1994 P30 Bus named "Scrappy"

[sentricity]

Here is our newly acquired bus!



My wife and I have been searching for a way to stop sleeping on the ground while camping, and found the Skoolie movement!

I have always wanted to have an RV for family camping adventures, and then this sucker came along. We have been looking at RVs and pop-up campers this summer, but price has been prohibitive as well as the thoughts of the hassle of pop-up trailers.

I am very handy and love to fabricate in multiple medias, so a project like this is very exciting for me.

At first the idea of a school bus had my wife turned off due to the size and parking hassles in our suburban home, much less, where are we going to complete the actual conversion? And then came the typical woman response... "It's yellow! I don't want an ugly yellow school bus in front of our house!"

Well after finding THIS bus her attitude was swayed. The size is perfect for our needs, and parking restrictions. The price was right. The bus was in much better mechanical condition than any RV we could afford in the near foreseeable future as well.

So details of our bus:

1994 Chevy P30 chassis
Carpenter 35 Passenger Chassis
350ci V8 gas engine
4L80E transmission
51,000 miles!
8R19.5 tires (95% tread)
Hydraulic disk brakes

I feel it was a great find and an even better buying situation as the previous owner was a retired professor and knows the mechanics that regularly maintained the bus at the local school district.

Time to get to work!

[milkmania]

Welcome aboard!

Get them kids a water hose and a soap bucket... Make it a family event!
You'll be shocked how well it'll clean up


On a side note ...
I found Shaggy & Scooby last year at Walmart

[Tedd]

Originally Posted by sentricity

Time to get to work!

Hey there ... it's good to have you aboard.

Before you start, I would advise that you begin by reading as many threads here as you possibly can. A converted skoolie is a very complex thing, one having many systems. Each system will require it's own job skills. Learn as much as you can and plan very carefully before you begin this project and you will do just fine.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Some folk here have done several of these builds and are very happy to help.

[sentricity]

Originally Posted by milkmania

Welcome aboard!

Get them kids a water hose and a soap bucket... Make it a family event!
You'll be shocked how well it'll clean up


On a side note ...
I found Shaggy & Scooby last year at Walmart

Thanks so much!

We made short work of the clean up with a pressure washer and a gallon of Simple Green

You are not the first one to make the Mystery Machine reference, lol. My SIL actually suggested we paint it with that theme!

Originally Posted by Tedd

Hey there ... it's good to have you aboard.

Before you start, I would advise that you begin by reading as many threads here as you possibly can. A converted skoolie is a very complex thing, one having many systems. Each system will require it's own job skills. Learn as much as you can and plan very carefully before you begin this project and you will do just fine.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Some folk here have done several of these builds and are very happy to help.

Great advice Tedd. Ever since the idea came up a few months ago I have been spending much of my spare time reading conversion thread here!

[milkmania]

You kidding??? Scooby & Scrappy Do were two of my favorites!

[sentricity]

Once we got the bus home I promptly fired up the pressure washer and dunked it pickup tube into a gallon of Simple Green and crawled all over cleaning up Scrappy!

Then I fired up the handy paint scraper and peeled all the lettering.

Not too bad looking!



I wanted to get a better assessment of the engine bay in the light, the barn it was parked in didn't allow the best lighting conditions and it stunk.





Somebody was hungry.





Pretty clean overall. I'll give it a full once over and flush all the fluids, filters, plugs, wires, and whatnot,

She needs some cleaning though!

[milkmania]

I wouldn't kick it outta bed for eating crackers!

I knew it'd clean up great from "barn dust"... Basically out of the elements

[milkmania]

I'll be danged!
Throttle body fuel injected like my 88 K5 blazer was

[sentricity]

Out with the seats!



Most of the bolts came out/ snapped with my cordless Dewalt Impact gun. The rest, I cut the heads with the angle grinder. Pretty quick work overall, an hour or so.

Well next on the agenda is paint. I want to get that done so we don't start getting the city called on us... You never know how your neighbors feel about you until a school bus is parked in your drive, lol.

I wanted to remove the pedestrian mirrors and plug the holes. The hood is fiberglass, so I taped the front of the hole, and globbed some JB Weld on the back. Once it is dry, peel the tape and everything should sand smooth!







Voila!

[milkmania]

Those little orange razor knives extended and laid flat will slice that jb weld right off, and save sanding pads

[sentricity]

Originally Posted by milkmania

I wouldn't kick it outta bed for eating crackers!

I knew it'd clean up great from "barn dust"... Basically out of the elements

Originally Posted by milkmania

I'll be danged!
Throttle body fuel injected like my 88 K5 blazer was

Yup, she's a beaut!

Should make some good power with that TBI 350....

[sentricity]

I had some patch panels cut on the laser at work last week and replaced the flashers this weekend. I drilled the screw holes out to fit 1/4" rivets and smeared some seam sealer, popped them in with that sucker!









Then it was time to remove lights and trim pieces to start sanding. I normally enjoy painting, but working around rivets and the side ribs... man what a PITA!









The screws that held the hood in place were threaded into a plate behind the cowl, which was not captured by anything. Awesome!

Well I popped some Riv-Nuts in there place and I'll fish out those plates later.

[Carytowncat]

Goodness a guy or gal could fall in love with that bus!

AND a 350 with tbi?
The stars aligned here, wow.

Looks like a different bus clean lol.

Wow you do good work and went right to town!


Speaking of Scooby Doo...
I watch Scooby doo almost every day and night. It has a magical comforting effect on the kid in me. I have a giant collection of dvds....
Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by Carytowncat

Goodness a guy or gal could fall in love with that bus!

AND a 350 with tbi?
The stars aligned here, wow.

Looks like a different bus clean lol.

Wow you do good work and went right to town!


Speaking of Scooby Doo...
I watch Scooby doo almost every day and night. It has a magical comforting effect on the kid in me. I have a giant collection of dvds....
Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I've still got a burnt DVD in back of suburban the kids would watch....

Youngest child graduated high school last year

Just looked at your pic..... You got it bad!!!

[Carytowncat]

About ten more not in that pic...

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by Carytowncat

About ten more not in that pic...

First step to recovery is admitting you have a problem....

Hahahaha

[Carytowncat]

I am powerless over my Scooby Doo addiction

[sentricity]

So after a frustrating week of taping and masking, then redoing half of the job over.... I made some visible progress!

I sprayed the bus with Rustoleum Almond reduced with acetone. I only had paint for one and about a half coats, but it was good coverage. So I'm happy for now.

I have to drive the bus into work tomorrow to dispose of the seat cushion and scrap the seat frame, because we are using the bus this weekend to haul the dirtbikes to the cabin









Plus.... We got it tagged as an RV today!!!!

I'm stoked !

[Gazolba]

That is a really sweet looking bus. I really like those short Carpenter bodies. How long is it? You have already transformed it quite a bit. Look forward to seeing your continuing progress. I hope you will post more photos as you progress.

[30kdays]

Happy to see another p30 on here! We are just starting our build!