bus bumpkin build

[neat0727]

Hello everybody, I have a 99 International 3800 bus with AmTran body. It has a dt466e and Allision 2300 Hs trans, over 200k miles, and is from a KY school district. I am planning to work on as much as possible everyday to make it something I can live in full time, and hopefully have it road ready by July/August. We are on the third day of having it/progress; we've grinded the seats down and off, taken many many screws out, ripped up middle flooring track, and taken some panels off. There is no plywood, just rubber and then metal. Some of the insulation still looks really good and some I have taken out already/will be and replacing it. I plan to do rigid insulation boards and plywood. Still deciding final floor/walls/ceiling. I want to install solar panels, composting toilet, and even a garden/greenhouse area where my wheelchair lift is. I want to keep the build relatively simple - only one wall/sliding door up for the bathroom, minimal lights (skylight hatch instead of the emergency exit), with the original windows and functional bed/bath/kitchen. Any help or tips is appreciated

[HazMatt]

Welcome to the booby hatch!

Kinda curious why you went all the way to KY, when less corroded busses can be had from more temperately Winter weathered states equidistant, if not closer...

[neat0727]

The bus was brought from there to Florida ��

[HazMatt]

So, it was a geographical decision, gotcha!

Originally Posted by neat0727

The bus was brought from there to Florida ��

Please don't take any disparagement: I have a 3800 too, and wish it had the 466 instead of a 444!

Just thinking, given FL's rampant humidity, what rust I saw won't transmogrify into steel w/o some serious effort on your part.

Fortunately, there are a wealth of threads here to steer you in the right direction.

[AZHippie]

Should go pretty quickly now. No rails on floor to remove plywood should come up easily. Good luck and have fun!

[neat0727]

Day 4
We got a lot of the floor torn out, some of the lugs in the wheelchair restraints aren’t budging at all so we grinded around a few to see how much rust were working with. I found a few holes in the floor that are distressing but not so bad I think. I need to get the wheelchair lift out, and my driver seat area as well to get all the rubber up. I also have pulled out my heater from under the side corner tin boards, debating looping the front heater and deleting the back tomorrow. Tips for sealing rust, getting the wheelchair restraints out, and framing and insulating the floor next??

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by neat0727

Day 4
We got a lot of the floor torn out, some of the lugs in the wheelchair restraints aren’t budging at all so we grinded around a few to see how much rust were working with. I found a few holes in the floor that are distressing but not so bad I think. I need to get the wheelchair lift out, and my driver seat area as well to get all the rubber up. I also have pulled out my heater from under the side corner tin boards, debating looping the front heater and deleting the back tomorrow. Tips for sealing rust, getting the wheelchair restraints out, and framing and insulating the floor next??

Your heater relocation has me thinking now of putting one back in right behind the driver seat.

[AZHippie]

I didn't have those type of WC mounts, mine were on rails that ran the length of the bus. They were bolted straight through with a hex head on top and underneath was a 7/16 nut. We were able to get some out with my wife in the bus holding a ratchet with the hex head and I went underneath with an impact gun and socket. the ones we couldn't reach we cut off the head with a cutoff blade and punched through.

[neat0727]

My progress is slow moving as there’s been lots of little obstacles so far; my wheelchair mounts are seemingly impossible to uproot, someone who was coming to buy my wheelchair lift canceled the day it was supposed to be picked up, and I still don’t have the floor up around the stairs and driver seat, or looped the front heater to delete the back one. Much to do! Grinding, brushing, rust converting, and painting have been pretty satisfying to see when done. Tomorrow I’ll be taking it up to a storage lot where I can work on it with 24/7 access as code enforcement kindly informed me that the city zoning policies and rv rules don’t allow for me to keep it by my family house.
I’ve been changing the layout in my head back and forth, my bus is 31 ft. from the bumpers and 24.5 I think from the drivers seat to back wall. Been looking into self made compost toilets and solar panel set ups - very excited to buy some actual material soon.
I have a question - my emergency door alarm doesn’t stop even though the doors and windows are secured? Just looked at the fuse box today but I don’t understand it much yet, would really like to drive it up the road tomorrow without the loud noise.

[neat0727]

figured out the alarm was actually for my front door since it doesn’t close all the way so I had to use a bungee cord to keep it secure

[HazMatt]

That'd do it, for sure!
On mine, there's a push button that's depressed when the door opening arm is fully retracted, behind which is the switch.
Not much spring tension there, you can easily rig it "shut."

[neat0727]

I’m still in the gutting phase; so many rusted/spinning wheelchair restraints almost make me wish my bus came with more seats instead. I’ve started taking down many of the corner panels to expose wiring, gotten the from floor under and around the drivers seat up, and done a coat of white rustoleum on the already ospho’d(?) back area.
After I finish getting the lift and hopefully the rest of the wheelchair restraints out (a few of them are inaccessible from under the bus, we’ve tried using sockets and ultimately the grinder from underneath - has anyone just insulated over them?) I will finish ospho on the previously uncovered spots and paint more rustoleum. I plan to use 2x4s, 1 in of insulation (biggest I can find near me), 3/4”plywood. Someone told me about the life-proof laminate flooring, has anyone used it in their bus? Trying to plan what to use for the walls, floor, ceiling, I love any stained wood really.
Honestly, I’m having a lot of fun learning and working on the bus (even being under it feels like a cool cave, and a few people have been very helpful in the process so far. I’m considering keeping the back heater that it came with, any help on detailing and maintaining them, my front air filter piece is damaged also. My friend sketched some floor plans for me but I’m not sure how to balance the weight accordingly.
And advice is appreciated

[EastCoastCB]

Cool, it definitely was a KY bus!

[neat0727]

ripped up more of the floor around the drivers area and stairs, finally sold the wheelchair lift, repainted everything up to the drivers area so far

[neat0727]

A few frames and insulation are finally in

[neat0727]

realized i didn’t post new pics, here’s my nearly done subfloor, and although i haven’t found any ceiling leaks we’re doing a few coats of flex seal on the roof. just got back from a mini vacation to CO so i can’t wait to get back to working on the gal

[neat0727]

I need to speed up my build sooo much, not too educated on framing walls next

[neat0727]

hello, I’ve finished my side wall framing, built the queen size bed frame, and have my 100 gal water tanks waiting for mounting. I have school in Orlando in less than two weeks so am trying to do everything at once; registration, finding a place to park near UCF, setting up a generator system, finishing out my framing. If anyone is in Lee County Florida and could come help speed things up it’d be so appreciated 👏🏻