Preservation Before Restoration

To my surprise this past week, I noticed flapping plastic from the roof of #739. I had just stopped by to drop off some parts, so I went inside and sure enough, the plastic above each of the four skylights had ripped. And I knew storms were coming Saturday evening.

So Saturday about noon, all I could find was some dry cleaning plastic and duct tape that ran out too soon! I found a substitute and this week will tell whether or not the patch job will hold until the skylights can be replaced. And did it hold against the torrential rains that fell Saturday evening?

The Glass

A Scenicruiser has 37 pieces of window glass, ignoring details like double-panes and the small sliding door for the driver. Part of restoration is to bring back the tinted glass to its original appearance. That is hard to do. The original window glass was two pieces of safety glass with variable green vinyl in-between to provide sun glare protection. You either cannabalize from another PD-4501 or you put in your own window material (glass or plexiglass) and tint it, usually with a film on the inside.

739 could be in better shape when it comes to the glass, but it could be worse. The numbers don't quite tell the story. With twenty-one good and sixteen cracked, we're doing better than 50/50, but it's the curved glass that's impossible to mimic easily. The flat glass on the sides is much easier; each sash has two panes of glass, one for each half that slides open.

We're fortunate to have both lower windshields, the driver and door glass, both 'D' windows and the upper-left opera glass, as well as the two rear side pieces. The full inventory is below.

So here are the tough pieces we're looking to replace:

• both upper windshields
• the right-side triangular opera window
• the rear center window

For the skylights, the current thinking is to remove the broken double-paned glass and replace with a single pane of tinted plexiglass which should curve to fit the seal and opening.

Next Steps

Thanks to Andrew and Ted, we now know the cooling hoses leak and replacements are ready to go. Once we can find the date/time to remove, replace, run and pressure test, we can inspect the air system and many other components which require the bus to be running.

We'll definitely want to know that all leaks are fixed since it'll take 12 gallons of anti-freeze and 11 gallons of distilled water to fill it up!

Ignition!

It's looking good for the future. Ted and Andrew started 739 for the first time last Wednesday in two years and it fired up in under 10 seconds! This gave just enough time to determine next steps: need two new radiator hoses and at least one valve in the air system.

Light and Smoke

One restoration job you can do at home while the Minnesota winter encourages you to stay inside is the light and smoke vent covers above every set of two seats. The units have two glass lenses that focus the light to its passenger and two smoke vents with sliding covers to increase the intake of surrounding air. Each unit is held to the rack by two screws. When removed, they will typically show their 50+ years of wear.

There will usually be multiple layers of paint from the various interior rebuilds done by Greyhound and by later owners. In this example you can see at least three former paint jobs. Note the encouragment to 'Please Open When Smoking.' The glass lenses are, of course, in the middle, and the heads of the two screws holding this evacuator unit in place are visible next to the lights. The two holes are for the single throw toggle switches still up in the parcel rack space with the bulbs themselves. And the small rectangular openings at either end are where the smoke is pulled in when the slider lever (which protrudes from the square hole in the middle) is opened.

A look at the back will reveal what needs to be restored and what the tasks might be.

You will typically see rust, dirt, bug parts and a variety of historical miscellanea that need to be cleaned out. There is a felt or maybe horsehair-type seal that surrounds the light lens sub-assembly and that will need replacement.

When the lens sub-assembly is removed (the two screws and washers at either end), the unit can be removed from the cover. The two glass lenses are held in by 3 metal brackets with a screw and washer for each, assuming parts haven't been lost in the past as in this case (one missing bracket).

The lenses can be easily cleaned with Windex, but if missing or chipped/cracked, you'd only be able to hope to find a replacement from someone who had removed these units from an RV Scenicruiser conversion.

The brackets can be brushed to remove the corrosion, as can the screws and washers, although the latter can be replaced as well. Note that the entire lens housing is surrounded by what appears to be a paper seal which will typically need replacement. I may use plumber's tape unless I find something more suitable.

In the photo above, you can see the remnants of the paper seal which surrounds the lens sub-assembly. The entire metal surface will be cleaned but not painted since there is no need to do so and it preserves the part numbers and the helpful notation: Outboard Left Front. The black rectangular seal I will probably replace with adhesive-backed felt or something comparable. Both seals were undoubtedly designed to keep out smoke and keep in the light.

Signage

A Scenicruiser also has a lot of signs inside to read. I'm not sure which came when it was originally made in 1956 and what has been added before its last years in Greyhound service and whatever came later. Here's what I've found so far:

Pull-Cord Switches and Holders

The Scenicruiser certainly has a lot of parts. Four of them are called the pull-cord switches. They are brushed aluminum-covered boxes with a rod and loop to which the pull-cord is attached. Those switches are at the front end just below each of the four luggage racks on the side wall. The cords themselves then snake back to the end of the lower level and to the upper level, running though 9 (upper deck) cord holders screwed to the wall.

When the chime switch to the left of the driver is on, pulling one of the cords activates the pull-cord switch and the chime sounds, letting the driver know a passenger wishes to disembark.

Pull-cord Switch

The covers pop off, so do not pry between the box and the wall to which it is mounted. Instead, pry carefully by the detent/hole and it will come off.

Pry Cover, Not Switch

Of course, be prepared for the accretions of 50+ years, including spider webs and various bug parts.

Switch with Cover Removed

To remove the switch, two screws holding down the wires must come off first. Then there are two screws holding the switch base to the wall.

Switch Removed

Typically, you won't have the cord attached to the loop coming out of the switch since those are usually long gone. If you pull on the loop, you'll see it's held by a very strong return spring. It's surprising how hard you have to pull to watch the hub contact touch the metal connector to close the circuit.

The cord goes to the back of that side of the deck through cord loops. Here's a look at one of them after removal. These might have been chrome plated, but it's a bit hard to tell. Not sure how I'll clean them up yet.

Cord Loop

Removing all the cord loops wasn't too bad, but some of those screws are locked in very tightly. However, with a long phillips screwdriver for leverage, I was able to crack and remove each one.

Leverage Needed

Of course, over the years, when a cord holder came loose or off, folks would use whatever was handy to make the repair:

Multiple Fasteners

Before you know it, you've got them all. Now it's time to figure out how to make them look good again.

All Nine From One Side Upper Deck