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Old 07-27-2017, 11:13 AM   #1
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: The Gold Coast Australia
Posts: 5
Year: 1985
Coachwork: 1986
Chassis: B10M
Engine: Volvo 6cly Turbo Diesel
Rated Cap: 23 ton
Australia Bus, Volvo Bendy Bus 63ft, Articulated School Bus MH/workshop conversion

G'day, thanks for letting me join, here is our story. For years my wife and I have been dreaming of getting out of the rent market and buying an old Bus and doing it up into a motorhome, well 2 years ago this dream came true. After looking for many years at Buses from the 60's through to the 90's most of the cheaper ones 10k or so had not been driven for a while or they'd been sitting in a paddock somewhere, and had many issues, later models were just out of reach financially.

We found ourselves at our local Bus Depo, finally we found a Bus in our price range.1985 Volvo B10M Bendy Bus (articulated) you know, the ones that bend in the middle like a banana (concertina centre), some people here call them Banana Buses, anyhow the local Bus Depo were selling their fleet of 30 so they could buy newer models, so out they went at $5,500 each. 19m long, thats almost 63 feet, Turbo Diesel 6 cylinder Volvo motor, air bagged, mechanical rear steer wheels, serviced every 6 months for the last 30 years, with a seating capacity of 79 and 50 standing, a total of 129 people is how many it could legally carry, this bus is HUGE, flat floors all the way up with 6.4 ceiling hight, old Alum Windows that slide open fully like a house window, on both sides, so a huge ventilation plus, a GMV 23.7 tons, we worked out with the seats out it is 11 tons, so we have a lot to play with here.

We arrived at the local Bus Depo in our car which is a 1961 Cadillac, the director of the Bus Depo loved American classic cars, so we did a deal, if we bought a bus he had to deliver it as I still have not got my HR license yet, and I would drop him back to his place in my 61 Cadillac, so a deal was done, he also squeezed in the deal for us to buy two buses at $8,800.00, then we could sell one for what ever price we wanted to, and all we had to pay was the balance, so within 3 days I sold one using Facebook for $5,500.00, so we ended up getting ours for $3,300.00.

He took us out for a test drive and showed us some of the features of the Bus, and how good they are, he drove on the old school route, which is out the back of a city called Brisbane, very hilly, some grades at 22%, and it raced up the hills with no problem at all, being its an auto it had a retarder which was handy for when your going down steep grades. We had a ball, after a couple of weeks we went back with the 3.3k and bought our Bus, the other one we sold for 5.5k and it was already gone and paid for, we were very very happy.

So the director of the Bus lines and I picked a date to deliver our Bus and park it up beside our rental home, and as I worked from home I could fit it out at my leisure, our home has a grass drive way up the side that is 22m long past the front of the house, but the only drawback was that the bus is 98 inches wide (2.5m), and between the house gutter and fence is 104 inches so space width wise is not good, in fact only 3 inches each side. Using Google Maps I set up a plan on how to get the bus in, and that was to drive it in using my neighbor across the roads drive way as well as most of the road to get her in,we are talking about a very suburban street here my plan worked and now she is home and right where I wanted it, we did take out a down pipe off the gutter of the house with the mirror, but thats it, she fits, but only just, see pics.

The seats were the first thing to come out all 34 double seats, gee those fine threaded bolts were hard to get out, and a a couple of inches of fine thread, so glad I had a good rattle gun, was not too bad, striped the seats down and plan to recycle some of the steel from the seats, the legs are just perfect for the deck above the roof we have planned, while I prep the roof for Thermal Paint I have to cut holes in the roof just above the side wall frame so I can then bolt and weld the legs to the side wall frame, the seat leg mounts are a perfect fit on the frame and have a great base for a solid mount, so much better than a gutter mount pack rack, will be a real deck, solid, the seat legs are the perfect hight out of the roof too then I will build the deck base onto these mounting points, on both roofs too, with access through 3 major man holes onto the roof, this should be relatively good access for items we may not have to see that often, a number of tools boxes, front one will have solar panels and maybe air con units, rear one plenty of storage and plenty of room for a few chairs and a lounge for my wife to sun bake on, should be great, especially parked in a nice spot with a view. So once the holes are done, the mounts are down and sealed the holes I'll finish the prep and then apply the Thermal Paint which should not only keep a lot of the heat out but also should do well sealing it from the wet stuff.

After the huge job of doing the Decks and the roof i can then start on the internals, I have around 50 draft plans my wife and I have gone through and the final one is it, number 51, so the entire rear will be the Master Bedroom and Ensuite, with a Queen size bed and heaps of storage, wardrobes and draws taking up half, the other will be a full size bathroom with double vanity, full sized shower and a standard sized toilet. The middle with the concertina will be walled off with doors either side and be used for the laundry and storage area.

The front first half over the main drive wheels will be a Bindery 2 large benches with a ton of storage under and above, I am a Bookbinder by trade and I work at home restoring and custom binding new books using leather and book cloth, this is what we will be doing to earn a living I have been for the last 20 years, its a very rare trade and being that there are not many doing this these days there is a ton of work out there, in fact we should easily be able to work our way around Australia, it will be the only Mobile Bindery in the World, if you want to check out what I do, check out my website, Home I also taught my wife the trade for 10 years, so we will both do this, not only that we plan to teach schools around the country the art of bookbinding.

The rest of the front part of the bus will be living/dining and kitchen, should work out well I think, we do have a lot of space, even so we still have to plan it carefully the outside will have all the windows tinted, we like the windows so don't plan to sheet them out, well maybe one or two, then will protect the windows and secure the bus using a "Shark Mesh" type insect screen over the windows, this will make us feel safer. The lower outer panels will be polished aluminum, like the old bus look, keeping in with the old school theme, and yes our 61 Cadillac is coming along too, on the back of this we have a fiberglass full size replica rear half of a 59 Cadillac, you know, the one with the largest fins, well they usually turn these things into couches, but I turned this one into a trailer, we towed it across Australia in 2014, was a great trip all 7500 miles of it, so when we got home from this trip we decided to extend the trailer and put up front a Custom Built Tear Drop Camper that has a Queen Size bed and a heap of cupboards for storage, the trunk opens to revel a fully equipped galley style kitchen, my wife and I love camping, so we will be using this set up a lot, especially when we are on the road permanently.

My wife will be driving the Caddy and Camper (which is 37 feet long with it hooked up) a d I will drive the bus, we won't be traveling very far, as every town will bring new jobs, could take us a couple of decades just to cover one side of our country, its a very big place over here. The bus will be parked in a central location, show grounds or even a school, since we'll be teaching kids, where ever it is, we can then leave this and explore the area in our caddy, and go camping.

Anyway, wish us luck, the build has started, we expect it to take 3 to 5 years, as we are working people with jobs, at 52 years young and my wife 7 years younger than I its lucky we have some time, God willing.

By the way, if you would like to see the video (sped up version) of us getting it in our driveway, check it out here:
Attached Thumbnails
Our Bendy Bus2.jpg   Our Bus REAR shot 18m long.jpg   Our Bus Long Ways.jpg   BUS Close to house.jpg   Bus close to fence.jpg  

Bus close, but in good spot.jpg   OUR BUS DRAFT #51.jpg   My 61 & 59 Custom Caddy Camper.jpg  

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Old 07-30-2017, 08:11 AM   #2
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I like the 59' it's my favorite car.
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Old 07-30-2017, 08:32 AM   #3
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
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Year: 1999
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Nice yank tank, mate.
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Old 07-30-2017, 09:59 AM   #4
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Location: Georgia
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Engine: T444E
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Hey! Wait a minute! Either the photos are flipped, or someone put the doors on the wrong side!
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Old 07-30-2017, 10:20 AM   #5
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Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
G'day mate...and Welcome! --- That is quite the parade you folks are dragging about! You should have room for just about anything you want to take with you. Hope to see and hear more about this build.
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Old 07-30-2017, 11:25 AM   #6
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these rarely come up for sale in the usa, and i have never seen one in the philippines. you will find that the length is actually quite easy to drive on almost any road, as i commonly have long trlr behind my 84 pax bus.
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Old 07-30-2017, 03:49 PM   #7
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Location: Billings, MT
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Year: 2003
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Chassis: HDX
Engine: Cat C7
Rated Cap: 84 passenger
Nice score! And the 59 Caddy trailer is neat, too!
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Old 07-30-2017, 08:45 PM   #8
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Location: Picton,Ont, Can.
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Year: 1997
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: GMC
Engine: Cat 3116
Rated Cap: 72
Best of luck to an innovative and interesting couple. Great looking platform to build your dream wheels.

John
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Old 07-31-2017, 06:33 AM   #9
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Have you checked out Bus Life NZ. On YouTube They have a lot good information from your side of the world on getting things for bus conversions. Good Luck.
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Old 07-31-2017, 09:28 AM   #10
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 56
Have a read of vsb6 from the nhvr website

You'll likely need a door at the bend, so it's a motorhome and trailer combo not a 19m motorhome.

A ally b10m minus seats is about 10500-11000kg you'll have a whole trailer extra to that number.

Have a,chat to a engineer about the k7 modification certification.
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Old 07-31-2017, 10:23 AM   #11
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Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 16
Year: 1966
Coachwork: Ward-AmTran
Chassis: international S-Chassis #1653
Engine: Int. 9.0L 165bhp / AT545
Welcome! You bought a absolutely humongous bus. :O I hope it isn't to complex to work on (electrics, bodywork). Just curious: Is building skoolies common practice in Ozz? If so, how much 'freedom' do you have? Can you build one in your driveway (seems so at least), can you legally live in it, or park it where you want?
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Old 07-31-2017, 11:45 AM   #12
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Wow! I think this might be the first articulated bus to show up on the forum. I can't remember another, at any rate. Good luck! Keep us posted, and plenty of pictures.

I like the 59 a lot also. Back in the late 70s I had a bud who got a hold of one of those - pink, to boot. He managed to score vanity tag "HOT LIX" for it. I thought that was cute.
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Old 08-01-2017, 08:13 PM   #13
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: The Gold Coast Australia
Posts: 5
Year: 1985
Coachwork: 1986
Chassis: B10M
Engine: Volvo 6cly Turbo Diesel
Rated Cap: 23 ton
Thanks for all your interest everyone, will keep updates happening. Regards Milton
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Old 08-01-2017, 08:16 PM   #14
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: The Gold Coast Australia
Posts: 5
Year: 1985
Coachwork: 1986
Chassis: B10M
Engine: Volvo 6cly Turbo Diesel
Rated Cap: 23 ton
Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredChemist View Post
Have a read of vsb6 from the nhvr website

You'll likely need a door at the bend, so it's a motorhome and trailer combo not a 19m motorhome.

A ally b10m minus seats is about 10500-11000kg you'll have a whole trailer extra to that number.

Have a,chat to a engineer about the k7 modification certification.
Hey, K7 Modification is, here in Australia the bus has been on the road taking passengers here in Queensland for 30 years, has several mod plates for various things done to it over time including 4 seat belts in the front. Has a door half way up the rear, and a front door, back end is attached using a large gear plate so is Articulated, not a trailer, the entire bus back and front comes in at 13.7t with seats so is now around 11t without as it is stated on many of its mod plates. So should be fine as it sits once fitted out and the concertina doors changed to an opening style doors it will be re re-registered as a Motorhome. A bloody long Motor home, 19m is the maximum length for any vehicle without a special permit. Regards Milton.
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Old 08-02-2017, 01:31 AM   #15
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Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 56
Max length for a motorhome is 14.5m, 18 or 19 with trailer.

I know it was previously worked around by adding a door at the bendy bit. Then just treating the rear as a trailer. Carrying a race car in the back, prior to the can't carry vehicles inside it rule.

If you find a way around the length issue be sure to post it.

Volvodemort website has a lot of handy info for the volvos.

Wouldn't happen to have a photo of the non bcc alternator setup would you?
Zf or Allison gearbox?
Volgren body?
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Old 08-02-2017, 03:52 AM   #16
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Location: The Gold Coast Australia
Posts: 5
Year: 1985
Coachwork: 1986
Chassis: B10M
Engine: Volvo 6cly Turbo Diesel
Rated Cap: 23 ton
All good, don't know where you are located, but here in my state Department of Transport who I have been in contact with have told me there is no worries converting my 19m Bendy into a motorhome, 3 have been already converted in Australia, its official title for the records may not be a Motorhome, maybe a 4 seater bus depending on the bedding etc. but have been in contact with our authorities and no issues, as it has been registered before as a bus for 30 years.
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