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Old 11-13-2013, 04:53 PM   #1
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Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Hi all -

First off - thanks for being such a cool community. I have always found the members here to be very helpful, friendly and informative, which is a rarity on the Internet. I took the plunge in September and bought my first bus - a BlueBird 65 passenger bus on an IH Dt466e motor and chassis.

A little back story on myself and the bus:
I'm 30 years old and i like to refer to myself as "a dreamer of strange dreams." I love doing the unexpected and getting out of the mainstream. Anyway,I drove 10 hours from Denver to Kansas City, KS to purchase the bus. The previous owner had already done some light converting - removing most of the seats, adding an inverter to the electrical system, and laying down some extremely cheap hardwood flooring (without removing the original flooring, to my chagrin). It drove incredibly well the entire way home - made it back in roughly 12 hours without a single hiccup. Now that she's home, I'm anxious to start renovating my bus - Atlas, as i call her.

So far, i've removed the entirety of the previous owner's work, minus the sofa's and cheap flooring. Here she is the day i bought her:
http://i.imgur.com/sHExmXn.jpg

Pic of interior, before being removed:
http://i.imgur.com/5VHXWIZ.jpg

Interior after a little demo:
http://i.imgur.com/IE94GCL.jpg

Here's the master plan i'm working towards in SketchUp:
http://i.imgur.com/Q2MLaCi.png

I'm hoping to get some time this weekend to get the inner skin removed and re-insulate the interior below the windows. More pics to come!

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Old 11-13-2013, 06:21 PM   #2
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Welcome...and be nice to HER....or else
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They can have a mind of their own....and they are always right
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Old 11-14-2013, 10:41 PM   #3
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Good looking bus.....for the wood stove idea might want to check out the eyedeal.ink's build....he made a pretty sweet wood stove "corner". Did that laminate floor see some water?...it looks like it rippled down the middle and curled at the edges as water does to that stuff.....look forward to see how it comes along!
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Old 11-14-2013, 11:00 PM   #4
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Welcome to the madness!! Nice looking bus!

Question, why put the wood stove behind the driver? Will there be a second heat source for the bedroom?
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Old 11-18-2013, 01:14 PM   #5
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

I was able to get some time to work on the bus this weekend. It was awesome getting to work on her - she's been sitting in storage for about a month while i had the air brake system worked on. Thankfully, the air brakes are back up and running so i can move it back to homebase for renovation. This weekend's goal was to remove the inner sheet metal skin and remove the old fiberglass insulation. Unfortunatelly, my buddy had to bail on me this weekend so it was just me - i feel pretty accomplished i was able to get one half of the skin removed by myself - it ended up being about 300 rivets. I found that a cold chisel with a large hand-guard and a 3lb hammer make pretty short work of even the larger rivet heads. I'm hoping i can get some help from a friend to finish out the other side and start installing the insulation next weekend.

Here's some photo's of the progress:

1. Partially finished - getting the last (and longest) remaining piece of sheet metal removed from this side:
http://i.imgur.com/D2mAYdJ.jpg

2. One half of the bus, inner skin removed. The culmination of about 7 hours worth of hammering:
http://i.imgur.com/PslCUuO.jpg

3. Here's Atlas sitting outside my house - the HOA just LOVES it when i park it out front for the weekend:
http://i.imgur.com/AsbQJz9.jpg

I had originally wanted to do the insulation removal because i had found a few small spots where water was entering the inside of the bus, and wanted to get a chance to seal those leaks. After pulling out the insulation, i found only one small spot in the rear of the bus that needs some sealant - a very pleasant surprise. One thing i found interesting - my wall thickness will only accomodate 1.5" thick FOAMULAR insulation instead of the 2" i had counted on. All in all, it shouldnt be a big deal in terms of R value.


Westward: LOL. Nice eye there. The previous owner installed some REALLY cheap flooring, so yes, you are correct that the floors have some slight warping in them. This doesnt bother me, since i plan on using this for camping / adventure trips where the floors will likely get dirty anyway.

Inkblot's: When researching the idea of putting in wood burning stove, i saw this picture (http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.co ... home-4.jpg) , which had the stove - so i just followed suit and placed it there in my design. After talking with everyone here, i will probably scrap the wood burning stove idea and just go with a Mr. Buddy propane heater for those cold nights.

Thanks everyone for your input, suggestions and questions!
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Old 11-18-2013, 02:12 PM   #6
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Quote:
Originally Posted by enthe0gen
Inkblot's: When researching the idea of putting in wood burning stove, i saw this picture (http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.co ... home-4.jpg) , which had the stove - so i just followed suit and placed it there in my design. After talking with everyone here, i will probably scrap the wood burning stove idea and just go with a Mr. Buddy propane heater for those cold nights.

Thanks everyone for your input, suggestions and questions!

Grats on the progress! Don't forget - wood is free, propane isn't so having both isn't too bad
Love the bus in your inspiration picture - they've updated their bus recently! (http://www.busonomics.blogspot.com/)
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Old 11-18-2013, 02:50 PM   #7
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Nice looking bus!

It's been many many years but I remember well removing 4,500,901 rivets to get my roof and walls down. I wanted to recommend what I did to mine for yours- I made 'studs' out of 2x2 boards, and attached them to the ribs of the bus. Then I had almost 4in of wall thickness, which normal rolled fiberglass fills very nicely. It also gives me an area to easily pass electrical and plumbing without being right up against the outside of the bus or having to hide it behind something on the outside of the walls. The wood studs make it easier to attach other walls and perminant fixtures to.

Just a suggestion!

Can't wait to see what you do with her!
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Old 11-18-2013, 09:56 PM   #8
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Nice bus man. I see you are putting awall behind the drivers seat. what would be the reason. I'm doing it too but I will live in mine in winter so it will be easier to heat that way. Good luck with the build hope it goes well.
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Old 11-19-2013, 08:17 AM   #9
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Quote:
Originally Posted by ferroequinologist
I realize there isn't much I can do about moisture that gets in from the inside however. I am putting a sheet of plastic over the inside walls to hopefully prevent some of it.
I had a camper I used for my trip to Indiana over the holidays last year. To deal with condensation, use a vent. Keep it open about a 1/4". It reduced the condensation a lot. The camper had one front and rear. It did not really impact heating. I’m doing the same in my bus.
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Old 11-19-2013, 08:41 AM   #10
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Good thought.

I do have a roof vent in the rear I put in years ago, and I have another for the front just not installed yet. We always have it open when we shower, and I found a nifty little round vent with a blower that I'm going to intall in the shower to remove moisture.
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Old 11-26-2013, 04:35 PM   #11
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Took a day off from work and was able to get the other half of the inner skin and insulation removed. I was able to remove the entire lower half of the right side of the bus by myself in about 3 hours - i am a rivet destroying machine! It felt pretty good once that last rivet was removed - a victory beer was thoroughly enjoyed. Should have some more time this weekend to install the 16 ft of LED (color changing!!) lighting and get the foam insulation installed throughout. More pics to come! (contrary to the pic, my bus doesnt have an indentation - it's just the way the panorama mode put it all together on my phone.)
Attached Thumbnails
both sides complete.JPG  
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Old 11-26-2013, 07:02 PM   #12
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Nope! You now have the banana bus
,
,
Just kidding....3 more beers and the other side would of been done....damn..man...chop...chop...
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Oh yup....I have had glass of wine (or2)
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Old 11-26-2013, 07:17 PM   #13
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation



I swear, I only had 1 glass of wine!
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Old 11-27-2013, 07:43 AM   #14
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Quote:
Originally Posted by Malkieri


I swear, I only had 1 glass of wine!

I have never understood the 5 oz glass thing
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Old 12-29-2013, 08:57 PM   #15
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

With a LOT of elbow grease and some dedication, i was able to get the inner metal skin removed from below the windows. I removed the batting insulation and replaced with with 1.5" foam insulation. After re-insulating the lower panels i covered them with .5" plywood so i can anchor into the plywood anywhere when building the interior components.



I also replaced the stock driver's instrument panel lights with some green LED's, which are bright enough (more than!) to illuminate the switches and labels so i can actually tell what they do. http://i.imgur.com/fLOFdyv.jpg

Best of all, i had enough time to build my first piece of the interior: a set of bunks concealing the passenger side wheel well. It's nice to see the project start to come together. More news and pics to come.
Attached Thumbnails
IMG_0858.JPG   bunks rough_matt.jpg   bunks rough.jpg  
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Old 12-30-2013, 09:24 AM   #16
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

i like what you have done so far, great bunk beds too
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Old 01-02-2014, 06:04 AM   #17
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

I love the bunks, that's what I'm going to do with mine one day..

However, and I maybe wrong but is your top bunk to high?? I mean if you add a mattress figure that's going to add about 6 inches of height. I think it's going to eat up most of your room, and make it unusable??
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Old 01-30-2014, 05:07 PM   #18
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Sorry it's been a while since i've posted anything. I can usually only scrape together enough time to work on my conversion every 2 or 3 weeks. Aside from that, I've been having a wonderful little battle with my neighborhood HOA about being able to work on the bus in front of my home which has been making things more difficult.

BUT, all pestilence aside, i have been able to make some progress (and take a few pics). What you cant see in the pictures is the hours worth of running new speaker wire through the ceiling to the existing speaker ports. Bluebird only ran a common ground for the four interior speakers when it was built (1999), which is no longer up to snuff for modern car audio practices. Hence, the need to remove the top sheeting across the windows and run all new sets of speaker wire for each of the four speakers. I purchased 2 sets of Alpine 5.25" speakers and replaced the janky, blown out stock speakers.

Good news though - NOW WE HAVE PRISTINE, GLORIOUS SOUND!!! And a new head unit (with built in Bluetooth to sync to my phone!!!) to match.


I've also made some progress on framing out the kitchen counter:


I've also lowered the top bunk about 6 inches (Thanks Gsragtop!!) to accommodate for bedding and add a little more space overall. Hopefully more pics to come this weekend - I've enlisted a few friends to help me finish framing the bathroom and hopefully start building the interior back wall.
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HeadUnit.JPG   IMG_1017.JPG  
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Old 01-30-2014, 05:59 PM   #19
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

Cool, thanks for update

I just installed new speakers and a Bluetooth head unit in wife's truck....she loves it when she gets in and radio automatically connects to her phone and Pandora....happy wife
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Old 02-04-2014, 09:58 AM   #20
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Re: Project Atlas - my first skoolie renovation

This weekend i was able to get about 1.5 days of work done on the bus. I feel realy good about the progess i've made - it's really nice to see it actually start to come together.

I was able to get the back wall of the bathroom that separates the bedroom and bathroom built, which added some extra definition to the bus, which is nice to see. I was also able to get the majority of the bathroom framed and adjoining "water closet", as i call it. The water closet will house the 20 gallon freshwater tank and water pump, as well as hiding some plumbing that will run between the kitchen sink and the entrance to the combo black/grey tank in the bathroom.


Attached Thumbnails
IMG_1039.JPG   IMG_1041.JPG   IMG_1043.JPG  
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