We've had our bus for one month now and we're just about done with the demolition/gutting phase. At this point I figured it was time to go ahead and start some posting. (plenty of questions). Up to this point we have removed all seats, rubber, and plywood floor, as well as the metal wall and insulation below windows. Our plan is to knock any serious rust off with a wire brush and cover the floors and vertical supports with a rust preventative. Any comments or suggestions are wanted and appreciated.

Skiddy is 91 Thomas Built MVP 72 passenger. CAT 3208 T210. MT643 Transmission.

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Carry on, man. That is the exact bus I want to build from. Excellent choice!

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Give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around

welcome and post pictures as you go

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Our build La Tortuga
Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.
George S. Patton

Welcome! We found that a drill attachment called a flap wheel really took off the rust fast. (Much faster than anything else we used) Then we washed it with a adhesive remover to get rid of residue glue, then we put down Hurculiner on the bed to prevent any further rust.

Sandblasting is probably the fastest method if you have a significant amount of rust like I did on the floor.

Finally got our metal flooring covered the other day.

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When we bought our bus it was a "move out special" of sorts. the family we bought from was moving back out west and left all kinds of goodies for us to sort through. while this did add some extra work, we ended up with several bonuses ranging from a spare bus tire to this 7 day cooler.

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can anyone give me some insight as to what this is? There is one located on each side directly in front the rear wheels. Thanks.

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That is a sander to drop road sand in winter/sloppy road conditions in front of the drives.......

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We few, we Band of Brothers. For he who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
- William Shakespeare ("King Henry V")

thank you so much

Those sanders are missing their aiming tubes.

There should be a tube from each of those spouts that would normally be about 8" off the ground right in front of each drive tire.

alright. getting ready to make a home depot run. the plan for tomorrow is to continue where we left off with the rust preventative and silicone plugged floor. first a vapor barrier, most likely plastic. Next 1 inch insulation board going across the floor between the small raised edges along the bottom of each wall. The floor insulation will be graded for 15 psi( should be plenty to support weight without having to screw down "floor joist"). finally plywood of an undetermined thickness will be glued with construction adhesive to the insulation board and screwed along the edges next to the walls, all the while overlapping seams between insulation boards. BOOM! pics by tomorrow night God willing

Sweet bus! Welcome to the gang! There are a bunch of us who are using the exact model you are. So there should be lots of help in here.

-Doc

a little over halfway there! should knock this out in the morning!

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Very nice! I'm right there with ya, I'm removing the rubber flooring today, just finished removing the seats. Feels so good to have this project to work on! Friends are quickly learning to stay away or else they are put to work.
Fixing to grab a sixer and head out to the bus. AHHHH sunday mornings.

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Give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around

this week i plan on ordering some type of sheet metal to replace 10-12 windows, depending on the final floorplan. Does anyone have any input on what type/gauge of sheet metal to use? (galvanized, hot roll, cold roll) I want to make sure whatever i choose will hold up to elements, but also paint over and match well with the rest of the bus. To me 14 gauge seems like the minimum thickness, but maybe thats still overkill. i dunno

anyways thanks for input. really loving the possibilities for this project right now

Hey guys --- best bet is to try and match your existing sheetmetal. Some are odd. Blue Bird for example specs their own steel which works out to something like 15 gauge (in between 14 and 16). Not anything one would find "off-the-shelf". I went with 16 on my last BB project. As long as you stay close you should be OK. It will minimize stresses between elements.

Yes, after working with sheets of steel for a long time, I'd say 16 would be fine. If you think that's too thin, go 14.
I'm in the middle of "rivet removal hell".
We burned the seats and rubber flooring. What a blaze!

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Give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around

I used satin-coat 14 or 12ga. I can't remember exactly, but I matched the thickness that Thomas used on the rest of the body. My thinking was that thicker steel would be less likely to "oil can" in the sun. So far it has worked great. Satin coat is nice since it won't rust while out in the elements without paint. Satin coat is a type of zinc coating, I think. When you get around to painting be sure to use a self-etching primer. I've been having good luck with rustoleoms product.

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My build page: Armageddon - The Smell of Airborne Rust

what is the advantage of the self etching primer?

also, originally i was dead set on using 2" foam board in my walls for insulation. then i found a pourable expanding foam option that i am leaning towards now. my question is why does nobody use the old school fiberglass batts or rolls? is water the issue or is it the better closed envelope that expanding foam gives you?