Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 09-04-2018, 05:21 PM   #1
New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 4
Hello from Los Angeles!

Hey guys! Gryphon here. I have had my bus Pixie (32’ 1996 Bluebird CS-FE with Cummins 5.9) for about a year now. Unfortunately I have been working and traveling most of the time since bringing her home, and I only just now finally have the time home to give her the love she deserves. So I will be doing a lot of detective work around here gathering knowledge to get to work on a proper conversion project that I am sure will be ongoing for much of my life

My plans for her are to be a long term live-in vehicle, staying on the road for large chunks of the year working on music and art projects and visiting different cities and national parks. I would like to house a few people comfortably with proper insulation and eventually once my knowledge and budget allows, do some conversion to a solar powered off-grid home.

I do work in audio electronics with synthesizer design, which is pretty far from anything involved with a bus. I am coming from virtually no background in auto mechanics, electrical, or construction, so I am a total novice at this. I am however self employed, make my own hours, and work from anywhere, so I have a lot of time to invest into learning and labor for this project. I get obsessive whenever I take on any kind of project, and this is one that I am really excited about now that I can sink my teeth into it.

The most daunting thing to me about starting from ground zero is figuring out what I need to learn first. It seems that many threads and steps here require some prior knowledge to be able to follow along with, so a lot of it is Greek to me at this point. I was wondering if anyone has some advice on the utter fundamentals to study first so I can start understanding more specified topics, and so that I can properly care for this bus. Should I first research Diesel engines in their entirety? RV Electrical? Any specific things that are most important to understand first? I am willing to do the work - I just need to know where to begin!

Hopefully I am able to give back to the community and participate a bit more as time and experience wears on Really wanting to make this a huge part of my life!
Attached Thumbnails
F1AD5521-700C-4916-AB2F-0E735E5FCEFF.jpg   2B4E3928-DE67-4FFE-8F2A-ADDD9C54304F.jpg  

Gryphon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2018, 05:42 PM   #2
Bus Crazy
 
Johnny Mullet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Ashtabula, Ohio
Posts: 1,494
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International
Engine: T444E 7.3L
Welcome aboard! That is a cute bus!
Johnny Mullet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2018, 08:58 PM   #3
Bus Geek
 
EastCoastCB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,764
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
Cool lil bus.

I love synth music!

IDK if you're a fan but my wife and I got to meet Timecop1983 recently!
EastCoastCB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2018, 08:39 AM   #4
Bus Geek
 
Tango's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
Pretty sweet lookin lil Bird there! Gotta love all those "non-skoolie" windows. They very likely don't leak nearly as much if at all.
Tango is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2018, 10:25 AM   #5
New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 4
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango View Post
Pretty sweet lookin lil Bird there! Gotta love all those "non-skoolie" windows. They very likely don't leak nearly as much if at all.
Thanks! I’m very happy with her. The windows don’t leak at all except in the veeery front of the drivers window, front opening. Not a big issue at all.

There are definitely a few electrical issues left over from the previous owner which need to be addressed, but apart from that she purrs beautifully. Just finished a 1200 mile trip in the summer heat through the Sierra Nevadas and she did so well! Very proud.

I’m trying to plan my course of action right now. I would like to get to work on the conversion ASAP, but I don’t want to jump the gun on planning. I am knocking tons of floor plans around right now. I guess no matter what, the first step would be gutting the interior and getting to work on insulation and hardwood, yeah? Is there anything that I should consider prior to this interior work?

I am thinking about using Rivnuts to attach wooden walls/ceiling so that they are easily removed for future electrical/AC additions. I have a friend who did this with his van conversion, and says it has made any work through the ceiling and walls a piece of cake over rivets.

I feel like the future expansions can be infinite! Just taking it one step at a time and planning on a lifelong friendship.
Gryphon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-2018, 10:36 AM   #6
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Unalakleet, Alaska
Posts: 40
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Bluebird
Engine: 6 Cyl Cummins ISC (8.3)
Rated Cap: 46
Disney Land

I am actually here in the area picking up my bus... Taking my break before beginning the project and heading to Disney with family and friends!
truth2ak is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2019, 09:20 PM   #7
New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 4
I was wondering if anybody in Southern California could recommend a good diesel mechanic who would work on a vehicle this size? I have some issues with my Turbo and my cooling system that I would like to have professionally addressed, and I have been having some major difficulty finding anyone to work on it .. I figure SoCal is a pretty resource-rich area, it seems unlikely that there aren't many skoolies around here who could give some advice!
Gryphon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2019, 08:59 AM   #8
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 2,831
Year: 2007
Coachwork: Thomas Built
Chassis: Minotour
Engine: Chevy Express 3500 6.6l
Before you do anything to the inside aside from the demo work, I would take a good look at what all the components. The existing electrical, AC, heat come to mind and decide what you’re doing with that. Don’t Be too quick to start tearing things out. There’s a lot of posts full of panic because something got removed and the bus won’t start or A/C removed and lots of regret later. I was sure close and was glad I decided to keep the A/C.

Are you going to paint? You could almost get away with doing something to the band below the windows. If you paint then you are street legal in CA, though I’ve been driving mine around and haven’t had any problem, just a few glances from the LEOs. Make sure you have everything done to the outside that you want to do before paint.

Before you skin the inside you’ll want to get all your plumbing and electrical in place. Then insulate. Then the interior skin, then furniture.
Danjo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2019, 11:36 AM   #9
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 2,831
Year: 2007
Coachwork: Thomas Built
Chassis: Minotour
Engine: Chevy Express 3500 6.6l
Quote:
Originally Posted by truth2ak View Post
I am actually here in the area picking up my bus... Taking my break before beginning the project and heading to Disney with family and friends!
Small World amiright?
Danjo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-04-2020, 08:28 PM   #10
Skoolie
 
sepudo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Socal and Vegas
Posts: 178
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: fs65
Engine: 7.2 catapillar 3126
Rated Cap: 41 students
I'm a new school bus owner and also from socal half the time.

I plan to take mine to )'( this year.

Happy to toss around ideas with you.

On ig @drivingdharma
sepudo is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:41 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.