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Old 02-10-2018, 06:19 PM   #1
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 8
Year: 1973
Coachwork: Ford
Engine: 330 cu in (5.4 L) Ford FT V8
Cool 1973 Ford B-Series Short Bus

Hey everyone!

Happy to join Skoolie with my new purchase - a 1973 Ford B-Series Short Bus! I figured I'd just post photos of it and then add photos of what all I'm doing along the way. As of now, the bus's seats have all been removed, some of the windows have been removed for resealing, and the floor has been coated with a rust-phobic base coat. Holes around the exterior and interior of the bus have all been puttied over and we're almost ready for designing our layout. Runs and drives great and has very little body rust!

Can't wait to get started, and while I'm sure I'll have frustrations along the way, I'm glad to have such a great community to ask questions of!
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Old 02-10-2018, 06:31 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turglar View Post
Hey everyone!

Happy to join Skoolie with my new purchase - a 1973 Ford B-Series Short Bus! I figured I'd just post photos of it and then add photos of what all I'm doing along the way. As of now, the bus's seats have all been removed, some of the windows have been removed for resealing, and the floor has been coated with a rust-phobic base coat. Holes around the exterior and interior of the bus have all been puttied over and we're almost ready for designing our layout. Runs and drives great and has very little body rust!

Can't wait to get started, and while I'm sure I'll have frustrations along the way, I'm glad to have such a great community to ask questions of!
Welcome!
That bus has a crazy cool looking front end.
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Old 02-10-2018, 06:59 PM   #3
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Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Dawsonville, Ga.
Posts: 10,482
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Genesis
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466/3060
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Welcome to the addiction. Now fill out your profile so we know who you are and where you're from for more accurate responses to any questions you may have.
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Old 02-10-2018, 08:18 PM   #4
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Location: Willamina, Oregon
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Coachwork: 97 Bluebird TC1000 5.9
Nice bus. What you got under the hood?

I've got a very similar 5 window with a 300 6 and a five speed.
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Old 02-11-2018, 12:17 AM   #5
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: St. Louis, MO
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Year: 1973
Coachwork: Ford
Engine: 330 cu in (5.4 L) Ford FT V8
Yeah! And the white grill is stock!
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Old 02-11-2018, 12:18 AM   #6
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: St. Louis, MO
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Year: 1973
Coachwork: Ford
Engine: 330 cu in (5.4 L) Ford FT V8
330 cu in (5.4 L) Ford FT V8.
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Old 02-11-2018, 11:07 AM   #7
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
What an old sweetheart! Happy to see another "classic" being brought back to life.
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Old 02-12-2018, 11:57 PM   #8
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Seattle
Posts: 10
Year: 1964
Coachwork: Wayne
Chassis: S400
Engine: 318 Chrysler
Oh yesss, love to see other classic buses still lurking about!
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Old 02-17-2018, 09:24 AM   #9
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Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 32
Year: 1976
Coachwork: just us
Engine: ford 391FT
Rated Cap: 36
looks a lot like my bus! 1976 B-500
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Old 02-24-2018, 09:48 AM   #10
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Join Date: Aug 2017
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Year: 1976
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Originally Posted by turglar View Post
330 cu in (5.4 L) Ford FT V8.
do you have more pictures of the engine?
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Old 02-24-2018, 09:54 AM   #11
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Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 32
Year: 1976
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Engine: ford 391FT
Rated Cap: 36
I'm curious to know how similar our buses are. I haven't come across many like ours.
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Old 02-26-2018, 03:23 PM   #12
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Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 32
Year: 1976
Coachwork: just us
Engine: ford 391FT
Rated Cap: 36
Bed is in!

We Finally put the mattress in yesterday. It's beginning to feel more complete. The old house needs to sell soon so we can finish up on the road!
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Old 04-07-2018, 12:29 PM   #13
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 8
Year: 1973
Coachwork: Ford
Engine: 330 cu in (5.4 L) Ford FT V8
Cool First Obstacles

Okay guys...

So in transit from Springfield, MO to St. Louis, MO, we encountered a few problems that I'm gonna list:
  1. While driving, we hit a blizzard and we realized that our right windshield wiper was not working (bad news in a blizzard haha).
  2. Heater isn't working (again, bad news in a blizzard haha).
  3. In addition to not working, we also have to replace the windshield wipers entirely.
  4. While driving, we had a strange backfire which basically killed the electrical systems on the bus. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong, but I am working on getting to the bottom of it.
  5. The bus stopped trying to turn over which leads me to believe something went wrong with the battery, but I'm sure theres more issues.
  6. The driver seat came up from the floor (it might have had something to do with my rage fest once the bus came to a halt).
So yeah, that's where we're at right now, so if you have any insights, I'd love to hear them. I'll post any updates as I investigate, but we'll just have to figure it out as we go along.
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Old 04-07-2018, 12:30 PM   #14
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 8
Year: 1973
Coachwork: Ford
Engine: 330 cu in (5.4 L) Ford FT V8
Hey, your bus looks fantastic, but I'm not sure how similar we are since there's no photos of your exterior?
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Old 04-07-2018, 04:17 PM   #15
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 8
Year: 1973
Coachwork: Ford
Engine: 330 cu in (5.4 L) Ford FT V8
Cool

Quote:
Originally Posted by turglar View Post
Okay guys...

So in transit from Springfield, MO to St. Louis, MO, we encountered a few problems that I'm gonna list:
  1. While driving, we hit a blizzard and we realized that our right windshield wiper was not working (bad news in a blizzard haha).
  2. Heater isn't working (again, bad news in a blizzard haha).
  3. In addition to not working, we also have to replace the windshield wipers entirely.
  4. While driving, we had a strange backfire which basically killed the electrical systems on the bus. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong, but I am working on getting to the bottom of it.
  5. The bus stopped trying to turn over which leads me to believe something went wrong with the battery, but I'm sure theres more issues.
  6. The driver seat came up from the floor (it might have had something to do with my rage fest once the bus came to a halt).
So yeah, that's where we're at right now, so if you have any insights, I'd love to hear them. I'll post any updates as I investigate, but we'll just have to figure it out as we go along.
Okay, so I took the battery to AutoZone and upon testing, they realized it had zero power... Like absolutely no polarization. Not exactly sure what that means as far as how it happened, but I went to WalMart and they swapped me out a new battery and sure enough, fired right up and we're good to go. Any ideas as to what might have happened to the old battery? Definitely don't want a repeat situation at all.
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Old 04-07-2018, 04:48 PM   #16
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Owasso, OK
Posts: 2,627
Year: 1999
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Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: Cummins 6CTA8.3 Mechanical MD3060
Rated Cap: 46 Coach Seats, 40 foot
Quote:
Originally Posted by turglar View Post
Okay, so I took the battery to AutoZone and upon testing, they realized it had zero power... Like absolutely no polarization. Not exactly sure what that means as far as how it happened, but I went to WalMart and they swapped me out a new battery and sure enough, fired right up and we're good to go. Any ideas as to what might have happened to the old battery? Definitely don't want a repeat situation at all.
It was old. It died. It happens.

Glad you are back on the road, and if I were you I'd install two of those batteries.
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Old 04-11-2018, 10:02 AM   #17
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 8
Year: 1973
Coachwork: Ford
Engine: 330 cu in (5.4 L) Ford FT V8
Cool

Quote:
Originally Posted by Twigg View Post
It was old. It died. It happens.

Glad you are back on the road, and if I were you I'd install two of those batteries.
I mean, the battery was actually brand new. Luckily, since it was so brand new, it was still under warranty.

By installing two, did you mean that I should buy a second battery and then daisy chain the two together?
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Old 04-11-2018, 01:05 PM   #18
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Owasso, OK
Posts: 2,627
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: Cummins 6CTA8.3 Mechanical MD3060
Rated Cap: 46 Coach Seats, 40 foot
Quote:
Originally Posted by turglar View Post
I mean, the battery was actually brand new. Luckily, since it was so brand new, it was still under warranty.

By installing two, did you mean that I should buy a second battery and then daisy chain the two together?
Most buses have two batteries. Some have three.

They are linked in parallel to retain the voltage but double the CCA.
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