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Old 01-20-2005, 02:53 PM   #1
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Engine: CAT 3208 NA
1989 Thomas Saf-T-Liner

I got mine today too!

1989 Thomas Saf-t-liner with a CAT 3208 (normally aspirated)

The speedometer has been replaced, but the hour meter reads 5105 Hours which I'm guessing is 80 - 100K mile. She's very clean, only small cosmetic rust spots here and there. She comes from Montrose, NY.

I'll be fully documenting the work on my website at http://www.vonslatt.com but I wanted to give you guys a first look!



Boy it looks big in the driveway. I'll be moving it out back Saturday and I'm ordering an RV cover for it right now - got to keep the neighbors happy!

Jake.

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Old 01-20-2005, 04:45 PM   #2
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SHE'S A BEAUTY !!! I"m jealous....

Someday i plan to own a snub nose bus like that one.


just one thing, looks to be the schools fault and not yours, ......The flag above the door is wrong. It's a left side flag on the right side of the bus. The union should always be towards the front.
here's an example of the correct flag for the right side of a vehicle, or person.



I'm in love with that door midway down the bus. Wanna trade buses? Just kidding.

She is a beauty!
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Old 01-20-2005, 04:48 PM   #3
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How come the inner flashers are clear? They took the red ones off for you?
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Old 01-20-2005, 04:53 PM   #4
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What trans do you have? Manual or Allison Auto?



I took 5,105 hours, and divided that by an average speed of 25mph and that came out to 204K miles. I am getting ever closer to 200 thousand miles on my skoolie, and she's still going strong.

Have you seen any service records for the bus? Curious if she's had a new trans or a major engine overhaul in her lifetime.


Good luck! I love the look of that bus.
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Old 01-20-2005, 05:09 PM   #5
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Flag: Interesting - so it should always appear as an actual flag would fly - at least if the vehicle is moving forward!

Lights: Yeah, three of the four yellow lenses are gone. I'm planning to remove them entirely and put clearance lights along the roof line. So far the yellow lenses are the only thing I've found missing.

Door: there is another one on the other side too - but they are both in the WRONG place! First order of business after de-seating will be to figure out if the skin section with the door can be swapped with the on ahead of it on the right side and the one behind it on the left side. This would move the right door up 3 windows.

Jake.
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Old 01-20-2005, 05:24 PM   #6
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Hours/Miles: I used numbers from the School Bus Fleet magazine forum for the average speed of a school bus. They were in the 13-16 mile per hour range as reported by garage managers.

There are also some Bluebirds for auction in Arizona and one is listed with 130K with an hour meter that reads 11K.

My car has a trip computer and it's average MPH over many tanks is just over thirty - and I have a 20 mile comute to work through rural suburbs with few stops. It's also consistant with my experience biking to high school some 25 years ago. I would pass the bus half-way to school and it would pull in while I was locking up my bike.

It has the Allison auto, I hear this is a robust but inefficient tranny, true? - I do wish it had a standard! Maybe someday . . . .

Jake.
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Old 01-20-2005, 05:33 PM   #7
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Service records: No, unfortuneately not. I bought the bus from a broker so all the paperwork I got was the title. It _looks_ like it has 80-100K on it but for 2000 bucks I thought it a steal even without service records.
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Old 01-20-2005, 09:15 PM   #8
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I"m sure they know what they're talking about when it comes to average speed. On second thought.....25mph is a pretty high average. Buses tend to spend a lot of hours just idling not to mention all that stop and go.
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Old 01-21-2005, 01:04 AM   #9
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That is the exact bus I want. I like how some like the one you got have the high roof. Do you know what the rear end ratio is? How fast were you able to get it up to? Looks like you got a real good deal, congrats.
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Old 01-21-2005, 09:10 AM   #10
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Thanks Busone!

I don't know what the rear end ratio is and they deliverd the bus to me on a Load-all so I haven't driven it on the street yet (just around the driveway!)

It's not a two speed rear end though.

Will the ratio be stamped on the rear end somewhere?

Jake.
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Old 01-31-2005, 04:16 PM   #11
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Posted some pictures:

http://www.vonslatt.com/busmain.html

Jake.
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Old 01-31-2005, 10:03 PM   #12
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You should be able to get some numbers off the rear end to lookup the ratio. It very well may have highway gears since it is a transit style skoolie. Districts usually use the transit buses for highway routes or special events that require lots of highway driving. They also don't stop and go as much. The bus I rode to school was a Bluebird AARE model. I had to ride 20 miles each way.
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Old 02-15-2005, 03:16 PM   #13
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Posted some more conversion pictures . . .

http://www.vonslatt.com/busmain.html
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Old 03-01-2005, 01:54 PM   #14
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Year: 1987
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Mine is very close to the same bus, except mine has/had 14 rows of windows, and only left side and rear emergency exits.

Mine looks MUCH better after skin, windows and paint...LOL
I'd post a pic, but don't have anywhere to do so. If you want to see how it turned out, send me an email addy.
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Old 03-01-2005, 02:08 PM   #15
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Hi James,

There is a gallery on this site (you should see an icon at the very top of this page) where you can post pictures.

But I can't wait so send me one now at "jake at vonslatt dot com" !

How fast does your bus go? Does it have the CAT 3208 and the AT-545 tranny?

I was poking around under the bus the other day and discovered that mine has an MT-643 instead of the AT-545 that the placard over the drivers seat says it has - cool!

Jake.
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Old 03-01-2005, 05:15 PM   #16
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Hello Jake. Thanks for the pic posting info. I emailed you 2 pics from my cell phone.

My 87 Thomas SaftLiner is powered by a 250hp Cat 3208 Turbo with 70k on a factory reman. It is linked to a Allison MT643 transmission. Skoolie gears = 2100rpm/55mph. A re-gear to 2100/65-70 is planned.

150,000 miles on the speedo, and 11,000+ hours on the tach. Former Campbell County, WY skoolie. Zero rust.

I have to confess that I'm suffering a bit of burnout, having plodded along alone, and pretty hard for 2 years, and not really seeing that much progress. After getting the bus out of the paint shop in early February, I contracted with a local cabinetmaker to basically finish the entire interior for me. In just a week he is WAYYYY ahead of where I was, and the quality of work is outstanding. He's going to handle all framing, cabinetry, wall covering, ceiling, kitchen, etc., all I have to do is keep up with his need for conversion components.
In the past 2 days, I have ordered...
26inch Sharp LCD HDTV
1500watt UPS and OmniMount for above
Sony DVD Burner/VCR Combo
Sony Dream System Home Theatre
Short Queen Sleep Number Bed 60x75
2 Toe Kick heaters
ShurFlo 5.7gpm water pump.
...with more to follow as he needs it.

If I can figure out how, I'll post progress pics from day one. If my cabinet guy can keep up, he'll be finished in 60 days.
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Old 03-01-2005, 10:40 PM   #17
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A cabinet maker on staff? Wow!

I'm going for more of a "19th Century Motorhome" look - a minimum of electronics and plenty of kerosene lighting. Alas, I think that there simply will not be room for the wood stove!

I'm also re-using as much material as possible. That aspect is actually kind of interesting as I'm finding being limited by materials is leading me to unique solutions. I'm rather pleased with how the bunks came out and I should have some pictures of the bathroom frame out up this weekend.

I've got just a little rust over the rear wheel wells, none anywhere else. I'll repair it when I paint in the spring. Mileage is unknown, as the 8900 mile's on the odo CAN'T be correct. But the Tach reads 5150 hours which is consistant with the condition of the rest of the bus.

Jake.

PS: Got the pictures, looks real nice!
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Old 03-04-2005, 08:55 PM   #18
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James, did you buy your bus at an auction from the school district in WY or from a dealer? When we were driving through WY newer Bluebird All American passes us going over 75MPH on the highway. When I can get a bus I am seriously considering buying one from WY.
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Old 03-06-2005, 02:41 PM   #19
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How many feet do you have from drivers seat back, and what was the pasinger cap? I kind of want a snub but I dont think it has the kind of ground clearince I need.
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Old 03-08-2005, 01:53 PM   #20
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Engine: CAT 3208 NA
Overall length is 36 feet, so from the back of the drivers seat back there is about 33 feet. However, the engine intrudes into the living space, there is a rear deck at seat back height that is about 1 foot wide and a rear "seat" in front of it that's about 18".

Take a look at my floor plan at the website below to get an idea.
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