaced.

Now, a cautionary tale...

As many might know, I'm a commercial bus driver driving school busses. Those are fun to drive and the pay is reasonable. What with uncertainty due to Covid, I applied for another job. This was the result of a search on a government jobs website. A few days later I had a call to book anappointment for a phone interview. That, of course, was where I should just have walked away.

So, I did the phone interview and they caught me off guard as I was expecting a call from the company supplying my brake parts. The phone line was particularly awful. Three people carried out a rather boring interview that really didn't see to ask too much to be honest. So, a few days later I was offered the job which I accepted. That's when the fun started.

I was sent a batch of emails with requests for this, that and the other. That included bank account information "for payroll". Now I don't know about you but I don't send bank account information across the internet. That, I just ignored. Then a security clearance document kept being returned to me for insignficant changes such as "fill it out by computer" then "fill it out by computer except these fields". At the same time I was asked "where is the bank account information".

By this time they know my social security number, address, phone numbers, referees and a couple of government IDs. At that time, alarm bells went off in my head... I've never seen anybody from this company. The office is on a military base with no public access (convenient for a scam). All communications have been online or over the phone. Basically - everything had been electronic.

I was asked if I'd been to the drug screening. Well, I looked that company up and their website did not list the office location nor phone number given by the "employer". Looking at the address on Google Maps with Street View, there was an office that looked like one of the fly-by-night weekly rental offices with no permanent signage visible. Needless to say, it was in a rougher area where rent would be lower.  I'm betting that if I went in, I'd be asked to pay for my drug test. As it is a lot further than my normal drive, I didn't visit.

So, on the basis of "if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck and looks like a duck, it must be a duck" I can only conclude this job does not actually exist and that scammers are using the identity of a real company. Fortunately I have a fraud watch on all my accounts and my identity because of previous payroll lapses by employers. I'll have to wait and see.

My last message to the company was 

From my point of view...

I have applied to a company I'd never heard of via the internet. Then I've had a job interview over the phone. At no point have I ever seen any company premises (which seem to be located inside a secure military base, hence no public access).

 

I then receive a security clearance form which is then returned to me multiple times despite being correctly completed each time.  Additionally, I receive forms requiring bank account information.

 

Meanwhile, not one of my referees has reported back that they have been contacted. 

 

It's not just me but my friends and relatives too that consider this whole situation to be distinctly fishy.

Yes - believe it or not - I was offered this "position" without anybody contacting referees. That tells me an awful lot right there. Needless to say, about an hour after sending that email, somebody phoned and left voicemail asking me to contact them. It should be as clear as day from the message that I sent that I'm unlikely to trust a company whose office I have never visited. More so when the numbers used seem to trace back solely to mobile service providers.

Let's just say that I'm still very happy with my existing employer - just a little worried about the future BUT the future can be resolved when it happens. The idea of resigning to take this job never crossed my mind as the warning bells were getting louder since the initial application. I have never taken a job where I have not visited the company beforehand.

So... keep your eyes open. There are scammers even on government jobs websites. This is why I normally never ever apply for jobs via websites.

 

Doing it on the ground outdoors.

Today it came to me as I struggled to kneel or lumpy gravel that a camping bedroll would make lying on the ground under the bus so much more comfortable. As it so happens, I bought one some 5 years ago to cut up to pad things in my drawers but never used it... Until today. Keeping that saved me the trouble of having to go to the store to get one and it kept me comfortable.

Before getting into what went on under the bus today, a public service announcement. Do not buy this HyperTough cordless drill from Walmart. The battery has no staying power so unless you're planning to do very little then this is just going to end up as an expensive paperweight. Better to buy the cordless Harbor Freight drill. I already have two batteries for that. I bought this because I picked up the wrong drill in Harbor Freight one time and didn't feel like going back since it is a long way. I guess my next trip to Harbor Freight will include their cordless drill.

One of the problems with the new battery is that the screw terminals are very small. I bought some new connectors for my 8 gauge wires as the connectors on the old wires were way too big. Well, these new, smaller connectors were also too big. Not only was the hole too big but the connector was thicker than the screw was long. In the end I did manage to crap 8 gauge wire into yellow wire connectors. It was quite a challenge, I can tell you. I did it though and then crimped as hard as I could.

Yesterday's flame shield got installed. That didn't take too long once I'd switched to the mains powered drill. The battery drill from Walmart wasn't so hyper or so tough. It was kind of wimpy and ran away with its tail between its legs. Not perhaps one of Walmart's best offerings.

Once the hanger had the flame guard installed, the battery was inserted. That was so easy. I could do it with one hand. Now compare that with the 20lb lead-acid battery. I had to use both hands and wiggle it to get it in place. I was always so nervous that it would tip and spill acid over me. Now I have a small lightweight battery of the same capacity. 

Although I've already been using the battery for a week, it was so nice to be able to go inside the bus and to use power without fearing I'd run the battery down. I do suspect that a second battery would be a good idea. I have to build a slightly different flame shield and I have to modify the battery clamp. Other than that it's all pretty much the same. 

The brakes still need work but at least the power is sorted out. My thread gauge from eBay is still on the way from Georgia. Stupidly I bought it from eBay and didn't notice Lowes (hiss, spit) also sells them for less money. Nobody bar Harbor Freight has a micrometer and I couldn't find it in the store. 

As usual, the list of things to do is still long even though I checked this off.
 

March of progress

Last time, I was disappointed by being unable to get my brakes fixed. I'm still in that situation but a bit further forward. From International I got two brake lines but one needs the bottom line as that broke off when I was trying to unhitch the flexible hose from the rigid pipe. 

After quite a lot of faffing about I discovered that the rigid brake line is not 1/4 inch as I'd thought but 6mm and metric. That seems very strange for an American made bus with an American made engine. As somebody said - you don't get much more American than Detroit Diesel. The connector from the rigid hose into the flexible hose is rusted solid and the corners on the nut on the smaller connector have worn down at some point so it can't be undone even with a flare wrench. The next task will be to check on the new connector since it doesn't seem to want to screw into the hydromax. The old connector measures a very strange 13.8mm or 35/64".  

In order to help me understand it all better I've ordered a thread gauge. That should arrive soon. There's no such thing as too much information when you're trying to solve a problem. 

Meanwhile I also got on with my battery installation. The battery holder insert I made last time fits nicely inside the existing battery holder. Today I welded a piece of 3 inch steel plate to two pieces of steel angle. That brings it to approximately 5 inches width and will fit nicely between the battery holder rails where they attach to the underside of the bus. For a little fun I did some of those stack-of-dimes welds. 

The next stage having welded the steel together was to clean it all up and paint it. On went a coat of undercoat and a coat of topcoat. There are a few holes left to mark and drill before this can be attached to the bus. When that's done, this will become the flame shield above my new lithium battery. The other battery holder being constructed differently will need a shield without side rails. That's fine. I have some flat bar that can be used. I can do all of this without actually having to buy any more steel.

Having done the heat shield (or rather while waiting for the paint to dry) I got on with a new connector. The old connectors worked but the holes were gigantic because they were designed for beefier battery terminals. These are a little on the big side but if they're too big I can always fill the holes with hard solder and then drill a new hole through the solder. That should work quite well.

I made the mistake of trying to use the grey connectors instead of the red connectors. They are not compatible with each other. This time I'm not trying to seal the back of the connector. Last time I did that, it made it very hard to separate them.

And finally, a picture of the back of my lithium battery. The text is very much Chenglish. Having used the battery consistently for about a week, it has maintained 100% every time I have looked at it. The voltage seems to be stable at 13.4V. This battery seems to be pretty good. As I have two battery hangers, I will be installing a second at some point. So far I'm impressed by lithium batteries. I hear they do not work well in cold weather though. I shall just have to see.

7lbs of utter joy

Today I went under the bus and removed the old batteries. Removing the oldest I thought I'd try the second oldest on the charge controller. As I suspected, it was stronger than the oldest. Still not worth messing about with though.

I have to say it was nice being able to lie on clean gravel. It was also far more uncomfortable and knobbly than the soil I was lying on before. I might have to start putting a yoga mat down to lie on. Despite it all being clean, I took my usual precaution of wearing a mask. I don't need a bad stomach from breathing bacteria.

Before starting on battery removal, I did the final painting of my battery holder insert. That went pretty well. I got one side painted and dried then the other side before it began to spot with rain. It didn't get installed this weekend because this weekend I'm still testing my new battery.

As I didn't want to mount the battery straight away, it being such an unknown quantity, I connected it to one of my existing battery connectors on the end of a 20 foot cable. That way, if it catches fire, it's away from the bus. Initial testing went very well.

The first test was the lightbulb closest to the fuse box. That went on without hesitation of flicking the switch this way and that. Clearly the problem I was getting there was related to the lead-acid batteries. Next I flicked the extraction fans on and then off a couple of times with no problem whatsoever. Usually with the lead-acid batteries the system would shut down briefly and then show me an error message. That did not happen. The fans went on straight away. The system did not shut down. Checking voltmeters around the bus, the voltage tallied with what the charge controller was telling me. It thus looks very much as though the problems I have been experiencing were down to some really awful batteries.

Speaking of batteries - there are the culprits. One (on the left) is a Harbor Freight Thunderbolt Solar battery and the other is a Duracell battery. What surprised me was the amount of dust on top of them, given the bus hasn't moved in the past 2 years. I suppose some must have been wind-bourne.

One of the first things to do after installing the new battery and turning on the charge controller was to set the parameters. I had to look that up. I set the battery type to lithium and hope the rest will automatically set itself. Setting to lithium was challenging. The online manual showed 4 or 5 blobs on their image of the controller screen. Enlarging them it was possible to see the rightmost was lithium. Looking on the actual screen I saw the same 4 or 5 blobs. Without pressing my nose against the controller and using a magnifying glass, I could not see what the blobs said. All I could see was black blobs. That tells you everything you could ever wish to know about electronics - not made for ease of use. So, I set the battery type to the rightmost blob. There was no indication I was setting battery type or what I was setting to be honest. I just blindly followed the manual and it seemed to work. I have no idea if I should have set anything else.

I have found solar power and batteries to be a huge disappointment so far. I've kept throwing money in, trying something different to make it work better. My original plan was for no electrical power - just have screens over windows for ventilation to keep it cool. I like my lighting and didn't fancy having to run for batteries every week or so. I do suspect though that putting a big lithium battery wired to lights etc and set to charge off the alternator would have been the best solution. I'm hoping that with a lithium battery or perhaps two, my power problems will be at an end. It would be nice to put my bluetooth module on the charge controller but it was sent with the wrong connector. Having said that, it has 4 wires. Two must be power connectors. That just leaves two to identify - one could be transmit and the other receive. When I have time I'll cut the silly connector on it, off and put spade connectors then put wires on an RJ45 connector and see which the power lines are from the charge controller then connect the power line. After that it's a case of working out what the other lines are. Eventually I should get a solution.

Next weekend when I'm sure the new battery isn't going to catch fire, I'll weld together a flame shield and install that as well as the new battery. While I'm at it, I'll build a battery cradle for another battery. I might as well have two.

10 ways to make yourself more attractive to a school bus driver of the opposite sex

Unless you're a mechanophiliac this won't make you more attractive to anybody. It will, however, earn you brownie points in mechanophiac circles. 

The other day I noticed that after resting, my two 12v U1 batteries were down to 11.6v or 18% according to the charge controller. Thus, I ordered a lithium battery. It came from eBay and was no more expensive than if I'd ordered direct from China via AliExpress. The big difference - it came from California and arrived within a week.

The text on the back is clearly Chenglish rather than English and doesn't really merit a photo. While using eBay though I ordered at the same time two convex mirrors to replace the rather worn-out Busboy mirrors at the front of the bus. 

After a few days a big box arrived. Inside was just one mirror, not the two I paid for. Contacting the seller they promised to send the other one then to send a tracking number. Two weeks later nothing had arrived so I gave them a negative review and filed a dispute, giving them the opportunity to send the other mirror. Instead I had a full refund. Thus I now have one mirror which isn't that helpful. On the other hand since it's not really convex enough for my needs, perhaps this was a good thing.

I'd ordered a pair of brake lines from Carolina International. They puzzled for a while over why the recommended lines for my bus were not the usual lines but ordered the one I needed and had the other in stock. A few days later they called and the lines had arrived so I drove across town and picked them up. Not too bad at $68 apiece.

As can be seen from the photo above (which my new AT&T phone couldn't seem to get in focus), the old brake line had blown apart at one of the joins. Oddly enough there are two nuts in the picture - a small 3/8 nut and a larger one. The reason the pipe to the right is thoroughly broken is because the 3/8 nut is severely undersized. That meant that the wrench wouldn't grip it and the corners which were rounded already gave way, leading to the other wrench twisting the pipe until it broke.

That's the broken pipe. That'll have to be replaced before I can connect the loose end of the new pipe. The top end needs to be tightened properly but there's a problem there. When I try to tighten it, it turns the tube which means the tube gets out of line. That is not very helpful.

I mentioned needing to replace the other line but didn't say why. One look at that picture for anybody that knows brakes will tell the story. The pipe leading from the brake booster has been jerry rigged. I do have the correct tube according to the International dealer. I can't fathom how it goes on because it seems a bit on the long side. As I don't know how it should look, I've left it alone for right now.

Meanwhile as it wasn't raining, I made a little insert to go into my battery hangers. It's just angle bracket cut and welded but it should slip nicely into the existing battery hanger and will hold my new lithium battery. Then it's just a simple matter of clamping it down. Before I do that though, I'll probably make a little roof for the battery hanger so that in the event of the battery catching fire, the roof will prevent the flames hitting the underside of the bus floor directly.

It looks like the brake lines might take a week or two to sort out. The battery installation might get done sooner. It will need a protective plate to be made to go over the battery holder though. That shouldn't be too hard. I have some 1/16th steel plate I can bolt to the frame. It's narrow so I might end up having to weld two pieces side-by side.
 

An investigation into the brake line

Having already tried to separate the flexible hose from the rigid hose below, finding it not easy and breaking the rigid hose in the process, today brought a fresh look at the thing. At the top where a rigid hose comes out of the brake booster there is a clear nut. Down below on section of rigid hose after the flexible hose there is another nut securing it to a rectangular box.

Given that $68 would seem to be very expensive for a piece of plastic hose tubing just 12 inches long and given how the junction between rigid and flexible hose seems not easy to separate I'm leaning toward thinking that the entire hose is made of three factory fused sections - solid-flexible-solid. That would make much more sense. 

Looking at the other hose - the one that goes to the rear brakes, there seems to be a section that is patched together with Lowes plumbing fittings and some very non-standard rubber brake hose. I'm betting it was those hillbillies that put that together. I ordered the new connection on Friday and it should be at the nearby International store on Monday. I'll likely pick it up a couple of days later. Then and only then will I know whether my theory is 100% correct. If it is, I'll order a line for the patched side.

Here's a video of the lines showing clearly the broken connector. I'd sprayed everything with PB Blaster ready for disassembly next weekend.  It can take 24 hours to penetrate.

When I pick up the brake line, if it's as I suspect, I'll order the other brake line. I'll also pick up some brake fluid. I'm pretty sure it's not the same brake fluid that cars use. 

Meanwhile, I checked the battery level on the bus. Earlier today the charge controller had turned the power off despite it being reasonably bright yesterday and today. After most of the day had gone, I disconnected the battery and let the system sit for a couple of hours. Returning to the bus I reconnected the battery briefly and found the resting voltage was 11.7v and the charge controller reckoned the battery was at 28%. 

Looking at the battery photos, the Duracell was made in May 2018 which would make sense because the photo was August of 2018. The Harbor Freight battery was dated July 2017 and the first picture of it was December 2017. It would seem therefore that both batteries are between 2 and 3 years old and probably just about ripe to shuffle off this mortal coil.

I have been dissatisfied with the performance of these lead-acid batteries from almost the beginning. Thus as it is now time to buy a new battery, I bought on eBay a lithium battery. I'll have to test it for a few weeks first then build a new battery hanger for it. It cost $149 plus tax and shipping but then on the other hand, the Harbor Freight battery without a coupon would be $72 and the Duracell would be $100. The lithium battery was really not that much more. 

In terms of power output, a single battery wasn't sufficient to power my 4amps of extraction fans without the voltage dropping dramatically. Two batteries was far better but even so the voltage dropped steeply. This leads me to believe I was exceeding the rate of discharge for my $170 of lead-acid deep cycle batteries. The new lithium battery should deliver according to the specifications sheet, 30A. There is no way with everything switched on that I could possibly reach even 10A of discharge so I should be quite safe there.

The charge controller throws a wobbly when I try to draw more than a couple of amps from it. I wonder whether that has to do more with the awful lead-acid batteries? Fortunately my controller will handle lithium batteries. Thus I'll try it with my new setup before I use the power supply legs to power a relay. It might be that it'll just behave itself when I'm using stronger power supply. I'll have to wait and see. The new battery should arrive in about ten days. 

Yesterday I had a go at spraying the bus with Mold Armor. I'd bought some to get mold off something and had sprayed my car in a test area and found it exceedingly effective. I'd emptied the container doing that and then had to buy more. Well, I finished the car then started on the bus.

It's rather hard to see from the two photos but the dirty bus above became the clean bus below. A lot of black mold was killed off. Some green mold was removed too. Pictures from the other side would have been more spectacular but I was more interested in cleaning the bus than documenting it.

It is noticeable that the window tint film has faded dramatically since it was first applied. I'm sad about that but it's probably still quite effective when the blinds are up. The blinds are white. I'd have loved black blinds but nobody seems to make them or at least make them and make them affordable. Perhaps I should buy a roll of black vinyl and make my own?