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 04-17-2021, 09:44 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Bustav

So, I figured after a few weeks of working I should probably start a build thread to maybe unwittingly offer up some nugget of information that someone down the line may be able to use.

A little background on the bus- it's is a 77 passenger 2001 Freightliner FS-65 with a Thomas body. The bus is from one of the Denver school districts. I believe it is the higher roof variant (the ceiling was 6'5") The total length is just shy of 40ft and it's got a 5.9 Cummins with an Allison MT 643 transmission.

So far I have just been stripping it down to the outside skin and ribs(so many screws). I've removed all the plywood and rubber flooring and found a few spots where it had rusted a bit too thin for my liking and welded some plates over those spots. I've got a mechanic coming out early next week to double check how the bus is doing mechanically (I drove it from Denver to central Illinois without any issues) and then I will be proceeding with converting the rust on the floor and getting that sealed and the doing a 14" roof raise.

More to follow.....

A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-18-2021, 08:34 AM   #2
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 1,349
Year: 1990
Coachwork: Thomas 4 window w/lift
Chassis: G30~Chevy cutaway
Engine: 5.7/350 Chevy Vortec
Rated Cap: Just me and my "stuff"?
Sounds like you'll be a "Busy Beaver" with your potential plans! Sorry, I couldn't help myself;-0

Good luck and post pics of the project, if you can...
peteg59 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-18-2021, 05:13 PM   #3
Bus Geek
 
o1marc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Dawsonville, Ga.
Posts: 10,482
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Genesis
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466/3060
Rated Cap: 77
Quick tell if it's a high roof is to look at the side windows in relation to the drivers window, if the sides are higher than the driver, it is high roof. Low roof will be in line with the drivers window.
__________________
I Thank God That He Gifted Me with Common Sense
o1marc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2021, 07:19 PM   #4
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Quote:
Originally Posted by o1marc View Post
Quick tell if it's a high roof is to look at the side windows in relation to the drivers window, if the sides are higher than the driver, it is high roof. Low roof will be in line with the drivers window.
Cool, then it definitely is a high roof, gonna make it higher.

I've spent the past few days grinding, cleaning, grinding again, and then cleaning a few more times to prep for the rust converter which I just rolled on today.







I've also removed the interlocks for the back door and the emergency exits as well as thinned out some of the unnecessary wires (speakers, interior lights, interlock system etc)

Have a mechanic coming by in the morning to give the bus a professional once over. Fairly confident but I'm not a diesel mechanic.
__________________
https://justbetweenbus.com
https://www.instagram.com/justbetweenbus
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtgvs2efpziupiH2iEVEciQ
A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-25-2021, 09:44 AM   #5
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Corroseal went on without a hitch. I think I laid it down a bit thin, I used about 3/4 of a gallon for 250 sqft(coverage should have been 1 gallon for 200 sqft) It still seemed to work well and today, we will be painting the floor with a top coat.

Mechanic took a look at everything and besides tires(which you could see were bad from space), the only thing was the airbags for the rear suspension were showing some signs of dryrot.
__________________
https://justbetweenbus.com
https://www.instagram.com/justbetweenbus
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtgvs2efpziupiH2iEVEciQ
A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-25-2021, 11:39 AM   #6
Bus Geek
 
o1marc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Dawsonville, Ga.
Posts: 10,482
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Genesis
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466/3060
Rated Cap: 77
I noticed your "so many screws" comment, many have rivits instead. You had it easy. Put your location in your profile, it'll help you out.
__________________
I Thank God That He Gifted Me with Common Sense
o1marc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-25-2021, 07:31 PM   #7
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Quote:
Originally Posted by o1marc View Post
I noticed your "so many screws" comment, many have rivits instead. You had it easy.

Oh I know, I saved most of the decent ones and was toying with the idea of reusing them for the reskin. Pop rivets are not cheap. Think the best I found so far for 3/16" stainless closed end rivets was around $0.13 a piece. I should need about 1500 or so. Which means get 2000...

Any ideas I might be overlooking? I've thought about solid rivets (and have the tools to work with them) but don't know if I want to deal with them...
__________________
https://justbetweenbus.com
https://www.instagram.com/justbetweenbus
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtgvs2efpziupiH2iEVEciQ
A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-25-2021, 11:42 PM   #8
Bus Geek
 
o1marc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Dawsonville, Ga.
Posts: 10,482
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Genesis
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466/3060
Rated Cap: 77
Quote:
Originally Posted by A Crafty Beaver View Post
Oh I know, I saved most of the decent ones and was toying with the idea of reusing them for the reskin. Pop rivets are not cheap. Think the best I found so far for 3/16" stainless closed end rivets was around $0.13 a piece. I should need about 1500 or so. Which means get 2000...

Any ideas I might be overlooking? I've thought about solid rivets (and have the tools to work with them) but don't know if I want to deal with them...
My International was mostly screws, but some rivets. Where ever a rivet got taken out, it was replaced #10 panhead square drive screw.
__________________
I Thank God That He Gifted Me with Common Sense
o1marc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-26-2021, 07:37 AM   #9
Bus Geek
 
EastCoastCB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,762
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by A Crafty Beaver View Post
So, I figured after a few weeks of working I should probably start a build thread to maybe unwittingly offer up some nugget of information that someone down the line may be able to use.

A little background on the bus- it's is a 77 passenger 2001 Freightliner FS-65 with a Thomas body. The bus is from one of the Denver school districts. I believe it is the higher roof variant (the ceiling was 6'5") The total length is just shy of 40ft and it's got a 5.9 Cummins with an Allison MT 643 transmission.

So far I have just been stripping it down to the outside skin and ribs(so many screws). I've removed all the plywood and rubber flooring and found a few spots where it had rusted a bit too thin for my liking and welded some plates over those spots. I've got a mechanic coming out early next week to double check how the bus is doing mechanically (I drove it from Denver to central Illinois without any issues) and then I will be proceeding with converting the rust on the floor and getting that sealed and the doing a 14" roof raise.

More to follow.....
Looks like you got a pretty sweet bus to begin with. Good on ya!
EastCoastCB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-26-2021, 10:41 AM   #10
Bus Nut
 
Rivetboy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Huntington Beach CA.
Posts: 939
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: T/C 2000 28 foot Handy Bus
Engine: Cummins 5.9 Mechanical
Rated Cap: 2
Quote:
Originally Posted by o1marc View Post
I noticed your "so many screws" comment, many have rivits instead. You had it easy. Put your location in your profile, it'll help you out.
My Ingersoll rand compressor "Garage mate" and 2 new IR air hammer guns and my buddy helping, we removed all of the ceiling and all of the sides in 2 days. This was a 28 foot bus. You certainly need more infrastructure to remove rivets and a good source of air but with the right equipment it went pretty fast. Also. my bet would be on a few of those screws stripping out and needing to be chiseled off any way... Finally, a pancake compreesor is not a good source of air to run 1 air hammer and trying to run 2 air hammers would be futile.
Attached Thumbnails
Bus after Holy Hoochie Ma ma.jpg   mat front to back.jpg  
Rivetboy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2021, 02:03 PM   #11
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
So, been steadily chugging along, I've gotten the steel for the roof raise and the rivets should be arriving sometime in the next few days, pulled out all the windows and am working my way through the row of rivets above the windows. I found that if you cover the rivets with duct tape and then drive them out, the duct tape keeps them from flying off all over the driveway/yard. I have also welded in the brackets for the threaded rod for the roof raise to keep everything stable. Still have about 30% of the rivets on the top row to go, still glad that the entire interior was not done with them lol.



__________________
https://justbetweenbus.com
https://www.instagram.com/justbetweenbus
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtgvs2efpziupiH2iEVEciQ
A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2021, 12:17 PM   #12
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Just dropped a video on youtube about the rust conversion and floor painting



I've also successfully raised the roof and started reskinning the bus in the last week or so, had a few days of calm wind and no rain and couldn't pass it up. Things went as smoothly as I could have hoped for and I haven't run into a issue worse than stubborn rivets. Having the bus roof sitting up on 4 bolts and nothing else was..... interesting, definitely glad I waited for a day with next to no wind. Once I got about 4 of the new columns welded into the hat channel everything firmed up considerably. Now I just need a few more days of clear weather to continue working on the skin and I can enjoy the oven that the bus will become....
__________________
https://justbetweenbus.com
https://www.instagram.com/justbetweenbus
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtgvs2efpziupiH2iEVEciQ
A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2021, 07:26 PM   #13
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Just wrapped up getting the sides of the bus reskinned. I still have the back to do along with covering a few holes in to roof where the emergency exits were and where some other stuff was sticking through. And the front transition, which I had been going back and forth between doing in fiberglass and steel. Seems the general consensus is steel but wouldn't mind hearing more opinions.


Also new video on YouTube is out on the window removal and roof raise prep.

https://youtu.be/ApYG6LAzoKk
A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2021, 06:55 AM   #14
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Roof raise finished

So, I just wrapped up the roof raise and reskinning of the major bits over the long holiday weekend. I've been working a new job which is sucking most of the coolest hours of the day away and haven't had a ton of time to work on the project. However, I did finally get to a point where I dont have to keep a tarp over the bus to keep the rain out. I'm sure there are still a few leaks here and there and I still have to remove and reskin over where the emergency hatches and fan/vent are, but I'm claiming victory. The transition from the original roofline to the new roofline gave me a bit of trouble, mostly just trying to plan it all out in my head before using expensive material on it. Sometimes you just have to go at it and make up a plan on the go.


A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2021, 08:29 AM   #15
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,707
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
That roof raise look great !
cadillackid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2021, 08:45 AM   #16
Bus Geek
 
musigenesis's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 6,992
Year: 2003
Coachwork: International
Chassis: CE 300
Engine: DT466e
Rated Cap: 65C-43A
Roof raise looks great, and it's nice to see even sketchier dognose scaffolding than what I used!
__________________
Rusty 87 build thread
musigenesis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2021, 09:19 AM   #17
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Quote:
Originally Posted by musigenesis View Post
Roof raise looks great, and it's nice to see even sketchier dognose scaffolding than what I used!
The little platform is actually pretty stable.... the ladder to get up onto the hood not so much.
A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2021, 09:20 AM   #18
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
That roof raise look great !


Thank you. My wife told me that it looked better than she thought it would. High praise!
A Crafty Beaver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2021, 03:45 PM   #19
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: Northern California (Sacramento)
Posts: 1,416
Year: 1999
Coachwork: El Dorado Fiberglass
Chassis: Ford E450
Engine: V10 Gas
A milestone! Great work!
Rucker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-22-2021, 09:33 AM   #20
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Illinois
Posts: 23
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 77
Started some work on the interior framing, I've been using 1x2 to give myself a bit more space for insulation(planning on spray foam) as well as give me something easier to attach the walls to than the metal frame. The 1x2s also faired out the area where the hat channel was cut for the roof raise.




I also got the roof sealed up after I removed the emergency hatches. They were completely toast, the frames were cracked and leaking in several places. I am planning on putting some ventilation in different places and wanted to start with a clean slate.

A Crafty Beaver 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 09:03 PM.


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