Adventure Awaits!

[recycler]

Nice trip pics! I'd be willing to bet that it would come out as more than a grand for 4300. I did 3500 last summer but it didn't cost me a dime since I was running veg. Two months travel filled with putting money into the trip not into the drive. Nothing makes a bus run smooth like burning out all the old Dino-deposits. Looks like it was a rad trip keep it up!

[dentedvw]

yeah, you are probably right. We didn't keep very good track of expenses. We can look up most of it, but our buddy paid for some too.
It definitely is a moving argument for WVO. I have been thinking very hard about it this week, every time we have to fill this bugger up.

[dentedvw]

So, haven't done much since we got back, but it's only been two days. So, I had to do something big. I cut a huge hole. HUGE. Started with the cutoff wheel, but after four discs (!) I moved to the sawzall. Much faster.

Then when I got to the bottom, I found that the two sheets were not attached to the body, or eachother anymore, so I repaired the tiny piece of bracket that remained after I cut the hole, cleaned it all up, and welded it together. But, of course, first I had to wire in a 220V outlet, and make a cord, etc. Nothing is ever that easy, right? But, I got all this done in about two and a half hours, even primed and painted the cuts.
This is what it looks like, temporarily installed, but I pulled it out to paint the cuts.

When it dries, I will figure out how I am going to attach the hatch door. I am thinking I will probably attach them from the inside, since there isn't any holes on the outside, why make some.
These doors are not too shabby, eh? Custom made for something, but I got them for about $50 each at the surplus place. A bit pricey but I liked them the best.
Still have to get some scrap angle and manufacture the frame, which I figure I will put plywood on, then coat heavily with oil based paint, seal with silicone and line with outdoor carpet. Climbing gear has to ride in style, you know? Can't just have it banging around the back of the bus.

[dentedvw]

Oh yes, the red that was behind the ribs is not rust, it's primer. Glad to not find any major rust yet.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but we drove all the way to Texas and back with only a little XM Radio boombox, I meant to install the stereo as we went, but it didn't happen. I didn't mind the boombox either. Worked pretty well.

And my wife is fully on board with the waste vegetable oil idea. Just have to figure out how to do it, find parts that we can afford, and go for it. It would have paid for itself most likely on this last trip. Whew. The cost of driving it across the country is kind of staggering.

We have a trip to Devil's Tower in Wyoming planned in another two months, plus a trip to Red River Gorge in central Kentucky probably between now and then, I couldn't possibly hope to have one in place by either trip, but you never know...

[bunedoggle]

Originally Posted by dentedvw

These doors are not too shabby, eh? Custom made for something, but I got them for about $50 each at the surplus place. A bit pricey but I liked them the best.

I've been looking for affordable nice access doors. Those are sweet.

[dentedvw]

Oh, yes, the lift. Works good, but had to extend it's reach with a piece of wood I had laying around, as it wasn't big enough for a bike.

[Stuff]

lol still better then lifting it in!!

[browncrown]

Originally Posted by dentedvw

So, haven't done much since we got back, but it's only been two days. So, I had to do something big. I cut a huge hole. HUGE.

Nothing like cutting a big hole in the side of the bus to make a guy feel good Really liked your pics of the trip and you need to apply for a patent on that lift extension At least it got the job done!

[dentedvw]

I put up the upper cabinet today, and it is pretty cool. No light on the inside, or underneath yet, but I am getting there. Got the parts, but only so much time after work to work on it.


The door would ordinarily stay up, I think, but we have only so much room for it to open, so I think it stops short of the point where it will stay open. I can figure something out for it if it bothers us.

I have been visiting the scrap steel yard a few days this week, and haven't lucked into the steel I want to build the under belly storage out of. I may have to buy it new, at only a dollar a foot, it's not too bad though, but not as good as 43 cents a pound.

[dentedvw]

Can't spend much on the bus this month, so it's down to doing the things I have materials for.
Saturday I was left all by my lonesome so I installed the stereo, ran lots and lots of wiring, installed two decora lightswitches for the overhead LED lights, mounted those permanently and hid the wires. Had to go to a hot tub party so I left a huge mess for myself inside so I wouldn't have to do it Sunday. Saves a lot of time that way.

Sunday, it was too messy inside the bus (see Saturday) so I started with removing the beloved "LOL BUS" words front and rear, to much booing from my neighbors (only one said they would miss it actually), and removing the reflective tape from all over, as well as the handicap logo from the side rear door. I continued with my plan of closing up the warning light holes in the back, using steel I cut from the side where the first storage compartment goes. Man, that sheet metal is hard to cut! I had to buy new burly snips at Lowes. So much for not spending money. It was going okay for a few minutes, but then the welds starting boogering, then I blew a hole in the sheet metal. I thought at first I had maybe the heat too high, so I turned it down a bit, but while it prevented holes, still just nasty porous booger welds. That's when I realized I was out of gas. So I ground the ugly welds flush, and called it a day. Get some gas this week and finish up a few holes.

That's when I realized I lost the camera somewhere. Boy howdy, can I find myself some trouble or what? I know it's around here somewhere... when I find it, I will update with pictures.

[Stuff]

lol look for places you would sit down a drink.

or on the roof of the bus lol

[dentedvw]

We have one too. Smitty, you can get one for nearly free anymore, sometimes actually free. Check Craigslist, put up an ad looking for a free or nearly free unit, you can take down and transport. More people than you would believe are dumping them. They will sometimes need a pump, or heater, or odds and ends, but you can make a solar heater, and get a used pump, if that's your thing. We got one for a few hundred, ready to go. Just had to build a platform, a deck, wiring, etc... but it really helps out a sore back!

I stopped by a few semi truck wreckers in Grand Rapids today, and tried to score a few nice mirrors, but they were pretty proud of them, wanting about $200 a piece for the ones I liked, and they were used. Ah well, I will get back to that someday.
In the meantime, on the subject of un-school bussing my school bus, I purchased one headlight for experimenting with. Now, this can go one of two ways, I will either find that it will work, and make the bus a bit more unique looking, or I will end up needing to skin the front of the bus where I will be cutting a hole.
I bought this:

My plan is to see if the adjusters will make up for the lack of the slight angle it was originally mounted at, on the Jeep Commander it came out of. If that is successful, I will cut the turn signal off the side, and mock it up in some scrap steel sheet. I already investigated the mounting points, and they seem easy enough to reproduce, with a bit of effort, some luck, and a lot of welding, cutting, swearing, welding again, grinding, filling, and painting. You know what they say, hammer to fit, paint to match. If it goes well, I will order the passenger side light as well. Or maybe I will flip them, use them on opposite sides. I will see what I like best when I prototype it.

Besides, I am not terribly impressed with the light output of the original headlights, but also they aren't doing much to dispel the school bus look of the front end. This is important for two reasons, to me. One, my wife. Nuff said there. Two, the "WTF is that" factor. I do this to every vehicle. You should see my motorcycles. I don't get to modify my wife's street bike, per the rules, but the rest have been fair game. They are best described as an amalgamation. Suzuki, KTM, buell, even a HD part here and there. Nothing is sacred, it all falls prey to what works better, or looks interesting. It has to work better though, that's the big thing. Also, the rally lights stay, but they might get an HID upgrade. That's for later though, they are still working for now.

[bprestin]

Hi,
I live in Birch Run. MI. I work for Grangers and run one of the Co-Gen power plants on the east side. Your bus project is inspiring. I have been thinking of getting a bus for a while now and may take a trip over to the Midwest Transit’s site in IL. It's just so hard to fit in to our busy calendar. It seems every weekend is already booked. Plus I still have to convince my wife. She points out that all my projects always lead to more projects (and money spent). The kids like the idea though.
Would you mind showing me your bus? I get over to Lansing occasionally, usually for quarterly meetings. One is coming up soon I think.

Thanks, Bill

[dentedvw]

Bill, yeah, for sure I could give you the dime tour. It took me about a year to convince my own wife! But now, she is totally on board, she helps when she can, and she gets as much input as I do. We put off a project we haven't finished to work on this one, and that one is pretty dear to her, so I hope she knows that I appreciate that. I love you honey! ( I don't know if she reads this though )

Didn't do anything much today, other than cleaned up some mess from working on the bus the last few days. I did buy some angle steel for making the storage boxes underneath however. 1"x1"x 1/8", should be fine to hold together the treated plywood. I may use regular plywood and paint it with oil based paint though, I have a gallon or so of it hanging about from other projects.

Hopefully within the next few weeks we will get down to Red River Gorge for some climbing, it will be fun to take our daughter for her first real trip in the bus.

[dentedvw]

Next few weeks is out for sure. Got wiped out by the taxes. We are those people, waited until the last minute. Luckily we scraped enough together to pay up. Need to adjust someone's withholding. Enough of that mess, back to the bus!
What'd I do now? Only made the bus even worse looking, if that were possible. Started painting, didn't get too far. Wrong color. Really wrong color.

Elephant gray? Maybe, but more like battleship gray. With all these rivets and screws, it really starts to look a bit too industrial. Whoops. Try again later this week. I did get some help cleaning up before sanding though.

Speaking of sanding, I am glad I bought the elcheapo MIT orbital sander. There is a lot of sanding to be done. I have now ruled out the precise process of that $50 Rustoleum paint job. Forget wet sanding between six coats. I figured I didn't really have anything to lose, so I rolled it on full strength. Looks good enough for me. I might wet sand the long flat areas before buffing it, but that's about it. Still, the color was so wrong that it got the thumbs down from everyone that saw it. Guess that's a sign. Strongly considering spraying it with an airless sprayer I have had in the attic for ages. I will test it on some scrap metal first though. Maybe the hood of that white VW.
For what it's worth, having an impact driver to remove the screws holding all the doodads on the front was a HUGE help. I would have been wrecking a lot of screws otherwise. These will almost all go in the recycling bin in favor of new ones when it gets put back together. I only broke the heads off two, and they were easily extracted with PB blaster and vise grips afterwards, since enough of them was sticking out still. While I was up front, I also leveled the front bumper, it was a short and painless process, which makes me wonder why they couldn't bother to do it before they painted the bus. Attention to detail, check, oh, hey, break time again, just tighten it down wherever.
I also experimented a bit with the headlights, but it looks bad so far. Not enough depth to install the Commander lights. Blah. Plus, there is NO adjustment on the lamps, it must all be done with the mounts, I guess. Probably should have had a gander at one in situ before I went for it. No big deal, it's in excellent condition, not even a scratch, so it should sell easily. Eventually. Maybe I will find something else, sometime. There is only 5 1/2" of available space between the frame horn and the front of the bus, so that definitely limits the options.

[jkindt]

I agree with Smitty, grey makes a good primer! What is your final color going to be? If it is a light color, it will be much easier to cover the bright yellow if you use a primer, or elephant grey first.

[dentedvw]

I thought I had a scheme in mind, but it has met with disapproval, so all future plans must be approved by my wife. It's only fair, it belongs to both of us.

Hopefully we can discuss it tonight, and settle on something.

[jkindt]

Originally Posted by dentedvw

I thought I had a scheme in mind, but it has met with disapproval, so all future plans must be approved by my wife. It's only fair, it belongs to both of us.

Hopefully we can discuss it tonight, and settle on something.

Here's some food for thought. When picking a color, keep in mind that most buses don't have the straightest body panels, or the smoothest curves, etc... Darker glossy colors tend to show these imperfections much worse than lighter colors. Have a look at some cars, see how black ones show small dents while the white ones hide them. Some colors are better than others at hiding flaws. I once had a van that was bright green, it was the best at hiding small dents and dings. Those color-shift paints are the absolute worst at showing blemishes because they change color with small changes in viewing angle.

[Jarlaxle]

Also, dark colors hold heat in the summer! I suggest everything above the windows be either white or silver.

As for the lights: there are drop-in replacements for rectangular sealed-beams that are high-output lights.

[dentedvw]

Unfortunately that didn't go well at all. We had to have an argument. Ugh.
Well, have a lot of sanding to do, and it will be raining all weekend anyway, so it's not as though I was going to paint it this week. Perhaps next week we can hammer it out.
I know what you mean. This isn't exactly a smooth side Class A. We are going with something fairly simple. I will put up a picture when it gets a bit of paint on, and we can all make fun of it then.