I completed the clean out of the wellhouse today. Weather report says the next 10 days have a 0% chance of rain, sunny, and high eighties. Basically perfect weather for here.
Looks like I will make some decent headway on the bus. All seats will be off loaded tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes from there.
Been a fun series of attacks on a cluster of yellow jacket nests. Obviously by ‘fun’, I mean ‘angry’. Think they are all dead now so I can carve out some storage for bus seats.
In other news, I removed decals off the side of the bus. Also a significant portion of failed paint from a couple panels. No rust at all, just failed primer adhesion. Someone did something very odd to those two panels at once point. Regardless, they were spray painted for time being.
Rain.
So. Much. Rain.
I wonder how well a bus converts to an ark… 😛
Actually purchased it a month and change ago, but I failed to post notice about it. Excellent deal on it and a very solid unit but heavy as all hell. Going to need to put in some new wiring this winter to run the thing. Basically end up converting the wellhouse into a welding shop. Thankfully it won’t run too much money to get that done.
Spent a month up in Canada, but I am back now. All seats are now officially unbolted. Have a little bit of a problem now with figuring out where I am going to store them. Considering building a quick shed just for them.
Have some paperwork to do on the bus, but it requires me driving it to a weight station… which ain’t going to happen until I get in and fix the engine. I believe the thermostat, radiator fluid, oil, and oil filter needs replacing, along with the o-rings on the cylinder sleeves. During that, I will be able to inspect the sleeves for damage and replace as necessary.
Outside the bus, I need to remove the motorized (pneumatic?) stop sign and crossing guard arms. Stickers need removing as well as anything that doesn’t belong. Then it gets a good pressure washing and the whole thing is blocked off as needed and painted/detailed. Going to hold off on the fancy roof coat until all the work is done.
Internal, I need to store the seats and then rip up and dispose of the floor entirely. Wall panels get opened up and stored for time being as well. All insulation found at this time will be disposed of. With the bare metal exposed, I insure that all is structurally sound, fixing what isn’t. All steel gets wire brushed, pressure washed, treated with rust remover, pressure washed again, primered, and painted with two coats. I will be holding off on installing the new flooring until after structural modifications and layout is done as it is likely to take some welding on various installations of brackets. None of this bolt-to-plywood nonsense.
Sometime during all that, I am likely to be doing the rewire job for the actual bus side of things. I’m actually looking forward to this part as the wiring box looks very well built despite its years of add-ons and fiddling by mechanics. Once cleaned up and documented, it is likely to stay more or less how it is. All wiring is going to be installed in channels and junction boxes as the bus is to be insulated after structural modifications with urethane foam. This should cut down on noise severely. Most likely to install further outdoor safety and courtesty lights after I look into what exactly is legal, suggested, and available.
While a rough idea of the floorplan is figured on, I am waiting on getting the seats out to really get into that part.
At moment I’m getting things together to get title changed to motorhome, plates, taxes, all that kind of thing. More on that later.
I managed to get the bus home. Not so fun severely behind on sleep. Anyhoo, basically turned out well. The bus itself was indeed a 40′, 15 window bus. The MT643 transmission was freshly rebuilt in 2009. The engine is a mechanical DT466, 1997 manufacture.
I’ve yet to properly take a look at the engine, but it does have some issues that made themselves known. Only had 133k miles on it, so I’m hoping it is an o-ring or headgasket that needs replacement rather than a rebuild kit to get it back up to 100%. Runs well enough to drive on for time being at least, though I have no intention of driving it until all’s well. We’ll see how it goes, worst case I’m looking at $1100 so not too bad.
The bus itself is in EXCELLENT condition. So far not a bit of rust or damage to be found. The plywood floor has apparently suffered dry rot (or something), but the metal underneath it is pristine which is all that mattered to me.
All in all, I am extremely satisfied with the purchase and I highly recommend you send Lanny Ashcraft an email detailing the type of bus you’re looking for if you’re having trouble finding it. Or even if you’re just looking for a better price.
Cashier’s Check, one way tags, and insurance all in hand. One way tags will get me home and only run $5 versus the standard $25 tags.
GMAC is handling my insurance, got the most basic plan. They, unlike others, had no problems with school bus conversions. We’ll see what happens when it comes time to get some full coverage.
Seriously. I bought a bus. How did that happen?! Huzzah!