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Multinational People Movers feat Decker Dave and the Jolly Green Giants


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Other ongoing projects are the dismantling of our old '88 Plaxton Paramount B10M; the tin worm had taken hold in a big way sadly, as mechanically this one was ace.

 

The engine and 'box are sold, apparantly to go into a '79 Volvo B58 race tractor transporter. The wheels are tyres will go into storage as they were new not long before the bus came off the road, the seats were sold on, various odds and sods have been saved and the tachograph unit is going into one of the jolly green giants.99d5bb5bc6feac0fd332912a4c0697c8.jpga8f399282e5f70a62501b01f307851df.jpg75491894c7b37d39eb1de0f47d4703a7.jpg

 

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Sad site. Mate used to drive one of two Tayside Greyhound had back in the day. They had tables in them, think they were ex Flightlink coaches from Gatwick.

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How have I missed this thread? We did a lot of electronic stuff for MASS and when I heard they were shutting up I was hoping I'd see something of theirs pop up on the internet somewhere, I should have known!

 

There's a 100% chance that I've fixed something electric that's on one of them. I did them a few "infinitely variable" voith gearbox controllers with a knob you could twiddle inside to vary the shift points. I think they'd got a volvo engine in a leyland or something which required this.

If there's a green sticker with "DA OTEL" on the outside then it's my work.

 

We used to do a ROARING trade of column switches with them, as their drivers used to just snap the ends of them off when they didn't want to take a particular bus out.

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How have I missed this thread? We did a lot of electronic stuff for MASS and when I heard they were shutting up I was hoping I'd see something of theirs pop up on the internet somewhere, I should have known!

 

There's a 100% chance that I've fixed something electric that's on one of them. I did them a few "infinitely variable" voith gearbox controllers with a knob you could twiddle inside to vary the shift points. I think they'd got a volvo engine in a leyland or something which required this.

If there's a green sticker with "DA OTEL" on the outside then it's my work.

 

We used to do a ROARING trade of column switches with them, as their drivers used to just snap the ends of them off when they didn't want to take a particular bus out.

Volvo engine in a Leyland with a Voith 'box... I think that's C45 HNF which is here, if it's not I'd love to know which it was!

 

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How have I missed this thread? We did a lot of electronic stuff for MASS and when I heard they were shutting up I was hoping I'd see something of theirs pop up on the internet somewhere, I should have known!

 

There's a 100% chance that I've fixed something electric that's on one of them. I did them a few "infinitely variable" voith gearbox controllers with a knob you could twiddle inside to vary the shift points. I think they'd got a volvo engine in a leyland or something which required this.

If there's a green sticker with "DA OTEL" on the outside then it's my work.

 

We used to do a ROARING trade of column switches with them, as their drivers used to just snap the ends of them off when they didn't want to take a particular bus out.

Gawd that tricks been going on since national days!

If the variable shift brain is on C45 please turn it up so it'll change up while it's on boost not while it's still bogged down. It might move then.

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Gawd that tricks been going on since national days!

If the variable shift brain is on C45 please turn it up so it'll change up while it's on boost not while it's still bogged down. It might move then.

I fully intend to find out where the fuck it's located and turn the ruddy fuck out of it.

 

And that's swearing.

 

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I would have thought (presumably Dan) at Mass would have tweaked it the best he could.

 

I seem to recall I modified it so it could only be adjusted one way from "stock", and I presume that was to make the ECU think the vehicle was going slower and hence change up and down at higher mphs and it was adjustable so much that way that you could easily have made it hold on to first til the governer.

 

If it's not the one I modified, I could dig one out at work and take pics to show you what to do, it wasn't rocket science, you just cut a track and solder a variable resistor in - three wires.

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I would have thought (presumably Dan) at Mass would have tweaked it the best he could.

 

I seem to recall I modified it so it could only be adjusted one way from "stock", and I presume that was to make the ECU think the vehicle was going slower and hence change up and down at higher mphs and it was adjustable so much that way that you could easily have made it hold on to first til the governer.

 

If it's not the one I modified, I could dig one out at work and take pics to show you what to do, it wasn't rocket science, you just cut a track and solder a variable resistor in - three wires.

If you could post some anyway, I have some Voith gearboxed machines that could do with, erm, adjusting for their new role. Asking for a friend, like.

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I will. Found a PCB today and I couldn't 100% remember which track it was so I need to dig the test jig out and run one up to work out which it was.

 

However the jig is tucked well away because the only place that ever bought the voith boxes off us was Mass. Oh and the occasional half a dozen that we send to Africa.

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Casual decker touring update. Miles covered today - 230 hotel to Luton airport then to scotch corner! All at its top speed of 47mph. Total miles so far - about 600miles. Fuel used - roughly 300 odd litres. Oil used - nil.

One more week and another 600 miles to go.

Not too shabby for a 18 year old Dennis Trident.

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Other ongoing projects are the dismantling of our old '88 Plaxton Paramount B10M; the tin worm had taken hold in a big way sadly, as mechanically this one was ace.

 

The engine and 'box are sold, apparantly to go into a '79 Volvo B58 race tractor transporter. The wheels are tyres will go into storage as they were new not long before the bus came off the road, the seats were sold on, various odds and sods have been saved and the tachograph unit is going into one of the jolly green giants.99d5bb5bc6feac0fd332912a4c0697c8.jpga8f399282e5f70a62501b01f307851df.jpg75491894c7b37d39eb1de0f47d4703a7.jpg

 

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one of our customers has similar in his garage but hes rstoring it :D

 

ive no idea how old it is as all his plates are FIL :D

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... and more progress on the big green things.

 

We encountered a bit of an issue this week whilst preparing C45 HNF for MOT. Whilst mechanical work was minimal, we were missing the chassis plate.

 

PSV MOTs are different to cars in a number of ways, one being that the DVSA examiner has to physically cross check his technical data for the vehicle with the vehicle itself. Whilst C45 HNF itself IS actually on the DVSA system, other than the registration plates it carries there was nothing else on the vehicle

which would provide what the DVSA term "positive identification" - no chassis plate, no body plate - and despite our best efforts we've not managed to find the number stamped into the chassis itself.

 

MASS aren't taking calls on their landline now, so I called the ATF they used who said they never checked chassis plates. Arse.

 

Getting desperate, I called some colleagues in the industry, my local DVSA certifying officer and a DVSA vehicle examiner. Their answer was the same... I have proper reproduction Leyland chassis plates on order to do all three of the green machines.24b67951687e804a35f78aa8fca0de4d.jpg

 

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I was going to suggest searching harder whilst carrying a set of stamps and perhaps taping each of them with a hammer to check for corrosion....

Wouldn't that Merc have exported?

And FPB7 do private double deckers on tour run on veg oil, they do seem to like a drink.

Well, theoretically they could as mine does have the holy grail of veg running - the in line Bosch fuel pump. I'm not 100% sure about the injectors though so we don't risk it. On a fortnight tour like this, I expect to average about 8-9 mpg so 1200 ish miles at that economy - well you can guess, it's expensive work. As im solely responsible for the fault free running of the whole tour (with backup from the office, naturally) I'd rather not risk experimenting on the road.

 

I did convert a Gardner engined bus to run on veg once for a specific job. It worked to a fashion but I couldn't get it to run hot enough to stop smoking so it was swiftly returned back to normal after. Smelt wonderful though!

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Strangely enough, we just had to weigh one of ours due to some shopping centre panicking that we'll damage their precious paving with our dirty great bus. Without seats mind, it came in at 11,350 kg.

That was for the short one, I reckon the one I'm using weighs about a tonne and a bit heavier. Plus I'm pulling a trailer but that only weighs 750 kg.

Like cars, as buses get newer, they seem to have gained weight. I remember the ex-Manchester Atlanteans we ran came in at around 9550 kg for 75 seats.

 

Still only three gears though. More modern automatics have more gears (six or seven, I think - depends on the make) but no where near the sixteen squillion that wagons seem to have.

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Enjoy your bank holiday people! (Yes I know it only applies to the middle and lower bit of the country but it's a fair sized bit so ner) Back on the road today. After Teesport has been visited there is the small matter of a 120 mile jaunt to Dumfries to my next hotel.

Yah boo sucks.

Least you end the day in God's country*

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