My longest trip yet!

[Tenor]

I'm really glad to say I made it from Lansing MI, over the Mackinac Bridge, through Park Falls WI, to Duluth MN and back.  I took my son Matt, my Mom and Dad and my 90 year old Grandpa.  We had a great trip!  This is the only way to travel with a 3 year old!  Matt and I stayed in the bus, and everyone else in cabins or hotel rooms.  The nights got down into the 30's and my furnaces worked perfectly!  We had no issues with the bus or my conversion at all. 

I've never used the bus for running around, frequently starting it up and shutting it down.  It showed me just how useful it would be to have a constant duty solenoid to tie the house batteries to the bus charging system.  I got pretty tired of using the master disconnect every time I needed to start the bus.  I have the recommended one from the old AC system, so that will be one of my upcoming projects.  The other thing I really hate is the floor operated brights switch!  I've got to read the previous post about converting headlights and using landing lights... 

We got an overall average of 6.7MPG on this trip, but did as well as 7.16MPG on the only day we didn't have a 20-40mph head/side wind.  Lots of rain! 

I wish the UP rally was during this last week...

Glenn

[edroelle]

Congratulations Glenn,

It is nice to go on bus trips and to bus rallies.  It give us all an opportunity to add to the "To Do" lists.  (To prevent boredom of course.)

Ed Roelle

[bevans6]

Using them a bit sure beats nothing but working on them!  I'm just about to go out and remove my fridge to clean out the flame sensor, hopefully  that cures the NO FL code that wakes us up a couple of times a night.  Then, move my Yamaha 3000 watt inverter generator into the old AC comparment, after fabricating an exhaust for it.  We plan to take our first long-ish trip down to Watkins Glen in two weeks to see some fall colours and watch my buddies tear about at a vintage car race.  After that, a week in Myrtle Beach and another vintage car race in Savannah in December.  After that, the bus will be declared finished and work will resume on the race cars!

Brian

[David Anderson]

Great to have those memories.  Sorry you don't like the dimmer switch.  I really like mine in my eagle.  It gives me memories of driving my dad's old pickup.  I had to replace my switch and went to Napa.  The guy found one in an old book.  It was a 1954 ford!!  My dimmer was the same as a 54 ford.  I had to laugh.  After looking through his book some more.  That dimmer fit all fords 50-59.  Now why can't life be that simple today?

[lostagain]

The 1995 MCI 102D3 I drive for the hockey team has a floor mounted dimmer switch. And it is up on that step, just up from the air horn. It gets annoying and tiring on a long drive back at night from a game. MCI obviously didn't care about driver comfort even that late. I imagine/hope later model buses are more ergonomically friendly nowadays.

JC

[Tenor]

Yeah, the old technology wasn't bad, but if ya got short legs, (or a stiff switch) those old buttons are a pain!  It's just too far away. 

Glenn

[roadrunnertex]

Dimmer switch floor mounted.
On the GMC's the dimmer switch is a flat floor mounted and it is a pain some times to operate (you feel like you are stomping the switch to make it work) if you know what I mean.
Well Greyhound did something about it with the Scenicruisers when they were rebuilt in the very early 60's.
Greyhound fabricated a new mount which puts the dimmer switch at a angle and that made it a lot more user friendly.
I was able to locate a Scenicruiser that was being parted out and I removed the switch mounting bracket and remounted my dimmer switch.
Now it's a comfort to use the dimmer switch and my GMC P8M4905A has got a Scenicruiser part so it's now a happy bus!

[bevans6]

I must be the opposite of you guys - the switch, the bulkhead, everything is TOO CLOSE!   

My long legs don't let me stretch out and I get me feet tangled in the pedals.  In fact one of my projects for tomorrow is too see about lengthening the clutch pedal arm under the floor to move the clutch pedal about 3" forward.  That will increase my leverage a bit and let me push it with the ball of my foot rather than my heel!

I don't mind the dimmer switch, but then i don't drive at night very often either.

Brian

[Tenor]

Brian,
I'm probably one of the shortest on the board.  I'm 5' short.    Makes getting IN the engine bay easy! 

Glenn

[Lonnie time to go]

Always a good day when you can take her out for a spin.

[David Anderson]

Hey Tenor,
We made that trip over the bridge all the way from south Texas.  We did the island, then went to Whitefish Point and Taquamenan (sp) Falls, then down through Green Bay (had to see Lambeu), Madison, WI, DesMoines, IA, and Kansas City, MO.   Michigan is a beautiful state, but it seems like the whole state had Realty signs.  Everything was for sale.  Given the high tax burden they have up there maybe folks are moving away.   The most interesting thing I saw was a mailbox 10' in the air that said, "winter delivery".  I guarantee you that you won't see that in south Texas where I'm from.  LOL

David

[Tenor]

David,
You're right.  My grandfather could have bought a Dusenberg in the 1940's for 28 bucks!  We are in the same condition right now.  It is a golden opportunity for anyone with money.

Glenn

[gus]

The original 4104 setup has three floor dimmer switch type buttons.

The first one is the air horn, the second is the hi/lo beam and the third is the fog lights. If you hit this one by mistake the headlights go off and the fogs come on!!

They are in a line right up against the wall and only a few inches apart, this is a real pain. Eventually I plan to remedy this mess.