Category: Big White Bus

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Rear Floor Pan Repair on a Range Rover Classic (Post #670) 9/7/2024

In this post I play a chemist and use muriatic acid to de-galvanize the zinc off my Z bar. Some time ago I sourced some Z bar to rebuild the rusted ledge of the floor panel. Welding galvanized steel can make you sick. It requires a well ventilated space and likely a respirator. There are lots of videos on the YouTubes that show guys welding galvanized steel. I’ve seen enough warnings to know I don’t want anything to do with it.

So using some of the acid for the swimming pool I decided to chemically remove the zinc. This too is very dangerous. So this is fair warning, don’t try this at home kids.

I got the zinc off in short order and got the Z bar double primed and double coated with black paint. I have no fantasy that this will never rust. I just don’t want it to rust through in the next 10 years.

I also got the sunroof drain installed. This was rewarding. Getting little jobs done is great. I bought a “step drill” and am now wondering why I didn’t buy one A LONG TIME AGO. This was pretty awesome. It was expensive at $58.00(US) for one that would cut mild steel.

My next step is to dry fit the panel to confirm the Z bar and panel will fit in the place it once was. I also reached out to my biological brother’s sister (we didn’t grow up together) to see what getting the panel stripped with her metal stripping service. I really can’t go forward without that step completed.

That’s about it for this week. Like and subscribe on YouTube. Subscribe to the blog so you get notifications. I had a hit with…

Footwell Repair Part 6: Floor Panel Repair, Seam Sealer (Post #665) 8/5/2024

As of this post it has more than 1,000 views!!! I have no idea why. Most of my videos don’t get to 100 views.

Thanks for ready and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/te_SkkmFQW4
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Changing Oil on a Range Rover Classic (Post #669) 8/31/2024

In this episode I change the oil the my Range Rover Classic. My grandson Grady came over to help so we tried to make this mundane task fun!

The good news is we got the Big White Bus running and drove it out of the shoppe! This was huge. It’s been a while and to see her running and driving was pretty awesome.

Not much to say about the oil change, I done this somewhere around 73 or 74 times. Every 3,000 miles, or in this case, after sitting for 4 years. I know, I know, but it all worked out. It’s got fresh oil for now and we’ll be starting and running the Range Rover Classic every week from here on out.

We also gave her a bath. 4 years of dust had settled on her and it was badly needed. Also helps me keep a cleaner shoppe.

That’s about it for this week. Hopefully Mrs. Okierover has won her third straight Oklahoma Senior Games Over 55 Women’s 3v3 Basketball tournament. With a win, they advance once again to Nationals. I’ll report back next week with the results.

Like and Subscribe. Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/8GifXAydNmU
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Fuel Pump Failure: Part Duex (Post #667) 8/19/2024

Well here we go again. I decided this weekend I was going to get the Big White Bus started and move her out of the shoppe. I tried to get her started and nothing. I didn’t hear the fuel pump kick on. That’s…a bad sign.

So I asked my son to help me test. I had him turn the ignition on while I checked the voltage at the fuel pump. I had voltage.

That eliminated a LOT of testing of other components. I had a bad feeling the fuel pump was crapped out again. Turns out I was right. It was completely varnished.

What the hell right? I put 5 gallons of fresh gas in it back in December after I replaced the rubber filler hoses. I guess that wasn’t enough fresh gas. I called my friend JagGuy and asked some “chemistry” questions regarding gasoline.

Is it possible that the gas in the tank is so far gone that it varnishes? Its possible was his reply. We came to the same conclusion that all the gas needs to be removed and fresh gas added. We also talked about fuel stabilizer. I’ve never used fuel stabilizer. I guess I’m going to use it going forward.

Who knows how long the Big White Bus is going to be laid up until I can get her running regularly? Not me and I’m the project manager! So fuel stabilizer is going to be all the rage. And I’ll start running her on a regular basis.

What is odd are all these “This [insert vehicle type here] has been sitting in this field for 30 years!!! Will it start?!?!” videos on Youtube. JagGuy surmised, probably accurately that most of the truly ancient stuff has mechanical fuel pumps. Throw in a fresh battery, hope the rats haven’t eaten the wires, and if they drain the tank and use fresh gas…maybe that’s how they get them started.

Otherwise I’m calling bullshit on all these videos. There’s no way 30 year old gas is any good. My gas is five years, old give or take a year, and it’s crap.

Now I’m going to be tasked with trying to drain the tank. And then what do I do with it. Do I dare trying to mix it with good gas and burning it in my cars? What do you think?

If you watch the video you’ll see a demonstration on how simple it is to fix the fuel pump.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Footwell Repair Part 7: Floor Panel Repair, Final Assembly (Post #666) 8/12/2024

Post #666!!!! Not today Satan, I finally wrap this fender up. Maybe a proper Devil Dog would have made a more creative 666 post. You’ll just have to settle for one of my old tags.

Mrs. Okierover made me get a new tag…she’s religious that way.

Anyway, I got this beast reassembled. Mostly reassembled…okay I got the fender on and the wiring loom back in place. It’s significant okay!? Dang!

My grand son Grady came over (mostly because he was bored at home) to help. And help he did! A lot of what I filmed before he got there was lost. I truly hate this GoPro, if its not overheating halfway through a shot, it’s dropping files, or losing the sound track off a segment. Trash. I’ve read a bunch of complaints about this GoPro 11. Several telling everyone they’ve fixed a bunch of the overheating in the GoPro12!! Now it overheats 1/3 less! Nope. Not gonna fall for it. GoPro, if you want to redeem yourself you can send me a 12 for free and I’ll give it a review. You probably won’t like the review, but I’ll give one an honest one.

Back to the assembly, I got the wiring loom put back in place. It went surprisingly well. The fender went on pretty easy. I did make one mistake in the building of the side bulkhead. I should have made it longer. The result was I didn’t have one of the two fender mounting places. I also lost some hardware. So I went to the hardware store to get replacements. Met a fellow Marine building a Skoolie camper for his family to travel in. Sounded like a fun project.

When I got back and Grady and I had wrapped up the video I was finishing the assembly and guess what I found?? Yeah, the missing screws and bolts I stopped looking for 3 hours earlier. Isn’t that just typical.

On an annoying note… the damn Big Whit Bus wouldn’t start. So I get to deal with that issue again. YAY! /sarcasm font.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Footwell Repair Part 6: Floor Panel Repair, Seam Sealer (Post #665) 8/5/2024

I started the weekend fixing my 2014 F150. I’ve been hearing noises from the front and could feel some vibration in the floorboard. I talked to a few of my co-workers and they diagnosed wheel hubs. So I ordered a set of Timkin hubs and new brake discs and pads. I spent 5 hours putting them on. I setup the awning for shade so I wasn’t in the sun the whole day.

Victory was mine and I spent the rest of the day mowing the yard and working in my pumpkin patch. I have 5 Kakai pumpkins so far and will have a bunch of pepitas to munch on.

Sunday I set to getting the seam on the new panel sealed. Nothing too exciting about this. I did learn that 3M seam sealer is way more expensive than the German made UPOL brand. 3M $72.00(US), UPOL $22.00(US). That’s a big discrepancy.

I’ve got a problem with the welds on the transmission tunnel side. I can’t reach them to get them cleaned (the panel under there is oily and dirty), the rubber coating (no longer attached to the steel), and I can’t get to the panel because the exhaust is in the way. I’ll need to drop the exhaust. I’m not excited about that. I need to get her up on a lift to see if it would be easier. More on this on another post.

I’ve got everything sealed. Next up, I need to coat all the panels in the wheel well in truck bed liner. I’m hoping this will DELAY the inevitable.

The next post will be me fumbling to remember how to reassemble this part of the truck.

A little shout out to Mrs. Okierover as it is our 35th wedding anniversary this weekend. Happy Anniversary sweetheart.

That’s about it, like and subscribe, and as always Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/yBh2xRWomw0
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Footwell Repair Part 5: Floor Panel Repair, Panel Finally Installed (Post #664) 7/27/2024

Yes! I finally have the panel welded in. Is it pretty, oh hell no. Is it water tight, not even close.

I will liberally apply seam sealer. You’ll see that in my next video. I had a helluva time getting that panel held in place. I finally came up with a solution. Use a 50lb bag of sand to hold it in place while I set some welds. This could not have worked better.

I was also able to hammer the panel grooves flat. I went and got my grandson “Thumbtack” and had him hold a 10lb weight against the panel while I hammered on the opposite side. This work pretty well I guess? I don’t know. If I was better at body work I would have built a jig and made a panel with the same grooves. But I’m not a good body worker.

I covered as much of the panel in primer as I could reach. What I learned when I crawled underneath to spray primer on the panel was a big bummer. I found the welds had heated the rubber covering on the transmission tunnel. This caused the rubber to separate from the panel and you can guess what’s going to happen under there.

No, that was a terrible guess….really? It’s going to rust, rust a lot. I haven’t a clue what I’m going to have to do to get to this area and get it covered with paint and rust preventative coverings.

As I’ve said it a dozen times, every job creates two more jobs.

I have a shout out to Tumbleweed Garage [Youtube]. He’s working on a 1948 Willy’s Truck. I enjoy his work.

Thanks for reading, like and subscribe, and Happy Rovering.

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