2002 GMC conversion project (still looking for a name!)

[Omelette]

I'll be posting my very own conversion thread here, right alongside yours. Amazing.

I don't remember how I found out about Skoolie.net, but it was a hell of a discovery. I browsed your awesome conversions one after the other until I thought "Hey, why not buy my own school bus?"

And then all of the sudden I did, with two friends (one of whom is actually my girlfriend). They weren't too hard to convince after all

We're still very young and we know next to nothing about plumbing, wiring and all that stuff, but we're learning. Needless to say, we might have a few questions.

For now, our 2002 GMC is parked at a friend's place. Luckily he's got plenty of room so he doesn't mind having us there for a year at least.

So here goes nothing! I'll try and post some pictures for you guys!

[Omelette]

Sorry for the double post

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[Omelette]

Sorry for the double post.

So this is the big guy!

[Omelette]

This was taken right when we parked the bus




And this is a few minutes later, our first seat out! The bolts were a little rusty but it was no big deal



It wasn't very long before we realized that grinding the bolts off was much faster.



By the way, we are Canadians so be prepared to see Tim Horton's cups all over the place!

[cadillackid]

what a cool project!! Lovin it!!!! Nice bus too!

[Omelette]

Taking the wall panels off wasn't hard but it was a long and messy job!

Underneath it was the old usual yellow fiberglass insulation. It didn't smell or look bad or anything but we removed it. We'll replace it with something more efficient later. Winters are cold over here!

[Omelette]

Thank you Cadillackid! We appreciate it.

We really loved the look of the GMC bus. It's got a nice 7,2L Caterpillar engine that starts like a new one even in very cold temperatures. We fell in love with this one!

[Omelette]

Removing the ceiling was another story. We've had to grind the rivets off and I swear there must have been at least a thousand of them! Man, our shoulders felt that



It was worth it though!



We scrapped the metal and got a solid 28 bucks out of it. Yay!

[Scooternj]

Originally Posted by Omelette

We scrapped the metal and got a solid 28 bucks out of it. Yay!

Enough for plenty of Timbits and coffee. Or beer. Good choice on gutting the interior steel and insulation

[rjnye79]

Congrats on getting started! We're anxious to get our hands dirty as well! (...still shopping )

[Omelette]

Originally Posted by Scooternj

Enough for plenty of Timbits and coffee. Or beer. Good choice on gutting the interior steel and insulation

Yup. And we need a lot of those, especially the coffee!

It really was a lot colder once the insulation removed though! We kinda regretted that!

[Omelette]

Originally Posted by rjnye79

Congrats on getting started! We're anxious to get our hands dirty as well! (...still shopping )

Thanks! I hope we'll be able to see your progress as well!

[Omelette]

With the ceiling and insulation out of our way, we started digging a little under the rubber near the entrance and we found this



We got a little scared that the whole bus floor would look like that! Fortunatly it wasn't the case.



We took the rubber off and saw that the plywood had seen better days. Please excuse the mess!

[cadillackid]

the entrance is always the worst.. for one all the kids stomping the snow and salt off their boots when they get on the bus.. and then also i think alot of times the main door gets left open in the rain and water gets on that part of the floor and pools right there..

ive see nmore than one bus sit outside with the main door wide open in the rain... or the door just plain leaks in heavy rain after the bus is a couple years old..
-Christopher

[Omelette]

I've seen a few who left their doors half open all the time, too. In our case, if you close the door completly it locks and you have to get in through the rear emergency door. So I guess the previous owners might have left it open a few times under the rain just like you said.

Either way, it's all gone now!

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Omelette

I've seen a few who left their doors half open all the time, too. In our case, if you close the door completly it locks and you have to get in through the rear emergency door. So I guess the previous owners might have left it open a few times under the rain just like you said.

Either way, it's all gone now!

the Schools do it.. the busses usually get parked ina fenced, gated area so they dont worry about intruders.. so the drivers dont close the doors all the way when they go home at night.. or more often the door is left all the way open when they park at lunch in a shopping center parking lot..or their bus is at home between runs..

a driver in my neightborhood drives for a summer route.. and takes her bus home between runs.. leaves it sit in front of the house door wide open (she says to keep it cool because only one of the air conditioners work).. we get pop up midday storms all the time and rain goes right in that door....

so those floors get wet from the day the bus is brand new..

[Omelette]

Plywood and rubber are on their way to the dump. Little rust here and there, nothing we can't handle. There's a hole in the floor, right on top of the fuel tank. I guess it's for maintenance so we'll leave it there and probably just cover it up with something later.





We ended up removing the rust just to make sure. I hate rust. Don't we all?

[Omelette]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

the Schools do it.. the busses usually get parked ina fenced, gated area so they dont worry about intruders.. so the drivers dont close the doors all the way when they go home at night.. or more often the door is left all the way open when they park at lunch in a shopping center parking lot..or their bus is at home between runs..

a driver in my neightborhood drives for a summer route.. and takes her bus home between runs.. leaves it sit in front of the house door wide open (she says to keep it cool because only one of the air conditioners work).. we get pop up midday storms all the time and rain goes right in that door....

so those floors get wet from the day the bus is brand new..

Unbelievable

[Omelette]

We put some aluminum tape on the holes. There's some kind of tar underneath the tape, when you heat it it really fills the holes. There's no way anything can come from down there.



Once all rust was gone, we Rust oleum'd the hell out of the floor.



We spent a few minutes at the store arguing about the color, even though it was going to be covered a few days later

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Omelette

Unbelievable

mechanically school busses are treated quite well to pass state inspections, but cosmetically they are beat to crap.. most of the drivers get new or different ones every few years so they dont care what happens to them as long as they dont wreck em..
-Christopher