Things are looking up

I wouldn't want to guarantee that we'll get out of here tomorrow but all of a sudden it looks at least possible. These guys are great. I've had the privilege of knowing a few truly great mechanics and Bill is definitely on that (short) list. I was telling Marilyn last night about watching him put the bearings in the caps for the rods. He took each individual shell out, turned it over, scrutinized the back of it and then carefully lined it up in the rod or cap and pressed it into place. He went through all 8 pistons and didn't change his speed or his routine from the 1st one to the last one.

This morning they put the head back on the left side of the bus and just a few minutes ago the new head went in on the right side. This new one speaks Spanish - its a new Detroit casting but it is stamped with Mexico so it must have been cast somewhere down there. They've still got a long way to go. The blower housing is the only remaining large item that will be tricky to mount and they are waiting for an exhaust manifold to arrive from Detroit. One of the ears was broken on the old one. There were several little things like that which lead me to believe that this engine didn't have as good a rebuild the last time around. I'm willing to bet that the cracked head has been there as long as we have owned the bus. Its a hairline crack between two valves and there is the beginning of another crack on the other two valves on the same cylinder. That would explain the water loss that we have experienced ever since we bought the bus. I could never figure out where it was going. My samples told me that there was nothing going into the oil and the engine ran too well to believe that it was burning water but it must have been.

The plan is still to get us out of here tomorrow afternoon. That's still a major stretch but it is starting to at least look possible. There is a plethora of lines to hook up, the valves need to be set, everything needs to be torqued and the rack needs to be set. We also plan to warm it up and then dump the first oil and do a complete oil change to make sure that we flush all the glycol out of the block. That will all take time. Tonight after Bill-1 and Bill-2 go home I will go underneath and set the clutch up so that we will at least be ready to leave in the event that they get us mobile tomorrow.

Stay tuned.