Buddy the bus: 69 Dormobile

[SiDev]

Well, a bit further down the coast for our last 2 nights, nice little site near Westende where we had our own little patch.

Took about 5 minutes to walk to the beach which was pure sand, and we had it pretty much to ourselves...

Kids loved it...

And then it was an hour drive back to Calais for the crossing, but a quick stop at Cite Europe to stock up on beer and wine, plus a token block of cheese.

Overall a great trip, around 750 miles with only a loose bearing to contend with, we loved living in the bus and it ran real well. Now to plan the next one!



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[VeeDubMan]

Well, a bit further down the coast for our last 2 nights, nice little site near Westende where we had our own little patch.

Took about 5 minutes to walk to the beach which was pure sand, and we had it pretty much to ourselves...

Kids loved it...

And then it was an hour drive back to Calais for the crossing, but a quick stop at Cite Europe to stock up on beer and wine, plus a token block of cheese.

Overall a great trip, around 750 miles with only a loose bearing to contend with, we loved living in the bus and it ran real well. Now to plan the next one!



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Love this thread. Can't wait to get my Dormie this reliable and go on some family adventures.

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[SiDev]

Thanks mate, it's not left me at the side of the road in the 4 years I've had it, let's hope I'm not jinxing it!


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[SiDev]

Grill and Chill this weekend, great show as always and the weather was good for the most part. Some of the favourites....

Crazy old Benz, guess the guy who owned it was a plumber...

Base camp...

I haven't been on a BMX for about 20 years but used to be quite handy, I borrowed a bike from a kid to see if I still have skills. I don't.

Woke up Sunday morning to see this on a Facebook page for the SSVC, it's my mate Dans bus, I sent him the pic and he didn't have a clue, thought the bus was still parked outside his house. Turns out some tosser nicked it Saturday night, crashed it and then burnt it out.

Sad news, but also a reminder how often they get nicked, so i bought a tracker. Hope his insurance comes good now.


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[gninnam]

Great pics and glad you had a good time
The pic of the burnt out van is very sad

 

[SiDev]

I've been after an "ambient" light for the rear of the bus for a while, something to leave on when the kids are in bed or to turn on when nipping out in the night. Managed to find one on Amazon, only a fiver for a 50cm LED-job. Had to splice into the live for the amp and fit a splitter, then a little fuse box as I have a few more things to wire in too, put a little switch on the kick board and it's done. Worked out pretty well and the while lot was under £15.

The nipper likes it...

Plan to put a couple of smaller ones under the dash on pin-switches to light the floor when the doors open too.


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[SiDev]

I've been after a bigger motor for a while now, I couldn't justify the cost of a brand new build as what I was looking for would cost around £7k, and I only do 2-3000 miles a year. I scoured various forums and Facebook pages for just over a year, and enquired about around 20 engines, but they all had something that ruled them out: no holes for the EB engine bar, built by the owner themselves, unverified mileage, etc. The most important thing for me is reliability, so I didn't want anything too extreme, but a nice torquey bus motor, with low miles built by someone reputable. A friend had a turn-key motor built by Stefan Rossi at ACE and having driven this for an hour I was very impressed. A low mileage motor (less than 400 miles) came up on eBay and was everything I was looking for, a few messages later and it was mine. It's a 1904 stroker, built by Stefan Rossi for a guys bus, but the PO only did 500 miles last year so decided to cash it in and go back to stock, using the money to finish his bus off (hyros, huge tubs? Etc).
Here it is being built....

I binned the VS exhaust as they tend to strangle the engine, and put my stainless 4-1 with single quite pack on. Here it is going in...

And up and running...

Having only done less than 400 miles I took it to the rolling road to get it set up properly, Andy at BD Engineering really knows his stuff and said it was a bit early really as it needs to bed-in properly and loosen up a bit, but I didn't want it running lean.

He spent over an hour setting it up properly and took it easy on the power runs, going up to just over 4000rpm, but we got over 100bhp with a slipping clutch and big hole in the heat exchanger. Stef Rossi reckons its good for 120bhp once it's run-in and tuned again, and having replaced the dodgy heat exchanger I can feel a big difference already.
So, after all the messing around, I finally have just what I was after. I didn't want to have my existing motor opened up as the plan was always to sell this to recoup some wedge. I sold the old engine earlier this week for £1750, and having paid just £3500 for the new one, I have managed to get a pretty-much brand new stroker motor, built by one of the best in the business, for just £1750. It's transformed the bus, so much better to drive now, and pulls like a train.



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[gninnam]

Major result and stoked for you 8)

 

[matty74]

Great thread ... what an adventure [emoji106]


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[K@rlos]

Weber DCNF's, unusual choice these days

 

[SiDev]

Major result and stoked for you 8)

Thanks Andy, bit of cocking around but worth the hassle!

 

[SiDev]

Great thread ... what an adventure [emoji106]


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Thanks mate, booked the Eurotunnel for the start of May, not sure where we're going yet but I'm sure wherever we end up will be fun!

 

[SiDev]

Weber DCNF's, unusual choice these days

Yes unusual, I've always had Dellortos and if it was me speccing this motor it would have been a set of Dell 40's, but Gene Berg used to favour these 42 DCNF's, there's quite a few threads on the web about it, some below here, that's what the guy who commissioned the motor was swayed by...




Got to say they run sweet and Stef Rossi fully rebuilt them before installing so they should be good for a while.

 

[K@rlos]

Yeah they work well but as you said yourself people generally for for IDF’s or DRLA’s these days

 

[SiDev]

Some pics from Volksworld yesterday, a very high standard of show cars as always.

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[gninnam]

Thanks for sharing

 

[gas1man]

Cool pic's thanks , wicked bicycle. 8)

J & P

 

[lemur]

love the red tin-top at full height with the roof tent and groovy graphics! great pics!

 

[SiDev]

Thanks for sharing

You're welcome, Volksworld always gets me in the mood for the camping season, just hope it warms up soon!

 

[SiDev]

Cool pic's thanks , wicked bicycle. 8)

J & P

Yes it was pretty cool, not sure what it would be like to ride though!