The Broccoli Bus

[EastCoastCB]

If I have any made, I'll save you some. A couple dozen or so.
The steel doesn't cost me anything. They throw away anything shorter than three or four feet.

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

If I have any made, I'll save you some. A couple dozen or so.
The steel doesn't cost me anything. They throw away anything shorter than three or four feet.

I'll check how many I'll need. Planning on raising mine 20". I'm thinking they're 16 gauge galvanized.

[EastCoastCB]

I'll likely order em up in 14ga plain. If this goes down, I'll keep yours whatever length you want, no problem.

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

I'll likely order em up in 14ga plain. If this goes down, I'll keep yours whatever length you want, no problem.

Even better. Any length over 20" is fine with me (make it easy on the ones using up some scrap). I can cut to fit here.

[nat_ster]

I had my new rib extensions made out of 12 ga, made to match the thickness of the original support ribs.

I would imagine this will vary with bus manufacture.

Nat

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by nat_ster

I had my new rib extensions made out of 12 ga, made to match the thickness of the original support ribs.

I would imagine this will vary with bus manufacture.

Nat

I haven't checked the ribs yet but rest assured IF i have any made they will be the right thickness.

[aaronsb]

Over the last month or two not a lot got done, well lots of little stuff I guess. Also the last three weeks our entire family has been sick with flu/cold/lung crud sinus infections.

Wipers put together
Heated mirrors re-wired
installed bumper
seat belt stuff, dash things, some engine bits

The biggest project has been trying to get to a point of completion on the luggage bay.

It was a bit ugly, I had to pull out a lot of rotted plywood, and the sheet metal down there was just starting to get to a point that all the galvanizing was no longer going to protect anything.

I gave the floor of the basement the same treatment as the floor in the bus: needle scaler, some flap disc grinding, then phosphoric rust converter. I also hit the entire surface (even where there was good paint still) with some 80 grit sandpaper.

I sprayed raptor truck bed liner all over the floor of the bays, and it's pretty nice now. I'll sikaflex all the seams so they're water tight, and I'm thinking of installing some water drains as well.

The same weekend of the bays I took the bus for a drive, we had all the family riding in the coach seats I installed. It's pretty fun to drive, all my windows and mirrors are super dirty, it was a sunny weekend.

I have a bunch of steel tube so I can start fabricating my walls, cabinets, and overhead racks.

I had a friend come over with his shuttle bus he's converting, we were comparing vehicles. It's pretty amazing how much longer the bluebird is, and his coach isn't exactly short either.

I have a question about driving: when rolling around in my neighborhood, should I leave the shift console on the highest? (gear 5) or should I set it lower like 3? I'm finding the computer likes to try and lug the engine around a bit and it seems to wait until the engine lugs a little more than I'd like on some of the short steep hills in my neighborhood.

On one particular hill, I was able to idle down the steep hill, reach the bottom, then inertia carried me up about half way. The entire time the trans was in 5th gear, and by the time the transmission computer realized what was up, it hadn't downshifted enough, fast enough, and it bucked a little bit before figuring out it needed to be in 2nd gear.

I think it's just an edge case but made me worry a little bit if it was behaving properly. Oh yeah it's an Allison MD3060 without a retarder and 6th is locked out.

[Hvbuzz]

I don't remember seeing a picture of your shift console. I would imagine its a little 3x6 black box with R-N-D on one side, and a shift arrow up, mode in the middle, and shift arrow down on the right side. We've got 3 of those on line trucks at work with the md3060. Two with cat 3126's and one dt466 with them. All three shift the way you are talking. They have since new. Like you said, they like to lug, if you put your foot to the floor when they are doing it, they will finally down shift. I've always felt they shift odd. You also cannot "rock" the truck if stuck. It will not shift direction until wheels are stopped. We don't use the mode button. The street department has their mode set up for plowing streets. When you are plowing snow you hit the mode button. It keeps you in 2nd gear and higher rpm's. Pretty sure they had it set up that way, because ours do not do that.

Also, you are doing an amazing job on the bus. I keep watching for updates.

[cowlitzcoach]

Personally I would lock it down into lower gears so it doesn't shift so high.

You don't need to be in a gear that is good for 60+ MPH when you are putting around surface streets at 35 MPH.

[EastCoastCB]

I love that roof line. When I raise, that's what I'll be doing.

[sojourner]

Glad to hear you got her out for a spin. I find excuses to move around around the yard here. Gonn have to find an excuse to take it out on some of the back roads when I get it more put together. You're an inspiration to us!! Keep up the great work!!

[aaronsb]

Thanks for all the positive comments. I was scooting around in the storage belly trying to get ideas about how to mount things. The frame is boxed around with sheet metal to keep some kid's trombone from getting lodged between the frame rails.

I pulled both access hatches off and I can see these great frame cross members with holes in them.

I think I'm going to remove the entire sheet metal cover that hides the frame rails so the volume between the chassis frame is accessible up to the underside of the main floor. I can seal up the void from the outside with bits of foam or sealant between each floor support rib. On the fore and aft ends I can make a small cap to close the hole off.

I would like very much to be lazy and just lay the heavy bits on the floor of the basement, but I think I need to support the 1000+ lbs of weight from the frame instead.

I can take advantage of 4 of these cross members - I'm thinking four rectangular steel frames that bolt to the bottom edge of the cross members, then hang down and bolt into a large support frame made from square tubing.

The whole frame assembly could just barely (maybe an inch or so) float above the deck of the luggage bay to provide clearance for flex, or I suppose I could just through bolt the bottom onto the floor of the bay to provide more support. Either way, doesn't look too tough.

The rectangular members should (with some bracing maybe) carry any side forces of the weight, and when in tension the four of them should easily support 1000+ lbs. I don't think the truck body on the bus will mind too much.

I'd love to wedge up to 300 gallons of tankage and several hundred AH of batteries @ 48vdc under there.

I'll try and get some photos in the next week or so.

[aaronsb]

I got a few things done this weekend:

First off, modified dragonpop's class 5 hitch so it fits onto a bluebird chassis. I think it will probably be strong enough.





Next was get a little more done on the bunks. I picked up the slats for the frames, and installed them with the slat retainers to allow them to go vertical. The kids were pretty excited about this.





I started fabricating the mount points and structure for the overhead bins up front, and the overall framing for walls and structure in the bus. I'm starting at the front, I guess.



This picture is a little weird, the angle exactly lines up with some other stuff. Anyway, the horizontal bar is just resting there as a guide for squareness - but it does represent the inner angle section of the overhead bin. There will be a plywood "floor" in the overhead bin. The lower section you can touch when sitting in the seat will have some upholstery on it, as well as overhead lights and vents.

I'll probably leave out the fasten seatbelts and no smoking signs. ;)



The curb side has two rows of seats, but basically the same setup.

I know I already posted a picture of the bay, but even with the weather and rain it's stayed dry.

[EastCoastCB]

Your fab skills are simply awesome. Very well done.
Great pics.

[proconsul100]

i love the folding bunks!

[Tango]

Without a doubt the nicest mobile Murphy beds I've ever seen! Just excellent work all around.

[gmarvel]

Great job! The vision is coming together.

[REDD]

Very cool! Great job on the beds.

4 single beds and six seats ... are you adding more beds to your project?

[aaronsb]

There's a full bed for the adults in the back.

Originally Posted by REDD

Very cool! Great job on the beds.

4 single beds and six seats ... are you adding more beds to your project?

[aaronsb]

Hey, this is neat, try clicking on it.

buslayout nochassis (View in 3D)


buslayout (View in 3D)