I have a long story. The bus I just bought long distance, supposedly "drivable" will not start. I had it shipped 600 kms only for the thing to not run. Not only have I incurred extra shipping expenses... but I couldn't get the bus dropped off at my house due to accessibility for the 19 metre truck that delivered it. The story now is that my bus is parked in front of a neighbour's house about 200 metres from my house. I need to move it to my place, preferably under it's own steam and it must be done today, Friday, as the neighbout is selling and having an open house on Sat.

Now... the battery was (assumedly) fully charged, but for all I know, was exhausted by the seller's mate trying to start the bus for the car transporter... they ended up loading it on the truck with a forklift.... I'm whinging. Sorry.

OK, the bus has probably not been started in a long time. It has a 1600 engine. I know I should check oil level, check points and dizzy for good order, dryness and correct points gap.

The key is non existant. There is just a bundle of wires hanging out of the steering column.... covered in fragments of what was the windscreen. There is an on-off switch supposedly for ignition and a momentary action switch supposedly for the starter. Only one wire is connected to the starter button, but I think I can identify the other, it has a terminal crimped on it.

Assuming I can get the starter to crank with the momentary action switch, how can I assure the coil will have juice? I figure it'd be easier to hotwire in the engine bay than guess the rest of the wires in the cabin, which I assume are not original or correctly colour coded. My Q's are many and stupid, I know. I'm in a %&%$ed situation and seek the help of you knowlegable ones.

1. Is a wire from battery + to coil + all I need? If not what else?
2. I should pour a little petrol into carby, ensure some in tank....
3. Check oil level
4. Check fanbelt tension
5..... what else?

Remember the car is on the roadside, I'd rather not be pulling out the sparkplugs or anything more complicated than that unless I have to and by that stage I reckon I'll have the Mrs towing the bus with the Nissan.

Can someone please advise what'd be the way to get it to go?

a wire from the posative of your battery to the posative of your coil, this is just like having your full ignition on - so don't leave it on for too long unless the motor is running or you'll burn your ignition out. Then you need to either roll start it or get a large screwdriver and make contact with the two two electrical thingies on top of your starter.
hey this isn't aiding and abeiting in grand theft auto is it?

No, the bus is mine. The seller told me after money changed hands that there was no key. He told me before money changed hands that the bus was "drivable". His definition of that word and mine obviously differ, as it has no brakes to speak of and the steering column doesn't seem to be mounted to anything - possibly his solution to unlocking the steering lock in the absence of a key. :jesus

[Edited on 15-5-2003 by PostModern]

Oh yeah, in case I do have to tow it, where is a safe point to attach the tow-rope?
Is the front beam safe? I can't see any towing point at the front and the back is... well... not suitable either - ie no tow bar etc.

hey no offense, but I wouldn't consider stealing a bus as 'grand theft auto' anyway.

Yeah, I'd hate to see that guy drive!!!!!!

Still...... sounds like you've got your hands full

I guess the front beam.
That's where I've anchored the tow when I've needed to get my sedans out o' trouble.
I've never owned a bus as of yet

tow/pussh it, sounds like too much of a time waster to start it for a 200mtr trip.

attach the ropes to any part of the front wheel set up torsion bar tubes etc....

good luck

It's a little too steep to push and if I can avoid towing by spending 5 mins on attempting to start it, I will. Very awkwardly parked. To say I'm extremely pissed off is an understatement. I'm absolutley livid.

I'd like to be able to start it at will, as I'll need to move it around a few times once I get it home. The second start should be easier than the first

Damn I hope the rain stops. There's already an inch of water in the bus and another 3 in the cargo area at the back, and I've already had 2 soakings thanks to this bus. The things we do...

OK heres the solution BUT it will reck the ignition barrel find a screw driver that is roughly the same size as the key hole, place it directly above it the hit it medium to hard with a hammer, you know need a pair of multigrips and grab the haddel of the screw driver and turn as you woud the a normal key, as i sed this will work as in the stearing wheel lock will be off and the car will get going as if it had a key in it. but also the ignition barrel will be shot

hope that helped

The steering column is already broken. There is no ignition barrel to speak of. The wires are all in a huge tangle all over the place. My biggest problem I think (apart from lack of brakes) will be getting the motor started after years of storage... not to mention the f4r|<ing rain.

further to this key thing, I have a bug that I bought with no keys (well they lost em) should I do this 'screwdriver' thing to get the sucker going or should I call a locksmith and save the barrels? (door+ignition).

green57, I'd go the automotive locksmith route. There's a bloke in South Hurstville was good. Yellow Pages should find him.

found a guy, $30-$40, south hurstville, will see how it goes, thanks

pyr0, how do you know this...? my bus had exactly that smash technique done when i got it!

as for towing, there should be 2 hooks, one on either side just behind the bumper.

I don't know about busses, but on my Fasty you can pull the ignition barrel out by unscrewing the bolt that holds it in. Slip the barrel out and behind it should be a thick red wire, your main posative from the battery, then another two or three wires, one for ignition and the other for your starter. It's easy to work out which is which. Then twist the ignition wire to the posative and place the starter wire to them until she fires up.

Heh. I ended up paying a passing towy $30 cash to move it for me. Pics soon, once there's a break in the rain.

There was no way the damn thing was going to start. Be warned, when a seller says "drivable", it might not mean that you can actually stop, start or steer it.

i know this "screw driver technique" as, some punks use to try it on my old car, lucky for me i had it converted to a push button start, ( also it happend 1 time b4 it was push button, but i must of disturbed them?? cause they were gone and left my ignition barrel shot, so i went to my boot and tryed a screw driver, thats how i lernt to do it)

when trying to get it going also empty the tank of the old petrol as it would be stale by now and put new stuff in as it will be very hard to start with old petrol
marcel

It's gonna need more than new petrol

She came up from Albury in the rain like this....

hey! very cool - got anymore pic's?

i do not know much about slpitties, so this may sound stupid, but what year is that? looks like splittie outside, but late bay inside!?! please explain yourself?

It's a very customised bus. I'll get some more shots in the morning.

The outside is a 1959 bus, modified sometime in the 80's (I think) into a triple cab ute.

This looks like the customised triple cab that was for sale a month or so ago....correct?

Squiz.......

if i had the time and money...

dont sell it, i almost sold my 63 beetle, now im soo glad i did not

i'm getting back of the swing of things with mine, tried to do it all at once and it sat sitting for months!.. have done the floor pan, put the shell back on, now working my way through the body, has taken me 12 months so far! but it'll be well worth it..

work on the sucker mate, im sure you can see yourself driving it one day

DakDat, you're right, I'm calm, have the shots, cleaned the broken glass, dangerous spares and a used syringe out of the car, taped plastic over the windows to slow any future weather damage and have started working on a resto plan.

I'll be booking into a TAFE MIG course, have chatted with a local VeeDubber, and got an overall look at the car. I'm looking forward to the project now. One step at a time

good on you, good choice.