"The Italian Connection" a.k.a. "Squeezed Daily"

[Robin97396]

Several other people removed the bifold bus doors and welded them so it functions as one big door that opens outward. Same idea of keeping the bus look and the high amount of visibility through all that glass.

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

Several other people removed the bifold bus doors and welded them so it functions as one big door that opens outward. Same idea of keeping the bus look and the high amount of visibility through all that glass.

Yeah... That way it would be perfect...but we didn't want to lose the "old school" arm/guide action. Being from overseas, I've never rode one of these, and it's part of the charm for me.
Makes sense?

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[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by skoolie_n00bie

Yeah... That way it would be perfect...but we didn't want to lose the "old school" arm/guide action. Being from overseas, I've never rode one of these, and it's part of the charm for me.
Makes sense?

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im not from overseas.. but part of the charm for me too is making it "FEEL" still like a school bus..

in my case thats one reason I bought an older bus.. I wanted the old industrial-metal feel to the dashboard and driver area too (as opposed to the more car-like dashboards of the newer busses)..

why do you have to lock the front door? if you push it fully closed and latched doesnt that make it where it cant be pushed open from outside? then you can exit the bus from the rear door and lock it with a key..

or is it mainly from inconvenience of no stairs in back or will you have furniture / fixtures covering that door?

-Christopher

[Robin97396]

Even if the door is one piece, you can still attach the manual door closing mechanism. That is something I like about the older buses because the front door is secured from inside the bus.

The other people that reconstructed the doors into one door used the same door closing and opening mechanism, but adjusted a bit. At least one of them was still on air controls. There's no reason why you couldn't still control the door with the manual open/closing mechanism.

[Robin97396]

My front air doors only lock from the outside and there is no latch to keep them closed if it's not locked from the outside, so I often tie them closed with paracord. When there is no air pressure you can easily pull open the door, and at times the wind will open the door at night. In cold weather I do lock the front door from the outside and use the rear door for entry/exit. The problem is the rear door and the wheel chair door only lock from the inside, so when you're leaving the bus it's natural to lock the back doors with the barrel bolts first then lock the front door as you're exiting.

When I'm staying in the bus I need to secure the front door from the inside because it won't stay closed, and I've been paying particular attention to how the deadbolts are being installed on the doors in other builds. I've gotten some good ideas, but I still need to get off my arse to make it happen. I'm dealing with a lot of other little things right now so the deadbolts will have to wait. Luckily I live far out in the boonies so there's not much security risk. Hey, I'm boondocking in my own driveway.

I've had the old industrial metal feel on my previous four buses. There are advantages, such as being able to secure the door when you're inside. At the same time it is possible to lock yourself out under the right conditions with manual doors.

I'm pretty tickled with my air doors in this bus, at least until it starts having problems. It locks up well when I'm in town, with the exception of the top hatch. It shouldn't take to much to make some kind of cornpone latch to secure that hatch.

Honestly I enjoyed driving a class C bus better than a class D.

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

im not from overseas.. but part of the charm for me too is making it "FEEL" still like a school bus..

in my case thats one reason I bought an older bus.. I wanted the old industrial-metal feel to the dashboard and driver area too (as opposed to the more car-like dashboards of the newer busses)..

why do you have to lock the front door? if you push it fully closed and latched doesnt that make it where it cant be pushed open from outside? then you can exit the bus from the rear door and lock it with a key..

or is it mainly from inconvenience of no stairs in back or will you have furniture / fixtures covering that door?

-Christopher

I'd like to lock the front door with a more....mundane...system? if that makes sense.
And the inconvenience in the back is another; bed and water tank will be directly in front of the door, so that door will more than likely stay locked at all times. It is, however, nice to have an easy way to lock from inside and outside

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

Even if the door is one piece, you can still attach the manual door closing mechanism. That is something I like about the older buses because the front door is secured from inside the bus.

The other people that reconstructed the doors into one door used the same door closing and opening mechanism, but adjusted a bit. At least one of them was still on air controls. There's no reason why you couldn't still control the door with the manual open/closing mechanism.

I've reverted back to the manual arm/lock mechanism+ existing padlock for exterior lock.
Yes, i can lock the door into place from the inside

Originally Posted by Robin97396

My front air doors only lock from the outside and there is no latch to keep them closed if it's not locked from the outside, so I often tie them closed with paracord. When there is no air pressure you can easily pull open the door, and at times the wind will open the door at night. In cold weather I do lock the front door from the outside and use the rear door for entry/exit. The problem is the rear door and the wheel chair door only lock from the inside, so when you're leaving the bus it's natural to lock the back doors with the barrel bolts first then lock the front door as you're exiting.

When I'm staying in the bus I need to secure the front door from the inside because it won't stay closed, and I've been paying particular attention to how the deadbolts are being installed on the doors in other builds. I've gotten some good ideas, but I still need to get off my arse to make it happen. I'm dealing with a lot of other little things right now so the deadbolts will have to wait. Luckily I live far out in the boonies so there's not much security risk. Hey, I'm boondocking in my own driveway.

I've had the old industrial metal feel on my previous four buses. There are advantages, such as being able to secure the door when you're inside. At the same time it is possible to lock yourself out under the right conditions with manual doors.

I'm pretty tickled with my air doors in this bus, at least until it starts having problems. It locks up well when I'm in town, with the exception of the top hatch. It shouldn't take to much to make some kind of cornpone latch to secure that hatch.

Honestly I enjoyed driving a class C bus better than a class D.

I can see myself yanking the door too hard to put the padlock on, and locking the door on both ends!!!
And i'm in the same boat with the deadbolt: after messing with the front door for the better part of saturday afternoon, i though "enough, tomorrow is framing time!". so i put everything back the way it was...and yesterday started framing the bed supports...

[skoolie_n00bie]

Needed quote for rear lock idea (thanks to FlyBoy for sharing:
http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f33/se...tml#post141863



And also, please don't take it personal or to offense if i don't quote something taken from another post/thread. i don't do it maliciously, i just have "scatter brain syndrome"; i look for something, read it...then apply it a month later, and can't find it again!

And to all, for sharing

[skoolie_n00bie]

Framing for the bedroom area started:


It wasn't blistering hot yesterday, but I thought "why not be comfortable?"


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[ol trunt]

Hopefully this post isn't too far off topic. I wanted to keep the original look of the door but found the 2 part folding mechanism took up too much of the entry area. I welded the halves together and mounted them on a "parallelogram plug" door actuator from an airporter bus. I put a toggle switch on the dash and a keyed switch on the outside. Jack

Door halves welded together.
.

Hinge, air pump and tank.

.

Test fit.
.

Finished door.
.

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

Hopefully this post isn't too far off topic. I wanted to keep the original look of the door but found the 2 part folding mechanism took up too much of the entry area. I welded the halves together and mounted them on a "parallelogram plug" door actuator from an airporter bus. I put a toggle switch on the dash and a keyed switch on the outside. Jack

Door halves welded together.
.

Hinge, air pump and tank.

.

Test fit.
.

Finished door.
.

all i can say is WOW! BRAVO!
Looks great!

[skoolie_n00bie]

Dang it! two more years for FL antique plates:
https://www.flhsmv.gov/dmv/forms/BTR/87243.pdf

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by skoolie_n00bie

Framing for the bedroom area started:


It wasn't blistering hot yesterday, but I thought "why not be comfortable?"


Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

lookin good!! love the floors!! did that little A/C unit do a decent job inside the bus?
-Christopher

[Robin97396]

Hey, I recognize the throne beside your AC. Good for when desperate times need desperate measures.

I'm very curious to be watching your build. I like the simplicity, but if you ever wander up north during cooler temps you're going to be freezing.

It looks nice. That's basically what I did with my first bus.

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

Hey, I recognize the throne beside your AC. Good for when desperate times need desperate measures.

I'm very curious to be watching your build. I like the simplicity, but if you ever wander up north during cooler temps you're going to be freezing.

It looks nice. That's basically what I did with my first bus.

At a minimum, I hope who reads my thread will use it as a "things not to do"!
And yes, we love our little toilet!

For the foreseeable future, we are not planning on any north/winter trips, nothing further than Orlando/Disney, at least

Love your bus, BTW!
I almost bought a TC1000 from a guy in C.FL, but it was so rusted...he wanted $4.5K for it, I told him i'd give him "maybe" $2.5K, he said he was trying to make his money back after the "paint job"...Paint was nice, but the interior...blah!

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

lookin good!! love the floors!! did that little A/C unit do a decent job inside the bus?
-Christopher

Thank you!
In one spot I got lazy, and didn't surface the ply under, so now there's a bump [emoji19]
The AC works great! I was in there while it was blistering hot and humid outside (typical FL flash showers that catch you while you paint outside!), and that little thing saved me keeping the temp inside at 77, nice and crispy dry. Keep in mind there is no curtains/window covers (soon!), I could feel the sun beaming in!

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[skoolie_n00bie]

Little progress today!
Started framing the bed, made sure water tank fits....and a little munchkin came to visit!



Those cross supports are by no means "exactly" perpendicular and parallel, but I made sure the legs are as flush as I could make them to provide support.
We're giants or heavy, but I'd hate for our bed to cave in while we sleep :/

Also, we've been playing with a few changes to the floor plan (I'll upload sketches ASAP). Since baby #2 is on the way, we're trying to figure out the best way to add seating.

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[Robin97396]

You know how people are dumping school bus seats usually during these builds? Get a couple of those bus seats that have the built in baby seat. Someone did that in another string and paid like $50 each for a couple seats. Most people just want to get rid of them as scrap, so they shouldn't be that hard to get for free, but even if you have to buy them it's a good way to be safe and legal.

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

You know how people are dumping school bus seats usually during these builds? Get a couple of those bus seats that have the built in baby seat. Someone did that in another string and paid like $50 each for a couple seats. Most people just want to get rid of them as scrap, so they shouldn't be that hard to get for free, but even if you have to buy them it's a good way to be safe and legal.

True....before I spend $$$ buying two new sets (as cheap as the ones from ikea I wanted), using two benches in good condition from another bus might not be a terrible idea.

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[skoolie_n00bie]

Here they go (not to scale!):

Floor plan #1

Yellow 1 & 2: position of either seat. I don't think there's room for both.

Floor plan #2

I'd have to measure, but I think to fit the two same couches facing each other, I'll have to shave a few inches off the table.
On both:
1. Black dotted line: wheel well
2. Blue dotted line: water tank
3. "A/C Vent" will be an insulated box between rear of AC and window, so how exaust doesn't heat up interior
4. "Squiggly line": curtain for potty area

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