Progress with 2413

Lately I have been focussing on two areas - removing the trim around panels that need to be replaced (but not removing the panels yet) and storing those pieces and removing 'excess' lights or the ones not needed for the quick dart around the front of the storage yard
i.e the rego plate light and the upper indicators as well as the clearance lights - all probably went on when she had her McGrath repaint/refurbishment. Also taken to removing the cabling for the electric mirror (switch to go soon as well)

Pictures tell a thousand words
On the outside......

Notice all that "Mandarin Blue" under the school and the outline of the older style Hella 2134 style lights - 2413 being fitted out with a full complement of Hella 2136 style indicators (think of the type used for school lights commonly in NSW for a number of years)
She still has the retrofitted Hella light cluster lower down which is basically made up of the same types of lights as the school lights, except with two sets of red and a set of clear lenses for those other functions (brake, reverse, tail lights)

I was hoping to find a little bit of "Basilica Blue" under the front marker lights, having uncovered all these lights it makes me think that the lights that were to be kept were just masked up and painted around - the teardrop looking side marker lights (which I will reinstate) must have been looped off during preparation and the small clear marker lights added after paint.
For some reason during this time a fair few of the repainted buses lost their rear marker lights - this was not really addressed until the mid 2000's when they were all feverously refitted!

Inside 

The 'safety pack' mirrors have been removed as well as anything else post 1990
I had not idea these mirrors went in so early

The blue is the original cab blue - looks like when the cab went grey, the Metagal type mirrors going in before the cab went grey.......

Needless to say, the cab has had a light sanding, more or less ready for painting.....

Things you find......

I tend to pop into the Sydney Bus Museum, Leichhardt from time to time and they have an excellent and wide ranging archive. One of the guys in there happened upon the collection of delivery dockets from Mercedes Benz, I managed to see for my own eyes 3069's 'birth certificate'

Here it is!

I'm hoping I am able to find this document for 1930, 2413 and 3092

In case I thought I was the only one out there (mad enough to be) doing this.....

I just wanted to take the opportunity to plug and thank other guys out there doing a similar thing, they probably think I'm mad since they usually have the one bus, where as me, I have four sources of trouble whereas they have just the one.....

One guy who has been plugging away at it for a while has been the owner of 2716, a Willoughby based mkIII Merc O305 - however other life circumstances have meant that he's had to sell his beast, hopefully one day he finds himself in the position to have his own again someday.

Here's a link to his blog
Mercedes Benz 2716

Another owned Merc 2843, I was lucky enough to ride this bus on the HCVA Mercedes Rally of 2012 and I really hoped it would work out, however it seems in this case it was a mix of problems with the bus and problems with where he stored the bus, nevertheless he and the bus parted ways, but it's still out there

Mercedes Benz 2843

Then of course there is the owner of 2199 who also has Mercedes Benz 2817

And of course the owner of 3037!

All things pre war

Some other older bus blogs - indeed the one for 1379 inspired me to start this one!
The red and cream decker - Leyland TD4 1579

And one for Albion 1615 which it would seem is in a hiatus 

Albion 1615

Enjoy!!!

3069 gets her levels sorted out

For a while 3069 had problems staying level - for a while it was thought that an air bag had failed. I thought one Sunday I want to get her out, sort this and the idea was to give her a wash and take her for a short run
Thinking it was a failed air bag, when I scrapped the Canberra Merc, I saved an air bag

Turns out it was not a failed air bag

The levelling valve had popped off
No need for the air bag then......

 It was these pictures from a couple of years ago that made me think 'hang on' since on the day we started her up - she was leaning in the opposite position with the nearside rear being down rather than up

After fixing the levelling valve

Post script to 2413's engine transplant

One thing 2413 had done for a long time...... every time the brakes were depressed, there'd be a hiss come from down the back near the engine bay

Turns out, it had been a air hose that had worn away.....

Another hose was sourced from ex 2202 - however it had previously been loose, under advice I cable tied it to the coolant pipe with a piece of floor rubber - also from 2202, so the rubber rubs away before the hose does 

2413 Progress part 2

In the last post I focussed on the interior of 2413, cleaning and decal removal (all that remains is the fleet numbers on the front header), this post is from more recent activities with 2413 - removing the red line.
A few years ago I purchased a box of caramel wheels from a auto paint supplier in Victoria with a view to using these to get the red reflective 3M tape stripe that 2413 and 3069 have, 1930 being in a private livery does not have the red line - indeed it has no vinyls at all!
3092 had a late life refurbishment which involved a repaint into the 2nd version of the Corporate livery that - there is no red line.

I started using the caramel wheel on the ozito electric drill I purchased just for this job, but ummm yeah drill wasn't happy, while it would work, sometimes, other times it would not, maybe I had left the drill too long or it wasn't happy at the end of two extension cords.
Anyway I was soon schooled - use a razor blade!
I soon found out progress was much quicker this way and the next weekend instead of using one of these

I went hardcore - made even lighter work of it all hehehe

Note the strips of red stripe on the ground very satifying

The front was the only spot I persisted with the caramel wheel

 View of the back - the line is still on the panel between the centre door and nearside corner because that one is to be replaced - it's the only spot where the corrosion over the wheel has turned the panel nearly to dust - on the nearside it's there, but still treatable. Also there is a deep scratch along the length of the panel (it would have been hidden by ads) which would need a fair amount of filling so with those two issues - easier to replace

Also the hatch below that panel will need to be rebuilt

The area below the drivers window also will be replace and the electrical hatch remade

A view of the offside

Now time to get high on thinners as I remove all the goo

2413 progess

Over the past few months I have been starting on preparation for paint on 2413, both inside and out.

First off I spent an afternoon cleaning the walls and ceilings in the bus, however there was about 7 years worth of dust that had blown in - I only really cleaned the front area when 2413 was transferred from Terrey Hills to Oakville in early 2010.
Then I started removing all the interior signs (decals)

Some of us don't have the time to remove decals before painting......

The original "Stand clear of inward opening door" decal painted over

The decal that would have been applied during it's Corporate refurbishment

After which, I started to remove things that had been added since the early 1990's at least. The ticket machine post next to the cab and the drivers console stand. As well as the cab door alarm (probably the last modification added to 2413 in 2004) this was removed by following the wiring from the magnet switch that had been installed in the cab door stop, back around the cash tray and to where the squark box was located. I unscrewed the dash and followed the cable back to where it appeared out of the main wiring harness - as thick as your wrist with who knows how many wirings all  bundled together. I cable tied the 'loose' wire to another cable tie and secured the dash again.

The black conduit was added when the STATS system went in, in the mid 1990's, STATS is basically the ticket system used by the STA since the mid 1990s through to today (TravelTen and lately MyZone tickets), although as I type this, now it sits beside the new OPAL system. I'm not sure whether or not I should remove the conduit or not - or leave it.

Here's the look of the drivers area after I had finished

Eventually I'll remove the cash tray and replace the STATS green machine cut out so it resembles how they were before the green machines were fitted - also the rubber on top needs replacing and thankfully that style is still available!

Finally here is everything I removed - I'll keep the green machine fixtures incase someone else wishes to refit them on another project - but as far as I'm concerned, they're surplus

2015 so far

So the last post ended with ex 2202 heading off to the scrap yard, here a few pics

   

Photo's Edward Parker

Unfortunately with scrap prices as they are and the PMC body being slightly lighter than the Ansair body of the Canberra Mercedes Benz - the return was nearly half what it was for the first shed I sent to scrap.

With the 'dead' weight former 2202 out of the way I have been able to get on with getting things done on 2413 as well as get other tasks done

1930 goes like a dream, I am waiting for the opinions of other guys who have driven her in the past to see their reaction - I think 1930 gives the other mkI from Wagga in the yard a run for it's money 

As a post script, here is 1930's old engine - complete with Wagga Wagga dust

Into 2015.......

Well it's now 2015 and things have moved along somewhat, to start off the year, 1930 received her reconditioned engine.
Also found out she needed one tyre replaced and two air bags had failed on the back axle, also that the muffler was more swiss cheese than anything else - needless to say these issues were fixed using bits and pieces off the Mercedes Benz O305's that have been joining my first shed on the trip to coming back to me as a razor - mind you all useful parts were removed before
Another issue, it would appear that the throttle dip on 1930 was disconnected by Fearnes, not sure why - with 1964 which received an engine rebuild by Fearnes - the throttle dip is gone, on 1930 it appears to be disconnected.
Lack of throttle dip means that the transmissions retarder does not come on, meaning more reliance on the vehicles brakes as opposed to having the transmission commence the slowing of the vehicle

E. Parker photo

1930 up on the stands prepped for surgery

Out with the old one

E.Parker photo

Certainly greener than the other one!

A few more items to be reconnected and belts to go on

 In with the "new" well not as old










































After the other mkI in the group, former 1964 suffering some mechanical issues (first time since they were both purchased in 2007) instead of putting water into 1930 like I did with 2413 after it's transplant (only as a temporary measure) coolant went straight into 1930. I have still to go for a run in her though - other things have been happening since this was done.

2202 off to the scrappers

I was always going to send this one off to scrap - it has never run under it's own power and really if push came to shove, it's alot easier to have sheds that can be jump started and moved around than having to hook up a tow truck (or another bus) to the shed to move it around.
An opportunity arose as well when former 2350 was offered through a scrap dealer, it has already been stripped of seats and all it really needed was a good clean out - so most of the items stored in 2202 were moved into 2350, along with other items into former 2735 - their final positions in the yard are to be sorted out still