Having fun with the benefits of my cold fresh water system, I couldn’t just stop there. I decided to push through and finish my fresh water system by hooking up my hot water heater. Continue reading
New Radiator!
After much overheating on our recent trip to CO, and continued overheating even after replacing the fan clutch, water pump, thermostat, and heater hoses, I realized that the radiator was the culprit. I noticed some build up in the radiator when I emptied it when replacing the water pump.
New radiator in Fortuna: $550 plus tax. New radiator in Eugene: $420 with no sales tax. Hmm… I picked a new one up on the way out of the Oregon Country Fair and hauled it down on my roof rack to Eureka, CA. Thanks to Smalls who let me replace it in his driveway. It only took a few hours, but dang, that thing is heavy. Have a friend or a pulley if you do one that size.
I also added a transmission cooler. Knowing that my tranny temps were on the high side, and knowing that I was going to be hauling my horse trailer from CA to WA full of tools and building materials, I knew this was a good idea.
EDIT: Result of these upgrades: Hills I was overheating on driving up to Oregon Country Fair I flew up with no sign of overheating, even with my heavy horse trailer. The other funny thing is that my fan clutch started working. It never worked, so I replaced it in CO, and it still didn’t work. I think perhaps my radiator was so clogged with deposits that the super hot coolant was cooled by the time it got low enough to heat and activate the fan clutch (it is activated by heat coming off the radiator, which it sits behind).
Transmission cooler installed
Note to 7.3L IDI engine owners: get a copper/brass radiator, not an aluminum one (even though they may be cheaper). These engines NEED SCAs (special coolant additives) which help prevent cavitation (coolant slamming against the outside of cylinder walls repeatedly and wearing small holes in the cylinder wall. SCAs need to be put in a low silicate coolant (like Napa green). Silicates are put into coolant to protect aluminum parts. Therefore you’d have to have opposing chemicals in the system. There was one coolant (forget the name) that would work in this system, but I like to be able to have the flexibility to add any low silicate coolant in a pinch. Try SCAs like: NAPA Kool, DCA4, or VC8. Get test strips to determine how much you need to add.
Old radiator ready for scrapping
Music is medicine (Elephant Revival, Shook Twins, Laura Goldhamer)
Preparing for OCF was three weeks of hard work. I spent pretty much every waking moment at the shop working on projects in the bus: closet, woodbox/table on wheels, kitchen drawers, cabinet doors, etc (more on these to come in their own blog entry).
Because I was going to serve tea they gave me a good spot right amongst entertainment camp. Hundreds of people walk by every day. I arrived two days early with Edna and some ridesharers so that we could set up with plenty of time. To make a long story short, well, I got sick. And I don’t just mean a little sniffle – I mean fever and chills, body and head aches, swollen glands and gums, etc. And I was sick the whole time.
An amazing thing happened though – other people made tea. Because the tea bus is known fairly widely, people stopped by all day and night. I’d be in bed and they’d put on some hot water, make themselves and their friends tea, and fill my pump top thermos for the next people to come in looking for tea. It was an on and off rotation of people who love the tea bus.
I was also fortunate to be surrounded by loving people. If I had to get sick, this was the best place. People shared advice, tinctures, oils, food, drink, and love. Also, White Bird Medical is free medical care at OCF (worth the $20 general admission just for this service). The Shook Twins, some of Elephant Revival, Laura Goldhamer and others also came by for a sweet little jam session to help make me feel better. Thanks especially to Peggy, Bridget, Evan, Matthew, Steph, and Bootstrap.
Sorry to OCF for not being able to serve tea to the public 🙁
Serving tea at the Boulder Farmers' Market
I think it’s safe to say the Edna’s first voyage off of the west coast was due to love. I fell in love with a woman 6 years ago, and re-fell in love with her over a year ago. She is beautiful, talented, and independent. Her care with the tea bus and my health and happiness has been amazing. Her work schedule has allowed her to come and live on Edna for short periods of time here and there, but I had yet to make the long journey to her home base of Colorado. After ditching original plans of alternative transport to get out there, I decided to drive Edna.
Lots of troubleshooting and repair
And wow, what a journey! The original plan put me on the road for a month. It’s been two so far and I still have a week to go. Not that I’m not always on the road, but when I get back to the shop in Eureka, that’s one of my home bases, and it will feel like an end to the journey.
Please note: italicized paragraphs are mechanical in nature. You may only want to read if you’re interested in diesel vehicles, biodiesel, waste vegetable oil, Macgyvering things, etc.
Gregory and his brother Micah were my company and we sped from Nevada City one evening. Immediately something was wrong. Thick black smoke poured from Edna’s exhaust as we climbed 4000 feet in an hour. Was it a fuel problem? Injectors? Had the truck stop that washed my engine in Alameda ruined my injection pump as they pressure washed it with the engine running? On top of all this, the bus was overheating (which it never had before) and we had to stop every now and then to cool down… I ran through scenarios: the engine is shot; I’m overweight; etc…
My new and old fan clutch
The drive was long, but we made it. We smoked and overheated along the way, but we made it. I spent a bunch of my time in CO troubleshooting my issues, even though I had hoped to finish my waste vegetable oil conversion. I replaced the injectors (3 were pissing instead of vaporizing), air filter, fuel filter, fuel pump, radiator cap, fan clutch, and some glow plugs (which were burning out one after another). I checked the fuel lines for kinks, checked fuel pressure, bought the tools to do my timing and did it, filled up with biodiesel (the problems started around when I switched to regular diesel)… All of these things helped a little, but I finally came to the conclusion that the smoke was altitude, weight, and retarded timing. As far as the overheating goes, I’m still working it out (about to change the thermostat, put in a new water pump, and do my veggie conversion which will take some heat from my engine). Even the new fan clutch doesn’t seem to work though.
EDIT: I recently (July 2012) adjusted my Fuel Injection Pump Lever (FIPL – sends info about throttle position to the transmission – similar to a Throttle Position Sensor). I had adjusted it four years ago when I put a new injection pump on. I think I may have adjusted it when the cold-timing advance was on and the RPMs were high. This made it so my tranny thought that I wasn’t putting as much punch to the accelerator pedal, which in turn made it shift into higher gears sooner (it would shift into the final OD gear at 35 MPH). Running in higher gears than normal could have been affecting how much Edna was smoking. Now that I adjusted the FIPL she seems to be shifting much better (shifting into the final OD gear at 45-55 MPH now). We’ll see if this affects higher altitude driving next time we’re in the mountains.
Elephant Revival sips tea before they go on stage at the Ogden Theater in Denver, CO. Photo: Anne Staveley
I cannot believe the reception that Edna got in Colorado. Of course, Denver, Boulder, Lyons, and most of the places I brought her were bubbles of goodness, I cannot express how stoked I was to find such great open people. I have been planning a two-year North American tea tour for years, and have been almost afraid of leaving the west coast with Edna. I’ve been afraid that things like this literally just cannot exist outside of CA, OR and WA. My fears were calmed, and the ocean of possibilities for the tea bus were opened, and I cannot wait to set sail on the two-year journey (this fall, hopefully!).
Edna and I served tea at an Elephant Revival/Chadwick Stokes show in Denver, in Boulder at an event called Communikey, and on the Pearl St Mall a couple times. I also took a side trip without Edna to a family reunion/festival (Paine-apalooza) in southern Okalahoma and had a tea party with several kids and a new friend James (of My-Tea Kind). This memorable experience of getting “tea drunk” was probably a great thing for these kids who are around so much alcohol.
New injectors
Other highlights: On the way back from OK, I had the great opportunity to stay at Sub Terra, a decommissioned nuclear missile base. Earthy Man! Meeting and traveling with musician/filmmaker/fellow bus nomad Laura Goldhamer. Love that woman! Staying in Westcliffe and checking out the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Bishop’s Castle! Hanging with Chad Stokes. AND, working on Elephant Revival‘s new songbook.
My friend Greg came with me to CO to pick up his own mobile to turn into a home. A 25 foot Freightliner step van with a Cummins 5.9L turbo. Great vehicle at a great price. We had an unofficial Wagon Circle in the farmers’ market parking lot where we rewired his whole headlight system (with brights, dims, running/parking lights). I have been envisioning Wagon Circles for some time now where nomads come together in solidarity to share in knowledge, skills, tools, resources, etc. This was a little sample of that. I can’t wait for more! Email me if you’re interested on being on my Wagon Circle email list. Gregory had his own problems driving back over the Rockies, but as
The drive back west I hoped would be smooth. As I pulled off the highway and pulled into a junkyard (my favorite), I noticed a coolant leak. Great! A leak in my upper radiator hose put me back 2 hours, some hassle, and $30.
Brokedown in Somewheresville, WY
The next day as I crossed Wyoming I smelled fuel and noticed some leakage. Where was it coming from? Ahhh, a leaking fuel injection line on cylinder 2. Man, this one leaked a couple years ago and it cost me $125 for a new one. Dang! I found online that if you don’t have these metal/rubber clamps on your injection lines they can vibrate and crack the lines. Well, someone who owned the vehicle before me took some of these off, which made this same line crack twice. After some failed Macgyvering using a ¼” compression fitting in place of the original nub on the end of the injection line, I decided to run the fuel from cylinder 2 just back into the fuel return. This is probably not something you want to do unless you are in a dire situation. This was my situation. There were no parts unless I went backwards a hundred miles, or forwards to Salt Lake City. I had no choice and drove 175 miles to SLC on 7 cylinders.
Sometimes Edna gets messy when I'm working on her.
As I was descending into Salt Lake, I pulled over to check my jury-rigged fuel situation. I hopped back in and got cruising. At 55 MPH on a steep windy downgrade my hood flew open. Luckily it did not hit the windshield, but I was basically blinded. My first reaction was calm, and I applied firm braking. I wasn’t worried. However, as I saw the white lines of the road out the side windows I could see the road was curving, and I began to panic. Luckily there were no cars in my immediate vicinity, I was able to pull over, but shutting the hood was difficult. I bent the vent piece below the window, possibly the hinges, and the hood itself. Man, danger!
I ended pulling the fuel line I needed off of a truck in a junkyard along with a piece of line I needed for my vegetable oil conversion for $5. Compare to the $107 I found the part for in SLC new. I spent the day on the side of the road re-plumbing my fuel system to suck through a new diesel filter head (which I was planning on plumbing like that for my WVO conversion), and installing my new lines. It was hot and I was a mess. Thanks to the trucker just outside SLC who gave me a free shower pass. It was one of the nicest feeling showers I had in a long time.
At some point along this drive back filled with breakdowns I reached a point where I said, “Enough! I am no longer going to be brought down by the endless breakdowns, by the piles of money spent, by the strandedness! I am free. It is all just very, very funny! I don’t have to be anywhere. I am a free man. I just need to enjoy.” And I did.
I pulled into Nevada City, CA haggard and dirty, and Edna’s brakes were stinking and she had fuel splatter stains all along her back end. It was a great relief to be back in CA and somewhere where I could relax, fix some bus issues, and be around friends.
Although the love that brought me to CO is one that exists with a lot of separateness, it is one that will continue to inspire and captivate me for a long, long time – no matter what direction it takes. Thank you, Bridget.
Earthy Man sings a song for those aboard the tea bus.
Laura Goldhamer's Bus
Gregory enjoys tea while overlooking Nevada City
In the early evening we rolled into Nevada City, a place I’ve never been. I was blown away. Wow, this town is awesome! It’s in the heart of gold country and is probably one of the most well preserved towns of its era. An evening tea party proved successful, with lots of good people showing their faces and sipping tea.
The workspace
My friend Gregory invited me to come visit his folks place and fix a king pin that needed replacing. I figured I’d do my front brake pads too, which were getting pretty thin, as well as my radius arm bushings and a tie rod. But, as we got deeper into things, it became apparent that I needed new calipers and rotors too. We spent three days working on the bus – even repacking the front bearings. King pins are a pain, and even though we were going to replace both, we could only get the bad one out. I think I will try to replace the other one soon. This all came about because I wanted to get my alignment done in the Bay. I’d had some steering issues, and a pull to one side (before I switched the front wheels).
I also installed a transmission temperature sensor. This is great. I installed it inline where the transmission sends hot fluid to the radiator. I go the gauge and the sensor (they’re attached to each other via a wire) from a mechanic who was going out of business for a couple bucks, already had a brass tee, and bought $10 in fitting. And BAM – a $12 transmission temp sensor. Score!
Tea party in Nevada City
I stopped in Nevada City to see a couple friends and fix a few things on Edna, but ended up falling in love with the place. My friend Suzette lives on a goat/food farm, which was a great place to relax for an evening and snuggle with baby goats. The rivers are excellent, I hear. When can I go back?
A BIG ol’ thanks to Gregory and his family for all their help and a place to work on the bus.
Tea at Lake Merritt in Oakland
It had been way too long since Edna and I had spent much time in the Bay Area. Other than one day at Occupy Oakland, it had been over a year, and even then it was a short visit. So many friends live in the Bay that in order to see as many as we could we jumped around from place to place: Santa Rosa to Sebastopol to San Francisco to Palo Alto to Oakland to Berkeley.
Tea party with Ithaka peeps and friends on Stanford campus
I’ve been spending a lot of time in farther Northern CA working on Edna and feeling in the groove of community in the Arcata/Eureka area. There’s plenty of places for us to park there, farms to dig, people to sip tea with, work to be done, shop spaces, etc. It was hard to find a reason to leave. But, I do have to say that it was a great move. Ever since passing through the Redwood Curtain out into the rest of the country, things have been more exciting.
The kitchen staff enjoy tea
One highlight was spending time with the folks from Ithaka, a community house in Palo Alto. Most of these folks are Stanford students who live in a amazing community setting – cooking and eating together, living in close (but not too close) quarters. We hosted two tea parties in one day in Palo Alto: one on University Ave, and the other on Campus at an open mic (where even the kitchen staff at the cafe joined in) . Bobby and Jan are my heroes from Ithaka, but many other there were super fun. I was interviewed for a radio show and for a documentary project. A big thanks to all the folks there!
I got a call from my dear friend Case as I was getting ready to leave Ithaka asking if I wanted to be on West Coast Live, a nationally syndicated, live broadcast, live audience, radio show he produces with half-a-million listeners. Stoked on life, I drove to a small birthday party/tea gathering in the same neighborhood as where the radio show would be aired the next morning.
Tea at the lake
As I waited in the green room and prepared to be on the air, I imagined I was about to just be sitting in the bus talking to regular tea-sipping guests. On stage, I was comfortable, and the host Sedge was great. I poured him and his piano player Mike tea as we talked about the tea bus and life. I had absolutely no idea what he was planning on asking me, so I didn’t have any way to be prepared. I think that having a live audience actually helped me remain calm because it made me forget that half-a-million listeners were out there. I’ll get a link on this page to stream the audio when I have one…
I announced a tea party at Lake Merritt on the air for the next day. I figured that since many of West Coast Live’s listeners were Bay Area people, I may have a bunch of people coming. In actuality, not a single person who heard me on the air came. Weird! I guess I wasn’t that interesting… Either way, the people who did end up coming were stoked! It was a total success of a tea party (especially compared to last time I served at Lake Merritt). My dear friend Geraldine from Germany, whom I met while serving tea in 2006 on Hollywood Blvd. ended up there, as well as a girl I knew from college (who happened to be joggin by), some people from a tea party at the lake two days earlier, and many, many randoms…
It was a good trip to the Bay. I know, I didn’t get to see all of you! But that just means I’ll have to come back soon. I already want to go back…
Ahh, the joys of a sink.
The fresh water tank has been sitting not hooked up in the back right side of the bus for over a year. Same with the grey-water tank mounted underneath. With so many systems (fresh and grey water, coolant, diesel/biodiesel, WVO, starting battery electrical, solar/house battery electrical) that are reliant on or effect each other, plus all the wood- and metal-work designs, it is no wonder that some of Edna’s systems come together bit by bit. Continue reading
Hello All!!
I just wanted to apologize for the blog issues (lack of formatting/menus/pictures/etc). I am on the path to getting it all fixed. No photos back on here yet, but the blog is navigable. I should have it all up and done within a couple weeks.
Thanks!
Guisepi
A day or so after I bought Edna Lu the tea bus (early 2008), I picked up a gypsy polka band called Polka Madre. Their van had broken down in Mexico and they needed to get to their gigs up the coast. I gave them a ride from LA to SF, where I had my old truck that I let them take up to Portland where they had a similar bus to Edna waiting for them.
They project video taken along their journeys as part of their show. They’re not extremely exciting, but I though they were worth archiving here. Here’s a couple samples:
After the three-legged dog:
The first 1 minute of this vid has some great old school shots of Edna’s interior and exterior.