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Old 05-04-2018, 07:43 AM   #1
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97 intersmashable Conversion

Soooooooo, got the bus into the driveway the other day, took some measurements, and initiated the further de-construct.
The plan for now is to get the bus squared away as a low tech, driveable bunk house. We have one year to sort it out, I plan to be as efficient as possible with the expansion/upgrades thought out now, to reduced the overhaul done the road.
long and short is we have a full hockey line up of kids to cart around for a few more years, and we currently live in a remote location, etc etc.
Anyways, I'll try to be as diligent as possible with the posts and any rockstars ideas I come up with. I'm by no means an expert, but I am fairly creative.

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Old 05-04-2018, 08:35 AM   #2
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That's a nice looking bus. Since it's not yellow you probably don't even need to paint it. What was it used for before?
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Old 05-04-2018, 10:20 PM   #3
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Originally the school board had it and then it was bought up by a logistics support contractor for an Air Force base to move troops around.

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Old 05-05-2018, 06:58 PM   #4
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Well, 15# of screws and 6 garbage bags later, I have all the insulation out of the roof. I have a couple side panels off, and the rear panel above the door. Only had to drill out 15 or so screws so that was a plus.
I also pulled a window out so see what that process is going to look like and what consumables I'm going to want on hand to clean and re-intall them. I plan to move the two aft emergency exit windows to the second last window slot so I can increase air circulation in the master bedroom area.
Next steps are to finish the shitty to access floor pieces in the forward drivers area, wire wheel the floor, cut the galvanized wall skins off, and remove that insulation.
I took a couple pics today, but should have looked at them while I was still out there as these are the only ones worth anything lol
Oh ya, and I fashioned up some stairs from the garage to the back door



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Old 05-06-2018, 09:35 PM   #5
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So, got some more removals done today, insulation it 95% is gone now.
I have the covered tin wagon look now. Bottom pic is part of the sheet from the ceiling.

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Old 05-07-2018, 12:53 AM   #6
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I'm cold just looking at that. Come on south the weather's fine.
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Old 05-07-2018, 12:25 PM   #7
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I'm cold just looking at that. Come on south the weather's fine.
Lol, was a balmy 40 deg yesterday hahaha

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Old 05-14-2018, 06:33 PM   #8
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How did you get the metal out below the windows, cut it at the window or remove the window to take the panels out? I'm working on taking them out of my 97 International Thomas. I have removed everything else inside.
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Old 05-14-2018, 06:45 PM   #9
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How did you get the metal out below the windows, cut it at the window or remove the window to take the panels out? I'm working on taking them out of my 97 International Thomas. I have removed everything else inside.
On Thomas bodies the wall sheeting does not go under the window, it goes under a steel strip under the window and removing them won't help.

Take a cutting wheel and cut them out just under the window. You will be covering it later so it doesn't matter that a bit stays in.
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Old 05-14-2018, 07:36 PM   #10
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How did you get the metal out below the windows, cut it at the window or remove the window to take the panels out? I'm working on taking them out of my 97 International Thomas. I have removed everything else inside.
I popped the screws out and pushed them out a bit at the bottom I have a medium duty set of long shears, so i put from painters tape up for a reference line and snipped away. I spend enough time in a high noise environment so sometimes I favour the low speed low tech approach. I am a bit ham fisted so taking them all out was maybe 45-60 min I wasn't clocking myself on the job.

I'm sure as Twigg mentioned most people use a Cutting disc. not sure that it would be any faster though
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Old 05-14-2018, 07:49 PM   #11
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So, hasn't been much on the go just lining up stuff and moving some things around to make space. Cleaning a couple things up and redesigning a thing or two.
I got the 2 front heater out, that was a PITA. I popped off the last of the floor and the firewall auto blanket carpeting crap.


We've had some weather lately so I have been going out when the wind pics up and looking for leaks etc. I have one small leak, it's got to do with the fact that the bus isn't sitting level right now. I'm resolving that this week, now that the snow is gone out of the driveway.
The only demo left is to strip the stairs down, then it's metal prep.
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Old 05-14-2018, 07:59 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by Yukon Cornelius View Post
I popped the screws out and pushed them out a bit at the bottom I have a medium duty set of long shears, so i put from painters tape up for a reference line and snipped away. I spend enough time in a high noise environment so sometimes I favour the low speed low tech approach. I am a bit ham fisted so taking them all out was maybe 45-60 min I wasn't clocking myself on the job.

I'm sure as Twigg mentioned most people use a Cutting disc. not sure that it would be any faster though
So ... actually, you can tear them out.

Make a starting cut, get some good leather gloves and rip slightly upwards and at 45 degrees.

They tear easily and neatly ... and fast
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Old 05-14-2018, 08:28 PM   #13
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So ... actually, you can tear them out.

Make a starting cut, get some good leather gloves and rip slightly upwards and at 45 degrees.

They tear easily and neatly ... and fast
They frowned upon that in trade school, even more when we used the wide mouth visegrips......it was how you say No Bueno.....
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Old 05-14-2018, 08:30 PM   #14
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They frowned upon that in trade school, even more when we used the wide mouth visegrips......it was how you say No Bueno.....
What can I say ... It's easy and it works.

Yeah, I used vice-grips too
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Old 05-14-2018, 08:38 PM   #15
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I know they’re probably out already now, but I had luck with a plasma cutter on those side panels and went back with a grind wheel to grind the rest flush. Do you have plans for a roof raise or are you keeping all windows?
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Old 05-15-2018, 06:35 AM   #16
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I know they’re probably out already now, but I had luck with a plasma cutter on those side panels and went back with a grind wheel to grind the rest flush. Do you have plans for a roof raise or are you keeping all windows?
Yes they are out. Wish I had a plasma cutter....maybe Santa will look after me this year
Roof raise won't be apart of this build...or at least not initially. Should we decide to keep this bus beyond my next posting then we may reconsider later or may build a second bus.
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Old 05-20-2018, 12:33 PM   #17
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So some procurement progess was made this week, I had to put in some labour, but my time was my only cost.
I snatched up some oak cabinets, and some quarter sheets of 3/4" oak cabinet plywood, along with some hardwood flooring. Some board pieces and a few other odds and ends. Pretty sweet haul and this should assist in us being able to complete more items on the "eventually/nice to have" list before we depart this posting. So pretty pumped about that.
Weather is stills balls, today is the first day with no wind avg this week was 34 knots, however we are getting about half an inch of rain soooo.....

I've started with the wire wheel on the floor, and the Corroseal should be delivered by Friday.
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Old 05-26-2018, 08:44 PM   #18
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Since the weather has been junk lately my misses has been flatout making pillows with any and all sort of scraps and worn out fabric in the house. We make our own, mitts, mukluks, moccasins, and such. So she has gone through some of our materials, acquired some and gone through the linen closet too.






And she made a small area rug about the size of a bath mat with towels that she cut into strips and wove
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Old 05-26-2018, 09:08 PM   #19
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You can never have too many pillows! Especially cool, homemade ones!
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Old 05-26-2018, 09:17 PM   #20
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You can never have too many pillows! Especially cool, homemade ones!
True story and all of our kids like to have a pillow or ten of their own.
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