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Old 07-01-2017, 04:09 AM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 16
Year: 1966
Coachwork: Ward-AmTran
Chassis: international S-Chassis #1653
Engine: Int. 9.0L 165bhp / AT545
Skoolie dream from faraway lands, advice needed!

Goodmorning to you all. Or at least from my perspective on the other side of the pond, most of you will be sleeping I think.

For a long time I had this dream of buying a full size bus to build my Tiny Home in. Since the TH movement is relatively new in Europe I felt it wiser to build something with it's own drivetrain since the zoning laws are utterly not set up for it. Now, I might be bit insane for focussing on foreign buses and running the risk of not having proper spare parts such, and it would be wiser to home in on cheaper and more abundant Setra's or VanHool's. However it is thanks to this forum that I might dare to buy one of these since all questions allready have been asked and I know what I'm getting into with every nook and cranny of these buses. With Setra's/VanHool's not so much/nothing.

I found several International schoolbuses in my country (No more then 30 total I think), they are imported and used for wedding(party) transport or promotional tours. All are maintained quite well parts/knowlegde permitting and stored indoors. After a few visits I think I've struck a very good deal, but there are some potentially risky points that I need urgent advice on:

It's a 1967 International with prob a Carpenter body (unusally high ceiling). The engine is a V8 International, sadly I didn't had the time to ID it further, and nether the auto tranny. The owner had no idea. Also, no maintance logbook. It has been mostly parked indoors since it was imported.

The engine has a small oil leak, about a koffeecup in 3 months or less, location unknown but 'underneath' so prob no head gaskets or valve cover gaskets. It sounds great to my ears, no 'knocking' and starts up imidiatly even after 3 months downtime.

The tranny shifts gears fine once up to speed, although you need quite a bit of rpm to get into first and second, is this normal for these buses?

It's leaking a bit of engine coulant somewhere from the resevoir hose, it's almost a goner so I deff need to replace it.

The rear diff has a 'bulge' on the back, rightmost side (and is leaking some minor oil). Again it drives fine, so I can't imagine something disastrous happening inside.

The body and paint is in excelent condition, no bubly areas. Only 2 spots that need attention.

The chassis looks very good, some minor rust on the floor beams but not on the main beams that cary the bus. The leaf springs are superficially rusty, perhaps one spot that needs attention.

And last the airbrakes work fine and the entire system holds pressure very well even after weeks of downtime. There is however one odd oily contamination on the left-inner wheelbrake. No idea where that is comming from. Has oil leaked into the compressor?

Thank you for any advice you can give me.
Attached Thumbnails
Buiten1.jpg   CoolantRes.jpg   Tranny.jpg   RearBrakeLeft.jpg   RearRightLeaf.jpg  


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Old 07-01-2017, 04:11 AM   #2
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 16
Year: 1966
Coachwork: Ward-AmTran
Chassis: international S-Chassis #1653
Engine: Int. 9.0L 165bhp / AT545
And some more:
Attached Thumbnails
RearBrakeRight.jpg   Tranny.jpg  
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Old 07-01-2017, 04:51 AM   #3
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Location: Eustis FLORIDA
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Chassis: Freighliner FS65
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Rated Cap: 15
How cool!
Welcome to the forum. I LOVE the Netherlands. What part are you from?




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Old 07-01-2017, 06:05 AM   #4
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Location: Midwest
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Engine: 5.9L Cummins
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Welcome Walter !

What a clean bus, looks like it was stored in a time capsule.

Find out more about drivetrain engine/trans combo, but probably basic. Any parts will be shipped from US, so delay and expense. Trans is big consideration. Going to be very thirsty, she likes the petrol.

The biggest problem I see look to be dried-out seals. Looks like you will be spending a lot of time replacing relatively inexpensive rubber parts that are hard to get to. The seals keep the heavy oil in the axles to lubricate, but the dried seals look to have leaked on your tires.

If you are mechanically inclined to tackle all these little leaks, looks good to me. Do you have a shop and tools? Paying a shop labor rate would be pricey. This would have to be a labor of love and time, a mistress.

Then you build the home on wheels.
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Old 07-01-2017, 08:41 AM   #5
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Location: Andrews,Indiana
Posts: 2,430
Year: 1991
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Chassis: AARE
Engine: 3116 Cat 250hp
Rated Cap: Just the two of us.
Welcome, looks to be a nice bus, especially for the year.

Quote:
There is however one odd oily contamination on the left-inner wheelbrake. No idea where that is comming from


That appears to be an axle seal leaking gear oil from the differential. A relatively easy fix if you have the tools needed to deal with tire removal. Be sure to clean the gear oil from everything. Brake shoes will probably need replaced.

Quote:
The rear diff has a 'bulge' on the back, rightmost side (and is leaking some minor oil)
The oil leak is probably seepage from the oil fill plug, it's tapered pipe thread. Or from checking/adding oil due to the axle seal leak.

Quote:
It's leaking a bit of engine coulant somewhere from the resevoir hose, it's almost a goner so I deff need to replace it.
Looks to me like the whole tank is a goner. Again, a relatively easy fix. That tank doesn't have to be an exact match as long as you can get a pressure cap and the hoses to fit. If you're handy you can make your own.
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Old 07-01-2017, 02:43 PM   #6
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: pa
Posts: 2,498
Year: 98
Coachwork: 1. Corbeil & 2. Thomas
Chassis: 1 ford 1998 e350 4x4 7.3 2 mercedes 2004
Engine: 7.3 powerstroke & MBE906
hello Walter, nice bus, I lived in a vanhool at Amsterdam Gaaspercamping for 5 years. Still am a car nut and i am reckognizing the black tectyl that is sprayed everywhere, even on the exhaust. It hides rust very well. I would scrape a little away at the floor beams to see if you indeed have a rust free example.

My biggest concern would be the black tectyl that seems to be applied everywhere. Why.

Wees voorzichtig, de wegen belasting op zoiets is vermoedelijk heel erg hoog.

Good luck,

Johan
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Old 07-01-2017, 02:56 PM   #7
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 16
Year: 1966
Coachwork: Ward-AmTran
Chassis: international S-Chassis #1653
Engine: Int. 9.0L 165bhp / AT545
Quote:
Originally Posted by EastCoastCB View Post
How cool!
Welcome to the forum. I LOVE the Netherlands. What part are you from?
Thank you! Not an Ajax fan here, more 'FC Groningen'. ;) I live in a small town just under Groningen, in reach of our offshore islands. It sounds like you had a blast visiting us.


And thanks Rusty & somewhereinusa for your advice.
It does look good for it's age, and it needs to be because if it wasn't an 'Oldtimer', meaning it's over 40 years old, the road taxes, and yearly(!) mandatory checkups would ruin me..

Replacing the axles seals would be needed yes, and I hope it doesn't involve removing the entire back axle. I would be able to do it with help, but that's a ton of work.

The fuel consumption was 'surprising', I would have expected a bit more then ~7mpg, but it seems to be a fair average when browsing this forum..
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Old 07-01-2017, 03:10 PM   #8
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 16
Year: 1966
Coachwork: Ward-AmTran
Chassis: international S-Chassis #1653
Engine: Int. 9.0L 165bhp / AT545
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeblack5 View Post
hello Walter, nice bus, I lived in a vanhool at Amsterdam Gaaspercamping for 5 years. Still am a car nut and i am reckognizing the black tectyl that is sprayed everywhere, even on the exhaust. It hides rust very well. I would scrape a little away at the floor beams to see if you indeed have a rust free example.

My biggest concern would be the black tectyl that seems to be applied everywhere. Why.

Wees voorzichtig, de wegen belasting op zoiets is vermoedelijk heel erg hoog.

Good luck,

Johan
Hi Johan, nice to hear from a fellow Dutchman!
I had a feeling that black stuff was tectyl. It 'looks' good but as you say I will do a thorough check and see if this type of tectyl can be painted over..
The road tax is nonexistent, since this is an 'Oldtimer' with blue plates, that was one of the main reasons to choose this bus!
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Old 07-21-2017, 02:46 AM   #9
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 16
Year: 1966
Coachwork: Ward-AmTran
Chassis: international S-Chassis #1653
Engine: Int. 9.0L 165bhp / AT545
Please help me, I'm having a small 'what the hell have I done' fit haha..

I bought the beast yesterday. Loaded with a bag full of tools, 1 driver/mech, 1 extra mechanic across the country (200 us miles haha). The mechs dove down under the bus with very serious looks/head shaking etc with the tradesman hovering around, inspected some loose wires/minor leakages and the aged tires. Managed to come up nicely under the price I was aiming for. The checkup-test-ride + paperwork took way longer then expected, and we hit the road at 3pm..

Next filling her up with diesel, while my companions where mercilessly gloating at the ever increasing digits. I didn't dare look. Next we had to Circe a roundabout back to the highway, only to experience the utterly hilarious turning radius! We had to reverse 3 times. While traversing the small town many pedestrians turned around in surprise for 50m in advance when they heard this very unusual engine roar approaching.
The ride was mildly bouncy thx to the crappy aged tires, and we lowered the pressure to 5 bar to be safe. The V8 started to sound even better with every passing kilometer, clearing up the junk while being properly heated at last. We did a nice 59mph/95kmh @ 2500 rpm. A bit high for my taste but engine temps where stable within limits.
Again many, many heads and camera's turned on the highway..
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Old 07-21-2017, 05:20 AM   #10
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,764
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
That's REALLY cool!!!
CONGRATS!!!!
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Old 07-21-2017, 06:02 AM   #11
Bus Geek
 
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,764
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
PLEASE post some pics! I'd love to see an american school bus aka "yank tank" cruising the streets of Holland.
Bonus points if you can get tulips and/or a windmill in the background!
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