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Old 10-12-2014, 08:24 PM   #1
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Dirty Canadian

Earlier this year I bough, and then sold a 69 chev bus already converted into an rv. It was a POS.
Now I bought a 1997 international, 8 window/ 18 seat, 5 speed manual trans., t444E, with only 93000 km's.
It was a bit pricy at $2500 but it is saftied.
So far I have I have removed all the seats I wanted to (12 out of 1 painted over all "school bus" markings and filled the rust around the rear flashers with foam.
And this is was all in the first 4 days I owned the bus.

Next Sunday I am going back to paint it. It will be black, forest green,and blood red.
I did a crappy/spartan interior just so it was "legally" an rv so that I can insure it on Tuesday so that the safty will not expire.
I almost forgot, it has hydraulic breaks!
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Old 10-12-2014, 10:20 PM   #2
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Re: Dirty Canadian

welcome fellow Canadian glad to have you here.
Your bus looks great, post lots of pics
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Old 10-19-2014, 08:35 PM   #3
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Re: Dirty Canadian

I worked on it more today. Started painting it, started installing carpet and a fouton.
Next weekend I hope to finish the dinett/kitchen.
I have a couple questions,
Where would I find the markings on the transmision to see how much weight it is good for?
How do I tell what part of the tachometer is broken, it is not working right.
Why do people remove the rubber flooring? Is it not just more sound proofing?

I also got a spare parts bus, it is almost identical except that it was a wheel chair bus.
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Old 10-20-2014, 09:54 AM   #4
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Re: Dirty Canadian

We thought the same thing about the rubber flooring. Ours seemed to be in perfect shape. However, on the advise of many on this website we did peel up some in the front and found rust under it. I guess the drivers would hose it out or something. Anyway, water was getting in under the rubber and rusting the floor. We were glad we took the time to get the rubber up. we treated the rust and repaired the holes then coated the floor with hurculiner and then added insulation and flooring over top.
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Old 10-20-2014, 12:20 PM   #5
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Re: Dirty Canadian

I guess I'm leaving it then. The whole point of my conversion it that buses are CHEAP and last forever. Its from central Canada, rust if life here.
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Old 10-20-2014, 06:27 PM   #6
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Re: Dirty Canadian

Better get them off their sides-they're going to get dented!
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Old 10-21-2014, 04:26 AM   #7
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Re: Dirty Canadian

weird,when you click pictures they are straight

welcome from the lower 48
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Old 10-21-2014, 10:05 AM   #8
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Re: Dirty Canadian

Hello all! First post for me here, although I've been lurking for a few
I had to click on your thread because of the "Dirty Canadian" title.
Any chance you could work some Terrence and Phillip into the color scheme?
Nice job on your rig so far!
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Old 10-21-2014, 08:21 PM   #9
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Re: Dirty Canadian

I just picked up a non running Generac Impact 36 rv generator.
I bought it "sight un-scene" but now I'm worried that it was supposed do come with an external "inverter" beceause Apparently it's an inverter generator and the manual shows a external box.
Any way, I'll do more investigating this week.
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Old 11-03-2014, 04:26 PM   #10
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Re: Dirty Canadian

Did some more work to her, sleeps 3 easy.
Painted her more, and messed up some wiring.
The bed with storage was made entirely for free so if we deceide we need to change the configuration.
Well, it is sort of a big deal there's got to be 75 self taping accrues holding the metal frame together and then another 40 holding the wood down!
I also removed the stop sign.
Un fortunately the snow should have been here already so there will probably not be anymore work this season.
Have medium sized plans for the electrical. Roof will get painted white and some other things like that.
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Old 11-03-2014, 09:19 PM   #11
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Re: Dirty Canadian

It's gotta be a bear working on it all tipped over like that.
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Old 11-04-2014, 09:19 PM   #12
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Re: Dirty Canadian

Sorry about the sideways pictures, that should be fixed now.
I post the pictures from my phone so that messes them up i guess.
The plans for the electrical i previously mentioned are:
340 watts of solar power
3 100 amp hour deep cycle battery
3000 watt inverter
battery isolator between the starting batteries and house batteries.
transfer switch and between a 2400 and 3600 watt generator.
the alternator on the bus is 140 amp so i should be able to run 600 watts or so off it while on the road.

this should be a pretty decent system.
any suggestions? Thanks.
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Old 11-05-2014, 07:20 PM   #13
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Re: Dirty Canadian

if you try run over 75 amps, the standard 160amp alternator will over heat. its not designed for prolonged high amp usage. our bluebirds started using a constant high amp alternator in 2007 they will max at about 225 short term but carry 175 for extended time. but they cost about $850. just food for thought.
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Old 11-23-2014, 07:03 PM   #14
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Re: Dirty Canadian

The bus is in it's final resting place for the winter, due to the fact that it got stuck on the only patch of ice on the feild.
Overall the conversion is going to plan except that the bus is burning oil now. It used to only smoke for a few minutes on startup but this time it smoked the whole time. We let it idle for 30 minutes to charge the batteries and to oil the engine before the long Canadian winter. Could it just burn oil idling and once the pressure builds up a higher rpm's the seals get tighter? If it's not the turbo I could not care less about it buring oil.
It is mostly painted now (that was before it snowed of course) there is still some yellow around the front window, the sides needs to be sanded and get a heavy second coat (lots of drips).
Happily I discovered that the rating on the trans (5 speed spicer) is 7k above my GVWR (24000 lbs) so I can do some serious towing. I found a 12k lb hitch for $207 with free shipping, with all the wiring, break controller, and ball mount I'll run $450 installed if I do it myself.
Another thing on my list is to make a roof rack/ deck. I plan to drill holes and then put U bolts through the "rub rails" (?) on the roof, will this be strong enough?

One last thing,
Does anyone know what fuse is for the overhead clearance lights on a '97 3800? I replaced one of the fixtures and now none of them work.
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Old 11-23-2014, 07:10 PM   #15
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Re: Dirty Canadian

The smoke may not be oil burning. A crappy injector could do it. How smoother does it run at idle? What color is the smoke?
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Old 11-23-2014, 07:31 PM   #16
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Re: Dirty Canadian

Blueish smoke, runs not bad (better than the spare parts bus witch hardly smokes even at startup)
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Old 11-24-2014, 05:21 AM   #17
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Re: Dirty Canadian

hank, please tell us about the paint you are using. did ya roll it, brush it, or spray? lookin good so far.
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Old 11-24-2014, 04:22 PM   #18
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Re: Dirty Canadian

I used your average tremclad rust paint. Not having done much reschearch I bought it beceause is was at the "ReStore" for $20 and it was $65 at homedepot. I used partially a brush and part roller. DO NOT use a brush no matter how light I put it on it dripped really badly. The roller went on with no drips at all.
In the spring I have ALOT of sanding to do to make it not look as bad is some spots.

Ps. Notice how there is never any close ups of my bus
It's by design...
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Old 12-30-2014, 09:11 PM   #19
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Over christmas i was in "The States" visiting family and picked up some swag for the bus.
I'm going to do 2 plugs on each wall of the bus. Romex wire is 14/2 plus ground, extension cord wire is actual 12/2, no ground.

On the way back to Canada my car started running on 3 out of 4 cylinders at a time. I was making something like 17 mpg with a 1.7L gas engine and I went through about 1/2 a gallon of oil.
It has about 200000 mi on it and 14 harsh canadian years but... No rust, tranny rebuild, breaks, linkages, suspension, CV boots, not to mention new parts on the engine. I'm planning on a new engine but that's at least another year away.

I might try to get back to the bus in February if it doesn't snow too much more.
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Old 12-30-2014, 09:52 PM   #20
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Nice bus. Wish you luck on your project. Just remember 14 gauge is meant for light loads not running any serious appliances. Fine with those 15 amp breakers, not with that 20a.
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