Jumped in with both feet!

[bansil]

wow great job...you sure its not a full size bus your taking pictures of ??

great job on the shorty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wooftfd]

Its a non-turbo 6.5 diesel, auto with overdrive... Will go 68 on the flats, but is a little weak on the hills... I put on duals, and a low restriction air cleaner, it helped, but I/m still considering adding a turbo...

[leadsled01]

How the he11 do you cut the top corner cabinets to fit the curve from ceiling to wall? I'm not that great at finish carpentry and this winter I will be installing my cabinets. Thanks in advance. Great work, by the way..

[Wooftfd]

I made a cardboard template, (actually 4, the bus had slightly different curves in various locations), and made cutout of plywood to box in the cabinet ends... I only used the face of the overhead cabinets, cut them away with a table saw, leaving about 1 1/2", of all sides. I then attached cleats to the bus wall, and ceiling where I wanted to attach the cabinets, and screwed into the cleats where the remaining cabinetn box overlapped... A couple of pics show a positioning mock-up, you can see the cleats, and mounting surface... I'm sure theres a better way to do it, but this way they are SOLID, and it seemed pretty easy...

[leadsled01]

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Wooftfd

I made a cardboard template, (actually 4, the bus had slightly different curves in various locations), and made cutout of plywood to box in the cabinet ends... I only used the face of the overhead cabinets, cut them away with a table saw, leaving about 1 1/2", of all sides. I then attached cleats to the bus wall, and ceiling where I wanted to attach the cabinets, and screwed into the cleats where the remaining cabinetn box overlapped... A couple of pics show a positioning mock-up, you can see the cleats, and mounting surface... I'm sure theres a better way to do it, but this way they are SOLID, and it seemed pretty easy...

[Tool Amour]

I'm in awe of your woodworking skills--your bus looks great! The corner seat over the wheel well is MOST excellent!

Do you have plans to modify or replace the folding front door?

How do you power the a/c? I'm interested in hearing more details about wiring, house batteries, etc.

Keep the pics coming--we love pictures!

Cheers,
TA

[Wooftfd]

Thanks ! The plan right now is to leave the door as is, add a rear step, so it will work just like a reg rv, help with the traffic flow! I have two AGM batteries, medical backup units from a MRI machine... Deep cycle, and 250 AH each! Picked them up off craigslist for $100 apice. I tried to use low voltage items in the bus, all lights converted to LED, H20 tank uses no power, fridge only a few amps on propane, same with furnace, h2o pump low draw, intermittent, stove propane only.... Should be able to go a week without shore power, if we are careful. Only thing we cant run is the AC... As to the overall setup, got a 45A panel, 30A feed in, 3 circuts, one rt side outlets, 15A, plus fridge, one left side outlets,15A, dedicated 20A circut for the AC. Im actually going to do a power draw analysis tomorrow, will post the results...

[Wooftfd]

OOOps FRONT door! Duh! Sorry guy, no the front door is actually power! Kinda nice as is, 'cuz it requires a key to open, super secure... We still have the side, and rear doors if we need to move large items...

[Tool Amour]

Originally Posted by Wooftfd

OOOps FRONT door! Duh! Sorry guy, no the front door is actually power! Kinda nice as is, 'cuz it requires a key to open, super secure... We still have the side, and rear doors if we need to move large items...

My bus is the same Mini Bird version as yours, only older and shorter--and I deliberately removed the electric front door assembly because I was concerned about access if the battery goes dead. Although with 500 mAh available you may not be as concerned.

Are your house batteries connected to the alternator to keep them charged up/topped off?

[Wooftfd]

Yea, im gonna fabricate a lock for the rear side door, just in case... Yes, the house batteries are tied in with the alt, and have a shore power charger also....

[Tango]

Looking great! --- And adding a turbo & intercooler would indeed make a big difference. Dialed in right, you'd probably pick up a few mpg as well. Keep up the good work...and pix!

[Wooftfd]

Thanks Tango!!!

[marksind]

Very impressive! You are obviously very handy and talented! My wife and I have been looking at doing a short bus conversion. The biggest obstacle is the inability to mount a passenger seat beside the driver's seat in most bus configurations. You have done it. Many great photos, but it's not clear how the passenger seat impacts the side door entry area. Can you explain and/or post photos? Many thanks!

Also, are you happy with the GM engine? That's another thing I've shied away from due to problems with their small diesels early on, but maybe they've improved?

[Wooftfd]

Her seat sits about three inches behind mine, and about 10 inches to the right... When we are at camp, we tilt it forward, leaves about 36, inches to pass by, maybe 24 down at the bottom of her seat...

[Wooftfd]

Here's the results of the power consumption test I ran...
Waco 45 A panel Draw... started at 7.5 when first plugged in, dropped to 2.2A after 1 min... That's the Wizard battery charging system
R Cabin Circuit, .2A Just three outlets, first one a GFI
L Cabin Circuit, same as above
All 10 interior overhead lights on .3A! Changed the bluebird bulbs to 320 L LEDS
Dometic RM2510 Refer, 1.5A
Suburban NT12SEQ furnace, .5A
overhead warning lights, flashers removed, two lights front and rear, 1.7A
Polar Mach AC, Fan only, 6.2A at startup, then dropped to 3A
Ac on, jumped to 20A for a split second, then fell to 13A

[Wooftfd]

Had a few questions from some of you... Here's the best pic I have of the rear couch/bed box... Framed it up with 2X4s, screwed to the floor, and cabinets on each side... The box is about 10" from the rear of the bus, so when the bed folds up, the third, or head section of the plywood base sits on its end between the box and rear door... two long hinges allow the bed to fold, but not collapse, and the middle, and foot section of the bed have swing out feet, which lock into place... This pic also shows the l shaped brace I added to each section of bed, lengthwise, to stiffen up the 3/4" plywood... the bed is so sturdy, sometimes we leave it deployed when we are moving from place to place... I was also asked about seatbelts, at this time, I don't have belts in the couch, or dinette, but I did save a few sets from the bus, if we decide to add some..



I also picked up a old awning off craigslist, Dometic 8500, 14"... Its really cool, heavy duty arms, polished aluminum! Ordered a new fabric, and Voila! By the way, kinda hard to do alone!!!

[sweetfarm]

One of the best short bus conversions that I have seen! Great job! Do you have plans for a generator or more modifications? Also what kind of budget have you spent so far?

[FreedomPanda]

Thank you for sharing this, very inspiring! Beautiful bus!

[EastCoastCB]

Very nice work on a sweet mini.

[leadsled01]

Nice job. Are those home depot cabinets (oak)? And how did you stain/finish them? Can you explain in detail.
I'm about to install my cabinets in my project bus and any explanation sure will help. Thanks..