The Broccoli Bus

[Geo Jeff]

Originally Posted by aaronsb

I couldn't post pictures right away since that was my first post. I keep getting a "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached" message.

We drove it around the block and it seemed to run good, without any hard shifting and made lots of power. I hear there's a possible way to give it a second overdrive for 6th gear as well.

My goals are to get the seats out, pull the old subfloor, and replace all the plywood. The storage boxes below I'll get some marine grade ply or something to resist the moisture better.

I see a lot of people taking out the steel headliner and replacing the insulation. Is the insulation in those busses that terrible? It seems to me if I were to do a metal stud wall construction, the ceiling would make a great place to rivet walls to.


Here they are linked from imgur.

Those under floor storage compartments are so beautiful. I would kill for those. Your a very Lucky family. take the keys out of it while your fueling it in my HOOD. Door from the rear bedroom to out side. Nice find.

[aaronsb]

I've been working at getting more lighting in, and staying with reflective where possible.

I also got the fridge reconnected again, so that's nice. You'll see in the photos some landscaping light bulbs - these are a similar mount to the over head console lights I have, so I replaced those incandescents with the LEDs. I had to trim the sockets a little bit, since they had this extra plastic flashing to support the glass bulb. I managed to remove the skin off my left index knuckle with a razor blade, so that kinda sucked.

It took two consoles (4 lights) to equal the same draw as the fridge when the compressor is running.

It's startling how inefficient incandescent lights are.

Anyway, washroom area got it's main work light, lots of switches controlling things. I replaced the entire bluebird switch panel, since the old switches were loose and all the spade connectors were exposed. I'll get labels on the switches eventually. That layout might not be the final one either. We'll see.

The door control is now electric solenoid, so I can do lots of neat tricks like refuse to open if the door is locked (electric lock) as well as remote open from a keyfob. The door still operates manually without air when I want to.

All of the storage cabinets/lockers/whatever get LED strip lights with a microswitch control. I strung a power ring around the cabin to power all those.

Interestingly enough, bluebird wires their exterior marker lights in the same way, so I figured I could use that for other types of lights too.

Most of the task lighting and courtesy lighting has manual control and a remote override (like how car dome lights work)












One of these lights is incandescent, and one is LED. Can you tell which is which?

[slidewayzm5]

Awesome build Aaron! I'm not sure if there is a list somewhere of the best builds on Skoolie but it would be a great list to have.

That way newer members can read through those builds and get the best ideas of the group.

Thoughts?

[aaronsb]

We could make a sticky with referrals, probably. Best is subjective, lemmie look into it.

Originally Posted by slidewayzm5

Awesome build Aaron! I'm not sure if there is a list somewhere of the best builds on Skoolie but it would be a great list to have.

That way newer members can read through those builds and get the best ideas of the group.

Thoughts?

[Azules9780]

Well, I have been reading this over the past few weeks and I am thoroughly impressed. Your quality of work is awesome and the welding knowledge helps big time! Anyway good luck and keep it up! You're almost there

[aaronsb]

Beeper turned off so you can hear all the doors lock and unlock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAsw...ature=youtu.be

[browncrown]

NICE work on the lighting!!

[busaholic]

looks cool aaronsb. where did you get that sink?

[aaronsb]

Ikea, I think they discontinued it because it was pretty inexpensive.

Originally Posted by busaholic

looks cool aaronsb. where did you get that sink?

[DanGERMAN]

I picked up the same style sink at IKEA about a month ago. I also just returned from Alpine Licensing in Issaquah and had no issues. They just wanted vehicle weight which is on your data plate. A lot easier than AZ which wants it painted or other places in WA that want inspections.

[aaronsb]

Letsee...I haven't posted in a while, so there's a handful of new things to look at.

I've been working mostly on electrical and lighting, some utility and improvements up front, and just trying my hardest to get the storage bay finished up down below. Crawling around on my knees in the gravel in December/January has not felt like the best use of my time, but here I am.

In no particular order:


Overhead console and backup camera stuff. The console will have room for some other displays - map/status computer thing and an entertainment display. I have some neat bluetooth steering wheel controls to make these things "hands free" for the most part.





Side view cameras are great.




Some plumbing bits. Doing a dual pump setup - one pump does most of the work. Second pump will get called for service if water pressure sucks for a length of time. (Computer controlled water pressure management) I also have hot water preheat return lines from the faucets. Pex manifold with shutoffs for all circuits.



5 Gallon pressure tank.



Sealed and insulated the truck frame from the luggage bay, since I pulled the center cover off. That was a lot of work.



Added more lights to the inside.





Got me a crapper. I'll be tossing the urine bottle and plumbing that part directly to gray water. Turd box will stay the same for now.



The biggest deal is the bay is insulated. Oh, also got a bunch of gas springs for all the bay doors- best thing ever.



Since a couple types of heating will exist down here, I'm hoping to make it easy to avoid freezing conditions. I'm plumbing a 110v air compressor into this stuff eventually, (for quick start up and drive offs after sitting for a few days and just general utility like tools), so I think I might also plumb an air purge system for the plumbing.

[cadillackid]

what are you using for steering wheel controls? on RedByrd I plan on doing similar to you.. getting rid of the student mirror and putting in a rear camera and then have an engine data display up above.. would be cool to have a control that could switch apps remotely on a mobile device, or control music on an overhead ipad or such..

-Christopher

[Vlad]

Hey, you are getting there... I am jealous

I am still building garage for my bus and keep fixing our house.

I see you worked with crapper. I had 1 1/2" sewer pipe in my basement. I had to put toilet there, so after reading and googling a lot about adding toilet below grade I decided to install rear discharge toilet (not bottom one like most US ones) and connect garburator after it and dump all through 1 1/2" pipe.

It all works great and I am willing to use the same idea in my bus. This allows to place black tank anywhere and even dump directly if you have hook up near by. And near by can be as far as 100' away.

This is just an idea for you.

[browncrown]

Most impressive!!!

[El Tanke]

Aaron, where'd that turd box come from? I need a place to store mine too

Adam

[aaronsb]

Hello Internet Friends,

It's been a while. Here's some pictures of the progress in the last few months. It feels like every win is really hard-wrought. Took a real drive somewhere in the bus last weekend, and aside from random screws and bits rolling out from crevices (they were ones I dropped, I swear!) it went really well.

I have an intermittent coolant level warning light that I think is incorrect (the reservoir tank is full)

The front right hub oil is pretty dark. It's not "burnt" but it's enough (along with a clunk that happened twice, from the right side, when driving) that I'm taking the bus to the shop in two weeks to change oil/seals/bearings on the front right corner.




If you have any advice on those items I'm all ears.

So, pictures:


















Got the composting toilet hooked up. I found a way to deal with the urine, I'll let you guys figure out which picture that is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLIppgE45wM

[Robin97396]

Nice work. Kids everywhere know what to do with a bus.

[browncrown]

Your work is amazing...looking great!

[EastCoastCB]

Nice, I haven't seen the bus since you painted it!
Lookin good man!

[browncrown]

It's looking fab East Coast!