What to do with a broken down 40 year old Detroit Diesel engine? After pondering our options, we decided to give Interstate PowerSystems the go-ahead to pull Zephyr’s engine for a full dissection with intention to rebuild. We had grown comfortable with their expertise, openness, and professionalism – and felt that they were the right […]
Bus Projects
To Repair, Replace, Rebuild or Repower our 8V71?
So there we were – broken down and ending up in Billings, MT – pondering our options to get back on the road. Last Monday morning the techs at Interstate PowerSystems (where we had been hauled to over the weekend) confirmed what we already suspected – that the overheating almost certainly had caused non-trivial damage to […]
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Just a quick update for those not following along in real time on Facebook and the Bus Conversion Forums… On Monday the mechanic here in Billings did some initial diagnostics with us, and confirmed what we already pretty much knew – there’s considerable damage to the engine. The words ‘cheap’, ‘quick’ and ‘easy’ are officially […]
Just a Bump in the Road
We’ve said it over and over again, building a nomadic lifestyle does not get you out of “bad stuff” happening. It still happens. Life on the road is still “life”, and it is not all beautiful sunsets and 50Gbps LTE. Sometimes the unicorns fart rainbows, and sometimes they just plain fart. At the end of […]
Lithium Dreams, Lined With Worry? (Response to Boeing Dreamliner Battery Fire)
A few people have asked if the Boeing Dreamliner being grounded over a lithium battery fire has given us any cause for alarm, considering our bus is also equipped with a lithium battery bank. Unfortunately, none of the media coverage of the Boeing Dreamliner issues have bothered to give much technical information on the batteries […]
Recovered: Some Minor Bus Decorating
Because of a lot of research and effort, we found a bus that exactly met our criteria – completely liveable from Day 1 that we could potentially remodel as we went to make it our own. And remodeling, little by little, we have done. It seems at almost every major stop in our journey, we’re […]
Illustrated Mobile Internet Gadgetry for RVers
This is an update to our mobile internet gadgetry post we made over the summer, updated to reflect the changes to our setup since we made the leap to 4G. For the most current mobile internet information, be sure to visit our ‘Mobile Internet Resource Center’: We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback that this […]
Bus Stuff: Magazine & Rally
Time for some bus conversion geekery! Bus Conversion Magazine When we first started our bus hunt back in the spring of 2011, we were thrilled to find an entire community and magazine dedicated to bus conversions. We immediately subscribed, and their online forums where absolutely invaluable to us in bringing us up to speed on […]
A Model Citizen
When we first bought our bus last summer, I started poking around to see if there happened to be any GM 4106 scale models or toys out there. But all references I could find with a quick search included the words ‘rare’ and ‘expensive’. Seeking out a toy model would have to be a project […]
A Year On Lithium
Has it been a year already? When we bought our bus last summer it had no house battery bank or inverter installed – critical features of utmost importance for two Technomads who depend on ample electricity for both our work and social lives. We knew this was an area we needed to immediately address if […]
