This is my new 4-1/2″ angle grinder! I bought this thing from Harbor Freight to help remove the welded front bumper brackets, and strip the old paint & rust from various parts of the bus. Bottom line is that this tool is a beast – its not that big, but it spins at 10K RPM – I’m definitely not messing around! I tried grinding down, and then cutting into the bracket weld. Unfortunately, with all of the sparks flying and the loud screeching of the grinding wheel, I wasn’t willing to keep it up for very long – so far, the apartment mgmt has been very lenient with my tinkering, and I don’t want to mess that up.
I also spent some time banging away at the stuck front hinge bolts. I need to remove these before I can attach my replacement side mirrors. I bought a new type of penetrating oil, but still didn’t manage to move the bolts. I guess I’ll keep working on that!
Finally, I braved the cold and wet weather to test drive the bus some more. It performed beautifully! I backed the thing out of the garage, shifted smoothly into first and then second gear, drove around the parking lot. I came to the dreaded stop sign where I’ve had so much trouble before – the engine either dies as I brake, or it coughs and dies as I shift in first to get going again – but this time, the engine dropped to a solid idle as I came to a stop, and did not hesitate as I got going again. Success!
I parked the bus out front to clean out the garage a bit – came back later, fired it right up, and pulled it into the garage. As far as I can tell the bus is working well, and ready for the road! Now we just need to survive the additional 5 – 10 inches of snow forecasted for tonight, and then Monday’s “coldest temperature ever recorded in Chicago”. Hopefully the weather clears up in the next week or so, and I can actually drive this crazy bus down the street!
