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Old 05-15-2015, 07:20 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: Washington
Posts: 25
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466
'93 International Blue Bird Conversion

On May 14th, we picked up our bus from its home in Port Orford, Oregon. She's a 1993 International Blue Bird dog nose DT466 38 footer with a Spicer 5 Speed manual transmission. We ticked the odometer over 140K on our scenic trip back up the coast and it handled great!




We thought you guys would appreciate the awesome views we had!

She fits like a glove! (Hopefully the renters next door don't despise us too much now)

We're excited to get to work on it, we're practicing patience and waiting at least a few days after settling in to start tearing it up, those seats are coming out soon, Nat style!

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Old 05-15-2015, 07:44 PM   #2
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Location: NUNYA
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Awesome. Nice job getting a manual.
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Old 05-15-2015, 07:54 PM   #3
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Port Orford is an interesting place.

Enjoy your very cool bus!

Our neighbors love our bus, I took most of them for a ride...to lunch on me
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Old 05-15-2015, 11:00 PM   #4
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Location: Stony Plain Alberta Canada
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Chassis: TC2000 FE
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Great pics.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLovelyBus View Post
Those seats are coming out soon, Nat style!
Careful

Removing seats with brute force stretches the bolt holes in the floor steel. It can also cause ripples as it stretches section of the floor.

It will make it harder to build flat upon it after.

That is the second bus I have removed the seats that way.

Nat
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Old 05-16-2015, 10:49 AM   #5
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Nice looking bus with 12" windows=78" headroom.

Good luck and happy trails!
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Old 05-16-2015, 09:49 PM   #6
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[QUOTE
(Hopefully the renters next door don't despise us too much now)

Live for YOU! not what the renters next door or anyone else may think.

On the other hand they may see what you are doing and decide they need a bus!!

Thanks
Cliff
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Old 05-17-2015, 06:27 PM   #7
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She fits like a glove! (Hopefully the renters next door don't despise us too much now)

When I brought our bus home my wife was worried about what the niebors might think, I told her when the niebors start paying for our vacations then I'll care about what they think.
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Old 05-19-2015, 11:37 PM   #8
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: Washington
Posts: 25
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466
After impatiently waiting to get started, (our unpacking/trip laundry from picking up Birdie was done in record time) we finally tore one of the seats out with immense glee! We quickly discovered that the ideal method was to remove the floor bolts, then remove the actual seat cushions to access the chair rail bolts and with the help of the impact driver remove them, only using the angle grinder as needed.


As most of you know, removing the floor bolts is easier said than done but luckily we had a most excellent helper in our 7 year old who already knows his way around a drill and who was eager to help.

We have some very excited helpers who enthusiastically greet our bus every time we arrive home and give long, dramatic farewells when we have to go through the torture of leaving it alone to go to the store.

The Boys loosening the very last bolts on the very last chair!

The rear had its own heater. which when removed made quite the coolant mess, so that was a fun surprise. We drained the hoses into a five gallon bucket and had our wet/dry vac handy so crisis averted. There was a booster pump about halfway back to the rear heater, we're hoping to later repurpose that. The front heater had a blower attachment that extended about 6 feet back, its all been removed as of now.

All the seats are out!
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Old 05-20-2015, 12:55 AM   #9
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Chassis: TC2000 FE
Engine: 190hp 5.9 Cummins
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Great pics of the kids and yourself.

Thanks for sharing.

Nat
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Old 05-20-2015, 02:16 PM   #10
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Welcome! --- And it looks like you have a great crew to help out. Terrific opportunity for sharing and learning with a great big, fun reward at the end that the kids can really take pride in. Life lessons of the very best kind.

Just record the whole process and please do post lots of pix here.
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Old 05-20-2015, 04:55 PM   #11
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I love how the kids are helping. What a great experience for them!
Thanks for sharing. Keep us posted with pics!
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Old 05-24-2015, 04:50 PM   #12
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If you don't mind me asking, where/how did you find your bus? A dog nose with 78" headroom and a DT466 paired with a Spicer 5 speed sounds like a good combo!
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Old 05-24-2015, 11:12 PM   #13
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: Washington
Posts: 25
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466
Thanks for all the great comments, everyone!

We found this gem on publicsurplus.com and watched the auction for nearly a month before it was finally time and we won it for $4,300. We wish we had more advice for you other than the website we had luck through, it took persistance and knowing the right bus would come along at the right time. It took us over two years to get the perfect one for us!
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Old 05-24-2015, 11:30 PM   #14
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Rated Cap: 40 Prisoners
One nice thing about public surplus is you can go back to the site and enter
your auction number and view the bus as it was before you got it. Then you
can capture the images and start your conversion album from square one.
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Old 05-30-2015, 07:26 PM   #15
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: Washington
Posts: 25
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466
It is indeed wonderful to be making memories with our littles while they learn valuable skills and help us move toward a common goal. Thanks for all the awesome support and feedback, everyone!

After the seats were out with the metal floor trim unscrewed and removed, it was time to pull up the flooring.


The driver's seat came out with ease but the seat belt mechanisms fought valiantly before we were able to vanquish them. This ended up being a challenging area! (Note: The wires ran to the rear heater which has been removed)


Which exposed some waterlogged and molded plywood. Fun!

We picked a spot and made a place to get the prybar under...

Success! The first chunk of plywood we removed ended up being over one of the MOST rusty parts of the entire floor.


The front board was the biggest pain to remove, why they nail the plywood through the steel floor, we are still unsure of but whoever did this front one wanted to make sure it was never going anywhere.




With all of the plywood up we could see that some of it held water and some of the boards made puddles of condensation underneath, making a major difference in rust occurrence.


With the floor well underway, we turned our attention to the ceiling and removed windows to get the wire run covers down so that the panels could begin to be removed.



What it looks like down


The (kind of gross) window frame

After much discussion and brainstorming about how to store the windows, we decided to purchase the polyisocyanurate insulation boards we needed for the floor and to stack them between them in our utility trailer. So far, it's been working like a dream!



We have now started removing all of the riveted ceiling and wall panels using an air chisel to peel off the rivet heads. We bought this specifically for this job and can heartily recommend it!

Question for all you knowledgeable folks who have removed your ceiling panels: what becomes of the rivet remnants that are left in the ceiling ribs? Since the flared back of the rivet is inside the rib, they're not coming out. We are worried that they will make a loud rattling noise driving down the road.

We are also compiling a list of everything that needs to be removed to make the bus RV legal. We know the requirements vary state to state; we are in Washington, but plan to travel to many others. So far our list is the upper warning lights in the front and rear, the stop sign, and the yellow paint color. Can the side marker lights stay?
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Old 05-30-2015, 07:33 PM   #16
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Location: EHT New Jersey
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Year: 2003
Coachwork: AmTran
Chassis: International 3000RE
Engine: T444E/AT545
Rated Cap: 75
All clearance lights need to remain/be reinstalled, as must the reflectors. This link provides the minimum required safety lighting
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Old 05-30-2015, 07:37 PM   #17
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: Washington
Posts: 25
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooternj View Post
All clearance lights need to remain/be reinstalled, as must the reflectors. This link provides the minimum required safety lighting
Thanks so much for the handy guide, Scooter!
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Old 05-31-2015, 06:02 AM   #18
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No problem. We were having that very discussion in another section of the forum, in which "Are turning the rear warning lights into a second high set of stop lights and turn signals legal" came up.
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Old 05-31-2015, 11:49 AM   #19
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Snowflake, Arizona
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Year: 1996
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: All American Rear Engine
Engine: C-8.3-300 Cummins MD3060
Rated Cap: 40 Prisoners
What part of Washington are you in? I'm in Bellevue and when I registered
my bus I made an affidavit that stated that the bus had a shower, toilet, bed
kitchen sink, stove and refrigerator in it. I didn't state that they were hooked
up just that they were in it. They just gave me the motor home classification
no more questions. When I called my insurance man I told him I had a
Blue Bird Motor home and gave him the VIN number they put it on my policy
right away.
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Old 05-31-2015, 07:00 PM   #20
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: Washington
Posts: 25
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooternj View Post
No problem. We were having that very discussion in another section of the forum, in which "Are turning the rear warning lights into a second high set of stop lights and turn signals legal" came up.
What was the verdict on that? Couldn't locate the thread when I looked. We're considering either doing this, or converting the top lights to clear spotlights (only for use when parked) instead of getting rid of them entirely, but we also don't want to run afoul of the regulations.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragonpop View Post
What part of Washington are you in? I'm in Bellevue and when I registered
my bus I made an affidavit that stated that the bus had a shower, toilet, bed
kitchen sink, stove and refrigerator in it. I didn't state that they were hooked
up just that they were in it. They just gave me the motor home classification
no more questions. When I called my insurance man I told him I had a
Blue Bird Motor home and gave him the VIN number they put it on my policy
right away.
We're over in Kitsap county. When we last tried to brave the DMV and insurance office, our babysitter got the stomach flu. So, we've not dealt with that aspect yet, hopefully it goes straightforwardly like your experience did!
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