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Old 04-09-2012, 08:59 PM   #21
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 25
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: TC2000
Engine: B5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 72
Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.


My boys enjoying the bus.


The first panel comes down slowly.


The wiring panels are down.


Obligitory spark pictures.


The old insulation. It wasn't in as bad of shape as I had expected.


No more ceiling!

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Old 04-12-2012, 01:13 PM   #22
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Year: 1996
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: TC2000
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

I haven't had it out much so I don't know about the mileage. I really only drive it about a mile from my house to the storage lot and back. I've run it down the freeway a couple of times to stretch her legs, but that's about it. It came with a full tank of fuel and I haven't even used a 1/4 tank yet.

My guess after reading around is I will get 10MPG +/- 2mpg.
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Old 04-14-2012, 04:45 PM   #23
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Year: 1996
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: TC2000
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

I got it from a heavy equipment trading company here in Houston. They had 2 on the lot and both sold on the same day. I just watched craigslist, eBay classifieds, and the local paper till I found what I wanted. I didn't have the patience to deal with school auctions and govt surplus.

http://www.besttradingcompany.net/
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Old 04-15-2012, 09:21 AM   #24
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

a good air chisel is better than a hand one on panel or rub rail removal. always be sure to have any inner panel that needs rivets in it redone / riveted again, screwed or spot welded...
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Old 04-29-2012, 09:44 PM   #25
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Year: 1996
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Chassis: TC2000
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

I finally had some free time and got to do some work on Wanda this weekend. I didn't get to ripping out the rest of the walls like I had planned, but I made some pretty good progress.

Last week I bought parts from Amazon to install a backup camera. I got a 7" LCD screen and two cameras. They work great until I start the engine. When running there is a ton of interference on the display. I'm not sure if I have a bad ground somewhere or if I need to put some sort of noise filter on the power to the cameras. I'll debug that issue the next time I have it in the driveway. When I turn the key to accessory with the engine off the picture is perfect.


View of the screen in the cockpit.


View of the upper camera.


View of the lower camera.


View of lower camera mounted in the bumper.


View of the upper camera mounted.

While I was running all of the wiring I cleaned up the wiring and mounting of my tinytach. I'm going to have to debug this one as well. It was working perfectly before I re-ran all of the wiring, but now it randomly won't register RPMs on idle. It just drops back to the total number of hours setting. I think I must have moved the pickup into a bad spot on the fuel line and it's not getting a constant signal. Either that or I've got a bad ground. That'll teach me to start moving things around when they are working perfectly.


Tinytach mounted and wires run through the dash.

After getting all of the electrical work out of the way and installing my new "toys" I spent the weekend scraping off all of the refective stickers. WOW, they REALLY did a good job with the adhesive on those things. I tried every trick I've seen posted here to get them off. Oven Cleaner, diesel fuel, gasoline, acetone, goof off, goo gone. It was finally the goo gone gel in the spray bottle that worked the best. It wasn't ideal, but it did the job. Spray the stickum liberally with the gel. Let it sit for a minute or two then hit it with the razor knife. Clean off the razor rub with a goo gone soaked rag, and scrape some more. It took a ton of scraping, but I finally got it off. I managed to get every sticker removed from all sides of the bus except the back before I ran out of goo gone. Unfortunately the back of the bus is where they decided to put the most reflectors. *sigh*

Wanda is now back in her spot at the storage lot, and I'm off to bed to rest my sore arms and let the sunburn soak in for the night.
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Old 04-29-2012, 09:55 PM   #26
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

I like the dual rear view camera setup. Each view has it's advantages. I have been trying to figure out how I am going to back up a boat trailer when I can't even see the trailer from the drivers seat!
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Old 04-30-2012, 09:44 AM   #27
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

I'm no electrical whiz ("Never stick anything metal in those little holes on the walls" - Mom, 1948 - did I listen...no)...but I would think the power source needs to be clean...as in coming through a sine wave inverter. If it is run directly from the alt or battery bank, there will be a great deal of interference.
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Old 04-30-2012, 04:16 PM   #28
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

The screen and camera are all 12v that are desinged to run off of a car battery. The screen comes with a filter built in on the pos and neg lines, but the cameras do not. I believe this is very similar to the humming sound you get when you hook up a car stereo with a dirty pos or a bad ground, but it's manifesting its self as horizontal lines on the video feed. I should be able to verify that it's the cameras and not the monitor by hooking up my handheld camera to the monitor. Since it will be running from its own power and not the bus it will prove or disprove my theory that it's a bad power source at the cameras. I'm booked with work and other obligations for the next two weeks so it will be a while before I can get to the debugging.
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Old 05-02-2012, 08:48 AM   #29
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

Hey can you make a note of the fuel mileage you get with that rig? I am looking at buying something similar.
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Old 05-02-2012, 10:44 AM   #30
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

Ha man when u got wanda did u get any manuals with it,i need a copy of the electicral wireing for the box out side under the driver window as what go's to what ??? i got a 94 tc2000 they are all the same up to 2000 models and blue bird do's not carrie that far back ,only to 2005.u can pm me ...thanks


to kbroell the birds get about 11 mpg with a 5.9 160 hp w/545 trans,now when i open up the muffler to a stright pipe iam getting about 12.5 now and sounds like a big putty cat
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Old 05-03-2012, 11:48 AM   #31
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

Hey thanks for the reply. How fast can you go and still get that mileage?
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Old 05-04-2012, 08:44 PM   #32
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Year: 1996
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Chassis: TC2000
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Re: New Skoolie - 1996 Bluebird.

No manuals. I found the engine manual online through Cummins and I found some bluebird manuals online, but no electrical yet. I'm not looking forward to figuring that part out.

It will be quite a while before I get any real mileage numbers. I drive it about 2 miles between the storage lot and my house with an occasional 10-20 mile drive down the freeway. I've only burned a 1/4 tank of fuel since I bought it in February. It won't go on any real trips until November at the earliest.
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