New to the forum

jmcustom · 06-29-2017, 01:51 PM

Hi all,

My name is Mike, my wife and I along with our 8 year old son are the proud new owners of a 2001 International Amtran 84 passenger RE school bus with a T444E and Allison 3000.

Our current bus is a 1986 Ford Bluebird 37 passenger conventional with a Ford 429ci gas engine in front of an automatic. It was already completely converted to an rv when we bought it and we decided to convert a bigger bus from scratch.

I have an extensive background in carpentry, custom cabinet making, electrical, plumbing, wrenching, and the list goes on and on.

We have just about all of the seats removed and after we strip the interior this weekend we'll be raising the roof next week. We forgot to take pics of the interior before we started removing seats but, I'm sure we all know what the inside of a school bus looks like. More relevant pics of our build will follow. Stay tuned.....

EastCoastCB · 06-29-2017, 02:01 PM

NICE!
Welcome aboard. Where are you located?

jmcustom · 06-29-2017, 02:10 PM

Illinois, roughly I-80 and I-55

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Greatestrr · 06-29-2017, 04:25 PM

Welcome. I'm in Illinois also. I have a great guy for spray foam if thats the route you want to go. Just let me know. Good luck on your build.

CaptSquid · 06-29-2017, 04:36 PM

Got mine from Kankakee. Stayed out of that toll-booth plagued Chicagoland and took the back roads to I-80.

EastCoastCB · 06-29-2017, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmcustom

Illinois, roughly I-80 and I-55

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I haven't been up that way since I was a kid. We spent some months living a little east of chicago across the IN border. It started to get cold and we headed south FAST!

jmcustom · 06-29-2017, 07:17 PM

I'll definitely be needing a good spray foam outfit when the time comes. I have no love for the nasty chicagoland winters either!

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Danandnicole · 06-29-2017, 07:47 PM

My wife and I just purchased a 1983 International school bus this week. We are planing on converting it to an RV for those weekend camping trips. We had a 87 mini-bird a few years ago and converted it as well. Is was just a wee bit small for our family of 5. Let the fun begin!

Rusty · 06-29-2017, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmcustom

Illinois, roughly I-80 and I-55

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Hey, neighbor. Just was in Joliet DMV to get my bus registered as RV- hopefully it sticks....

Holler if you need help raising the roof.

jmcustom · 06-29-2017, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty

Hey, neighbor. Just was in Joliet DMV to get my bus registered as RV- hopefully it sticks....

Holler if you need help raising the roof.

Will do. Thanks for the offer!

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Crazz44 · 06-29-2017, 09:39 PM

Hello from Massachusetts!! I picked up my bus yesterday and immediately removed the seats. Do I need to prime the exterior of the bus before I paint it?

milkmanchip · 06-29-2017, 10:34 PM

No you do not have to Prime an existing painted vehicle that's all you need to do is sand it with a medium grit sandpaper and wash it down let it dry, tape it off and let the fun begin

Crazz44 · 06-30-2017, 07:41 AM

Thanks for the great advice.

milkmanchip · 06-30-2017, 08:24 AM

PS I painted my bus with a$29 sprayer that I bought from Harbor Freight. I just asked the guy at the paint store to show me how to mix everything that I needed with strainers and it worked pretty good, there are few runs in mine I wasn't very patient.

Crazz44 · 06-30-2017, 09:05 AM

I was planning on using a brush and roller. What kind of paint did you use?

milkmanchip · 06-30-2017, 11:25 AM

I use regular automotive paint but I heard that some guys roll and brush on Implement paint and they have good results but I just did what the guy at the paint store told me to do with the hardener and other stuff added in and it worked pretty good I'm not very patient so I do have a couple runs and stuff like that, the first bus I painted was white with blue fenders that was a little more tricky lot of taping off repainting the second one was just flat hot rod black with flames on the hood.

jmcustom · 06-30-2017, 01:26 PM

Can anyone tell me what size shank the solid rivets have that they use on buses for the outside skin?

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jmcustom · 07-07-2017, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty

Hey, neighbor. Just was in Joliet DMV to get my bus registered as RV- hopefully it sticks....

Holler if you need help raising the roof.

Hiya, we've got the whole factory interior out with the last pieces being at the rear. I decided to remove all of the side windows in favor of using rv windows. Currently I'm in the process of drilling out all the necessary rivets to accommodate the roof raise. It's a slow go since I'm the only one in the house who has the experience with a drill to do it right. Do you have any interest/ability in lending a hand?

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