Hi everyone, i have been reading this site now for about 2 months just trying to get as much information together.
Me and 3 of my friends have purchased a 1991 Chevy? Bluebird body. There is my first question, from the pics can you tell me exactly what model this is? Im afraid my paper work only says BlueBird 91.
http://shortbussunday.com/codys%20pi...9/dscf0036.jpg Sorry about the large pic size, we are not done building the site yet but the main page is up and running if you wish to check it out.
It is also a propane conversion, it has a 90L tank. We purchased it from a bus company out here and it has been taken care of extremely well. new engine 20K ago, new tranny 50K ago.
We are basically converting it into a people moving, camping party bus. We have re-classified the bus to a pleasure use vehicle, and reduced the seating capacity to 10 so that following our drivers license's, anyone of us can drive it. (A basic license for us is car, truck, van blah blah but max 10 passengers ;))
At this point we have already done a full tear down on it. Seats are out, floor is out, removed rear heating system, and generally stripped the interior.
As soon as we finish prepping the floor we are going to start painting the inside, and then the wonderful task of wiring and plumbing. We will be installing a sink and one faucet, no toilet, water tank & pump (obviously), battery box, extra propane tank under the chassis, regular night time lighting as well as party mode lighting, LED sign board in the front, Bus-Puter, 3 LCD's, and a pretty massive stereo.
We are all pretty mechanically and electronically inclined and as such doing this work poses no trouble what so ever for us. I am already in the process of calculating power requirements for AC and DC. We will be running an inverter as well.
My next question is about the alternator, i would like something around the 200 amp range for output. If that means an additional alternator that is fine. I would actually prefer to run 2 100 amp alternators instead of one 200 amp, for fail safe reasons. The ability to lose an alternator and keep on bussin sounds like a great idea ;). At this point i don't know what bus model it is exactly nor do i know what alternator it is running, what alternator can be put in its place, or what bolt on alternator replacements will work. That's pretty much whats stumping me at this point. And i hope that is something that this wonderful site can help me with.
I have most of the other systems designed and ready for pricing/ordering/building. Right now im just left with the alternator situation. Then my specs for the electrical requirements will be ready.
My final question pertains to running a generator instead of running the engine to charge the battery box. We have had no problem finding used generators for fairly low cost. However i am not sure how to connect it to the battery box yet. I am thinking that i can just make an extra connection to the alternator post of the isolator, and then run some type of connector plug to the outside of the bus where the generator will sit. As long as we get the right type of generator (from what i have seen) it should then switch on and off depending on its "sensed" voltage level of the batteries. During the day time there will be minimal use but it will increase at night for lighting and such. Please correct me if i am wrong in any of my above assumptions.
I have seen that some people want to run either Genny, or Batt box, however our electrical requirements demand both systems. I am afraid we are just to techy and we want all of our toys to work.
Thanks for reading and check back often for updates on our progress.
P.S. I know that a lot of you guys are American, so excuse my Canadian lingo lol, K's and L's