Hello everybody!!! My name is Jason ODonnell, I am a freediver from Northern California.. I am a service connected disabled vet.. I got this bus as I have been converting it into a dive rig, for road tripping California... I am on my second diesel truck and chose a chevy gas motor... I am a general contractor and am pretty handy at fixing things...I have a ton of questions!!! How can I find out where the studs are in the bus?? I can't find a manual or "blueprints" of any sort!! Second, if the placard says it is 190hp, is that a 350???? I have a ton of metal working tools but as you can see I am out of my element!!! And last.. In California, what are the rules on seat belts in a shorty bus????

Welcome fellow skoolie.

I don't realy mess with short buses. I have no clue what studs your talking about.

Be sure to use photo bucket, Do not host pics from this site.

Nat

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"Don't argue with stupid people. They will just drag you down to their level, and beat you up with experience."

Patently waiting for the apocalypses to level the playing field in this physiological game of life commonly known as Civilization

Depending on the manufacturer of your rig, there may not be studs in the walls. My Eldorado Aerotech has a fiberglass body that doesn't have any internal skeleton like the metal body buses do. The steel body school buses are built like tanks but with all those rivets there's no question where the supports are.

The inner fiberglass wall on my bus holds a screw really well. If I don't drill my pilot holes large enough it's easy to twist off the screw head.

We're very visual here, we....must.....have......pictures.

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The Roach Motel

Howdy Jason --- I'll go ahead and get my standard greeting to fellow vets out'a the way up front...Welcome Home.

And...Welcome to this madhouse!

Same basic questions as the other folks...what style of body? All metal, glass over steel frame, glass over foam? As noted, all metal units typically have steel ribs which are defined by rows of rivets. Pretty much the same for glass over steel, there will usually be rows of fasteners. The glass units are sometimes built over wooden frames and others are more like boats in that they are glass inside & out bonded to high density foam. Most newer glass bodies are built to the latter specs.

Very different construction approaches to each. Some pix will help as well as the year & manufacturer.

Just do some digging and peeking and you'll probably be able to determine the construction type. Best of luck.

Hi Jason
Welcome to this form, the best place to learn about converting a school bus. There are great folks here who will be willing to help and answer all your questions. From one vet to another - WELCOME.

Now as for your bus - Would you take a little time and tell all of us the following - Make - Year and how long is it? As other posters have said (post a few pictures) Hint you can post here if you use paint to resize them. I found that 700x525 worked well.

Once again Welcome
the old man Richard