New Canadian Skoolie - A Toy Hauler!

[slidewayzm5]

It will be lit up well with an extra set of signal/brake lights mounted in the bumper. Most places I'll be - soccer mom's won't be

[Luc5]

Hey there I'm just north of Edmonton in Fort Saskatchewan. I don't have a bus yet but I'm actively looking for one.

Are you still looking for an MT643?

There is a recently rebuilt one in St.Albert with paperwork for $700 bucks.

Ford Bluebird B700 School bus For parts | heavy trucks | St. Albert | Kijiji

[slidewayzm5]

Hey Luc,

I forgot to follow up with you on your post - ended up getting busy..

I'll be looking mine over but it seems great so far. Thanks for the thought!

[slidewayzm5]

So -cycosis- and I lined up the two buses to get spray foamed - used a small company called Canadian Foam Pro's out of Airdrie. Tate did an absolutely awesome job and was a hell of a good price. Anyone local be sure to call them because he was miles ahead of the competition in price, and listened to what we wanted done intently.


Prep was key as -cycosis- mentioned - the more prep the better it will turn out. I know this bad boy is gonna be cozy with the wood stove on in -30 no problem.
Unfortunately I forgot to take prep pics (again) and pics of the underside foam.

Here is before the prep with bondo hair filling the holes in the floor.


The guy did both buses interiors first, then my underside then his. We helped shave down the excess foam while he was shooting the other areas once it was safe to do so.


This is what it looks like before shaving it down on the ribs


And here is after shaving it a bit - I was 5 hours late for work so we didn't stay to finish it completely. -cycosis- has a great idea of using an orbital sander with a rough grit to sand it right down to the 2" so the roof paneling will fit right back up. I'll try to add in a really thin veneer of wood or even a rubber gasket to stop some of the thermal bridging from the ribs to the roof panels before I put them up. Might help greatly.



Tuck tape worked WAY better than masking tape, but that cheap clear packing tape worked really well also on any ribs so that you can peel it off easily.


Glad we got this done now, next I'll try to get a second coat of paint, then put the windows in and seal it up nicely. Lots of work left to go, but progress is being made.

[milkmania]

Seems like you could skim coat some kind of material on the foam to encapsulate it, then paint that.

Rolls of burlap adhered to the foam would be cool for a textured man-bus look.

[slidewayzm5]

I work too damn much.. and end up daydreaming of building Ramrod most of the time. Only got part of today to work on him, but I installed 4 of the 5 windows. The 5th needs the frame modified as it has a 3/4" shorter window which happened to be the only other dual pane that I had.


Looks pretty good but was much darker than the picture shows

[slidewayzm5]

So I had a "Eureka" moment last night. The trucker style underbody boxes that are ever so expensive would cost me more than my bus did.

I saw an ad with used School Lockers - industrial ones - 6' tall, 20" deep and 16" wide. 5 for $80!

At least two of them will get reinforced on the bottom and sides, sealed up and then mounted on the bus for tire chain storage, snowboards, gear, etc. Then a fresh coat of paint to match the rest of Ramrod.

I got the ones that have fewer vents so that I have less work ahead to seal them up to make them water resistant.

You gotta love creative uses of other products to save yourself time and/or money!

[Tootalltechie]

Cool idea.

[slidewayzm5]

Snow.. and Canadian Thanksgiving eh? So no updates. But great food and better visiting was had. My family couldn't wait until Ramrod is done so we can go for a rip.

Out for a RIP!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-glHAzXi_M

Listen and learn my American friends!

[slidewayzm5]

No pics today, I'm back at work but here's the update.

I cut holes into the rear bumper and mounted LED stop/signal combo tail lights in there.

Then when I tested them, the power that I had to jump from the signal light AND the tail light would backfeed whenever I would signal and it would cause 'hazard lights' instead of the signal light.

Went and talked to my cousin frustrated as hell and asked if there was such thing as an electrical check valve. He said Diodes. I asked if they were cheap. He said yes.
That made me happy to know I wasn't going to have to rewire a bunch of crap just to have tail lights at the back of Ramrod for the times when I have bikes or toys on the deck.

Soldered (4) 3A 800V rated diodes in the right locations to prevent backfeeding of power during signal and brake operation, and now she works like a champ!

Around here we have had temps below freezing for quite a while and I found Mosquitoes in the bus yesterday! I wasn't even pissed off because of how impressed I was. That's a nod to how well the spray foam is doing to retain heat in there!

[slidewayzm5]

Here are the pics to go with the last post.

Now you can see that with headlights on, and signalling right, that the left side isn't going (which is great progress from those Diodes).


And here with the Hazard lights on.


Then I found a door with Privacy Glass that still allows light through so you can see if someone is at your door but they can't see everything. It just has some moisture on it from the warming frost. I'll likely add a metal exterior shell to it once it is fit properly and then I can black it out.

I'll have to cut the door to fit then add the stops and weather stripping and the deadbolt and latch holes. The bus opening measures 1/2" wider at the top than it does at the bottom.

[Geo Jeff]

Originally Posted by slidewayzm5

Ok so here's the update. I figured out from the diagram post of AT545 vs MT643 that I have an AT545.. although mine has a drain plug on the side of it and what looks like a temp pickup sender on the upper part of the oil pan as well. But the side of the case looks exactly like that photo of the AT545. So I'll go with that. I searched for the info on the rear diff and I'll have to call international tomorrow to see what gear ratio I have but from the sounds of it I'd venture a guess at the 5.78 due to the top speed of the bus.

Tore out the rest of the windows and most of the flooring and found I have a couple that are double pane glass. I'll have to fix the release buttons on them but they'll be great for the 4 window's I will keep in the bus. We also started grinding a ton of rivets on the outside near the back door of the bus as this is where we will detach it, remove a section of the bus, and then rivet it back together so that I have a 9' flat deck on the back end. Then I've gotta get the rest of the floor up, cut all the screws sticking up off, clean it and rust convert it.

I had my 2 cousin's and a cute female Pilot helping out - we tuned up her bike and in return she helped with a bunch of help removing windows on the bus. Then Sunday we all worked again and stopped to teach her how to back up a long trailer like a champ, and how to wheelie her bike with control. A great day for all!

I just tried uploading 5 pics that were all jpg or png, less than 1600 x 1600 as per Paint and less than 2MB and they all failed.

Anyone know how to fix this pic upload issue?

How many people have double pane windows?

[slidewayzm5]

Not sure - but out of 22 windows on my bus - 4 were dual pane which was perfect as I had planned on keeping 4 windows.

[Hank's P-O-S]

Originally Posted by Geo Jeff

How many people have double pane windows?

Both my buses have them, and a bus I work on for a school has half dbl. pane,

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Hank's P-O-S

Both my buses have them, and a bus I work on for a school has half dbl. pane,

Hows the weather up there, Hank?

[Hank's P-O-S]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Hows the weather up there, Hank?

Too warm!

Its only -1 Celsius and about an inch of snow. This is seriously bad for us. The ecology up here needs that cold to naturally kill invasive species. There are also thousands of people who rely on winter roads over muskeg who are critically low on food and fuel due to last years shortened winter road season.

I am desperately hoping for the cold!

[slidewayzm5]

30 mins West of me there's a ton of powder, but the Chinooks roll through every week so I've got neighbors with green grass still in their south facing back yards. I appreciate the warmer weather as it makes for better progress on Ramrod. Friday I climbed on the roof to see that a friend and helper had pranked me and painted 'RAMROD' up there. I like it

I should update a couple pics of that wood door mounted nicely but I've been busy and hoping tomorrow to get a start on putting the ceiling sheets back up if I can get a buddy to help.

Imagine how much I could get done if I had a heated shop with a hoist and all sorts of kickass tools? *Dreaming*

[RxMedicated]

Congratz on the project! I'm also in Calgary..let me know if you need an extra set of hands for anything

[slidewayzm5]

Rounded up a couple buddies and put the metal sheeting back up on the roof on Friday. What a PITA but I'm glad I got it done while it was still just above freezing.
I'll try to wrangle some pics soon but I've been so busy between all of my projects and work.

[Charlies.Contingency]

Any progress updates on Ramrod?

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