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Old 04-05-2011, 06:52 AM   #1
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Moving right along there!

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Old 04-05-2011, 07:08 AM   #2
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Quote:
we will leave the city for good

The best day of your life.

Keep up the bus pictures.
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Old 04-17-2011, 05:07 PM   #3
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Glad it missed ya on it's way through .. they all tore up a bunch of stuff along the way though .. the one last week missed us by only a few miles .. we've had a few to many already this year ..

edit .. the one that went into Raleigh was really bad (like there is such a thing as a not-so-bad one) .. worst one in years ..
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Old 04-18-2011, 12:53 AM   #4
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

What a fantastic looking bus you have there! Looks to be a 2003 model year, ex Virginia bus? Those buses handle great, and offer an extremely quiet ride!
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Old 06-10-2011, 09:48 AM   #5
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

its alive!!
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Old 06-12-2011, 02:58 PM   #6
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Wow this looks like this is going to be a cool bus. Out of curiosity where a bouts are y'all in NC? Western tip or so is my stomping grounds. Can't wait to see more of this bus.
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Old 06-15-2011, 09:32 AM   #7
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Always an exciting moment when the bus is finally completely empty. They're sure are a lot of great projects going on.
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Old 06-15-2011, 10:23 PM   #8
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get your metal and what did it set you back?
What type and sizes did you get?

Thanks
Tharon
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Old 06-16-2011, 06:18 PM   #9
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Hey Guys --- great unit and a great start. Wanted to pass along some info that came from Blue Bird years back. I was doing a 19" roof raise on a 40' All American and happened to move to Georgia where I met an engineer from the Bird plant. When I queried him about the planned raise, he recommended staggering the actual cut locations on each rib to prevent creating a "weak line". Hadn't thought about it, but made sense, so I cut every other rib at a different height. Only used two measures, just alternated them. One near the top of one window side, the next near the bottom. Used the same jack and tube insert idea but I did order several complete BB roof ribs and cut patch sections from them. Learned that BB does not (did not at that time, at least) even sell a "repair section. If a rib was damaged, they insisted on replacing the whole thing to insure 100% structural integrity. I slipped a floor to ceiling square tube inside each cut rib, tacked it in place, then added the patch segment over the difference and then welded it all together. In theory it should be every bit as strong as the original, one piece rib that is unique to the Bird approach. Turned out very solid with no evidence of body flex whatsoever. Just thought I'd pass it along.

Keep up the good work, and keep up the pix!
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Old 06-16-2011, 08:30 PM   #10
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Thanks for the reply. That's about what I've figured.
I bought my bus for $1500. My estimate so far is that I will spend at least that much on the metal required for the roof raise. I'm looking forward to following your build.

Tango: Thanks for your comments. Where did you buy your ribs? I was thinking of doing the same thing, but more so that my rivets would line up like the original.
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Old 06-18-2011, 10:21 AM   #11
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Hi Guys --- on mine, the square tube inserts ran from the floor up to just above the top of the windows (right where the curve begins) and he still recommended the stagger. All I can say is that it turned out to be very stout with no evidence of any flexing issues. One more thing...when you do get ready to start cutting the top loose, make sure to run several crossbraces from side to side, both above and below the cut line. Otherwise, both the freed top and the body sides can torque out of shape. The ribs are under a lot of loaded stress from the tension in the riveted sheet metal. I used about six lengths of 1-1/2 square tubes with 6x6 plates welded to each end so they could be clamped securely in place. I have also seen a couple of folks tack weld them directly then cut them loose once the top was re-attached. Bit of a pain to work around, but without them the whole bus can twist way out of alignment making the top difficult if not impossible to ever get back in proper position and straight.
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Old 06-18-2011, 02:07 PM   #12
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

One thing I would do BEFORE cutting the roof is jack the bus up from the chassis to relieve the weight from the suspension, make sure it is straight and level and then make the cuts. Probably the factory does something like that when building the body in order to remove stress points and make sure everything is nice straight and level. If your bus is sitting on uneven floor the body is twisted already. Ditto for unevenly inflated tires. Or unevenly worn tires. Or.... whatever else.
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Old 06-19-2011, 09:30 PM   #13
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Hey!. You guys look like slaves in the Roman empire rowing the Emperor's boat!. (sorry, couldn't resist).
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Old 06-20-2011, 08:58 AM   #14
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Bravo - good job - it will be a feature project here at the skoolie website - great pics
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Old 06-20-2011, 04:10 PM   #15
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Just thinking aloud: May it be worthwhile to replace those two gigantic air ducts in the back with electric fans mounted on grilles where the side access doors are?. Here in Broward County we have a fleet of brand new NewFlyer articulated buses that have a big electric fan and 4 or 5 smaller ones filling the entire grille opening on the left rear corner facing the street. It would free a lot of space in the rear.
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Old 06-20-2011, 05:17 PM   #16
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

You really don't want to mess with the cooling systems on those RE buses. Maybe add additional cooling, but I would not remove what's there and modify too much.
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Old 06-20-2011, 08:25 PM   #17
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

up up and away!
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Old 06-21-2011, 06:54 AM   #18
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

Well, it is just an idea. This is the way the world progresses. Somebody comes up with something; if it gets implemented it might work.... or end on a screw-up of epic proportions!.
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Old 06-22-2011, 09:52 PM   #19
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

do you plan to remove the chair mount along the bottom of the wall?
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Old 06-23-2011, 11:22 AM   #20
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Re: Sara & Andy's Bus

I used a plasma cutter to cut off the rail and and a grinder to clean the edge. I finished the whole bus in a couple of hours.

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