Operation Prison Reform

[Neorush]

Got the bus moved onto some treated lumber and behind the shop for the winter. This will make working on it waaay easier. Tested the radiator fluid and it is good until -40F so we should be ok there. I waited too long to get out there though and drain / swap out the washer fluid. It is a slushy mix in there right now, I'm just hoping nothing is damaged and if we get a day or two above freezing still before full on winter I might be able to get it out of there. I also took a bunch of video for the records and might get a video up sometime soon. I plan on starting some major demo tomorrow.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Neorush

Got the bus moved onto some treated lumber and behind the shop for the winter. This will make working on it waaay easier. Tested the radiator fluid and it is good until -40F so we should be ok there. I waited too long to get out there though and drain / swap out the washer fluid. It is a slushy mix in there right now, I'm just hoping nothing is damaged and if we get a day or two above freezing still before full on winter I might be able to get it out of there. I also took a bunch of video for the records and might get a video up sometime soon. I plan on starting some major demo tomorrow.

Huh, I didn't realize Loon Lake was almost Canada.

[Neorush]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Huh, I didn't realize Loon Lake was almost Canada.

About 90 mins from the border. There are actually 3 Loon Lake's in NY. Being in the Adirondacks mountains as well, we often get snow much earlier (and later).

[TiffantoThomas]

Hey Houston neighbor,
I know of some Thomas busses just south. I just bought one! I am new here and just starting conversion. The company has 5 more I believe, I think I got a good deal on a 38 foot transit bus FE, Cummins, Allison d2000 trans, 3k, I chose the Thomas over BB because of the “rivet” factor.

[TiffantoThomas]

And Neo,
That is a great bus to do the conversion!

[Native]

Originally Posted by Neorush

Got the bus moved onto some treated lumber and behind the shop for the winter. This will make working on it waaay easier. Tested the radiator fluid and it is good until -40F so we should be ok there. I waited too long to get out there though and drain / swap out the washer fluid. It is a slushy mix in there right now, I'm just hoping nothing is damaged and if we get a day or two above freezing still before full on winter I might be able to get it out of there. I also took a bunch of video for the records and might get a video up sometime soon. I plan on starting some major demo tomorrow.

With all that snow around your bus, it looks like it is made with winter camo on it!


Looks cold, but at least it is not far from the shop.


You *could* put a portable heater in the engine compartment next to the washer fluid and melt it.

[Neorush]

Originally Posted by Native

With all that snow around your bus, it looks like it is made with winter camo on it!


Looks cold, but at least it is not far from the shop.


You *could* put a portable heater in the engine compartment next to the washer fluid and melt it.

I left a heat gun pointed at the storage tank for about 2hrs, it didn't seem to make a difference. The problem is it's a big tank, I think 2 gallons, and it's all completely open around it and down past the front bumper, so I think the heat is just dissipating too quickly.

[Native]

It really is out to the edge of the bus! I would not expect a heat gun to do the trick because of its narrow focus. Even if the temperatures get above freezing, you may need to put a thermal wrap around it to get it thawed.


Oh, I got it ... since it is solid, remove the container from the bus and heat it inside ... plugging the exit hole of course.

[FrugalFannie]

buying buses in TX should be done with caution (as should any bus buy). You need to know if it was in an area that was flooded. Of course there is a lot of coastline which most people don't usually think of when they think of Texas (rust due to salt water). Along the coast we have had many serious floods in recent years. Also, inland, certain places trend to flood. Try to find out where the bus would have been parked overnight (ie school district's parking area) and look at a map and ask questions of the school district about flooding.

[Neorush]

Had a big demo weekend.

• All the seats are out. This went pretty well, basically unbolted smoothly, only had to cut out two of the 22 seats
• Got the bathroom area out. Holy crap was that a nightmare. The rivets and bolts were one thing, but then they used so much silicone caulking it a was fight to get it apart.
• Started ripping up the floor. The diamond plate came up pretty easy, especially since the plywood underneath is in such bad shape.
• The plywood underneath was about 50% disintegrated into a powder in most places. I have one 8' section done. Made me panic a little...the metal floor may be really really bad.
• Good news, the rear of the bus floor isn't that bad! Decent amount of wiring brushing and rust converter and we'll be good. The section I pulled was around the rear wheel wells, which is normally a problem spot.
• I pulled a section of roof panel to see if it was in fact foamed up there as well, it is!
• What does everyone do with the chair rail? It's not structural is it? Can it just be cut off?
• I'm debating about pulling the massive (it literally has fork lift supports to get it in and out) road a/c unit and just wiring the roof a/c to the house batteries. The area it's in would make an awesome garage with access from the bedroom or the rear. I was going to charge the house batteries off the alternator and the onboard 10kw generator, so I think it would be fine. Any thoughts?

[musigenesis]

Yeah, your wheel wells don't look bad at all. That's cool that you have foam up there already - you're leaving it in place?

The chair rail is structural by most accounts, and should be left as is. This is an extreme circumstance, of course, but I currently have an 8-foot section of wall on one side and an 11-foot section of wall on the other that is complete unsupported by the floor in any way. I'm pretty sure the chair rail in this scenario is a major part of the stiffness of the wall that allows it to not sag even a tiny bit. And it's the primary (only?) way in which the ribs are tied to the floor (I think).

What are those little things in the last pic? Stink bugs?

[TJones]

Don't cut out the chair rail it is structural. Your bus has a VERY NICEroad AC. If it doesn't work it would be worth the time to fix it. To run your roof units the genny would have to be running all the time and it still wouldn't cool as well as the road ac. The road ac will probably not operate at all when it is cold outside.There is a safety switch that won't let them turn on if it is colder than around 50 to 60 degrees. The spray foam is a huge bonus that will save $$$ in your build.

Ted

[Neorush]

All weekend in 3 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSWlg1JfTVI

[MacC]

Looks like aluminum is bringing about .40 a pound. Looks like your scrap has some value.

[Neorush]

Originally Posted by MacC

Looks like aluminum is bringing about .40 a pound. Looks like your scrap has some value.

It's actually all stainless steel. The nearest yard is about 90 minutes from me as well. I just posted the seats online for sale, maybe someone wants them for a restaurant or something.

[MacC]

Originally Posted by Neorush

It's actually all stainless steel. The nearest yard is about 90 minutes from me as well. I just posted the seats online for sale, maybe someone wants them for a restaurant or something.

NICE, that will work.

[Neorush]

Lots of demo progress since my last update. Protip: Prison buses are hard to take apart.

• All of the duct work is out.
• I have the ceiling down except for the very front panel.
• Emergency hatch is completely out.
• I took my first set of bars off the windows and took apart the wall around it to see what I was dealing with. There is only regular insulation in the walls. So this will have to be spray foamed.
• The large windows in the bus are ~50" so you all might find it interesting how Bluebird does the framing for these from the factory.
• I can't get over the MASSIVE gap around the edges of all the windows with no insulation in them. All the more reason to pull everything down when doing a project like this.

I'd love advice on something I'm really debating about. That's pulling the road A/C unit. It is just soooo massive. It takes up a ton of room. I've read multiple times on here that you'll regret pulling the road A/C. I have no idea how I would re-run duct work and still have space in the bus overhead either. I have three roof units I could run off the house battery / alternator. Wouldn't multiple roof units on a well insulated bus suffice while driving down the road?

[o1marc]

Typical RV window installation. Square frame just large enough for the window to fit in with a trim ring around it. I would have at least sprayed some insulation around it.

[TJones]

You could make new A/C ducts that are a narrow rectangle and run them on the ceiling or along the wall under the windows. Either way you will lose a little space but in my opinion worth it to have good A/C.

Unrelated question, are your windows double or single pane?

Ted

[ACamper]

Nice project !

Personally I would pull the massive AC unit. It is dead weight unless you are using it. If you only use it 10%-15% of the time it wouldn't be worth lugging it around IMO. But if you pull it it could take some off the resale value.


If the AC worked that well you could tie it into your ICE theme