MCI Bus Conversion RV Motorhome

Bus Conversion Page 6

Radiator Misters And A Jake Brake

While we were out west last winter, there were a few places we did not take the bus, because of the steep mountains. We overheated our old Detroit diesel engine a couple of years ago climbing the Beeline Highway out of Phoenix, Arizona, coming into the small mountain town of Payson. We did not do any permanent damage, but it was an experience we don’t want to repeat.

With the help of our good friend and fellow bus nut Terry Simpson, I installed a simple mister system to spray water on our twin radiators when the temperature gauge starts to climb. We wanted to keep the mister water supply separate from our fresh water supply, so I picked up a pair of nine gallon water tanks at RV Surplus Salvage in Elkhart, Indiana, scrounged up a used ShurFlo 12 volt water pump someplace, and had the basic components. Add in a 12 volt toggle switch, a set of plastic mister spray heads from a farm supply store, about 20 feet of hose, a few tee and elbow connections and we were good to go. It took a bit of experimenting with water flow and spray head placement, but now when our temperature starts to climb, all I have to do is flip the toggle switch on the dashboard for a few seconds and a cooling mist hits the radiators and drops that old needle back where it belongs.

Now that we are set up to climb those mountain grades, we needed something to help get us back down the other side in one piece. Our bus has an Allison 740 automatic transmission, which has a reputation for being bulletproof. However, the Allison is designed to shift to a higher gear to protect itself when engine RPMs get too high. So coming down steep grades requires careful attention and judicious use of the brakes. Overheat them on a long downhill run and one could get into serious trouble real fast.

The solution is a Jacobs engine brake, better known as a “Jake” brake. A Jake brake essentially turns a diesel engine into an air compressor when engaged, using the engine’s pressure to slow the vehicle. Everyone I know who has a Jake brake told me that once we got one installed, we’d wonder how we lived without it for so long.

Last winter we checked around Arizona and southern California getting estimates for a Jake brake and installation. Prices ranged in the neighborhood of $2500 and up. Some folks we met at an RV rally in Tucson suggested we contact Terry Bennett at Bennett Bus Works in McMinnville, Tennessee. Terry installed a Jake brake in their bus, and they were very pleased with his work and prices. I asked around, and several other people also had good things to say about Bennett Bus Works

After the Escapees RV Club’s Fun Days rally in Minnesota the end of June, we went down to Tennessee and had Terry install the Jake brake. Terry also changed the engine oil and filter, replaced a leaking power steering hose and a bad air line, adjusted the engine and did a few other chores, and the total bill came to $1948! What a bargain! Bennett Bus Works does very good work and I trust Terry completely to handle whatever our bus may need in the future.

What a difference the Jake brake makes in driving the bus! We’ve been in the Midwest most of the time since getting the new brake installed, so have not tackled any really nasty grades, but when coming down the hills in Kentucky and Tennessee on the way up from McMinnville it worked great. All those guys who told me how nice driving with a Jake brake were right on the money. I love it!

Another welcome addition has been a DuoTherm rooftop air conditioner. As fulltime RVers we hope to avoid weather that is either too hot or too cold, but that only works in theory. In real life we sometimes find ourselves stuck in a sweltering Midwest heat wave or caught in an unexpected cold snap.

While visiting our friends Terry and Connie Simpson in Mitchell, Indiana, we decided it was time to spring for at least one AC unit. Terry works at Roots RV in Mitchell during the summer, when he is not busy converting his own beautiful MCI bus, or helping deadbeats like myself who show up on his doorstep. Terry got us a great deal on the AC unit and installed it for me one afternoon in just a couple of hours. All of that great insulation we put in the bus in the early days of our conversion have paid off - during one nasty hot spell in Indiana where the temperature got up in the high 80s with humidity almost as high, the single 15,000 btu air conditioner made life bearable. We may consider adding a second unit down the road a bit, but we’re waiting to see how well we manage with just one for a while.

Until recently, Miss Terry has been sitting on a recliner bungeed to the wall behind the driver’s seat, facing sideways toward the curb. Not the best way to see America, and certainly not the safest, either. In Elkhart, Indiana we visited our favorite RV candy store, RV Surplus Salvage and came away with a beautiful pair of contoured gray reclining pilot and copilot seats with armrests and even heat to help work out the kinks on those long days on the road! The copilot seat also swivels to provide an extra seat for visitors who come calling when we are in camp. Miss Terry says the new seats are the best part of the bus project to date.

Miss Terry gets the credit for two very nice upgrades. While we were waiting for Fall escapade to begin in Goshen, Indiana we spent a while hanging out at Elkhart, Campground, our usual stop in Elkhart, Indiana. While I worked on some Internet and writing projects, Terry paneled the hallway and bathroom, a time consuming job that required lots of careful measuring and cutting with a jigsaw, and repeated fittings of every piece to match the unique curves a bus ceiling presents. With a bit of leftover paneling, she covered the short section of wall in the kitchen that fronts the hall and bathtub. Our control panels for inverter, generator, Electrical Management System, a digital DC voltmeter, and power switch for the water heater were all set into this bulkhead. Terry also precut an opening for the solar control panel that will be installed with our solar system in a few weeks when we get to Florida, covering the hole with a matching rectangle of paneling for now. The result is beautiful, and now we can’t wait to start on the rest of the interior wall coverings.

For months we have been living with just the outer door skin and frame. Terry insulated the door with styrofoam squares and then cut a piece of quarter inch luan plywood to fit over the inside of the door. The next step was to cover a second wood panel with foam padding and gray vinyl we picked up at Bontrager’s Surplus in nearby White Pigeon, Michigan. Adding on an oak handle we got in one of our excursions to the surplus stores resulted in a handsome door that is well insulated and cuts down on road noise.

When we built our bed, we included a large storage area underneath. But retrieving anything was quite a chore, involving me lifting the heavy platform and mattress while Terry grabbed what she needed, or propped the bed up with a sturdy wooden rod. Those days are over, because another addition was a pair of 85 pound struts to make raising and lowering the bed easier. Fitting the struts took a lot of trial and error, but it was worth it. Now Terry can easily raise the bed herself with minimal effort, and it stays in place until she gently pushes down and it drops softly into position.

Like so many of the goodies we have used in the bus conversion, the struts came from RV Surplus Salvage, along with another nice piece of equipment, a Jensen backup camera system. Using a high resolution camera and seven inch black and white monitor, the system will also accept a second camera if I choose to add one someday. My pal John Palmer, from Jolyn Enterprises installed the system in short order, allowing us to keep an eye on our dinghy when going down the highway, and making backing into RV sites much easier. The Jensen system also has one way audio from camera to monitor. This is one addition I was really looking forward to making, after we blew a tire on our Toyota pickup last winter on Interstate 10 and did not know it until a passing trucker honked his horn and motioned for us to pull over. By then the tire was shredded and we came very close to losing the rim too.

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John Palmer specializes in RV inverters, solar systems, and other electrical needs. We have a 2,000 watt Heart inverter to provide 110 volt electric from our battery bank while dry camping, but John felt we needed just a little more, and I never question his wisdom. While we were hanging around Elkhart Campground waiting for Fall Escapade to begin, he installed a second, smaller inverter in the bus, a pure sine wave unit dedicated just to our computer and television, assuring us of the best electric power for our sensitive electronic equipment at all times.

John and I also installed a Cobra 75 WX ST 40 channel CB radio that also features 10 separate weather channels. I’m not much on swapping lies and dirty jokes with the truckers going down the highway, but I do like the CB to keep us informed of road conditions, and the weather channels come in very handy when Mother Nature is in a nasty mood. Coming out of Colorado on Interstate 25 a few years back, we suddenly noticed the truckers getting off the highway at every exit ramp. I turned on the CB and learned of a severe hailstorm raging right on the Wyoming border a couple of miles ahead of us. We sought refuge in a parking lot until the storm passed, sparing ourselves the possibility of some body damage or broken windshield glass. Times like those make having a CB worth the minimal investment.

All in all, we have made many significant improvements in the last couple of months, and everything we do makes our home on wheels more comfortable and functional. As Terry is fond of saying, we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and we don’t think it’s an oncoming train!

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