Took the plunge! 1989 Blue Bird All American RE 8.3 Cummins

[crazycal]

I just got back to California from Arizona with my new (used) bus. I can't believe I bought a bus. Here's the scoop. It's a 1989 84 passenger with 35,000 original miles (bullshit! gesundheit) and an Allison 6 speed (bullshit! gesundheit. There must be a draft in here as well as in between the sellers ears!). I bought it anyways. Maybe I'm the one with the draft in between the ears. Some reasons I chose this bus.

1. It had 35k original miles???
2. It was an AZ bus with not a speck of rust.
3. Someone had already pulled all of the seats except for 4.
4. It had an Onan 6.5 kw generator installed (bullshit! gesundheit. I must be catching a cold). Try a 4kw something else.
5. A rooftop A/C unit had been installed.
6. The seller had bought a bunch of stuff out of a wrecked rv for the bus that was included, like an electric/propane reefer, stove, microwave, sink, cabinets, small inverter, propane tank, matress and I'm sure I left some stuff out. Also included were about 10 sheets of plywood and 20 2x4s.
7. It runs at 1800+/- rpm at 60 mph. Can you say 4.10 rearend?

It also had two fancypants sideview mirrors that he said cost over $500 each new. Who knows.

Anyways, I thought there were more positives than negatives, so I bought it. But not until he knocked another $500 off for the worthless crap that he called tires that were on the bus. Did I mention the two nice aluminum rims on the bus?

So there's my story and I'm stickin' to it!! I will try to put up some pics when I figure it out. What do you think?

[crazycal]

Thanks. Here's a stab at it.

http://www.skoolie.net/gallery2/v/Sk.../bluebird_001/

[captainkf]

Welcome Crazycal, nice looking "coolbus" . It's a great length and nice it comes with a bunch of the expensive rv fixin's. keep us posted.

Now I know this may be taken as a bit forward, however I am going to ask; how much?

Good luck and have fun.

-Richard

[Griff]

She's a looker all right! Nice bus, nice size, lots of potential, and the seats already out! Good for you, and welcome to the asylum!

[crazycal]

From one person in CA to the other person in the other CA, I will have a little fun(light hearted). When I went to Arizona, I took along my wiffle bat. I didn't know what kind of crap I would run into. When I got to the bus, I was a little surprised about a couple of things. "The bus has 35000 original miles" the owner told me over the phone. Yes, the mileage did read 34,899. It also had over 13000 hours. That works out to about 2.5 miles per hour or a s***load of idle time. "It has air ride suspension" he said. I think he meant it has an air ride seat which has to be pumped up every 15 minutes. "I installed an Onan 6.5 kw generator" was another statement made to me. It has a 4 kw something else. Over the phone, I asked him if I bought the bus, would I have any problems driving it back to California. "Absolutely not" he told me. So, after looking at the bus and talking with a friend on the phone(who knows a hell of a lot more about buses than I do), I decided that the bus seemed like a solid rustfree foundation to start my first (I hope to be saying that for a long time) conversion. Before anything was said about price, I pointed out the ****, sorry I mean s**t he had for tires. He replied that new tires could be had $225 each. He thought he could trick me with a math problem, but I was too smart for him. I pulled out my wiffle bat which just happens to have a calculator built into the grip and figured out that new tires were going to cost me a boatload of cash( you thought I was going to use the s-word again, didn't you?). I told him that even at $225(thats US, not Canadian Dollars), that was still a bunch of money. I might has been a little upset about him not being exactly truthful with me. That might have caused me to forget to reholster my wiffle bat/calculator as I was waving my arms around (no I'm not Italian). He said he would drop the price from $5500 to $4000. I said "OK, I'll take it. Wrap her up."

[oldog12]

Was that Glock solar powered or lithium cell?

[oldog12]

Recoil or gas operated?

[oldog12]

Single or double action?

[oldog12]

Goofy or dopey?

[crazycal]

Solar, recoil, single, and a little of both!!!

[Elliot Naess]

.

Glock, schmock.

(photo copyright Elliot Naess)


Looks like a winner of a bus!
But does it really have a Cummins 8.3, or is it actually a Briggs and Stratton?

[crazycal]

I took some more pictures today. I will try and get them on tonight. There are some pictures of the B & S motor.

[Elliot Naess]

Cool! Now just keep diesel fuel and red wine safely apart, fix a few things, and enjoy!

As for tires, you might look into the Chinese brands. Yes, I hate telling anybody to buy
anything made in China, but that's a decision you can make yourself. The Double Coin
brand is supposed to be OK, and they cost far less than "normal" tires. I have a pair on
Millicent. On the back, I have fresh recaps, which are on Toyo and Michelin casings.
Total cost about 1600 for those six (295-75-22,5.)

[crazycal]

I think the chinese tires might be ok for the rears, but not for the front. I will put the best tires that I can afford when the time comes. Is your tire size (295-75-22,5) what came standard on your bus. Mine has 11r22.5. I think yours is a lower profile tire.

[Elliot Naess]

Yes, Millicent came with 11R22,5. I wound up with the metric "low profile" tires largely
because that is what we use at work (trucking company). I got them for the "company
price" and it makes sense to have the same size in case I ever want to put them on
a truck.

I actually bought them for my first bus, which came with 9x20, so the new ones were
taller than the old ones. Then I "traded up" to Millicent and found that my good tires
were the same as, or even a bit "shorter" than, the 11x22,5s. Oh well.

Our shop manager felt that the Double Coins were the one Chinese brand he would
trust for steer. And I'm on a tight budget. Of course you are better off with better
tires up front. Our rear tires are lightly loaded -- unless you carry something
awful heavy -- so that is less critical.

[lapeer20m]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

Our shop manager felt that the Double Coins were the one Chinese brand he would
trust for steer..

i bought a new pair of "LING LONG" brand made in china tires for my skoolie last year. I did drive to burningman and back ~5K miles and i'm very pleased with them. The new tires are so much quieter than my old ones....didn't even realize my old ones were noisy till i got these. I think they were at least $100 per tire cheaper than michelline's or goodyear.

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by crazycal

From one person in CA to the other person in the other CA, I will have a little fun(light hearted). When I went to Arizona, I took along my Glock 9mm. I didn't know what kind of crap I would run into. When I got to the bus, I was a little surprised about a couple of things. "The bus has 35000 original miles" the owner told me over the phone. Yes, the mileage did read 34,899. It also had over 13000 hours. That works out to about 2.5 miles per hour or a s***load of idle time. "It has air ride suspension" he said. I think he meant it has an air ride seat which has to be pumped up every 15 minutes. "I installed an Onan 6.5 kw generator" was another statement made to me. It has a 4 kw something else. Over the phone, I asked him if I bought the bus, would I have any problems driving it back to California. "Absolutely not" he told me. So, after looking at the bus and talking with a friend on the phone(who knows a hell of a lot more about buses than I do), I decided that the bus seemed like a solid rustfree foundation to start my first (I hope to be saying that for a long time) conversion. Before anything was said about price, I pointed out the ****, sorry I mean s**t he had for tires. He replied that new tires could be had $225 each. He thought he could trick me with a math problem, but I was too smart for him. I pulled out my Glock which just happens to have a calculator built into the grip and figured out that new tires were going to cost me a boatload of cash( you thought I was going to use the s-word again, didn't you?). I told him that even at $225(thats US, not Canadian Dollars), that was still a bunch of money. I might has been a little upset about him not being exactly truthful with me. That might have caused me to forget to reholster my Glock/calculator as I was waving my arms around (no I'm not Italian). He said he would drop the price from $5500 to $4000. I said "OK, I'll take it. Wrap her up." So why did I tell you this long story? Because I just started my third glass of red wine and I thought I would be funny. But that's not the only reason. I wanted to make a point, GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, DOCTORS DO! Doctors probably kill more than 500,000 people a year. Whats the other point I was trying to make? If you would have pointed a gun at me and asked me your question, I would have just told you $4000. Cheers mate!

Do you regularly confess publicly to felonies?

[Jarlaxle]

You may want to look for used tires. I got two 11R22.5 Goodyear steer tires for $125 each, mounted & balanced.

[GoneCamping]

I have the luxury of working for a heavy truck dealer (Colonial Ford Trucks of Tidewater), with an attached side business of a tire dealer (Colonial Tire). As such, I've been able to find 'free' tires for my bus. The tire guys are now doing a search to come up with a good rim and tire for me to carry as a spare! Sometimes ya get lucky!!

[crazycal]

I took the bus across the scale today. It only weighs 22,700#.