PO went butt connector crazy!

[Barn Owl]

I am just going to vent for a moment, my jakes are not working, and I wonder why. Look at the first six inches of wire out of the back heads. That is four different wires and three butt connectors! I have bigger problems that need to be addressed at the moment, but what the heck were they thinking. There are similar wiring repairs in other places throughout the bus.

[jjrbus]

 I went throught the same thing on my bus. Slowly but surely I've eleminated about 20 lbs of them. The really amazing thing is they cause so few problems!

[boogiethecat]

Guess when you're a bus mechanic, doing it fast is unfortunately sometimes more important than doing it right.  Way too easy to crimp another crimp, rather than replace a bunch of crappy wiring.  And at the time it was done, "the electrons don't care" probably was the predominant thought... 
And I always giggled at "the reason you don't find too many good mechanics out there is because if they're smart enough to be a good one, they're doing something else"... fortunately there are a few like Don F. and Luke who do it anyway, and do it well.  Glad you're redoing things the right way.  The electrons actually DO care!!!   

[NJT5047]

When first crimped those butt splices don't cause problems...assuming they are properly crimped.  But after a little moisture gets into them, each one adds to the resistance of the lead.  Resistance from that sort of crap repair makes dx electrical trouble aggravating. 
Sometimes they just gotta be used.   Heat-shrink butt splicers will stay dry and are pretty permanent.  Heat-shrink splicers are expensive, but not as much dinking around as when using a standard butt splice and having to heat shrink over them.   Still wouldn't want multiple splices in a wire. 
Barn Owl, you sure got a nice clean engine!  Post a larger pix of the engine! 
Best, JR

[Barn Owl]

I need to paint it.

[NJT5047]

Nah.  Don't paint it.  Looks good like it is.  Yours looks excellent compared to mine!  I got a "Barney" motor.  All purple you know. 
Believe the purple engines were in-house NJT remans. 
For some reason the engines hanging in a transverse mount look more interesting than a buried T drive.   
This is what my engine looks like!  Actually, you can see it pretty good I reckon! 
How far are you from Christiansburg?   We run up to Gettysburg in late August.  May do so this year if fuel ain't $4 bucks a gallon.  We leave late on Tuesday and stop at a campground (maybe "Interstate"?) in Christiansburg.  Maybe see you and Chris then.   
Best, JR