2026 Week 6

February 2nd - February 8th

Gotta keep it roadworthy

One of my overarching goals with the bus is to keep it drive-able as much as possible. I don’t want this to turn into an overwhelming pile of junk in the driveway. This week I was going to get this bus back to running shape.

Leaky bus is leaky

The replacement valve-cover gasket delivered mid-week. Installation seemed fairly straightforward.

However, after I ran the engine for about 5 minutes, a decent sized puddle of oil was forming. I tossed the oil pan under there and went to research what I had done wrong. (Also, notice the oil filter - these engines didn’t come with, this is aftermarket, like a lot of the engine parts).

Clean now, but at what price?

While I was trying to figure out what to do with the gasket leak, I went back to the parcel shelf clean up. I have a new love-hate relationship with wire wheels on angle griders. They clean up the metal super quick, but what a mess. I finished up the backside, but need to get the top done later.

Results after cleaning up the mess:

And with a coat of etching primer:

Last shot for the week

It was the end of the week and I still had the bus up on the jack stands. I figured I’d try one more time with the gasket and just add a bunch of oil if it leaked too much. I’m happy to report the leakage was one or two drops after running and sitting overnight, so the bus was put back on the road:

And we took a nice Saturday afternoon ride through OB. I don’t have any plans for next week so we’ll see what unfolds….