[John]

Here is the mother of air horns installed at Marathon factory. Set at 80 lbs psi supply source is Marathon Aux pancake air tank under drivers seat.

[John]

[John]

Just another FYI, if you allow your e-mail address in your Profile, folks can communicate with you.

We don’t do the PM deal, Private Message is really not Private as we have learned in the past.

[John]

Mine use to drop to left in two days ,,, replaced all bags and it dose the same thing unless i leave the level air control at 180 deg. from driving posisition … Why i don’t know why but that keep it level, maybe try that first.

[John]

We’ve always had excellent service at Nashville as well.

[John]

Good point Brian , about ten years ago i redid a 55 belair ,,,, frame off , you know who has seen under it since ? me ,

[John]

John,

After the OAT returns to normal. Assuming a decent prep and thinner or prepsol wipe-down. Use your favorite gun, HP (40 psi} or HVLP (30 psi) and go to it with the high solids clear. I can’t imagine you don’t have some good gun experience. Don’t be timid git’ er done. A tack and two wets should do it. A little sag or dust isn’t going to ruin a roof job. “Gear down…no go-around:” And oh-yeah….good luck!

[John]

John, I suspect the skill of the artisan and the conditions under which the fiish is applied, will have a significant effect on the final result.

JIM

[John]

We cannot compare today’s engine with one of as recent as 20 years ago. I think a carb is pretty complex. Now we have direct injection with the amount of fuel added to the cylinder measured by the on-board computers and timed so it is introduced into the cylinder to make it as efficient as possible.

The engine not only has variable fuel timing and metering, it has variable ignition timing, variable valve timing and variable displacement. The engine looks similar to one a few decades old, but it has so much greater complexity an engine rebuilder from 20 years ago would not know where to begin repairing one.

Tire pressure monitoring systems, air bags, ABS, 8 speed automatics, and radios that play from your i-pod, satellite, AM/FM, CDs, plus have GPS, the ability to display personal photos plus store hours and hours worth of your favorite listening have replaced the AM radio in my Studebaker Lark.

Cars are no longer an assemblage of parts. What makes them work now is software. If you doubt that try starting your car with the ECM unplugged. My Studebaker Lark did not have a black box to record the last 30 seconds of driving, the engine was a cast iron flathead six that wouldn’t start in temps below 20F. The tires would last 30,000 miles if they were the best available. 20,,000 if they were OEM tires.

You suggest the windows can be self darkening. I can accept that as perhaps simpler, but what is the control and is it really simpler or less complex than a switch, some gears and an electric motor, or does it have a complex control circuit and some software to allow me to have privacy during the day, or to just darken when the sun is out while allowing me to look through them? Can I lighten them at night so we can see out? How do we control the multitude of conditions from overcast days to sunny days to day and night to my need to look out or be completely private? I suspect that is a bit more complex than suggested. Self darkening eyeglasses seem like a neat idea until we realize they won’t darken on a sunny day if you are in the car, but need direct sunlight to darken.

[John]

I can pretend to be anti technology which a lot of people associate with complexity, but to use our cars as an example those black boxes (my Corvette has 28 or 29) which are the brains of our current production vehicles work quietly and reliably behind the scenes making our cars better today than they ever have been.

You and I started driving when spark plugs hardly lasted 10,000 miles, “U” joints wore out in 50,000, points might last 20,000 and timing and dwell (anyone under 65 know what I am talking about when I say dwell?) had to be checked and set faily often.

Today except for oil and filter changes my car maintenance is making sure the tires have air, and if they don’t my dash tells me. It is common for cars to pass 100,000 miles with no problems. Nobody ever checks oil because the cars never use any. Who cares if I cannot find the spark plugs. They are good for 100,000 miles. Don’t bother looking for the distributor. There isn’t one.

And if a car throws a code, any auto parts store or Amazon will sell a reader so you can pull your own codes and reset them once you fix the problem which is spelled out in a book or if you spend enough money on the reader.

The only issue I see is nobody repairs anything as much as they replace parts. I’m enough old school that I would rather isolate and repair or rebuild stuff rather than replace, but our cost structure usually makes a repair less attractive than just swapping parts. I was ready to rebuild a failed DN50 alternator but when I added the parts costs it was cheaper to get a brand new one from Elreg (with no core charge) when I considered my time as having a little value.

But to steer this back to our coaches, I was thinking my air operated floor slide in front of the copilot is nice. But it requres a switch (actually multiple switches) valves, a pneumatic cylinder, multiple air fittings a slide track, some wires and air hose. I would be perfectly happy with one on a long piano hinge that lays flat against the dash when not in use and lays down when needed doing it by hand of course. Total moving parts: One (the hinge)

[John]

Marlene at Miller Agency (which represents all the companies that know what a Prevost conversion is) is a wealth of knowledge. She pointed out to me that there are limits to the discounts we might be able to get. There are all sorts of discounts insurance companies recognize including the Class A or B licenses, but even if you are a safe driver (accident free) and have a CDL you might get as many discounts as allowed by belonging to a specific group or club, having the coach secured when not in use, etc. You can be sure agents such as Marlene will apply all the discounts possible.

[John]

My job will be to drink Truk’s beer before it gets warm. I love watching him work.

[John]

You know a stainless roof probly would last forever and not need a finish

[John]

[John]

Nothing like letting a bunch of junior turd choppers loose on the internet.

The solution is the macerator toilet. Anaconda goes in, puree comes out. No chunks or floaters to foul your tank.

Except if you are a granola and bran flake eater like A-1 or the Krakman; then you’ll always have fiber in your black tank.