Swinada's Bus Conversion progress...

[swinada]

Hi Bodger and welcome to the best skoolie forum on the net.
I'm in Northern BC, Chetwynd if that means anything to you, so about 1200km from you plus a ferry ride. Would be very expensive with the bus.
I bought our bus at RitchiBrothers auction, you can chack them out at http://www.rbauction.com it doesnt need much to sign up and get a bidders number. You can also bid online if you cant make it to the sales.
An other place to check for you would be the BC government asset sales auction site, they have buses once in a while. Friend of mine bought one of there that was located in Campbell River.here the link just sign up for the daily e-mail and then scan that for buses http://www.bcauction.ca/
Come and visit and I'll make sure my wife talk your wife into the whole thing. maybe that is all what it takes, a tour through a semi converted bus.
Take care and happy bidding

[swinada]

Man when is this weather gonna turn better? Every night gets cooler and has more moister in the air, I think we missed the opportunity to finish our paint job this year. The roof paint needs at least 24 hrs of dry and moderate temparature and I dont hink we're still getting this this year.
By the looks of it we will not be able to take any trips this year either. Way to many things to still do and the days are very short already. THIS SUCKS BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!

[bodger]

thanks for the reply, and links (much appriciated) - keep your sprits up, at least your moving in the right direction.

...i'll haev to google map Chetwynd ...never heard of it

keep us posted on your progress, thanks again

[bodger]

They do have some buses in BC ...wow things you never knew
in chemainus bc (on the island even better )

[swinada]

WOW that would make one heck of a cool conversion.

[timbuk]

that grey line looks like the one for sale in nanoose bc on the highway the big rithie bros sale just went down ant there was tons of stuff there hows it going up there and hows the weather? like the paint job it looks great ..bc stands for bus country timbuk

[swinada]

That is the one from the RB Auction. Do you know how much it went for?
Weather is beautiful at the moment. Sunny blue sky, and everything is very golden. Want be long before it gets white.

[retrogeek42]

Congratulations. She's a beaut (and at $1750, a STEAL!)

Looking forward to seeing her progress!

[schoolbus]

Hallo Swinada
Very good job. nice bus.
My children love our bus too.

Hangloose Andy

[swinada]

Finaly SPRING is here even in Northern BC, it is still pretty chilly at night it still freezes the lakes are still ice covered and Ice fishing is still possible. But the days are getting warmer and hence the building can continue.
We have been working on the seats the last few days and on the lights. making some progress, and who knows maybe this summer we actualy get to drive the bus somewhere. One can always HOPE.


Building Seats, table to come later...


Wheelwell insulating and finishing...


My Wife is very proud of her finishing job, It looks AWSOME!!!




Swivel Chair for the Wife so she can keep track of the kids....


swiveled sideways


used some foamies we had laying around for the seats, sooner or later will buy the proper sizes.


Finaly got those lights working too, or almost....


....those big LED lights dont do Brakelight, when I step on the brake they go out, and they are almost to bright I,m sure someone driving behind us at night would get blinded by those things. Dont know what to do, would hate to take them off again adn go back to the old lights.
Any one have any ideas why they dont work for brakes? i tought it said tail - Stop light on the package when I bought them.

Sorry for all the pictures, just had to share them since I didnt post for so long.
more pictures can always be found in my Picasa Webalbum, click on the link in the signature.

[timbuk]

wow man good to hear from you way p there progress looks great! Thanks for sharin timbuk

[paul iossi]

looking good
are your tail/stop lights 2 or 3 wire?
check the wiring at the lights and make sure that you have the ground and hots hooked up correctly, it sounds like you may be using the brakelite wire for ground, when you stp on the brakes you feed + 12v to both sides if the light and effectively end up with no v difference on the bulbs.
if they are 2 wire they are for either/or tail stop lights you will need to add another light on each side for stop lights

[swinada]

yes they are only 2 wire, so i guess I have to get some other bright lights for the brakes.

[swinada]

well that was the problem, either or, but not both. So now they are wired as very bright brake lights.

[swinada]

My Wife built some drawers for under the beds..


and then finishing of the masterbedroom was started







a little messy right now, but hopefully by tomorrow night it will look a lot better.
it feels like we finaly make some progress.
Oh yes, also had to buy a new alternator. Just bought a regular 150 AMP one couldnt justify the cost of a 200 AMP+ model. Regular one was 260 Canadian for the 200 amp one they wanted 650 or more.



hmmm looking at this picture now I think I should have taken out the black paint as i had that alternator off.

[swinada]

and Winter keeps coming back....


Bedroom is making progress







it is going to be storage but i guess if we needed to we could squeeze one of the kids up there.

[Abbott]

Nice work.

[swinada]

thanks for ther compliments...............

Finaly got some sound going...


Way to many wires....





backup camera monitor, or TV. The head unit is also a DVD player so i could watch DVD's on it.

[swinada]

bought a 19" flat screen today and tried fitting it in...





My wife did a great job on the bedroom, or is still in process of doing a great job.

[timbuk]

looks ,like you are going hard up there must be nice to see the ground after a long winter.Maybe this is the year we get to drive our busses.Nice job up there,i see you are a fan of the t and g!Timbuk