My 89 E350 Bus Conversion

[48Mugs]

So I am starting my bus conversion and thought I would share some pictures of my progress. I am just finishing up the interior removal. The bus is a ford e350 with 460 engine and C6 transmission. It had sat for some time with leaky windows so most the floor is rotted out and it has made nice home for mice in the past. In short, lots of cleaning is going to take place before rebuilding.









I hope you guys don't mind the watermarks, pictures are hosted on my site where I post my trip's photography too so I have an automatic watermarking plug-in installed.

Anyways, the AZ sun has got the best of me so I am taking a break for a couple of hours get some water and run to home depot and get some foam board to fit into the window hole and get ready for some aluminum replacements.

As I said the bus was home to several generations of rodents and has feces every where. I am thinking of removing the spray foam and start fresh. What are your thoughts?

Do I use spray foam again or go with board? Pros and Cons?

Thanks for reading.

[Canned Ham]

Don't disturb any of that mouse poop until you have read up on "Hantavirus" and how to properly clean up from a mouse invasion, being especially careful about not inhaling the airborne particles.

[Canned Ham]

And meanwhile, welcome to the skoolie nuts' forum!!

[48Mugs]

Originally Posted by Canned Ham

Don't disturb any of that mouse poop until you have read up on "Hantavirus" and how to properly clean up from a mouse invasion, being especially careful about not inhaling the airborne particles.

Thanks for this. This is something I worried about even though nothing seems real "Fresh" My problem is I had on of the ceiling panel fall right in front of me and distributed a nice cloud of who knows what so I am either luck or F*cked. Time will tell. "thinking to self, should have warn my breathing mask!"

In the mean time I will look into the proper steps into cleaning up after this invasion.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by 48Mugs

Thanks for this. This is something I worried about even though nothing seems real "Fresh" My problem is I had on of the ceiling panel fall right in front of me and distributed a nice cloud of who knows what so I am either luck or F*cked. Time will tell. "thinking to self, should have warn my breathing mask!"

In the mean time I will look into the proper steps into cleaning up after this invasion.

I've eaten and breathed in many pounds of bus and bus funk. You'll survive!

[BusFiend]

Originally Posted by 48Mugs

Do I use spray foam again or go with board? Pros and Cons?

Thanks for reading.

I can't tell what kind of foam you have in there now. Two-part, closed-cell foam is, however, the preferred method of insulation, for many reasons. It's also the most expensive. Unless there is a truly compelling reason to remove what you have, I'd leave it and simply worry about the floor.

[48Mugs]

Originally Posted by BusFiend

I can't tell what kind of foam you have in there now. Two-part, closed-cell foam is, however, the preferred method of insulation, for many reasons. It's also the most expensive. Unless there is a truly compelling reason to remove what you have, I'd leave it and simply worry about the floor.

I don't know the type just know it some kind of "spray" type that I am pretty sure is the original to the bus. The only reason to remove it is purely sanitary reasons.

If I think it is good to keep I may just top it off and board up the new walls. Thanks for the info.

[48Mugs]

Holy crap that two-type closed cell is expensive but hey good quality stuff usually is.

[48Mugs]

Ok so I have run into an issue and would like to get some feed back. I hope to get my tools back today so I can track down the issue more.

The bus won't start or it starts and dies quickly. sometimes I can keep it going by pressing on the gas after it starts but it will die quickly w/o doing so.

The bus ran great when I parked it and it only sat for little over a week. I was told that a new Fuel pump was put in and the tank was cleaned, though he admitted it was a pain to get a round the baffles so he wasn't sure how clean he got it.

I am not familiar with the quarks of a ford 460 engine and I am waiting for my Haynes Manual to arrive by mail. So any head start advice would be great, I need to get it moved by this weekend.

[BusFiend]

Without being there, it does seem like a fuel issue...

Start cheap. I would pick up a couple of fuel filters. Depending on how the tank was cleaned, it could have introduced copious amounts of crud into the fuel lines. Filters don't like crud. Swap out the filter(s) and see if that doesn't fix the problem.

[sdwarf36]

PRAY you don't have broken exhaust studs.
Unfortunately its common with the 460.

[48Mugs]

Originally Posted by sdwarf36

PRAY you don't have broken exhaust studs.
Unfortunately its common with the 460.

So what you are saying is I should probably replace them with quality studs? Thanks for this heads up and fingers crossed that is not the case. Pissed I would be!

[48Mugs]

Originally Posted by BusFiend

Without being there, it does seem like a fuel issue...

Start cheap. I would pick up a couple of fuel filters. Depending on how the tank was cleaned, it could have introduced copious amounts of crud into the fuel lines. Filters don't like crud. Swap out the filter(s) and see if that doesn't fix the problem.

Thanks for your reply. Posted this on 3 ford forums and nothing. This place rocks as a community and info for that fact. Fuel filters are on top of my list just due to the fact he said he cleaned the tanks. Will be blowing out the fuel lines too along with a basic tune up though I know the engine is getting spark so that isn't an immediate issue.

[sdwarf36]

Originally Posted by 48Mugs

So what you are saying is I should probably replace them with quality studs? Thanks for this heads up and fingers crossed that is not the case. Pissed I would be!

Oh theres no removing them. You will break them if you try. Don't touch them unless you have to.
Theres 2 ways to do the job-and both suck. Trying to drill the broken bolts in vehicle (you have to jack the motor up to get at them-takes days. ) Or pulling the heads+ bring them to a machine shop.
Not trying to scare you-or say bad things about your purchase-But I was the guy in the machine shop. I've done many.

[Carytowncat]

Great idea to blow out the fuel lines. That should eliminate any gunk in em from reclogging the filter. Good luck with this, would be nice if it's just clogged up filter

[48Mugs]

Originally Posted by sdwarf36

Oh theres no removing them. You will break them if you try. Don't touch them unless you have to.
Theres 2 ways to do the job-and both suck. Trying to drill the broken bolts in vehicle (you have to jack the motor up to get at them-takes days. ) Or pulling the heads+ bring them to a machine shop.
Not trying to scare you-or say bad things about your purchase-But I was the guy in the machine shop. I've done many.

oh goodie I shall pray to all the gods and even make some up in hopes this is not a thing I deal with. Thanks!

[48Mugs]

Originally Posted by Carytowncat

Great idea to blow out the fuel lines. That should eliminate any gunk in em from reclogging the filter. Good luck with this, would be nice if it's just clogged up filter

So nice. Tomorrow I find out. Keep you all posted. Want to get back to building my bus not fixing it.

[cadillackid]

ive gotten exhaust studs out before.. if they arent broken but need tightened.. I heat the manifold nearly cherry but not the bolt and then slowly i work and turn a little at a time...

if they have broken.. I use a right angle drill and drill a hole in the middle, place an easy out in .. and then heat the Manifold.. and work slowly.. heat turn cool a bit, heat turn, cool a bit... heat too long and turn too hard will break stuff.. its always heat turn cool heat turn cool that has given me an 80-90% success rate on frozen studs or broken ones.. of course if the yare at the back and you cant get a right angle drill in then its yank the head...

-Christopher

[48Mugs]

So I beating my head against the paneling of my bus right now trying to get this thing to start.

First, a little common sense reminder that I failed at: When the guy you are buying your vehicle from says it has a new fuel pump in it, have them show you the paperwork! The fuel pump and unit was rotted and rusted to hell and back as you can see in the picture below:



Next I checked the water seperator: Look yummy!



cleaned out the lines and put a new fuel filter, pump, and assembly in and now I can confirm I am getting fuel (Clean Fuel too) to the engine though I haven't checked the pressure, as I need to get a t-adapter supposedly.

Still won't start, wont even kind of start.

I checked the spark and I think I have really weak spark which may be my problem. I had to pretty much rub the spark plug connector to the engine to get a spark. Couldn't get a real plasma jump.

So I am guess I need a new:

A: Distributor
B: Wires - I have just need to install
C: Coil
D: Ignition module maybe
E : FCK it and do all the above!

Thoughts???


On the up side I got the floors out and fitted some styrofoam to the windows:



No I just need some 12 gauge alum welded in!

[milkmania]

My choice would be "E" if your check book permits, for several reasons...

1) Noticeable neglect by previous owner.... If he told you what he did and you can prove he didn't... I would not trust anything he maintains.

2) it gives you a time baseline... You know when you made the repairs, and can base your future maintenance by that.


There was a time I had 3 used suburbans in the driveway... When I suspected a problem part on one that wasn't running, I'd pull the part from good running vehicle, get sick vehicle running, then replace with new part on donor vehicle.