charheep
Cleared for Takeoff
Are the replacements about the same size, or will there be a bit of fabrication needed?
Are the replacements about the same size, or will there be a bit of fabrication needed?
But the real question is... what direction are y'all headed this time? We've got some friends doing a road trip up to Yellowstone and back - planning to camp the whole way. I was helping them figure out how BLM/NFS land works and how to use those maps to their advantage. That has just reinvigorated my itch to do some exploring. Hoping to get into the hills and hollers of N. Ga. mtns soon.
...which reminds me, I need to look for some new CAs and SYE for the Jeep.
Thinking about(tm) making a pass in the bus with the water/methanol injection?…Bonneville for part of speed week…
Thinking about(tm) making a pass in the bus with the water/methanol injection?
I actually found that the record at Bonneville for a Class A is 122 MPH (going off of memory). That's not very fast and I'm pretty well certain I could beat that, but not in this bus the way it's geared. 2400 RPM (at which point the fuel cut-off starts kicking in) would end up being something in the high 90s.
There are marine versions of the 3126/C7 that I think will rev up to 2800 and so if I could get a file for one of those maybe I could make it work, but that still would be under 122. So I'd either have to really rev the snot out of this engine and get into experimental territory, regear it, or look at something different altogether. Definitely not happening this year.
I actually found that the record at Bonneville for a Class A is 122 MPH (going off of memory). That's not very fast and I'm pretty well certain I could beat that, but not in this bus the way it's geared. 2400 RPM (at which point the fuel cut-off starts kicking in) would end up being something in the high 90s.
There are marine versions of the 3126/C7 that I think will rev up to 2800 and so if I could get a file for one of those maybe I could make it work, but that still would be under 122. So I'd either have to really rev the snot out of this engine and get into experimental territory, regear it, or look at something different altogether. Definitely not happening this year.
I'd mainly fear the entire structure/windshield blowing out at 120mph+, lol.
A Class A streamliner should become a thing at some point.Aero would definitely become a thing at that point…
Aero would definitely become a thing at that point. I would need more than the 330 HP I have now, but I that's a relatively easy to overcome item.
I've noticed that, except in extremely calm wind conditions, the bus does get a lot of aerodynamic flutter/turbulence above 85 MPH IAS/TAS (really haven't experimented enough to determine which one of those it is). Of course if it's very windy (unless that wind is a tailwind) I probably am not going that fast. The airtabs helped significantly, I would probably need to look at more additional/other aero at that speed, but most of all the winds would need to be calm.
Now that the school year is done and I got the Cobra driving in time to drive the kids to/from school for it, it's time to get back to focusing on the bus to prepare for summer travels.
I decided to go ahead and order the water/methanol injection kit. I ordered one from AEM with a 5-gallon tank. It has three different nozzles, 250, 500, and 1000 cc/min. Given that my engine's horsepower (330 HP) and my goals (lowering IATs, and with that reducing heat load on the radiator/intercooler setup - not necessarily going for max lowering/max performance), I'm going to plan to start off with the smallest 250cc/min setup and adjust from there. The controller will scale the flow rate with boost, and I should have some room to play with it. Ideally, the idea would be that a 5 gallon tank should last me at least one day's worth of driving for the sections where I'm going to be running it - and those sections are specifically intended to be extended climbs at lower speeds. A long day for us in the bus can be 10+ hours, but obviously that does not involve any sort of continuous injection that would go with it, it would just be for harder sections. Like most of the projects I've done on this bus, I'm going about things different than conventional logic/wisdom, but I think it will work.
We got the old rooftop heat pump/ACs off and got the new ones up, but not fully installed yet. I put them in place and then wired them up to see if 1) they worked and 2) initial impressions. I think they will be a noticeable improvement. The biggest improvement that I found right off the bat was that the compressor was completely silent internally for turning on and off. That was one of my big complaints with the old units and disturbed sleeping with the fans on. Another interesting note is that these units have three fan settings rather than just two, which also should help with keeping the sound down. I'm looking forward to finishing getting them up.
The bedroom is getting new updates in the form of a new TV (replacing a 2010 era 22" flat screen with a new 27" flat screen - the biggest I can fit in the available space) and a sound bar with a subwoofer mounted under the bed. The bedroom TV has always suffered from poor (by today's standards) video and audio quality. While we don't watch very much TV, we like to be able to enjoy it when we do. The subwoofer under the bed will be a nice use of that open space that is otherwise unutilized.
The toilet on the RV appears to be original and so is its base seal. On the last trip it was leaking. We decided to just go ahead and buy a new toilet to replace it, which should hopefully have better function and appearance.
Lastly, I need to pull the generator and give it a good once-through. I was dreading that because of the lack of good access to do it, but it shouldn't be too awful. The work I did to mount it on air springs will make it a lot easier to unmount it. Height wise, it's 22", and even in the bus's current state with the springs deflated, there's 17" of clearance between the front bumper/fiberglass and the ground. It won't take much to get those extra 5". Once out, I'll take the cover off and assess which parts I need and what should be replaced for maintenance and to make sure it's reliable for us on our trip. Most of all, I hope that results in it being quieter. The air mounts helped with that, but it's still quite loud.
Thinking about(tm) making a pass in the bus with the water/methanol injection?
Definitely get a RV porcelain toilet with rim flush. They make em in different configurations. Get the right one for you and your family. It was the best upgrade ever made to our RV.
Sounds like lots of progress! I may have mentioned a this before, or others, or you already know, but if not... A lot of older RV's had polybutylene plumbing on the fresh water side. I've worked with it, back when I was a teenager and everyone said it was "fine", and it is not. It deserves the reputation is has, and it's worse than that.
The other plumbing tip I have is that solvent fittings for PVC drain lines works great in a house, but if you drive like I drove, the pipes or joints can snap from time to time. So I used to re-plumb them using GE silicone instead of solvent to give them some flex. It might sound goofy, but it worked.
Cummins also recommends their blue antifreeze/coolant vs the yellow variety
Most of the newer diesels use something like Cat ELC which is an "extended life coolant" and silicate-free. It's actually red in color. Good for something like 12K hours in OTR trucks.I have also read about a green antifreeze that is a short term solution, and an orange that is supposed to have a longer useful life
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Do you worry about heat building up for the generator, now that you are sealing/insulating it more?