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Old 12-13-2004, 07:19 PM   #81
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yes...at this time i plan to attend Burningman 05......but we'll have to see what happens between now and then.

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Old 12-13-2004, 08:06 PM   #82
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windshield wipers on the inside, i love that.
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Old 01-03-2005, 10:44 PM   #83
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Winter is my off season as far as skoolie usage. I (we, I have a roomate now,and he's almost as crazy as me) decided that now is a great time for the bus to undergo a complete reconstruction. I've made up my mind that I don't need a new bus, and 57mph top speed isn't so bad. I felt much differently immediately after i spent a month crusing the country....but at this time I just dont' think it's worth the time effort money and hassel to make the bus go faster, or find a different bus. I've had a serious problem with mixing diesel fuel into my crankase thus diluting the engine oil. ONe good thing is that it doens't add diesel fuel much faster than i already loose oil, so it doesn't get overfull. I've tracked the problem to my injector pump. Next week I take the bus into the shop for a new (nearly free) injector pump. Hopefully that goes well.

Today we pulled out all of the couches, furniture, stereo,.....pretty much everything, including the original stock rubber floor. Water had gotten between the rubber and the marine grade plywood from the jacuzzi project. We removed all of the rubber flooring....this was less than fun! I let the original plywood floor dry for most of a day with the furnace and other fans running. She dried out nicely. Then i put some osb overtop so the flooring guy will havea good surface to work with.



It took 2 guys a total of about 16 hours of hard work to get to this point!

Inside is still the jacuzzi If all goes as planned, the new floor will be installed this Saturday. The new floor is really cool. It's made of two materials. Part 1 is chopped up rubber that feels much like soft pencil erasers. Part 2 is a glue. The two are mixed together and applied with a trowell. The flooring guy approached me some time ago and wanted to do the bus for free....so i'm finally taking him up on his offer. I"m not sure what color it's going to be yet, i can't recall if we had a conversation about that or not.
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Old 01-03-2005, 10:58 PM   #84
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depending on how long it takes to get the injector pump replaced, we hope to have the bus back together in a month or less.

You can ask steve, skoolie admin, Nearly everything on the bus was only done half right to begin with. One of my biggest faults when i built the bus was my electrical wireing. I"m not the kind of guy to do really maticulous finish work....i really just like to make things work, then i seem to move on to the next adventure leaving wires in a rather disorderly fashion. After the Floor, and the IP, the next thing i want to do is Re-wire all the stuff that i did in the bus. I bought lots of wire, connectors, and a junction box today.

Next step is the cieling. The paint is peeling, especially over the jacuzzi. Perhaps i should have scuffed the original paint and applied some primer before i painted the cieleing the first time. There are lots of rivets! Sanding isn't going to be much fun. I think a wire wheel in the angle grinder is the ticket! With two of us grinding away (pun intended) we should be able to do the entire cieling in one day. Then i want to prep the surface properly, paint it black with florecent orange flames. Then cover the entire ceiling in shiny chain link fence.

Then there's the wall between the jacuzzi and the living quarters. I've always needed some steps, and the original wall was errected in about an hour with mateials that i happened to have on hand. The new idea is to build a wall and steps out of glass block 8"x8"x3".

It'll cost about 200 bucks....but since nearly everything else in the bus was free or cheap, I think it's ok. Then i can have colored lights shine through the glass block...it should give a pretty cool effect.

I"ll keep ya posted....and i'll try to upload some photo's of the process.

I love a good adventure!
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Old 01-06-2005, 11:54 PM   #85
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Sounds like a lot of work but a lot of fun at the same time. It sounds like you will have a really awsome rig when you are done. Can't wait to see the pictures.
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Old 01-11-2005, 03:37 PM   #86
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Nothing seems to move at my speed. The floor and the injector pump projects are on hold...I guess beggars can't be choosers. it's ok though, thre's lots of other sub-projects to work on

yeserday we scraped the paint off the cieling.....That was less than fun! It took about 5 or 6 hours for two of us working pretty much nonstop with an angle grinder/wire wheel and an electric sander. After we were about half done, i tried some "aircraft remover" paint stripper. Then i let it dry for a couple hours. That made it much much easier to remove the old paint with the wire wheel.

This trumps removing the seats as the most miserable part of the bus project so far. Hopefully tomorrow i'll get all the taping completed, and start the priming/painting process.

once the ceiling is complete, i plan to install the glass block wall

Then hopefully i can get the floor finished, and the new injector pump put on before spring. Spring really is just around the corner. Once spring gets here, i'll use the bus non-stop untill october. Not much time for major projects once the rush is on.
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Old 01-13-2005, 09:14 PM   #87
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Today we finished scraping paint....then spent the next couple hours getting everything primed. (after i spent a couple hours installing our new used 220 volt 5hp air compressor) I applied one coat of black, then I ran out of material to spray! UGGGGGG. It would have been so easy to pick up an extra gallon while i was at the store. I work 24 hours tomorrow, so the rest of the painting process will have to wait until saturday.

The gloss black looks really good inside the bus. I can't wait to get it finished.
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Old 01-30-2005, 08:27 AM   #88
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Got her all painted inside. It looks sharp. I'll post pic's soon.

Got the glass block wall installed....mostly. I built it in two sections in the house, then carried it out to the bus. That was far easier said than done! Glass block is heavy and awkward !

One thing i noticed after i got the wall in the bus is how unlevel the jacuzzi is. One side of the hot tub sits much lower than the other. I'll put a 2x4 under one side of the jacuzzi in an attempt to level it out.

I plan to use diamond plate alluminum for the steps on the way into the bus, and the steps built into the glass block wall leading to the jacuzzi.

The newest idea is to use mirrors on the walls of the bus...............I'll have to check into prices for and the availablity of mirrors that are made from safety glass or something similair. The approx dimensions will be about 2 feet x 16 feet. This might prove to be cost prohibitive.....but it sure would look nice.

I'm also considering a waterfall in the rear of the bus. Not a real waterfall, but one of those that is actually a piece of glass with water flowing over it. It's not necessary, but seems like a fun cheap simple idea that will add an awsome effect. I'll light the waterWall the same color as the glass block wall.

She's coming together quite well. I'm a little over on the time frame however. I had originally planned to finish by the end of january. It's hard to get motivated some mornings during the winter!
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Old 01-30-2005, 10:38 AM   #89
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rather than glass mioor check into the plasic stuff..we used it at a carnavel ride place and its tough stuff... outside of a plastic shopI wouldn't know where to look..glass shops "MIGHT" be able to come up with it.

*edit..found you a link http://www.americanacrylics.com/mirror.htm
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Old 01-31-2005, 08:14 PM   #90
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Thanks for the link! Glass mirror here at my local glass shop is 2.50 per square foot.

the plastic mirror from that link is only 2.00 per square foot.....plus shipping. I think i'm going to go this route. I'm basically going to cover the windows on the inside with mirror. The wall below the windows isn't visible due to the seating arrangement. The first 16 feet on both sides of th bus (from the very front up to the jacuzzi) will have mirrored walls. Should give a cool effect, and make lighting more efficient.

Thanks again for the link.
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Old 02-01-2005, 07:32 PM   #91
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np..after working with plastics and fiberglass I'm a big fan of both *S*
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Old 02-02-2005, 05:13 PM   #92
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I e-mailed the acrylic glass company and found the mirror i want costs about 2.00 per square foot. I need about 64 sqft making the total about $128 plus shipping. Or...Home depot sells the same material for $4.00 sqft.

I guess it depends on how much shipping is gonna cost.....and how much patience i have. I'm excited about the mirror, I think it'll look great!
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Old 02-02-2005, 05:19 PM   #93
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I took the bus in to the local high school vocational technical center today to get the lifter pump fixed on my bus. Diesel fuel has been getting mixed into the crankcase oil for some time now. I believe the lifter pump diaphragm is the culprit, caused by running the wvo line at high pressure.

The shop plans to also remove the injectors for inspection/cleaning. They promised me some photos of the injectors. It'll be interesting to see if there is any bad wvo residue left over. I've burned about 1,000 gallons of wvo, and about 1,000 gallons of diesel in the past year.

When/if i finally retire this motor, vo-tech wants to do a complete tear down and inspection to see if there is any serious damage caused by wvo usage.

Hopefully i get the bus back soon so i can finish the reconstruction project. There is definately light at the end of the tunnell now.
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Old 03-23-2005, 07:11 PM   #94
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Finally got the bus back today!

it's been a good month and a half that it's been gone.

Now the real fun begins as i finish up the reconstruction project.
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Old 03-23-2005, 11:40 PM   #95
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Don't keep us in suspense!

Well, what did the injector inspection show? Is there any evident gumming or residue in the parts of the engine they inspected? Obviously it was in running order when you got it back, so the problem with the pump must be cured, which is great.
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Old 03-31-2005, 06:55 PM   #96
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I had the bus worked on at the local high school vo-tech, students worked on the bus while being supervised by a diesel mechanic.

They were only able to remove one injector..the rest of them apparently were stuck in the cylinder head. They took it out and tested the spray pattern and said that it was fine. Unfortunately i wasn't able to get any photos. They didn't notice anything else wrong, besided the O-rings on the lifter pump. They were destroyed by the high pressure 12 volt pump feeding veggie oil to the system. I have since purchased a low pressure veggie pump that should solve the problem for good.
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Old 03-31-2005, 07:03 PM   #97
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The electrical wireing that i did originally was a complete mess! Not because i lack the skills, but because i was too lazy to do it right the first time. I cut out hundreds of feet of wire and have completely re-wired the entire bus. Including the inverters, all 110 volt lights, circuits, outlets, and switches. Plus the brand new car stereo with pioneer speakers, and i reworked all of the non-stock 12 volt systems. This has been the biggest part of the remodel job so far. IT took several 8 or more hour days to finish the electrical.
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Old 03-31-2005, 07:10 PM   #98
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the area behind the jacuzzi is about 6 feet long and originally housed the four 55 gallon drums used to hold the excess jacuzzi water when in transit. I now plan to mount the drums under the bus to give me more room inside. That's if I am happy with the lack of clearance i'll have. The drums will hang well below the body of the bus.

The rear most section of the bus will become the VIP area with seating, storage, and a bed. It'll be separated from the rest of the bus by a plexiglass water-wall.

still waiting on the floor guy.....

The front of the bus will basically contain the tv/entertianment center and a series of benches with storage underneath. There will also be a microwave, killer house stereo system, lots of rope lights/ blacklights,

Between the jacuzzi and the rest of the bus is now a glass block half wall. it's about the same height as the jacuzzi. The steps for the jacuzzi and for the entrance to the bus will be diamond plate alluminum. This stuff is crazy expensive right now, but it sure looks good.

Tomorrow i'll pick up another pair of 6volt deep cycle golf cart batteries giving me a rating of 220 amp hours. I'd like to keep adding batteries so i don't have to run my geni or idle the bus engine when parked. I don't do much boondocking, mostly I just drive to a party or event and hang out for a few hours or possibly a day. If only i could store more engergy cheaper! Batteries are expensive.

In the next week or two i should have plenty of photos. I'm extremely happy with the way the bus is turning out!

I hope to have her back into service by the end of april.

Wish i had the money for a honda eu2000 geni, and an air X wind generator. I still have not given up the idea of using a small 4 cylinder auto engine to charge batteries with a severly oversped alternator(s). The engine could also be used to heat the water in the jacuzzi while producing electricity.
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Old 04-01-2005, 10:13 AM   #99
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re: roofrack or balcony

How is your bus-top balcony holding up? I loved the idea and not being a welder I apreciate the simplicity of your desingn. I am planning somthing similar. If you were to do it again is there anything you would do different? Do you have anymore photo's of it's construction or it finished? Thanks. -Richard
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Old 04-01-2005, 10:39 AM   #100
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I was planning on putting mirrors on the bedroom walls, always thought that was cool even as a little Kid. I see that they an curve the sheeting so may be neet for the sealing as well. :P
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