Life has delayed the bus build for some time. We decided to buy land and build a home. The plan was to focus on the new barn to build the bus in. Several months ago I went to look in the engine compartment to measure something and saw the serpentine belt hanging off. Then I saw the belt tensioner pulley laying on the frame rail. (You know that pit in your stomach that grows when all you see is $$$?) The cast aluminum that covers the entire front of the engine corroded and broke off where the the pulley was attached. The best price to fix it......$3000. That was not happening so the bus sat there for months.
One day the can-do attitude kicked in and I started cutting and welding steel. The end result is a new mount for the tensioner that bolts onto the alternator mount. Bus started first shot after sitting for months. I let it idle for a long time then went for a joy ride. Works perfectly! I figure if the new bracket fails on the road sometime I can buy several new welders for $3000.
My take away from this has been that I need to stop over complicating this build and just get it done. So many of my great plans and ideas are going out the window in an effort to start using this thing sooner.