Brill_C-37M_Bus

Good luck! My project is an IH-engined, Brill-built bus from ‘51, so I’ll be watching your work with interest. I agree you found something better than your average skoolie. The news on how the brakes were set up for storage is awesome, I hope you continue to find pleasant surprises like that. I know those have saved me a lot of trouble so far! And just $60 for a new brake chamber? Wish mine were that cheap! Some nut wants $600 for the old rotochambers that mine takes, and not too many other places have them. Best of luck! -Steven

You should see the change in GM transit bus styling from ‘58 to ‘59! They had made only minor changes since WWII, when a totally new design debuted in 1959. Here’s a late-model “Old Look” and a pair of mid-production “New Look”s from the AACA Museum collection (except New Look 778, with the nose logo missing, that’s in private hands). -Steven

I’d guess the weight difference between a Baker and today’s Tesla must be huge, hence the really good range on the Baker. Cool old ad, for sure! For some holiday cheer, don’t miss this other recent thread. Folks are doing amazing things with cars and decorations… or in my case, of course, a bus. And a lot of decorations! -Steven

Finally, after a couple cold evenings, it’s done. I think I’ve one-upped my previous best work! I’m very happy with the garland Christmas tree hanging from the nose emblem, which now doubles as a tree topper! Skip the silver greyhound on the side… get yourself a coach sporting a gold reindeer! Have a BRILL-iant holiday season, everyone! -Steven

Tomorrow should be a fun day here… it’s finally time to deck the Brill with lights and garland! Had to fix two stubborn clearance lights first, but I have a plan… …and a destination sign… …and a storage tote full of holiday cheer. More to come shortly! -Steven

I love decorating old vehicles, and I enjoy the challenge of ensuring the decorations leave no damage. I haven’t gotten around to decorating my bus yet this year, so here’s last year. And if you’ll allow an intrusion from the original EVs of America… I’ve done most of my best decorating on trolley cars. Here’s past years’ greatest hits, didn’t get good photos of this year’s decorations. -Steven

My bus was built with 20” rims with locking rings, but a previous owner switched all 6 plus the spare for 22.5” solid steel rims. And boy am I glad they did! So that approach seems to work well enough. Good luck finding a place to adapt them to fit! -Steven

I’ve been wanting to post a bus update for a while, but each work day saw just a couple minor fixes. Well, today it all came together, and I finally racked up a mile on the odometer. The Brill runs, and I haven’t forgotten how to drive her! The goal so far this year was to get the bus running well enough to drive out to the street, get loaded on a trailer, and drive a few blocks from the trailer to my new driveway. While trying not to do anything too invasive to jeopardize my upcoming move, I went just a little further: - Filled and bled the long hydraulic line to the rebuilt clutch cylinder (above) - Finally found and fixed a short in the gauge wiring (see photo below) - Replaced temp gauge by reconditioning a rusted original, which sat unused since the mid-60s - Replaced stuck thermostat to fix overheating problem - Replaced low air switch to fix low air warning lights (also see photo below) - Installed a rebuilt carb, tried to adjust it, couldn’t get the idle adjust to work - Traced the throttle controls from the front of the coach to the back, lubed everything, fixed an AWFUL misaligned yoke at the bellcranks on the carb end - Put stronger spring on carb, idle adjustments worked this time! With all that and a load of inspection work done, I’ve cautiously tested things, and found that so many of my fixes over the past 2 years have paid off. At one point, only 2 gauges and 2 panel lights worked. Now 4 out of 5 gauges (darned fuel gauge...) and all 6 lights work! The amount I had to learn to get this far seems crazy, looking back. You really can’t beat these good old reference books. I can get so lost in them, and always come away smiling. I took the bus for a lap around the neighborhood today. I was so focused on driving, I forgot to even stop to take a photo. So here she is as she cooled off after some exercise. This stateside Korea vet turns 70 this summer, and I hope to do more to mark that milestone. Like maybe paint the other side... here’s hoping! -Steven

On the mobile app, there’s been no change to search criteria. I can still search as I always have. I don’t see why that would be different from the desktop version. Above I did a quick search for a kind of Stewart-Warner sender, and got the results I would expect from using an * wildcard. I may have accidentally found the right sender to fix my current gauge mismatch problem, too. So thanks! -Steven

That makes two of us making progress on our RD-450 engines today! Way to go on that thorough inspection, and I’m looking forward to seeing the engine painted. It’ll be a while before I can do anything that in-depth, I just need mine to move short distances for right now. Good luck with the rest of your rebuild, Mike! -Steven

The countdown to starting my bus’s engine has started, and the plan is to fire her up this Saturday. In prep for that, my dad helped me fill and bleed the loooong hydraulic clutch line, then my wife worked the brake pedal while I inspected the air brake chambers for travel distance and smooth operation. I have a small air leak at the gauge to fix, but otherwise everything looks as good or better than last time the bus ran, in October 2019. Wish us luck! The photo shows the shiny rebuilt clutch slave cylinder (thanks, White Post Restorations!) now full of fluid, and the big battery slooowly charging back to full. -Steven

That’s a very neat setup! I’m about to move and have a couple options of how to set up my new workspace, so seeing your work is very motivating. For now I’m working on my brain... cramming in as much Bendix-Westinghouse air brake hardware knowledge as I can find. It really feels good to reach the point where learning about one system (say, air door valves) makes me realize new things about the other systems (like electrical). It takes a while, but it’s all starting to come together!

Did someone ask for green? Got plenty of that color!

I want to finally get my bus ready to drive, at least locally (being ready for longer trips will take even more time and money!). So I’m starting with some electrical troubleshooting. The wiring diagram for a ‘51 Brill C-37M is incredibly simple compared to the electric streetcar diagrams I’d learned from before, but I’m guessing it’s still big compared to car diagrams of the ‘50s. I have persistent shorts in the gauges, so I pulled the panel out to bench-test it. While testing the wires leading to the gauge panel, the old temp gauge sending unit broke just from loosening the nut on top, so I swapped it out with one I fortunately had in my spare parts stash. The new one is on the left. I still need to find the missing wire to the other sending unit, which powers a high temp warning light and alarm bell. Overall, this was the best day of wrenching on the bus since summer 2019. Not to discount all the paint workdays of 2020, but this felt great to be making progress again! -Steven

Wow, this classic is looking great! Excellent work.