Special thanks to Mike, Wayne, Dan W., and Miller for joining Russell, Greg and me today to knock out a list of final chores on the raffle bus.
I had to get there really early to get the calipers and pads installed so we could be ready to install the brake booster and do a final brake bleed. I had rebuilt and polished up the calipers and pistons at home yesterday and they went in really nicely.
Miller brought the booster that Sue had somehow gotten donated to the club from JBugs. It is a nice one and really appreciated. We all order parts from JBugs so let them know how much their generosity means to the bus build when you next order anything from them.
Mike and Dan and Miller started removing the booster by undoing the linkage from the brake pedal. Can’t believe how frozen the shaft/threads/linkage was. Had to remove the booster the hard way with all the linkage attached. While pulling it out I dumped over a pint of old brake fluid out of it. There’s not supposed to be ANY in there. The old master cylinder had leaked all its fluid out over the years and it had just collected there. So I had misdiagnosed the replacement master cylinder as being bad while the culprit was actually old fluid in the booster. We could only get the linkage separated from the old booster on the bench using a big pipe wrench and Wayne and Dan’s strength but we managed and it’s fixed now. The system bled really easily and the pedal feel is excellent.
Wayne replaced all four shocks mostly by himself with Miller’s help. The old bolts were a bear to remove and took Wayne way longer than he wanted to spend. But he did it. Thanks to Matt Rios and VintageVoltsWerks in Tucson for donating the shocks.
Mike worked on the oil leaks at the engine valve covers. He got it slowed down quite a bit but will still need to work on it a little more. Went from a brake fluid shower to an oil bath!
Then the fun really began. Everyone there pitched in and we worked and worked and worked on the front windshield installation. It’s never easy and always a nail biter installing glass. But the windshield is always the toughest. Russell and Wayne worked the string from inside while everyone else pushed and pounded (gently of course) on the glass from the outside coaxing it in place. But it was a real team effort and the windshield finally went in place and it looks GREAT! Thanks guys. What an effort!
And then the high point of the day was Greta and her great lunch. Wonderful food and just a great time relaxing and visiting and enjoying ourselves.
Then Mike and Miller and I did a quick toe in alignment that wasn’t really all that quick. But successful enough.
Russell drove the bus with its new windshield for a very short trip. There was some noise coming from the passenger rear wheel. Mike and I pulled the wheel and brake drum to check it out, loosened the brake shoe adjustment some and it seems to be ok now.
Wayne and I had to do a little 2x4 tuning on the front spare tire mount to get the bolt holes to align properly. But he was successful and the spare tire is mounted and ready for its cover.
The final item of the day was to remove the deluxe trim from its shipping tube and lay out all the pieces and decide which piece goes where. I think we got it figured out and all labeled. We’ll spend Thursday getting all the trim pieces installed.
Everyone should plan on coming to Russell’s this Saturday. Not to do any work but just to admire how nice the bus looks. It’s come a long way and looks Super! It took a lot of work by some very talented, dedicated and hard working team members to get us here. You all should pat yourselves on the back for a big job very, very well done!!!
Author: John Manning
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