Washington. Some say it's Quincy Washington, but either way, you're out in the high desert. Concerts at the Gorge Amphitheater are different from most others in a few ways. First, it is in the middle of nowhere. So, it takes a while to get there, and there's no one around to complain if the band plays "too late". Second, it is one of the few camping venues left. If you pay $20, you can camp overnight in the grass parking lot (watered with those large argricultural sprinkling systems) with thousands of your fellow concert-goers. I'm sure this has a positive impact on their beer sales. Anyway, we drove up the day before and camped both the night before and the night after. Like the last few posts, I'll upload some pictures going to, at the venue and heading home.
Unlike the drive down to CA, we had a 4th passenger with us (my wife), making the drive and the company all the better. My folks stepped up and watched the boys for the weekend, so we had no issues on the home front.
On the bus-work side, I've been making steady headway. I bought some MDF (compressed cardboard-ish building material) sticks at Home Depot for less than $.50 a foot. I think a 1" x 2" x 6' stick cost about $2.80. Anyway, I constructed a mock-up of the radiator mount using them. Its pretty simple: 20" across, 6" drop from lower front edge of radiator to floor, ~26" long. I should have done this in
the first place. Some simple measuring lead me to give about 2.5" of clearance from the front edge of the top of the radiator to the underside of the bus floor. This should give adequate room to manipulate hoses, as well as give the exhaust air some space before existing the rear. I mention the 6" drop above because that is how far below the bottom edge of the under-belly the radiator cowl will hang. Since the belly was over 11.5" above the ground, I still have over 5" of clearance. My Jetta has about 3", so I figure I'm ok for speed bumps, etc.
the first place. Some simple measuring lead me to give about 2.5" of clearance from the front edge of the top of the radiator to the underside of the bus floor. This should give adequate room to manipulate hoses, as well as give the exhaust air some space before existing the rear. I mention the 6" drop above because that is how far below the bottom edge of the under-belly the radiator cowl will hang. Since the belly was over 11.5" above the ground, I still have over 5" of clearance. My Jetta has about 3", so I figure I'm ok for speed bumps, etc.After fabricating a mock-up, I was able to get the unit under the bus and held into place from underneath using my ramps. This gave me the opportunity to look at how th radiator would be in-place, and make design adjustments. I think the clearance will be fine in terms of road exposure, and I can reach the hose bibs. The exhaust side looks really big too, so I think I'm a go. I'll accumulate some steel this week and try some welding this weekend.
Pictures of the mock up, it in place with th rad, and maybe some welded stuff later on...
picture explanations:
top: Mike and Ed wrestling the spare parts bin and camping kitchen into the forward luggage rack. Both ended up being very important.
2nd from top: leaving the lush Willamette Valley side of Mt. Hood / Columbia Gorge, right before the tunnel. cool looking melty picture.
2nd from bottom: crossing the Columbia, I think. Either that or we were just down by the river's edge.
bottom: our neighbor and his friend doing a carabus through Central Washington. That is one nice original double cab.
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