the ugggg awards

There are two things that I hate about Chattanooga. Well Chattanooga is not responsible but you get the idea.

UTC. I HATE UTC; they send out a ton of junk mail, their professor’s suck (generally,) they have tons of red tape associated with everything. Their employees are awful. They make completing courses difficult for the wrong reasons, and they are money grubbers and if I am not mistaken I am paying them?

Comcast. Comcast is the most pathetic company I have ever had to deal with. NO customer service, ridiculous prices, they sub-contract work out to toothless bums who woke up hung-over under a bridge and I presume just jumped into the van with the “do you want to work for Comcast for a day?” banner on the side…

Well that pretty much is my list, congratulations UTC and Comcast; you win my “most wretched organization” award.

Yesterday felt long. In the morning i met with my statistics teacher to go over a few things, after that i met with a guy from church who ran through some more statistics with me. So i am more or less statisticsed out. I need to spend some time today working some problems but right now i am pretty sure if i open that book i will vomit.

Nothing really going on today aside from work and then tonight the Office is on, and new. Tomorrow will be the same ol same ol, and Saturday the same. I was anticipating a very busy end to this month, however it looks like it will be fairly tame... what a nice change.

I have done nothing to the bus accept for remove a stuck tie rod, i ordered a special tool for removing stuck tie rods and it worked like a champ. it took all of 45 seconds and it's such a nice feeling to have the "right tool for the job," who knows how long i would have spent wrestling that stupid little thing with the pickle fork, did i mention that is a worthless tool?

I would guess that the beam will not arrive for another two weeks, which means that NOC is becoming more and more of a fleeting hope. I was hoping for a grand entrance in a freshly slammed bus, but if that has to wait till next year; so be it... At least by then all the bugs will be worked out and it will be sporting a fresh coat of velvet green and white paint, polished window frames, and a duel battery system with an inverter; i can hear the tent campers jaws hitting the ground.... awwwww.... (i guess that is until i get high centered in a pot hole and have to get pulled out... :-) I estimate that there is a day and 1/2 of work on the bus in order to get everything ready for the beam, mostly little things like checking lines and making spacers, cleaning bolts and painting a few things. The remainder of bits to make the skid plate for the steering box were "sourced" from work. I hope to have most of that stuff finished, along with the door to the underdeck finished Sunday...

a room w/o a door

Yesterday Dad and I made a fenced in area under the porch for the dog, it was hard to make and it was hot outside. Trying to make the fence just about killed me; rolling around in the dirt, cutting lattice, getting poked by plants, did I mention it was 10000 degrees outside? It currently has no door so it is actually useless. Today I am going to try and figure out how to make a door.

After we finished the fence I had time to start making a skid plate for the steering box, it should work well and it will give me something else to do while I wait for the beam. I need to run through the breaks again and double check everything. There are a few other bits, I will really just have to wait and see what needs fixing after it moves under it’s own power again.

This week I have to do a good deal of school stuff, I have a test next Monday and I would like to be ready for it, especially since the teacher said that it would be 16 pages long… what a jerk! Last week I started working problems and this morning I studied for about an hour. I still need to work, and practice one problem a day till Thursday, and the review them all over the weekend. I think that will be the easiest way of ensuring I am familiar with everything…

week-end

Last night there was a neighborhood get-together... I have to admit, i really did not want to go, and just sit on my butt and watch survivor man, but i am glad we went! Lots of fun... Tonight i guess we will get some stuff together to build our little guy a outside "area." It should be easy enough, especially if we can get the guy at Lowe's to saw the wood on there giant machine, Otherwise i'll have to fire up the little guy and go for it. I cleaned up some stuff in the shop yesterday, It still needs a few hours of work but it's a start. There were some exhaust parts i could not bring myself to throw away, but i parted with some bike wheels, and a few old junky frames that i had planned to build a tall bike out of... The 165/45 tires came in the mail, those suckers are SMALLLL it's hard to believe that they will actually fit on the wheels, they are at least an inch shorter that the ones currently mounted/ pictured below...

If i ever finish the bus there are a few things that i would like to try and make;

1. Tall bike #4 (furry)

2. A bike with a side car, (in order for this to be worth doing the person in the side car would have to have the ability to help propel the apparatus. ) This is something that i have been thinking about for a while, I have some plans i drew up a few months back, i just can't remember where they went to.

3. I had a lawn mower engine that i wanted to make chopper/ bicycle with a car rear wheel/ tire
but i threw it (the engine) away. i may re-visit that. It would be realllllly funny!

4. kit the scooter, it runs great now though so no real reason to mess with it.

5. I would LOVE to get a 63 or older bus that isn't trashed and restore it.

6. I also would not mind getting a vw square back, Melissa would look good driving that.

7. Price is making a RC air boat, I think it sounds cool.... I would make a rocket boat.

8. Another potato cannon, after thinking about it the "silencer" idea may be kind of stupid, but it would look cool and i need to at least give it a try. Those birds flew over yesterday, they know that there is a problem with the current cannon, we need to be ready.

two weeks late

The beam isn’t going to ship out till the end of next week, two weeks later than expected; that sucks! I am thinking that I could have cut down my beam and had it all together in the month and a half that I have been waiting… I guess it will be worth it when it’s here, sure hope so, I’m a bit aggravated. Yet another reason why having other people do stuff for you is typically a bad idea. There isn’t really much to do in the mean time, Stuff around the house and the cleaning that I have been talking about. I guess I will start to tackle some on the body work, sand everything down and get it primed. At least it will look better than black, red, green, and white.

must be a scout thing

well for those of you who don't know i am an eagle scout, pretty cool hu; yea i know. Regardless when you are in scouts you have a handbook, it has all sorts of information concerning outdoor life, first aid, citizenship, hygiene.... etc. Well in the first aid section there are two sections of interest, the first (and less applicable) is how to remove a splinter, apparently if you get one in you eye don't use a "needle or tweezers" WHAT!!! That still makes me laugh, the notion of someone going after your eye with a needle "let me get that?" The second is concerning burns, 1st, 2nd, and the dreaded 3rd degree. In the handbook there is an artists rendition of these three burns. The 3rd degree burn, is the most intriguing.

Well yesterday when i was pretending to know how to weld, and work on my car for that matter; I found myself on my back, under the car, trying to weld and as i could have guessed there was a bit of molten splatter, that made short work of my silly cotton shirt and burnt my arm... this was the "oooohhhhh this is going to hurt for a while" moment, followed by the " so that is why you where a leather coat" moment. Regardless it got me pretty good, and incidentally my burn looks EXACTLY the same are the one depicted in my scout handbook. I will have to get a picture. Moral of the story, none.

notched

Yesterday was a very productive day. I was able to get quite a few things done; I raised the steering box about 1.5inches and then notched the frame for the tie rods. I am not really sure if the notching was necessary but not I won’t have to worry about it later on if I do in fact want the bus to be that low, the last thing I want is having the tie rod bash into the frame and bend. I actually am surprised that I was able to get both of those things accomplished. The steering box raise was a pain in the butt, but I am satisfied with the outcome and think that, if anything, it’s just as strong as before. I also made some really good welds, which was fun, and I am feeling better about my abilities. I took some scraps and messed with the setting and found that the welder is pretty powerful, especially if you crank it up and take you time. Imagine that?

The list is getting shorter, however no word on the beam:


install front beam, spindles, and breaks,

have 45's mounted

connect the shift rod

connect the eb cables (I also will have to make a spacer for the cables)

connect the speedo assembly

connect the brake lines
then the big one.... trouble shoot.....

Aside from the above I’m not really sure what’s left. I know that the “trouble shooting” will be a big deal, and probably take quite a while. I need to clean up the shop and throw away some excess stuff, I talk about this all the time but I need to actually do something about it. There are bike parts EVERYWHERE and in addition to bits of things that I think “oh yea I’ll need that for a project,” or I can use this for a spare, “a spare for what, when I go out and break 15 bike wheels??!?!?!”

We got a dog yesterday, yes a dog. It has no name as of yet and despite my skepticism it is cute and it’s funny to see it following you around. I believe that Sunday I will be building a fence.

stuff to look at

some of my mad skilz, and a sweet bike.

getting there

The above pic is what the bus is going to look like more or less, i still have to finish up the forward 1/2 but you get the idea. Right now the front tires are a little on the big side. After thinking about it i decided to do with some 165/45's. This will drop the front about another inch, give me some more clearance in the wheel wells, and also give me the option to go WAY lower if i so decide. Currently i am at 61.5 inches from the ground to the drip rail. NOC is looking like a stretch right now, but i'm going to give it the college try. As long as the beam makes it here by the end of next week. It may come together. That should also give me time to notch the frame for the tie rods and also raise that silly box. So much to do, so little time!

For the record, a "pickle fork" is a useless tool, i would not buy one unless you want to pretend it's a triton and prance around like your in a the little mermaid.

NOC plans are coming together, aside from the above. I need to spend some time thinking out the logistics of it all, but it will work; always does!

Went climbing the other day, that was fun.... Good to get out again. I can tell that i have been a bit in-active. I would like to start going some more, but i'm not really interested in bouldering, and i don;t want to shell out a few $100's for a new rope and draws. HO-HUMM, I guess i'd rather spend time in a boat?

The newest list is as follows:

remove the break pedal assembly

raise the box

notch for tie rods

install front beam, spindles, and breaks,

have 45's mounted

connect the shift rod

connect the eb cables

connect the speedo assembly

connect the brake lines

then the big one.... trouble shoot.....

Body work is on h-o-l-d, i need to take my time when doing this, the drive side rocker is just jacked up and so are the doors, that is going to take some time and there is no reason to try and finish that as well, unless i quit my job, which until i can figure out how to pay the bills w/o working isn't going to happen. Man, i need a trust fund or lotto win; something......

Aside from that i need to build a fenced in area under the back porch for the dog. Help my neighbor with the ditch, install a outdoor light on the shop, and install two lights under the shelf in the kitchen. The others look good, just need to finish the job.

the river of death

My pride took a hit the other day. My dad came over and we were able to get the trans back in the bus and get the axles and the spring plates all bolted up. Went to connect the shift rod, it would not work, it was mashed up against the top of the car, I did some hammering and then figured that the forward mount was installed upside down, Whoops. Simple enough to fix, just a little time consuming. After that I get the wheel bearings and seals installed and filled up the trans with oil, nasty, nasty, stinky gear oil. Then I installed the engine, the new exhaust (oem) and just when I was going to mount the rear tires I noticed a RIVER of oil pouring out of the axle tube. “@!$#^%&%” Apparently it is paramount to tighten up the hubs 1st before installing the gear oil. I didn’t know that.

So later today I am going to dis-connect the rear breaks, and drain the trans again, pull off both hubs, breaks, and backing plated, clean up all that mess and re-install with gasket sealer and the CRANK down those hubs to the correct 220ft/lbs… THEN, mount the wheels, and THEN add that “@^^#@&^$@” nasty oil. If all goes as planned I will have the rear end finished tomorrow, ~or~ by Wednesday if I end up climbing tomorrow; which will probably end up with me pulling on rocks, falling off, getting pisses and frightened, and going home sore. Man I’m in sad shape…

My front suspension is not here yet, I am really getting anxious, I think that it will be pretty simple to install, however I would feel more comfortable if it was sitting on the floor ready to go in next weekend. The plus side is that it gives me an opportunity to raise the steering box w/o all that mess in the way. That will be pretty much necessary if I want this to be a useful bus, and also since I don’t plan on letting the lowering keeping it from being a camper… I don’t like the idea of cutting on the frame, but when it’s as thrashed as mine is…. Alteration is relative. I need to do it, first things first.

check this out

A good article from Time about the worst cars of all time, I think they did a pretty good job picking them out!

as for other stuff, the bus trans is back in, and hopefully after tomorrow, or the weekend for that matter the engine will be in as well, the to do list is as follows:

-connect the shift rod
-blow out and connect the rear break lines
-EB cables
-connect/ re-wire the starter
-mount the rear shocks
-mount rear wheels {new black BRM's "Bling"}
-replace engine, change oil, check points and timing
-clean and paint the front frame
-weld up holes under the front fenders
-clean and paint front breaks
-clean, disassemble the clutch pedal/ assembly
-raise the steering box 1.5" {i may save this for another day... }

pics