Building the 102DL3 (continuation of "Bumper" thread)

[bobofthenorth]

Going forward I'll try to curtail my unnecessary posts as they don't seem to be appreciated and just ask about things that I have already researched and haven't been able to find answers for. BTW, BW you are the one who convinced me that the D series was the way to go. But I'll not blame you when things don't go right.

Some of us read without posting.  We still appreciate the opportunity to read.  Everyone has the option to not read as far as I know.  Keep them coming.

[richard5933]

It's great that things are going well for you so far. Try and capture the feeling you have now as things move along so smoothly - you'll most likely need to think back on the smooth bits as you run into the rough parts. You've done this enough to know that they are coming, but I do wish you the best on this build and hope that you experience continued success.

[Jim Blackwood]

There's fussin and cussin ahead, and soon. Got to remove all the cabinets they put in, the lower parcel shelves, inverters and 12v sockets and the bottom half of the lavatory. Can't see much point in leaving it. But that promises to be "interesting".

Jim

[Paso One]

Hey Jim  When i was stripping the interior of my 96 MCI 102 D3 I listed the seats for sale on Kijiji and the buyer had to remove them. Sold them all, also one of the seat buyers wanted to purchase the bathroom really i said go for it.  he took it out.  I gave it to him for offering 
The bus i have is made in August and serial # is 48901  not far from your May built bus.

[Oonrahnjay]

...  I am at just over the 50th% mark on time estimating, which is to say I often miss by a factor of 2 or more but that still makes me slightly better than average. Seems OK to me.  ...
Jim 

     Now you're puttin us on, right???  *Any* time I come in less than 10 times the estimated time, I feel like I flew through it!  And that doesn't include the doing-it-not-liking-it-and-doing-it-over time.  Speaking of doing things over, a couple of people visited my bus a while ago -- one of them said "What percentage you got done?"  A fellow who was working with me looked at him and said "he's about 240% right now".   

[Jim Blackwood]

Anything worth doing is worth doing twice I always say.
I now have the operator's and maintenance manuals, thank you Steve, and have been studying. That's going to keep me busy for awhile. Some of what I've learned:
APPARENTLY (will confirm later) I have the 425hp DDEC-III and the transmission retarder. Unfortunately for me it seems I do not have the Rear Hi-Rise feature and that is something I will have to see if I can add. Don't know yet about self leveling. I'll be sorting out what is and isn't there for awhile. The luggage bay air locks were removed for instance, my mirror heat switch is there but broken, things like that.

I've read a thread on the retarder, is it the common consensus that you're better off not using it or using it very sparingly? I should know the age of the transmission in a few days.

I started on removing the old cabinets but may wait for another day.

Jim

[Geoff]

Great!!  You are just starting, so not to disappoint you, but the real work starts now.  What ever estimates of time you think it is going to take to do a task on the actual conversion, multiply it by several times.  And while you are working on one project, if you see something that should be done while the task is being done, you have to stop and get that done before you can finish the actual first task.

It took me 10 years years to do my conversion, and I have no regrets.

[luvrbus]

On the passengers side on the valve cover is where you will find the info on the engine if you are lucky if it a 12.7 DDEC lll it should be 430 hp and 470hp on cruise control all bets are off till you find a reader or DDC software it tells all and doesn't lie ,is the retarder pre set or a  joy stick control ?

[lostagain]

Self leveling is not found on factory buses out of the factory. It is added by converters for parking while camping.

JC

[Jim Blackwood]

I've spent several hours today going through the manuals and have a number of things now to double check on the bus. I was wrong about the rear hi-rise switch, it's there. Which is good because I'll need it coming in my driveway. It was a relief to see that. I need to take a closer look at the shifter as there were several versions but it looks like the 4 or 5 speed for the 700 series transmission, and the retarder control looks like a small stick shift with a multi-position ratchet. Or joystick. I'll also try to look at the valve cover tomorrow. That'll be easier to access after I've removed the holding tank from the lavatory. I can see clean paint on the side of the engine block so that supports the engine replacement. Mike said he'd also be very surprised if the transmission hadn't also been replaced.

Geoff, I hope I don't spend 10 years on it. I'll do what I can to avoid that, like for instance I think the existing floor covering is going to be fine as it is, provided I can do something with those seat tracks and I think the strip lights are about the right width. I have some on hand I can use to test fit. I found the controls for the Webasto and want to fire that up soon, but I have more reading first and more interior work as well. Then it'll be time to fire the bus up again so I can check the sight windows in the freon tank. I noticed that there was a streak on the driveway after I moved it to the shop the morning after it got here and now I know that holding the brake pedal down when setting the emergency brake can cause the brakes to not want to release. That might be what happened there. A brake inspection is in my future but not right away.

Then I also want to weigh a seat assembly. Load capacity is 12,750lbs, with the seats and lavatory removed that should be over 14,000.

JC you are probably right about the leveling but the manuals do discuss it. I'll need to look into that and see what it take to do it.

Jim

[richard5933]

I found the controls for the Webasto and want to fire that up soon,
Jim

Word of caution...check the exhaust before firing the Webasto, especially if there is anything flammable in site of the the exhaust tip. When I first fired mine on our first bus it started shooting flaming acorns and walnuts out the exhaust at high speed. Luckily we were on a gravel driveway so no damage done. Amazing what the little critters can hide up in there in a short time. If the unit has not been run this year it would be a good idea to take a look.

Otherwise, it's great to keep reading the positives about the bus that you keep discovering.

[Jim Blackwood]

Well. the "leveling" system isn't really that, it's just a load compensating system so whatever guys are doing on the RV conversions makes a lot of sense.

I wanted to know what the sight glasses in the AC system should look like so I read that section. The answer? Halfway up on the lower sight glass. But in the process discovered that there's 3 tons of cooling in the "auxiliary" AC evaporators, one up front, one in each side of the overhead bins. Now 36K BTU might be enough when parked. Or it might be marginal. But it's got me thinking.If you had a valve ahead of the expansion valve on the main evaporator, a small compressor is all you'd need to run the other three. One from a 3 ton residential condenser assembly would do. Or if you wanted to run the big 10 ton evaporator, a couple of 5 ton units would work. There's literally no limit to the number of possible configurations, just using common parts. It uses 36lbs of r134 so a bit more than could be comfortably stored in a 30lb tank while modding the system but it sure opens up a lot of possibilities. Like, kick on all 3 pumps to draw down the heat (what are we up to now, about seer 15?) and then drop back to the little one to maintain. The weird thing is that it would actually be practical, and not terribly expensive.

Jim

[Jim Blackwood]

Speaking of work... it took longer to remove the Ikea cabinets than it did to take the seats out. Plus I removed the lavatory waste tank. Photos are the "after" shots, inside and out. What a pile of trash.

I weighed the seat assemblies, 82lbs each. The waste tank was 60lbs and the front panel and grab rail was 26lbs. 55 seats x 41lbs = 2,255 removed there. The lavatory has to be over 250lbs total. So, I've increased my maximum weight capacity at this point to 15,281lbs. Not bad.

Still have the parcel shelves to come down, but that won't figure in the weight. The Inverters however will need to be added as they are an extra. This is more exact than probably justified, but if I maintain precise numbers it will make it easier in the long run.

Jim

[sledhead]

" Speaking of work... it took longer to remove the Ikea cabinets"

wow! any Ikea crap I ever removed was CRAP

dave

[buswarrior]

Ask your retarder questions in a separate topic, so it isn't buried in here.

You'll get better responces, and it will be searchable for those who follow

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior