Calico Vent
There is s new shelter in Lake Oswego that takes animals that are pregnant and farms them out to foster homes after birthing while the little ones grow. Once the babies are at adoptable ages, the fostering ends and they are all adopted out.
Great program. We got the call that there was a mama cat and 2 kittens, so my wife and boys dashed over to get them. We are housing them in the tub-shower in our main first-floor bathroom. Now, everyone is sharing the small upstairs bathroom for showers, etc. Let's call that 'an opportunity to bring the family closer'.That first night we had the cats, mama cat got freaked out by something. That next morning she was a-top the shower-door and would not come down. We figured she would calm on her own and went about our business. Instead, she pulled the floor register off the floor and crawled into our heating system. It took almost 24 hours to coax her back out. It was feeding the kittens baby formula that got her out, actually. Once she heard those little cries, she popped out of the heat duct and my wife grabbed her. We thought we had the register secured, but about an hour later mama cat tried to get one of the kittens out of the tub(and, presumably down the heat duct), and we heard her. Now, there's a big heavy box on that register... and the cat family has adjusted very well. They even purr now.
Filtered Air
I have spent a considerable part of my free web-time these last couple of weeks trying to figure out my air filter need. I have to filter the air, obviously, but the filter unit needs to fit the MAP (Mass Air Pressure) sensor and it needs a vacuum system nipple so the vacuum system gets clean air too. After looking at the after-market stuff (spendy), Donaldson (also spendy) and stock air boxes, I found my solution. craigslist. Its a wonderful thing for getting rid of unused bikes or getting car parts for next-to-nothing. I looked at LKQ for their asking price on a used VW air box, and they wanted $60. eBarf? $40 plus shipping (of at least $20). craigslist? $10, with a filter cartidge in it (probably needs to be replaced), an extra MAP sensor still attached, and the snow-snorkel still on it. I haven't test-fitted it yet, but it looks like it should fit where the auxillary battery usually goes in the bay window westy.
Twisted Pairs
While watching some mindless television last night (30 Rock), I started making the extension for the accelerator pedal switch plug. To get the length, I had my son T work with me.
This represents the first time he has worked on the bus with me in some time, so it was pretty special for me. First, I walked him through the conversion, showing him the different sub-systems and explaining what each one is for. I grabbed a spool of 18 AWG wire, took the end and handed him the spool. While he metted out the wire, I slid under the bus and ran it from the spare wheel well to the accelerator pedal switch. We only need about 14'. Since the 18 AWG came in 15' long spools, I decided an extra foot wouldn't hurt anything. I left the one stretch of wire in-place as a placement guide for later. With 5 20 AWG wires and 1 18 AWG wire, I cut and bound together (with short pieces of electrical tape) the accelerator rheostat cable bundle. Next time I have an hour in front of the tube, I'll do the brake switch cable bundle. Once I have the cables wired into the main harness with the plugs on the ends I'll tape the length with cloth tape (so it looks like the stock harnesses) and then zip-tie it into the path I marked.Riviera Top
One last bit of news - I started getting the Riviera poptop stuff from my friend Toby. He was nice enough to store it this long, but he needs the space now. I got most of the small stuff and Gr8fulEd will be helping me get the big stuff with his father's pickup truck next week. Fortunately, Ed has a '73 Riviera, so I'll have a template (of sorts) for installing the top, when I can get to it, and can get Ed over with his bus. I don't expect to have time for that until July, but I might surprise myself if I can get this electrical knocked out quickly enough. In the meantime, there is space in front of the bus (under an overhang) where the top can sit while I prepare for it.
I don't expect to get to the bus this weekend, but I hope to be able to hit it on Monday. If I can get a few hours without rain, I should be able to get the fuse block done and get the the main harness wrapped up. If things go well, maybe I can look into the radiator fan circuit too, or even the aux battery. You gotta set a stretch goal, I figure :) . At the very least, I'll take some pictures of the stuff I posted about and back-upload pictures.
edit: added pictures
pictures-
top: mama kitty Tinkerbell (6 mo's old) and Pip (about 3 weeks old)
bottom: wire bundle for accelerator and brake switches
No comments:
Post a Comment