by Brisbane Atlantean » Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:52 pm
For those who might be interested, here is the latest update on the conversion.
I have continued with the renovations. Due to a lack of skill on my part, it is a two steps forward, one step back process.
I have sorted out the gear selector. The seals in the selector had started to perish and therefore leak, making gear selection impossible. I was able to source some replacement parts from England and now all the gears work and getting up hills is now a breeze.
For some reason I developed an electrical problem. No matter which way I tried to indicate, the rear right hand side indicator flashed. I was oblivious to it until I noticed that people were not giving way to me when I was trying to change lanes, but rather, they were rather irate when they passed me after I had indicated and moved across. Usually everyone is very considerate as the bus is a novelty. Having noticed the change in attitude I suspected something was wrong, so I pulled over and conducted some tests and discovered the problem. Not surprisingly, indicating one way and moving the other had upset a few people.
It turns out that the electrical system had not been properly earthed and once that was fixed, all was good.
Anyway, I have now installed a toilet, shower, water system and kitchenette as can be seen in the photos. Since I had a spare car battery, I have installed a separate 12 volt system for all of this as the pump and hot water system are 12 volt and I did not know how to step it all down from the bus' 24 volt system. My thinking was that the separate 12 volt system will never drain the bus' starter batteries and it can be charged by a moveable solar panel (supplied by a friend who had no further need for it) or a battery charger if I have access to 240 volt. I figured that a fully charged battery would give me a few days at the very least. With solar, that should easily stretch to 3-4 days.
I have also installed a door and wall to enclose the shower and toilet. The walls of the bus are curved and the gap between the floor and the ceiling reduces as you move towards the rear of the bus. I also noticed that the ground where I store and work on the bus is not flat. Therefore spirit levels were of no assistance and many measurements were needed to be done and redone. I ended up creating templates using cheap cardboard type panels from the hardware store (1.2 x 2.4m for $7 each) before cutting the finished product and I think that I still did every post and wall at least twice.
This simple minimalist fit out is all that I want. I have a queen size bed upstairs with two futon sofas that fold out into double beds. If required, I could sleep 10 using the perimeter seating downstairs.
The last things that I need to do is decide if I am going to paint the outside of the bus and work out how to get an additional 10 -15 KPH
As for the paint, I fear that if I try to paint it and do a poor job, which is highly likely, it will look very bad. I do not know what it would cost to get the bus painted but I suspect that it would be a lot. Therefore, I am starting to like the paint job as it is, as it looks like a vintage bus. So unless I have a real change of mind, I think that it will stay as it is.
That leaves the additional speed. I thank everyone who has offered advise to date on ways that I might get more speed. One thing that I would like to know is whether the limiter on the engine could be raised by say 100 rpm and whether that would give me extra speed and whether it would cause unacceptable strain on the motor?
Firstly, is it possible to raise the rev limiter?
According to my research, I have a Leyland 680. there is a plate on the rocker cover that states ENGINE TYPE EO680/1133 GOV @ 2000RPM. I do not know what the 1133 means and I assume that the engine governor kicks in at 2000rpm. If I get 80k at 2000 RPM what will another 100 rpm do? Is it as simple as an additional 5% in the revs = an addition 5% of speed?
I would appreciate your thoughts.
Cheers
Gerard
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Cheers
Brisbane Atlantean