My 1946 Wayne/Chevy

lars larsen · 05-08-2010, 10:24 AM

Hey everyone, I've been lurking around here for a while, but finally joined and thought I'd introduce myself and the bus. My dad bought this bus many years ago and used it for the boy scouts, and various other things. Well, it's been sitting on the farm for a long time now, but have been getting geared up to do a major restore job on it. It's a 1946 Wayne bus body with a Chevy chassis. I bought a 1985 Chevy 1ton cube van so I could update the chassis, and rebuilding a 454 and 400 trans. to power this Art Deco style bus. I know it's going to be lots of work, but the end project should be lots of fun. Any help I get from here will be much appreciated!

bus-ted · 05-08-2010, 11:15 AM

That will be one fun project! As many will say- keep us posted w/ lots o pics.

sdwarf36 · 05-08-2010, 09:25 PM

That is way cool! Any questions about the cube van stuff I'll be glad to help. My prior ride to my bus (for 22 years) was a GMC 14 ft cube van. 1st suggestion is come up with 16" rims rather than the 16.5's. They are taller and have a better selection of tire choices.

lars larsen · 05-09-2010, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smitty

Cool! How close are the wheelbases? What are ya' gonna do inside the bus?

And welcome!

Smitty

It looks like I'm going to have to add 12"-13" to the frame lengthwise and maybe cut and add elsewhere. Inside I'm thinking about seating all the way around the outside with a coffee table/cooler in the center. A good tailgate party bus. I'm up for any suggestions.

lars larsen · 05-09-2010, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdwarf36

That is way cool! Any questions about the cube van stuff I'll be glad to help. My prior ride to my bus (for 22 years) was a GMC 14 ft cube van. 1st suggestion is come up with 16" rims rather than the 16.5's. They are taller and have a better selection of tire choices.

Thanks for the offer! Any idea what the gear ratio is? I haven't checked it out yet. I'm going to keep the 16.5's for now cause the tires are like new, but maybe in the future go up to a 20" to fill up the wheel well. Not for sure, just an idea, but that's a long way down the road.

sdwarf36 · 05-09-2010, 04:36 PM

Almost surely 4:10's. I have heard there were 3:89's also-but never came across a set.

lars larsen · 05-10-2010, 05:47 PM

Since the axle is so close to the back end of the frame already, I wouldn't gain near enough. So it looks like I'll have to cut the frame. As long as it's cut and re welded square, boxed in, and trussed I don't think there will be an issue with it. Afterwards send it to the frame shop to check alignment and all should be good. Thanks for the suggestion though. I'm going to try and mock everything up within the next month so I can get an idea how much and where to cut, drive shaft lengths, trans. cross member...etc. Should be tons o fun

grz2000 · 05-11-2010, 07:41 AM

will be intrested in seeing how you come along, in the middle of doing a rear axle swap and a front clip on my 51 international.

Tango · 03-30-2011, 11:54 PM

Hope to see/hear more about your project. I just bought what I think is the same unit. A '46 Chevy Shorty (160" wheelbase) with a Wayne body. If you are still checking in, please give us an update.

Tango · 03-31-2011, 03:29 PM

PS...How do you add photos to the Galleries? Don't see any such button or whatever there. Thanks in advance.

lars larsen · 04-04-2011, 09:41 PM

Nice looking bus Tango! I have been really busy around the farm since my first post here, and have not done anything on the bus other than collect info and parts. We are doing a major scrap iron cleanup to fund this project. She will be moving to the shed soon to yank the frame out and then the fun will begin. Good luck with yours!

Tango · 04-05-2011, 09:51 AM

Lars--- Roger the "Info & Parts" collecting. Likewise here . And I don't even have the bus here yet. Great resources and people here and on the "Stovebolts" site as well. Frankly, I am amazed at just how much info is actually available online and through period and reprinted books! Very encouraging. And the general popularity of Chevy's "Art Deco" truck series helps too. I will be putting together a reference list here soon of facts, figures and sources specifically for these skoolies and post what I have on the site. Just got a note from another bus nut just outside Houston (my home base) and will encourage him and others to contribute to a master list of such info. Maybe if we all pull together, it will go a little more smoothly for all of us.

Thanks for the reply and best of luck with your project.

lars larsen · 01-06-2013, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vernongetzler

Well, it’s amazing. The miracle has been done. Hat’s off. Well done, as we know that “hard work always pays off”, after a long struggle with sincere effort it’s done.

==========
vernon

??? uuu ok uuu Not yet, but thanks?

lars larsen · 01-06-2013, 07:00 PM

Ok, so I guess it's been along time since I posted anything on here. Not that I have gotten much done anyway, but here it is. I did get this moved into the shed, bought another for doner fenders, and picked up other misc parts here and there. I am working on splitting the body and chassis and raising the $$ for the job.

lars larsen · 01-06-2013, 07:01 PM

In the shed

lars larsen · 01-06-2013, 07:02 PM

Donor truck

ol trunt · 01-06-2013, 09:24 PM

Oh boy! Now there are three of us rushing for the finish line with our old busses. What do your plans entail now that you have had some time to think about it? Jack

Tango · 01-06-2013, 09:44 PM

Hey Lars! --- Welcome Back! --- so glad to hear it's back in the works. We now have a trio of war & pre-war buses being schlepped togeth...er..."converted" here. And the front end is a great find. Just wish you had a spare 5.43 rear end with it...I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Been lookin' for ages now and no luck.

And do keep the pix coming. We'd all love to see a few more views including the insides.

Like I said...happy to have you back.

And BTW Jack...you know as well as I do that there ain't no finish line. Once you start on a vehicle more than 50 years old, it automatically invokes a space/time inversion. The more you do, the more you find you need to do, and the faster you work, the further out the "finish line" moves. Basic bus physics.

lars larsen · 01-07-2013, 12:08 PM

Well ol trunt, if there is a finish line you can count on me being quite tired at the end. Id love to put everything I have towards this, but with a full time job, other volunteer work and various other things, its lucky to have me at all. What I have so far is a chassis I removed from a 1 ton moving van that I too will have to stretch about 13" (will be looking close at yours) and a 454 with a th400 behind. I may be looking for something with overdrive though. My plan is just to use for a party /tailgate bus. I'll have seating for around 15 inside including a potty, but no plans of a full blown RV. If I take it camping for the weekend I'll still be packing a tent. Winter has set in here in Nebraska and its in an unheated machine shed, so I'm pretty picky about when I work on it. If I can get the body off soon and my new frame figured out and to the welder that's my first priority. Then figure out how to squeeze the big block in. Most of my mechanical jobs will be subbed out, but I'm an aviation upholstery guy, so you can count on a rocken interior! I'll post what I can when I can, but I'm in for the long haul with this one. But hey, I'm only 38 - I've got lots of time right?

Tango · 01-07-2013, 04:48 PM

Hey Lars --- Aviation upholstery huh? Then we do indeed expect to see some classy stitching! Just wish I could send you my Toyota Camry seat. It's all mechanical and in good shape but I want to recover it with some breathable leather instead of the plain Jane fabric that's on it. Do you consider that a good/reasonable choice? Would love to have a matching cover for my jackknife sofa if it is considered durable enough. Hey, if you weren't so far away, I'd offer to trade some mig welding for upholstery work.

BTW...the bus plan sounds great. And the newer chassis come with all kinds of neat modern stuff...like brakes.

Back to the drivers seat (I know Jack is near this stage too)...my plan is to mount the Toyota seat, which has the standard fore & aft slides, onto a heavy duty boat swivel slide I picked up on Epay. The boat slide will be mounted crossways,that way I can have it centered on the steering wheel then rotate and slide it to one side for use as my campsite LazyBoy. The whole rig will be mounted onto a heavy gauge steel box bolted through the floor with some storage under and (of course) a cupholder & map/junk box built in. Any thoughts, ideas or criticisms are welcomed. And...a related Epay find just arrived at my door as we speak...a Porsche retractable rear seat belt that I plan on using as part of the above arrangement.

May come in handy since I don't have those fancy new fangled brakes.

Onward!

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