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Old 10-28-2009, 06:38 PM   #1
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Hello, Smitty right no need for books with a great group of skoolie's to view and get good ideas from. Welcome, good luck with the cable. I have 3 rug rats myself and they do have a way of disappearing, drowning, ect... the very few crucial items I find. Seriously there is so much open discussion and info floating around this forum one could research anything necessary. Look forward to meeting your new project via picture...

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Old 10-30-2009, 09:47 AM   #2
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

if you have a habitat restore in your area, they have paint. at least mine here does. a ton of it. its cheap, but good paint. could help you narrow down the color. haha.
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Old 10-30-2009, 09:26 PM   #3
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

always glad to "entertain" haha. i love bad puns. and kudos on the zelda reference. i got it....and love it.
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Old 11-01-2009, 02:45 PM   #4
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

As for the floor....that classic school bus smell is entirely in that rubber floor. Its amazing. I pulled it and within a few minutes it didn't smell like a school bus anymore. It also gives you a nice flat surface to lay your floor and insulation. If you possibly have rust, or rotted wood, you need to pull the floor to fix that too. It is just a little work that you will definitely be glad you did. It doesn't serve you to keep it. You can, but it doesn't offer any real insulation....just smell. haha.

I pulled the panels above the windows to expose the ceiling struts to attach my framing to. It also gives you a wire run if you need it. It also lets you replace any insulation that may be there (mine had none) with better stuff to keep you bus more efficient. They are two relatively easy jobs (in the grand scope of a conversion they are easy at least compared to everything else). I would do it.
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Old 11-02-2009, 04:02 AM   #5
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

You could try finding the picture, right click on it and choose "Show Picture in new Tab/Window". That should break the picture free so you can see the address. I do this alot. Just try to make sure that you do it at the large version of the pic, not the smaller ones as they tend to be too small to see detail...
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Old 11-27-2009, 11:47 AM   #6
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Oddly enough I can't get that to work. If you would like to email me the files as attatchment I can toss it up on my flikr account or such.
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Old 11-27-2009, 11:54 AM   #7
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

I had problems loading pics. it turned out to be issues with pic size. A very nice online friend (Swinada) helped with it by giving this advice:

Tip for future pictures, re size them to about 640x480 and reduce the resolution that they can be viewed by people on dial up too. In case you don't know how to do that or don't have the right program download irfanview http://www.irfanview.com/ free little program which does batch conversions.
Open irfanview choose the file drop down menu and choose batch conversion / rename. Browse for the folder that hold your pictures and add all or selected pictures. Choose advanced options and set a % of original, and in the options panel set the slider to about 50. Choose a output folder and click start.
Now you should have all your pictures nicely sized for internet use. Less time for you to upload them, less time and scrolling for people trying to look at your pictures.
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Old 12-01-2009, 01:10 AM   #8
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Good for the pictures!

Looks like y'all have a great start on the project. Take the concept and run with it, folks!!! A bus can make a comfortable, convenient, and interesting living space with some creativity and elbow grease. The more you can scrounge, the better off you are, IMHO -- scrounging means re-cycling, which means less resource demand, pollution, etc.

Some things that I have been able to scrounge (or get really cheap):

Lumber for framing and finish carpentry. Source: industrial packing for loads of plastic pipe -- they take rough two-by-fours that look like crap and make a square frame (about 42"x42") near each end of a bundle of pipe, then strap it all together with banding steel. The advantage of these boards over pallets is that they don't have (many) nails in them. You can slice the faces off the 2x4s with a table saw and end up with decent lumber about 1"x3" wide (1/4" slice off each face). Or you can cut them to other dimensions. Point is, that the wood may look rough on the outside, but on the inside it can be in good condition. If you use a halfway decent sawblade, you can get smooth faces on the wood. Check with places that use a lot of plastic pipe -- lawn sprinkle companies, well drilling supply companies.

Plywood Source: construction site trash piles. Ask first, unless the stuff is on the road (obviously.)

Sink Source: guy that sells junk out of an old gas station. Cost $15.00 for a stainless steel double sink. It needed some cleaning, but cleaned up very nicely.

Faucet Source: Trashpile. My ex's ex-landlord (not my favorite guy if you read my early posts ) threw out a faucet during a kitchen remodel. I have seen usable sinks on trashpiles outside home remodeling jobs, as well.

Tile for kitchen Source: leftovers from old tile project.

Stone for hearth Source: picked up off side of road locally.

Stove Source: Well--- I scrounged much of the material to build a stove, but the guy who was going to build it didn't have time, so he gave me the use of a (really nice) woodstove. I *could have* had a nice scrounged stove, I think (but I like the one he's letting me use, too.) Material was primarily 12" steel pressure pipe for a water main. 1/2" thick walls. The bell end that was attached to the 5' piece I was going to use had 1 1/2" thick steel walls. The whole piece weighed right at 400 pounds. It took either a front end loader or 4 really big strong guys to move it.

Rustic (rusted) Sheet metal to cover my toilet enclosure Source: old trailer underskirting someone had abandoned at a trailer park.

Marine water heater, chronometer, and barometer Source: salvaged from sailboat. (The barometer only works metaphorically -- it is always pointing to CHANGE! )

5 gallon buckets Source: commercial trash bins, side of the road, etc. (I'm using them for a toilet -- i don't care if they had paint in them...)

Amber lens covers for Red flashing school bus lights Source: local school district school bus maintenance yard. They had an old bus out back, and I asked if I could get the light covers off it. They just went back in the shop and got me 4 (2 front, 2 back) that they had already pulled from something. Free. Very nice of them. Also a throttle cable for my engine setup.

Raw wood -- sticks and branches. You can use these to make coat hooks, curtain rods, supports for shelves, handles for cabinets, or (if you are ambitious) furniture pieces. Wood like mountain laurel or rhododendron is neat looking because it is crooked as all get out, and it is smooth and the bark stays on well when it dries, so it won't flake or start looking all "shed-y".

Old silverware -- Drill two holes in the blade of an old table knife with an interesting pattern on the handle -- bend blade at 45 degrees to handle and screw it to wall -- VOILA! neat looking coat hook or curtain rod holder.

The drawback to scrounging is that you can't just go out and get something. This, however, can be good! It means that you have to consider the need that you are trying to fulfill. As you consider that need and keep your eyes open for the object that can fill it, you may come to understand how something else can fulfill the need as well -- functional equivalency -- or that you don't *really* need the object at all.

Not free/scrounged, but cheap:

Curtain material for INTERIOR (not sun exposed) curtains -- sheets from thrift store. TRY YARD SALES.

Upholstery scraps (not really cheap, but cheaper than roll fabric) for the wall panel coverings -- fabric store odd lot table. TRY YARD SALES for cheap 'fabric equivalents" (drapes, sheets, etc.)

Things I could have had for free but didn't want:

4 spotless electric captains chairs from a van -- "They're perfect for your bus!" Yeah, right, I don't carry passengers, and I don't want a bunch of chairs bolted down in my living area floor. I declined politely, but the people didn't understand how I could turn them down.

A futon frame and mattress. "That's what you need for your bus, so you'll have somewhere to sleep besides the floor." I LIKE THE FLOOR, THANKS! And, I can roll my bed up and put it under my dinette seat when I want floor space to work on a project inside the bus.

Numerous pieces of "normal" furniture -- armchairs, pappa-sans, etc. They just don't fit into the minimalist/utilitarian/flexible-space kind of personal lifestyle that I have.

A toilet. "Hey, man, take this. You won't have to crap in a bucket." I have a 20 gallon holding tank, and you're giving me an old 4 gal/flush toilet? You do the math....

Electric appliances -- toaster ovens, micro-waves, small refrigerators (YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY!!), electric percolators (I have a STOVE and a PERCOLATER). A) they take up floor space and counter space, neither of which I have a lot of; B) they don't fit into my electrical system plan (12VDC longterm); C) I don't keep a lot of heat-n-eat food because it requires refrigeration; D) refrigation is not necessary and ranks somewhere just under TEEVEE as a pet peeve of mine; E) I put a LOT of thought into acquiring things (and often reject them) because then they burden me with the responsibilities of ownership; F) ....but I digress.../rant off.

Don't be afraid to say "no, thank you" to people. On the other hand...lotsa good stuff can get gone while you're thinking about it... Contrary to the popular saying, beggars can be choosers -- just be a choosy beggar, it works, trust me.


Also, look at stuff in ways it's not meant to be looked at..."unnatural" ways. There's no reason a 36" flatscreen TEEVEE can't be used as a coffee table (well, not with the power on) if you don't need it for anything else. How would people react to that (art in utility?)? Can they bring themselves to set a drink on the face of a TEEVEE set? HORROR! (actually, now that I think about it, this would be a really neat idea. Wonder how hard it is to find a broken HDTV set.... HMMMM!!

antique wooden maple sugaring bucket + 8 quart stainless mixing bowl = rustic sink basin

Consider of each thing: whence it comes; of what it consists; and into what it changes.

I lined a half whiskey barrel (the kind you get at Wal-mart to use as a planter) with fiberglass, and now have a showerpan/sitz bath/laundry tub (SAVES A BUNDLE). total cost far less than a commercial RV shower unit.

Your world is what you make it -- you get to say what a thing is, what it does, what it means to people, and, most importantly, what it means to YOU. Don't let someone else project their interpretation of the world as the frame of reference from which YOU view things.

But, you probably already understand what I'm saying because, well, you are the kind of person who lives in a school bus! Sorry this became a ramble. It's supposed to be encouragement and congratulations! The bus looks good, and y'all seem to be having fun, and that's really cool!

-- first final exam in law school is on Friday! back to studying!!!
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Old 12-01-2009, 09:05 AM   #9
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Joni made curtains for our entire bus out of upholstery samples from the local furniture store. They were changing the fashion and threw out all their old ones. They are UV protected, stain, fade and mold resistant. Although small, they quilted together rather well. You might check around your local store for such samples, etc...
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Old 12-03-2009, 11:51 AM   #10
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

When you spray with rustoleam do you thin it or just go for it right out of can?
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Old 12-03-2009, 08:38 PM   #11
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Pictures!!!
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Old 12-03-2009, 09:45 PM   #12
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

I used a paint sold by Tractor Supply. It is a Val-Spar product called BPS Tractor and Implement Enamel. I sanded down to clean old paint, wiped with acetone as I went, and then painted it with a roller. People are amazed that I used a roller because it actually came out very well. I think it's best to use the shortest nap roller possible. Get good quality roller covers because they are less likely to shed fluff into the paint.

I used a 1/3 sheet Black&Decker orbital sander. It went quickly. I don't recall what grade sandpaper I used. Definately use a good sander, and don't be conservative with the sandpaper -- it's a lot cheaper than your time! When it stops cutting, don't push harder and try to get the very last out of it. It is a consumable supply. Save the pieces for hand sanding other projects, but do yourself the favor of changing paper often.

WEAR A MASK WHEN YOU SAND. No telling what's in the paint of a 25 year old bus....

IIRC, I did thin the mixture by the maximum recommended proportion (like 8 oz of thinner per gallon or something.)

I painted an area about 3'x3' (it's what I can reach), then moved on and painted two more areas the same size. THEN, I went back over the first area with the depleted roller from the third area -- that smooths out the few bubbles that might be left. It's important to let the first area get a bit tacky first, thus you are always working 2 areas ahead of the one you are going to go back over -- gives it time to dry a bit. It's important that you use a depleted roller for this, I think, and that you work the area pretty firmly with it when you go back over an area. The little bit of paint on the roller keeps it from sticking to the tacky paint, and working it firmly helps to smooth out any little air bubbles left by the roller.

I found that if I didn't re-roll an area, I would invariably end up with pin-prick bubbles here and there.

Brush or blow off the bus VERY WELL if you used any steel wool. The tiny fragments of it like to hide in nooks and crannies and then get into the paint, where they rust and leave little tiny rust streaks in the paint.

I only put one coat on. That was 5 years ago, almost. The only places where it is coming up are small dings where the paint got nicked by stones from the lawnmower, and a small spot on a sharp corner on one of the roof ribs. When I wash it it still looks nice and white. Not quite as shiny as it once was, but not a weathered, flat white.

For the 2 small spots of rust on the body, I used Rustoleum Primer for Rusty Metal. Rustoleum says that you should not use the rusty metal primer on good metal, so I didn't. But I only primered those two rusty spots. The rest of the bus I just took down to fresh(er) paint.

Here's a pictorial of how I painted mine.

http://www.skoolie.net/gallery2/v/Sk...Shift/album15/

[added]As you can see in the picture, I couldn't have used a spray gun in the location I was working.
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Old 02-07-2010, 03:18 PM   #13
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

You would have a hard time finding information about a B700 motor, because you are correct, it does not exist. The B700 refers to the chassis that the bus is built upon. The motor could be anything from a gas engine, propane engine, or a diesel engine. Someone had a link posted that you could plug your VIN number into to decode what was originally equipped on the bus, I think it was a link to the ford website or something like that.
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Old 02-07-2010, 07:42 PM   #14
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Hey there-
If you get your VIN #, you can go to Ford Truck Enthusiast forum, and ask there. They'll tell you what it's "supposed" to have for an engine. Chances are good that it will be what came stock with your bus. It's a good start anyway. BTW, there's a sub category for the Ford big trucks, and it will say "F"700, not "B"700, which is just the designation for a bus instead of a truck. Ask in that column- those guys will know what you're talking about. Good luck
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Old 02-13-2010, 06:51 AM   #15
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

In WI the DMV told me to be an RV it has to be listed under 10k. Maybe they were trying to give you RV rather than commercial status?
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Old 02-13-2010, 11:48 PM   #16
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Here is another interesting VIN type site.

http://www.vindecipher.com/gates/

I got some interesting info here.
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Old 02-26-2010, 07:12 AM   #17
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Fantastic! Good Luck!

and they probably thought you were a chick due to your feminine username. Maybe change your avatar to a picture of yourself? Or perhaps change the username.
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Old 02-26-2010, 01:52 PM   #18
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Oh man! Sorry to hear that... but glad it happened close to home.
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Old 02-26-2010, 02:33 PM   #19
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

Quote:
Originally Posted by sophieshouse
yeah me to , do you know of a place where i can get a turbo unit at a fair price
Sorry, I've not delved into parts acquisition for my bus yet. I would just advise you to be aware that other types of trucks will have the same engine as your bus, so any place that sells truck parts would be a place to look.
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Old 03-09-2010, 07:43 PM   #20
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Re: "Epona" Sophies' New Home

My thoughts are that the belt might be stretching or the bolts are slipping.
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