15/09/2021
This is a story about perseverance. Taking on something like a 50+ year old vintage bus is not for the weak. You have to be ready to fight for it, get really dirty, and be willing to spend a lot of money.
The last time we posted, I excitedly told you about our plans to swap a mechanical 5.9L Cummins into the bus. We had the okay from the shop and had found the perfect donor bus for the job. A few months passed and the shop finally informed me that they were backing out of the project due to liability concerns and the possibility that the chassis would need custom fabrication that they can't handle.
At this point the bus had been sitting in the parking lot for 11 months, tires slowly deflating and inches of dust collecting inside. The bus even housed the occasional homeless person passing through. We made multiple attempts to use our Premiere RV-AAA membership to tow our bus home, but kept getting turned down. No one can handle us. Every time we turn around people are telling us to scrap the bus and move on.
Undeterred, we decided get the head that was leaking rebuilt and resurfaced. We ordered the upper gasket kit from Interstate Mcbees. We enlisted the help of Jesus's brother Cesar, the family mechanic 👨🔧. Cesar drove up on a Sunday when the shop was closed and spent 12 hours with Jesus piecing the bus back together. The shop was not happy that we were going rogue in their parking lot, but we felt we had no other option!
Since the shop had taken the engine apart, nothing was labeled or organized. We had boxes of bolts and brackets to sort through. Thankfully I have millions of pictures of every angle of the engine from the last time we did a tear down in 2014. We were able to use those pictures to make sure we put every thing back exactly as it was.
After Cesar went home, we spent a few more days fixing leaks, priming the fuel pump, topping off fluids, and airing up the tires. The bus had been sitting unmaintained for 11 months, so we tried our best to make sure the bus was safe to drive.
Finally, on Tuesday night we took off on our journey at 9pm. The bus maintained a perfect temperature of 175, oil pressure 70, air stayed at 120psi. Honestly it's the best the bus has ever driven. Jesus and I had finished restoring the rear suspension in 2017, so the bus glided down the highway like riding on pillows.
It was an emotional ride home, the first trip the bus has ever made without co-pilot Jade sticking her nose out the window, and now without Pinata under my seat, me rubbing her with my bare feet as we sail through the night.
Jesus followed behind the bus with our children in the Subaru, using walkie-talkies to communicate. We pulled over at a gas station halfway home to check fluids and do a safety check. Everything was going smoothly. We pulled up to the house at 12:30am, mission accomplished.
Thank you to everyone for the prayers and the endless support. Thank you to Jesus, for joining me in this cosmic journey of bus life and persevering through every obstacle. Your unconditional love has been everything!! Thats the only kind of love you can get from Jesus. Thank you to Cesar for being so amazing, passionate, patient and understanding. We could not have done this without you brother!!! Thank you to the Vintage Bus Mechanics group for the constant encouragement and advice. Thank you to our friend Ryan for providing us a place to stay and being an awesome friend during this adventure, we love you!!! Thank you to our friends Mark SailBus and Zoe for being our source of inspiration and encouragement, 🧡💙. Thank you to our family, friends and bus life community for believing in the magic of the Rage Bus. Together we made the magic happen.
Here's to the next chapter.
Love and RAGE!
