1979 International...

drchefscott · 02-10-2009, 03:51 PM

Ok yall... I found a bus, have had some communication with the seller and wanted to know of anything I should be weary of from you. Will only be here for a lil while tonight as I'm off in the morning to go get it.

I won't bore you with all the details but as I don't think this unit will last a few more days until my tax check comes in, I have to drive from Roanoke Va to Kingsland Ga to borrow some funding from somebody I know. They won't lend it to me unless they see me. Whatever. That trip: 8hr 52 minutes...522 miles. I have to drive back into South Carolina to the church selling this bus (approx 5 hr 36 minutes 350 miles). Its a 1979 International 72 pass bus with a recently rebuilt V-8 Continential engine with 10 miles on it, a rebuilt allison automatic transmission. Its a gas bus (fine by me). The church had it donated from one it members brothers in Dallas who had the motor rebuild. Their only member with a CDL is an OTR drop deck truck driver and is almost never around. So they are going to sell it an look for another unit smaller for their needs. She will hold it for me tomorrow until I get there tomorrow.

Whatcha think??

Scott

drchefscott · 02-10-2009, 05:33 PM

with her Most of its life has been spent in Dallas Texas, and has only been in Myrtle Beach for about 9 months. Unitl I received confirmation from the seller (which I now have) they would hold it for me, I wasn't going to post its location but now that I'm safe, its in Myrtle Beach. The gentleman I spoke with, who is an OTR truck driver has been the only driver there. He said he had it up to 70 without any issues. No rust and body are all in good condition. The only thing it needs is a air cleaner housing and filter. Said it runs and shifts smooth. He even considered keeping it for himself and purchasing it from the church but his wife told him he could live at the church then!! We both laughed when he said he considered it for a short while.

Oh yeah... $1500 but said its negotiable. And with her knowing what traveI I am going thru for this, I will try to play on her sympathies for a few hundred less!! hehehe.

drchefscott · 02-10-2009, 05:36 PM

Here are the last 2 pictures I have.

drchefscott · 02-10-2009, 06:35 PM

Think it is going to be difficult to locate an air cleaner housing for it? Thats the only thing missing.

drchefscott · 02-10-2009, 06:41 PM

Interchangable??

drchefscott · 02-10-2009, 06:52 PM

Hope I will be able to locate one thru some of the junk yards listed here on this site. Well off to shower and bed as I have to leave at 4am to be in Kingsland by 1p. Then to Myrtle Beach by 7:30pm the latest. Will be back on Thursday either way.

Wish me luck!!

Scott

drchefscott · 02-11-2009, 03:03 AM

4:02am (est). One last check to see if there were anymore posts to look at. I'm outta here.
Bye
Scott

jaredg · 02-11-2009, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drchefscott

Think it is going to be difficult to locate an air cleaner housing for it? Thats the only thing missing.

I hope you have better luck than I did finding one for my 1987 GM 366 gasser. I wound up just buying a K&N Chrome type filter/caps which I think will be ok. It looks a little too bling for me but I can live.

Anyway, congrats on the purchase! Gotta love the old Ward bodies.

drchefscott · 02-12-2009, 03:17 PM

Hello ALL...

FRIENDS SUCK!!!! Especially those that you help and not expect anything in return. My temporary funding in Kingsland Ga was from a
friend who I lent funds to in the past. Well I drove 11 1/2 hrs to have them ask me to help them move. They had to move so the funding they were going to return to me is gone!! 2 days and a crappy stay at the Red Roof Inn in Pooler Ga off I-95 (I highly recommend sleeping in Walmart parking lot in your car first) to be burned.

I spoke to the seller. She still has the bus and hopes my tax refund check comes in on Friday. If it does, OFF to Myrtle Beach on Friday. Thats only a day, round trip.

As for the air cleaner set up, I thought either an Autozone OEM that would fit or bring it to a truck parts house and have them find me one that might fit.

WISH ME LUCK FOR FRIDAY (2/13) morning. I will post if the check is in and I am on my way.

Scott

drchefscott · 02-12-2009, 06:19 PM

OH HEEELLL NO!!!! And I told him where he could stick his head!! 1178.4 miles round trip.. BAH HUMBUG!! I am (desparately) trying to mentally justify that if the check is not there or if the bus is not there, it wasn't meant to be. I file my own taxes each year thru turbo tax. I just went to the site and it said they rec'd them and paid my $1690 to me. So lets hope tomorrow its there.

Ray_WA · 02-12-2009, 08:24 PM

That just plain sucks! Hope Friday goes better for ya.

-Ray

drchefscott · 02-13-2009, 03:00 AM

WWOOOOOOOO HHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Well even with 2 sleeping pills, I was up several times during the night. Its now 355am and have been up since 3a, THE MONEY IS IN THE BANK!!!!The lady was so nice, she said she received an email inquiry on Thursday but decided to hold off until Friday morning as she seen how hard I was trying to get this. She also told me it has air brakes and wanted to make sure I had somebody with a CDL to drive it. Fortunately my wife has a class B CDL and I have a class A CDL With the passenger endorsement so we are both safe. Should be out of here around 415-430 am and with it only being 300 miles away, will be a piece of cake compared to my 1178 mile treck the last 2 days.

See you all later.

Scott

jaredg · 02-13-2009, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drchefscott

WWOOOOOOOO HHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Well even with 2 sleeping pills, I was up several times during the night. Its now 355am and have been up since 3a, THE MONEY IS IN THE BANK!!!!The lady was so nice, she said she received an email inquiry on Thursday but decided to hold off until Friday morning as she seen how hard I was trying to get this. She also told me it has air brakes and wanted to make sure I had somebody with a CDL to drive it. Fortunately my wife has a class B CDL and I have a class A CDL With the passenger endorsement so we are both safe. Should be out of here around 415-430 am and with it only being 300 miles away, will be a piece of cake compared to my 1178 mile treck the last 2 days.

See you all later.

Scott

Thats awesome!!! Take a ton of pics when you get her home!

drchefscott · 02-14-2009, 07:40 AM

We left the house on Friday morning around 530am and got to the bus around 1030am. We met up with the people around 11am. I thanked the guys when I got there for starting the bus before I got there preventing me from seeing it from a cold start up. Shut it down, looked at the fluids, had the wife start it while I looked in and around. Spent around 30 minutes in and around the motor, under the bus on several sides, popped a hatch and hopped up onto the roof before I took it for a test drive. I drove it for about 20 minutes. Everything seemed to be in order, motor and transmission seemed ok. Smooth shifting, nothing to say anything otherwise. The oil was a little low but no stains under the bus on the ground or on the motor. 300 mile trip is all we had to go. The first 150 miles was a disaster. The butterfly on the carb continued to stick wide open causing it to spit and sputter once in a while. In Rockingham NC, I broke down on the side of the road. Ended up finding a Walmart and spending $90 on a battery. Installed the battery and it started right up. I called the lady who sold it to me and she said they probably jumped it in the morning since it sat for a while. Why didn't they tell me that I asked and she replied they were probably just trying to be helpful. More like hiding something I said since they never said anything to me about it. The sticker on the side of the old battery said 03/2005. Started down the road. By now it was after 5pm and in the worst case scenario, I should have been about 250 miles into the trip, not just under 120. We got down the road and about 30 miles later I decided to top off the fuel for the remainder of the trip since it was getting dark. I pulled into a Wilco Travel center 1 exit south of Bilco NC (150 miles from home). I turned into the driveway and seen smoke from under the dash and hood before it stalled in the entrance. I jumped out, popped the hood and disconnected the battery. The smoke cleared within a minute and seen the ampere meter was fried. I looked all over for a wire or problem that could have caused this issue. I found nothing. A gentleman there pooped his head under the hood with me and tried to help me diagnose. That was the 1st nicest thing that happened to me all day. After about 20 minutes, he had to go since his ride was leaving for church. I spoke to the manager of the station and told her I had to go to the auto parts store. I was about to leave when another gentleman (2nd best thing that happened to me all day) also tried to help me. He agreed about the coil and looked under the dash for any melted wires which there were none. There was no spark to the coil. Drove 40 minutes round trip and got a coil, installed and still nothing. I returned it and replaced the ballast and the solenoid. NOPE, not those either. Checked all the fuses. Nothing. I went to go return the ballast and solenoid and when I came back, the bus was gone. I went in and spoke to the manager (a different lady-shifts changed) and nobody told her that I mentioned I was on the way to the the parts house so she thought it was abandoned and had it towed. My wife and I had several feelings. Relief, betrayal, anger, confusion, etc. There were signs clearly posted on the property but we notified them. Down to our last $95 with us, we couldn't pay for the tow or storage. I called the prior owner back and she refused to answer the phone now so I left a message. We drove the remainder of 150 miles back to Virginia. Screwed, chewed and BBQ'd. My wife was out 3 days of work, I put a little over 1850 miles on our van, spent a combined total of about $2450 between food, fuel, crappy hotels, bus & gas to come home with a key and a title to a bus I can't afford to go get now. As you would expect, I have a hole in my heart (and wallet) now. I guess its for the best that this happened now and not when I was moving my stuff to Florida which was going to be its first job before conversion.
Thats the story of how I got screwed. The wife says to save up and try again before the end of the year finding another bus once back in Florida. I'm so distraught and the wounds from being burned as still real fresh, I'm not sure what I am going to do. In truth, I want to chalk this up to a bad experience from some crafty church poeple (it was sold from a church) and start saving for another. I will say this: ALWAYS get the opportunity to have a PROFESSIONAL shop look over the bus before purchase!! Or at minimum bring a mechanic that is neutral to both parties for a better chance. While driving looking in the big mirror above my head, I could actually see the conversion completed.

Scott

timbuk · 02-14-2009, 08:15 AM

i am always leary when i go look at a vehicle aned it is running already. the battery you replaced was not that old so that tells me that the seller knew there was a charge/elec problem.thats a fair whack of bad luck,i feel for you man.of course the more you wait the more it costs to get the bus out of jail

Redbear · 02-14-2009, 08:30 AM

That stinks. At first thought, you can't really blame the church, since they can't be expected to be mechanically inclined (the OTR guy excepted). Just like vanguy's experience, it DID run for miles. I have to tell you, ten miles on the engine rebuild was an immediate red flag for me (ask me how I know

).

OK, I'll tell you. Years ago. my teenage stepdaughter kept driving my wife's Raider after the water pump cracked and lost coolant, and it had no engine before it didn't make it home. My wife loved it, so we stuffed it into the garage, and after a couple of years we dragged it out and had it towed two counties away to have the engine rebuilt. I had checked around, and this was supposed to be a good place. It had a warranty and all. I expected performance like factory new.

When they were done, we drove over an hour to pick it up. The bill said "short block at owners request." I had never requested a short block, I wanted a like-new engine. It had the old carburetor that had sat for years, the old distributor, and other accessories. It sputtered down to the next exit on the interstate, where in the auto parts parking lot I did a tune up (cap, rotor, points, condenser, wires, I don't know what else) in order to make it home. I did a carb rebuild, and it was driveable, but it never did run right. Finally, a little old lady who was "tired of waiting" for Christmas traffic darted out onto the State highway in front of it, and her insurance company helped replace it.

i didn't want to say anything about it when you first posted, because I didn't want to project my experience onto yours. One bad mechanic doesn't mean all mechanics are bad. I would still rather have something that has a track record AFTER the rebuild.

The thing I couldn't figure out was - the bus was from Dallas, but only had 10 miles on the rebuild in South Carolina. How did it cross the south? Did the church really intend to use it, do the rebuild, and decide it was bad? If so, maybe you CAN blame them.

drchefscott · 02-14-2009, 08:48 AM

At 930am today, after my posting, the lady called me. She said she got my message late last night and didn't want to disturb me as she figured I was home resting (instead of just geting home). She continued to apologized and said she didn't know what to do. She said she felt bad that I was now out of money and a bus. She said she would pass on the word and wasn't sure what will happen now but I don't think I will hear from them ever again.

I don't blame the church or those that supposedly didn't have a clue. I blame myself for entering a project with limited funds and for the whole mess. If I could have gotten it back to Roanoke, I could have had up until May to get it figured out on my own but I don't have either the capitol now or ability to get it the additional 150 miles to Roanoke by hook. Basically..I lost out. I know we all enter into projects with limited funds, but you need to start with a decent base and build from there.

The bus made it from Dallas to North Myrtle Beach by one of the church members who is an OTR drop deck heavy equipment hauler. He had a load in the Texas area and since there was nothing coming back east, the company allowed him to haul the bus back as long as he paid for the fuel.

Like I said, my wounds are still open and the salt from the sweat is still stinging. I'm not going to give up but will have to wait until the holiday time before funds will be available to try once again. Next time, I will have a professional (probably a shop) check it out first (FULL CHECK UP), probably WON"T ever pruchase from a private seller again (I know not all private sellers are bad,just bad experience) and just say once again... BUYER BEWARE!!!

UPDATE:

The pastor from the church called me this morning. He inquired on what happened and where the bus is now. He wanted me to contact the towing company to find out fees and we can go from there. He did offer to pay the towing and impound fees if I still wanted the bus. Or we might be able to work out something if they have to get it back. The words "we might both end up losers" with we have in it. More information when it comes available.

timbuk · 02-14-2009, 10:10 AM

this does not sound like a terminal problem to me it sounds like a wiring issue a short, a faulty alternator a wire hooked up wrong,that type of thing.how far from home is the bus?

Ray_WA · 02-14-2009, 11:52 AM

Wow. Where to start? Someone's gotta be the bad guy, might as well be me. Read back from the beginning of your thread. Some nice folks hinted as strongly as they could while trying to not sound overly negative that you should consider slowing down!! Check this bus out thoroughly and make sure it's a good deal. Some hints you should have considered... The ten miles on the rebuild... This tells us that they only drove it once the whole time they had it!! It's been sitting, and the only driving it's seen after a major rebuild was ten miles!! Whatever is wrong with it is probably minor, yet you started off painting these guys as crooks!! It's obvious they didn't know much about the bus.
Now... as for you being out all that money... How the hell is that their fault?? Whatever is wrong with the bus might be their fault, but the confusion at the gas station? That isn't their fault. The bus getting impounded? That isn't their fault. And you not having money to get the bus out of impound... that isn't their fault either.
I personally don't drive any distance from home without the resources to pay for towing/repair should I break down. You shouldn't either. Your present circumstances are why!!

Now... it seems like the Pastor of this church is willing to help out, even though the bulk of the problems here aren't their fault. That to me sounds like a pretty good man. You owe him an apology. I don't know if you've blamed any of this on them to their face, but you have here, and for that you owe them an apology.

Before you get too discouraged and consider this nothing but an "I told you so", or think I say these things in a bad spirit, I want you to know that almost everyone here has rushed into big projects like this head first, at one point or another. In other words... we all share your passion and enthusiasm that got you in this mess.

I for one would hate for you to lose your bus over stupid impound fees that will only add up as each day passes. For that reason I encourage you to talk to the impound people, the pastor of that church, and your other friends and see what you can do about getting it back. Find out what it's gonna cost. Line up someone to go with you to fetch it and repair it. You do that and I'll personally western union you some money to help out. No, I'm not rich and I can't afford to do the whole thing, but I got $50 I can spare to help out. I'm sure others here might too. But you gotta do the leg work and you gotta do it quickly before those fees add up.

-Ray

drchefscott · 02-14-2009, 12:40 PM

Hey Ray,

I don't blame them for what happened. Just some of the comments that were made within ear shot of my wife while I was road testing. No I didn't or wouldn't say anything like that to the pastor just told them what happened. He (and the church) want to do the right thing. I just tried to make contact with the tow company again and am waiting on a return call still. Your 100% right. This could have happened to any of us, unfortunatley it was me this time. As far as looking, I did look at 5 total busses over the last weeks but think I should have waited longer.

As far the offer of funds... I love you for it!! I couldn't accept anything as this was not an accident or theft (although I would be the one to donate to somebody else if I was on the other end) but something I have to work thru. THANK YOU so much. I know your heart is in the right place and feel honored that you would even offer. Maybe someday we can all meet up somewhere at a rally or something and swap war stories. This is just a learing experience that I work thru. I still want to get and convert but will be cautious next time.

And I appreciate your cander. I don't want things to be sugar coated. I'm a big boy and like to hear it the way it is. Not rude, just truthful.

AGAIN... thanks!!

Scott

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