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Old 11-15-2007, 06:02 PM   #1
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87 bluebird

hmmmmm......

what about this bus?

I know i am/was planning on doing that 60 footer, but this seems like a super nice bus for a limo conversion!



here's the ebay link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 10188&rd=1

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Old 11-15-2007, 08:13 PM   #2
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Re: 87 bluebird

yes, that sure looks like a very nice bus. I Like the very wide doors. Could close the front one up and just use the back one.
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Old 11-15-2007, 08:47 PM   #3
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Re: 87 bluebird

not to mention the 71 series detroit diesel, brand new air bags, new tires, New apparently not yet installed rooftop A/C, and he claims 11 mpg.
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Old 11-18-2007, 08:53 AM   #4
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Re: 87 bluebird

oops, i sort of bought this bus. I really wanted that 60 footer, but this bus seems perfect for a limo conversion. it caught my eye on ebay and i just couldn't say no. My flight leaves monday about 1:30 pm. It's 2,000 miles from here ugggggggggg!

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Old 11-18-2007, 09:24 AM   #5
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Re: 87 bluebird

I think a 60 foot bus is way more practical. What can you do with a bus as short as 30 feet? Just kidding. Congrats. Don't stop at that station that has diesel for $4.09.
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Old 11-18-2007, 12:23 PM   #6
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Re: 87 bluebird

It looks like a nice bus to me. You're not going to put another jacuzzi in this one are you?
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Old 11-18-2007, 12:31 PM   #7
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Re: 87 bluebird

now thats disappointing. I was looking forward to seeing that 60 footer as a jacuzzi bus..
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Old 11-19-2007, 07:03 AM   #8
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Re: 87 bluebird

yes, gonna put a jacuzzi inside and get this bus sold as soon as possible. The end of January is the tentative completion date. I want to market this bus, on ebay, to a limousine company. buy it now of $30K perhaps??

i still really want the/a 60 foot bus, but i just can't seem to find an indoor space where i can work on a 60 footer. It's December in michigan, not such a good time to work on a bus outside. I'm sure mac will have his sold on ebay by then, but perhaps i'll try and find a 60 footer this spring.

This new bus is mechanically injected, so no computer's which is really nice, and no theres no articulating joint.

it's 8 am now, our flight leaves around 1:30pm. If all goes as planned i should have the bus by tonight and begin the 2000 mile trek home. Hopefully we make it back in time for thanksgiving.
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Old 11-19-2007, 08:53 AM   #9
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Re: 87 bluebird

bring your laptop and keep usup on the adventure. Is Phil going too?
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Old 11-19-2007, 09:10 AM   #10
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Re: 87 bluebird

No I couldn't make it this time, me and my girlfriend (call her my wife if it makes ya feel any better) are expecting our child any day now. The due date was yesterday (11-18-07) so any day now. Jason insists that I don't really need to be there, she can have our daughter on her own. That didn't fly too well with her.
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Old 11-19-2007, 08:06 PM   #11
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Re: 87 bluebird

we landed in phoenix, it's 50 degrees warmer here than it is back home. 31 in detroit, 81 in phoenix.

We're renting a car right now and we'll make the 2 hour trek to the bus.

more to come......
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Old 11-20-2007, 07:22 AM   #12
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Re: 87 bluebird

if you are gonna make jacuzzi buses a business, you need to just move to the southwest and do them there. save air fair and a few bazillion gallons of diesel. Also, you can work outside i the winter. actually, the winter is probably the only time to work outside as it is too fargin' hot the rest of the year.

good luck. what'd ya pay for it? this damn work firewall won't let me into ebay.
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Old 11-20-2007, 10:59 AM   #13
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Re: 87 bluebird

I'm pretty happy with the bus, however there are some undisclosed issues....like the fancy auto leveling air ride doesn't exactly work. She leans to the front right all the time...it's not bad, but not exactly right. There is a manual adjustment for the gizmo that auto-levels i'll crawl under there adn figure it out when i get home. And the front air doors close really really slow and won't stay closed at speed. Ended up tying them shut with a tie down strap, hope we don't get trapped in here!

The biggest issue i have is that he lied in the ebay add stating the bus' top speed is 80-85 mph. You can't even consider it a mistake or miscommunication.

On flat ground the bus won't do 57 mph indicated by the spedo or my gps. That's a significant difference. I would not have purchased this bus if I knew it had a top speed of 55 mph. Down the mountain it'll go 65, but i wouldn't dare spin the motor faster than that. No tach, but she's a screemin' above 60mph....a top speed you can only obtain while going down a significant grade. I'm very unhappy about this

other than that, the bus seems excellent. She'll make a great jacuzzi/limo bus.

Lots of little things to fix, still have at least one marker light out, the left turn signal is very dim, ect ect.

insurance is $250/year so that's not bad.

Are we there yet??



stopped and bought a stereo because the bus doen't have a radio, and she's gonna need one anyhow. Speakers dont' sound good at all without an enclosure, so we made one out of the cardboard speaker box.





We just crossed into new mexico a few miles back. only 1,839 miles to go!
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Old 11-21-2007, 10:19 AM   #14
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Re: 87 bluebird

Quote:
And the front air doors close really really slow and won't stay closed at speed
first i thought I had this problem in my bus, however in my bus there is a ball valve on the header above the windshield on the passenger side. If you turn it the other way the door closes quickly and stays closed. Check if you have something like that, maybe its hidden behind a panel.

you can kind of see it in this picture to the right of the emergency cabinet, the green handle.

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Old 11-21-2007, 01:04 PM   #15
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Re: 87 bluebird

Haven't checked in for a while. I've been busy either driving or sleeping. We're a couple hundred miles from st louis mo. The bus has been running great, it's just wimpy. I expected a 275 hp DD motor to have more power than my 160 hp DT360. This bus weighs under 20K pounds according to the previous owner.

My buddy found what we thought was the cause of our low top end speed and rather gutless 6v71t. The end of the exhaust pipe was crushed when the previous owner backed into something. We bought a hacksaw and cut off the end......3 made in china saw blades and a lot of elbow grease later this is what we had. Look how restricted it was.




we got back in the bus and she seemed to drive about 63-65 for a long time, so we thought we had cured the problem. We weren't so lucky. We must have been on a long downgrade or something, because a little while later we were back to 55... hill climbing is as bad or worse than my old 6.6 liter ford. UGG I don't know if this is just how wimpy the motor is, or if there is a problem. I tried pulling on the throttle linkage right on top of the engine while driving to see if the linkage was sloppy and that did nothing for me. Tried removing the air filter for about 10 minutes of driving, and that did nothing. We've talked about fuel filters, but haven't had a chance to try that yet.

The previous owner removed the heating/ac system, but i had hoped he left the defrosters and front heaters installed. No such luck. He had disconnected the coolant lines back near the engine compartment. We stopped at a parts store and bought the heater hose & other needed plumbing supplies and connected the heaters but just couldn't get coolant to circulate. It was down to about 40 degrees as we drove through the night last night. That's tollerable, but it's supposed to be in the 20's tonight. that's just too cold, and the windshield will prob get fogged up.....The problem is now fixed, but i'm running out of time so i'll post that story later.

684 miles to go......
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Old 11-21-2007, 05:59 PM   #16
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Re: 87 bluebird

You got to wonder what people are thinking when they disconect the front heaters too. I only removed my rear heater and left my front ones in there because of fogging windows. Driving through a rain storm the windows can fog as well as early cool mornings.
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Old 11-21-2007, 08:23 PM   #17
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Re: 87 bluebird

well, i just got a ticket from a police officer. Technically it's a written warning. It's for parking where the cars belong at the rest area instead of in the truck parking area. I think they were bored and wanted to check out the bus. He was nice, we got talking about a buddy of his when he was younger who bought an old limo and used to cruise around picking up chicks.

it's pretty handy that he didn't ask me for documents like registration or proof of insurance, since i don't have copies of either. I do have insurance on the bus (although i don't have a copy) , the signed title, and the liscense plate from the previous owner is still on the bus.

Ran out of fuel too. the gas guage doesn't work at all......instead of 11 mpg as advertised we got 5.5 mpg. The tank holds 90 gallons of fuel!

398 miles to go......and we still have heat, glorious heat!!! Looks like we should get home just before the snow starts falling in michigan. We're expecting some turkey day snowfall.

I think i'm gonna demand a partial refund from bus guy, or i'm gonna take him to small claims court. Mileage is half what he advertised, speed is far far below what was advertised. An ebay ad is a legal contract and i feel i didn't get what was advertised. Maybe i'll be less grumpy after i get some sleep. It's been a long few days.
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Old 11-21-2007, 09:49 PM   #18
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Re: 87 bluebird

I'd say figure out how much more you had to pay on gas with 5.5 mpg rather than 11 mpg, at least get a refund on that.
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Old 11-22-2007, 06:01 AM   #19
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Re: 87 bluebird

we're home! got here about a half hour ago. We did not get home before the snow like we anticipated but we didn't have to drive through more than 2 inches. A couple days ago it was 81 and there were palm trees....now it looks like a winter wonder land.
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Old 11-22-2007, 08:14 AM   #20
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Re: 87 bluebird

Congratulations on the safe trip. Now to work on that refund..
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