Life is good!

[Iceni John]

After many months of completely replacing my bus's entire cooling system due to ever-worsening overheating issues, I finally took my bus out today for its first real test drive since June last year.   I cruised north along Pacific Coast Highway from Newport Beach to Sunset Beach CA, everything I've worked on seemed to be OK, and engine temperature never exceeded 190, so I think my cooling woes are now behind me (literally and metaphorically).   As I was cruising along, looking at the late afternoon sun glinting on the waves with the offshore rigs and Catalina Island in the distance, the surf breaking by the bluffs north of Huntington Beach, lots of pretty girls by the beach (and even a few not so pretty ones, but who's complaining?), and most importantly the 6V92 singing its happy song, I couldn't help but think that life's not too bad after all.   I sometimes feel that Orange County is getting just too crowded, too expensive, too noisy, too much of everything I don't like, but days like today can almost change my mind about living here, almost.

My bus now has had the following done to it:
  New custom-made 6-row radiator core by Atlas Radiator in Santa Fe Springs CA, 10% larger surface area and 27% more tubes than before, dimpled tubes and much higher fin count,
  Powder-coated top and bottom radiator tanks,
  All stainless bolts/nuts/washers for the tanks,
  Reinforced the radiator's support frames,
  New radiator Lord mounts,
  Powder-coated coolant surge tank on a new mounting bracket,
  New (never had one before) coolant level sight glass for the surge tank,
  New (never had one before) Parker hydraulic quick-connect fitting between the surge tank and engine, to now make it easy to remove the driver-side valve cover,
  New WeirStat thermostats and seals, and painted the t'stat housings and crossover pipe,
  New custom-made 9-blade radiator fan by Multi Wing, rotates the opposite direction than before,
  New custom-made Webster YC hydraulic fan motor (yes, QCC finally relented and made me a replacement for the motor that burst in January.   What a fiasco.),
  New (never had one before) transmission fluid remote cooler with thermostatic electric fan,
  Relocated hydraulic fluid cooler,
  New Webster KB hydraulic and power steering pump (but reusing the priority flow control valve assembly from the old pump),
  New drive gear and coupler for the pump,
  New (never had one before) Baldwin 10-micron hydraulic fluid filter,
  New (never had before) Fumoto drain valves on the hydraulic reservoir and cooler,
  New Danfoss solenoid directional control valve for the fan motor,
  New (never had one before) Prince 1500 PSI relief valve for the fan motor,
  New Index Sensors temperature switch for the fan motor,
  New (never had before) high- and low-pressure gauges for the fan motor,
  New Speedhut coolant and transmission fluid temperature gauges up front,
  New mechanical temperature gauges in the engine room for each cylinder bank and for the radiator's outlet temperature,
  Many new hydraulic and coolant hoses, with new stainless T-bolt clamps throughout,
  All new short lengths of silicone hoses for coolant connections, with all new stainless constant-tension clamps, and painted the coolant pipes,
  And I'm sure many other things I can't even remember for now!

I can't imagine how much all this would have cost if "professionally" done at ABC Bus or somewhere, and there's no guarantee it would even have been done right anyway.   The only other thing I can think of doing to help control temperatures is to insulate the exhaust pipes, so that's something else to research.   I've certainly learned a lot about my bus by doing this project entirely myself (in an RV storage yard, with minimal tools and equipment!), and it sure feels good when all those months of hard work pay off.   I intend to never have to touch any of this work ever again for as long as I own the bus  -  I won't be putting on another 277,000 miles in my lifetime.   Let's hope that I can now drive my bus wherever I want, whenever I want, without nervously looking at the temperature gauge the whole time.

John
 


 
   

[belfert]

Proper cooling is good.  My bus overheated when I got it.  I took the radiator to a radiator shop and they found it was full of small holes fixed with stop leak.  I decided to just do things once and had the shop do a while new core instead of trying to fix it.  I also replaced the water pump and thermostats at the same time just to be sure.  My overheating issues are gone since then.

[lostagain]

Great accomplishment!

Wishing you lots of trouble free miles.

JC

[Geoff]

It always gives you a cozy feeling when all your hard work pays off.  I got a hold of a bus size heater radiator years ago and never got around to putting it on until last winter.  I have used it on three 1800 mile trips and it has kept me from having to use the radiator water sprayers.

--Geoff

[goutoe]

Youre right lifes good when hard work pays off! sounds like you covered everything in your radiator rebuild, I guess im lucky not to have overheat issues, Monday im taking my bus in to replace my sheppard steering gear with a factory reman, I hope I have a sucess story to tell! unfortunately it wont involve a drive up the coast highway watching bathing beauties and seeing beautiful scenery I will probably see a lot of cows and corn fields lol! however I hope My steering has alot less play in the wheel.>>>>John.

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

Yes the next step should perhaps be to insulate the exhaust manifold and exhaust system. I had ceramic insulation on my 8V92 in my MC-7 and never had an overheating problem. I also put it on my Onan genset in my MC-9 because it was shutting down due to overheating. Since I put on the EHP wet blanket, it never overheated again. I suggest you call Penn Lenson at Engine Heat Protection and ask him about his ceramic wet blanket system.  He can be reached at 951 302 2212 and is in Temecula, CA. Read his article on our website under the Advertisers Profile for more info then call Penn. He is a very knowledgeable guy and has been in this business for years. http://busconversions.com/vendor-profiles/vendors.html