Mini bus clean up day this Thursday

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Couple of items I noted for the next bus day:

- Interior switched lights not working?
- One of the 2 that do work when the door is opened needs a bulb
- Dash vent fan not working on any speed?
- Trailer interior lights not working?
- Left trailer fender needs to be reattached
- Make lighter steps for god's sake!

Other than that it drives fine. This was the first time I had a chance to try it with the trailer. Tires were all 10-15psi low, no big deal. Bus are all at 80 and trailer at 50. Bus took 1/2 gallon of coolant. Where the heck is the oil dipstick? Couldn't find it in the dark.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Thu Oct 25, 2012 10:35 pm

MikeWhitney wrote:

Couple of items I noted for the next bus day:

- Interior switched lights not working?
- One of the 2 that do work when the door is opened needs a bulb
- Dash vent fan not working on any speed?
- Trailer interior lights not working?
- Left trailer fender needs to be reattached
- Make lighter steps for god's sake!

Other than that it drives fine. This was the first time I had a chance to try it with the trailer. Tires were all 10-15psi low, no big deal. Bus are all at 80 and trailer at 50. Bus took 1/2 gallon of coolant. Where the heck is the oil dipstick? Couldn't find it in the dark.

Matt did those stairs twice for free. Beggers can't be choosers.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

More random notes for next bus day:

- Right rear top speaker has broken off. I saw it somewhere but now I don't recall.
- Both batt chargers were flashing low volts, so I suspect there might be something wrong with the solar panels.
- There sure are a lot of boxes of trophies in 5 different places in the bus. Hauling around all the extra weight isn't ideal, and the idea was to keep heavy and driver-threatening objects out of the bus. Just a thought.
- Parking brake feels like it needs to be adjusted

Also FYI I pulled apart, cleaned and lubed the rear door latch on the bus and it opens and closes a lot easier now.

Does anyone have some insight about what's going on with the interior lights and why they aren't working? I may try to bring some electrical stuff on Sat and see if I can figure it out during slow times.

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

The dash fan is indeed not working. Pretty sure the motor is gone. It worked once on my ride home from the TNT when I tapped on it with a screwdriver, but it hasn't worked since.

Right top speaker was broken off in the tire/pop up shelter trebuchet incident at NCCAR and we never got around to replacing it.

The interior lights I believe work if you have the key in the ingition. I can't remember off hand how, I think its if you turn the headlight knob you can turn them on that way. As for the trailer interior lights, I don't know.

As for the tire pressures, perhaps we need to keep a gage on the bus to read the bus tires. I stopped once to check them, and realized that my gage only goes to 60 psi, so I way to check them.

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Fri Oct 26, 2012 7:31 pm

Rally need to keep the doors to the trailer closed while they run (if they don't already). It was a dirty trainwreck in there.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

More notes:

Bus tows like a freaking champ compared with the old one. Unbelieveable the difference an E450 makes to the old E350. Still a 2-hand driving experience but much nicer. Power is definitely adequate now, I love the V10. Got up to 75mph at one point with no drama.

So on to the random notes
- Seems like there is a slight left pull. Might want to check for front camber difference, sticking brake caliper, or worn bushing. Not a big deal though.

Pete Guthrie · **Posted:** Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:54 am

I think you would like the 7.3L turbo diesel as well, true she slows on hills sometimes.. but our rig gets on down the road well, with a trailer and car in tow. The non turbo like you had, yeah the motor is a little weak. IDI heads make it even slower.Our rig is a direct injection head, turbo motor. The later model 7.3l even came with a intercooler for the turbo, ours does not.. it had 300 hp! good for a motor made back in the 80s originally. Our truck only has 215 hp. But 315 ft lbs torque.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:26 pm

RodneyWright wrote:

For those attending the bus clean up day, VK has requested a 9x11 blank trophy count. He needs to know if we have enough blanks for the trophies or if we need to order more. Not sure if I can make it by, have a retirement party to go to (wished it was mine....)

Would someone take a moment and count up the blank 9x11 plaques please and forward to VK?

Did this happen? I've not received any info if it did.

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

21 blanks from what I counted.

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Mini bus clean up day this Thursday

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