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 06-03-2018, 01:53 PM   #61
Bus Nut
 
Thomas1985's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Fayetteville Arkansas
Posts: 419
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: GMC G3500 Vandura
Engine: V-8 5.7L Gas
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikerob643 View Post
Also I recently had a birthday and my wife made me this awesome birthday bus card .

Going to get it framed and make it the first piece of artwork to go up in the bus
Tell her to color it in! It seems rushed.

__________________
- Thomas

The Daily Driver Bus Build
Thomas1985 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2018, 05:51 PM   #62
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
thanks Glenn , I still know pretty little about electrical but I'm learning enough to be dangerous I think. and yes we are really lucky to have amazing rest free buses here. So far there has been pretty much zero rust in this bus, a little bit under the rear heater but it easily brushed off with a wire wheel and didn't go deep in the middle at all! thanks for keeping up with our build, and if you're looking for a bus that's roughly 22 to 25 feet and a full bus not a van conversion it seems like the Mesa School District has the most of these of anywhere I've seen in Arizona, and they seem to take really good care of their buses as well . Good luck finding the right one
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2018, 05:52 PM   #63
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas1985 View Post
Tell her to color it in! It seems rushed.
I think she knows that I really love simple linework drawings and black & white artwork so I think she knocked this one out of the ballpark
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2018, 07:17 PM   #64
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 42
Curious which auction site you found the Mesa buses at. I've been watching mostly on PublicSurplus.com. I haven't really been ready to pull the trigger until just about now, so I easily could have had the buses slip through. Thanks - and good luck with rest of your journey!
glenncooper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2018, 05:48 PM   #65
Bus Nut
 
Rovobay's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Damascus, OR
Posts: 681
Year: 2004
Chassis: International
Engine: T444e w/ 2000 Allison Trans
Rated Cap: 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by glenncooper View Post
I’ve just been reading through all of the posts on your bus. You’ve purchased almost exactly what I am looking for in terms of a bus - what I call a “real” bus with a “real” engine, but about 25 ft long. It looks great. I live just down the road in Cottonwood, AZ, and we truly are lucky to have rust free busses available in the area.

Good job working out the electrical problems too. While I don’t know anything about buses, I’m an electrical engineer who has worked on industrial control systems for decades. I was going to offer to take a look at it, but sounds like you’ve worked it out.

One off the really exciting things about Skoolies (from someone that still doesn’t own one...) is the self-reliance and independence that a person can develop. By figuring this out yourself you will now be far more capable of taking care of similar future problems.

I look forward to following your future posts....
There are a few vista buses for sale right now on one of the auction websites. govdeals or publicsurplus. can't remember which one, but there were a few!
__________________
My Build: https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/sk...doo-22140.html

Follow our build on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/skoolie_doo/
Rovobay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2018, 05:49 PM   #66
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 42
Thanks for the follow up!
glenncooper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2018, 05:50 PM   #67
Bus Nut
 
Rovobay's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Damascus, OR
Posts: 681
Year: 2004
Chassis: International
Engine: T444e w/ 2000 Allison Trans
Rated Cap: 35
here they are...

https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?f...62&acctid=7818

https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?f...61&acctid=7818
__________________
My Build: https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/sk...doo-22140.html

Follow our build on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/skoolie_doo/
Rovobay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2018, 06:15 PM   #68
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
Glenn,
Mesa had a few buses on public surplus a few months ago but I work down there sometimes and I just see tons of 25 to 22 foot full buses driving around with the mesa school district name. But that being said for any bus like that that comes up for auction in phoenix your going to have to battle a certain bus dealer which could drive the price up

those cali buses look great though! Ours is a california bus as well and looks just like those.
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2018, 12:01 AM   #69
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
Hi guys now that the bus is starting and all the sheet metal work is done the next step for us is going to be painting. The first plan was to paint the roof with Henry's tropicool paint and then we have a Rust-Oleum paint and enamel hardener for the sides. I was wondering though Would it be beneficial to paint the top and sides of the bus with the Henry's tropicool? Haven't heard anyone talk about this or seen anyone do it but it seems like it could help. We are planning on spray foam insulating the inside so we will have insulation but another layer would always be nice. For those of you with more experience with the Henry's tropicool am I crazy for wanting to paint the side of the bus with it? Does it look really bad or why is it that not that many people do this ?
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2018, 05:27 AM   #70
Bus Geek
 
EastCoastCB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,764
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikerob643 View Post
Hi guys now that the bus is starting and all the sheet metal work is done the next step for us is going to be painting. The first plan was to paint the roof with Henry's tropicool paint and then we have a Rust-Oleum paint and enamel hardener for the sides. I was wondering though Would it be beneficial to paint the top and sides of the bus with the Henry's tropicool? Haven't heard anyone talk about this or seen anyone do it but it seems like it could help. We are planning on spray foam insulating the inside so we will have insulation but another layer would always be nice. For those of you with more experience with the Henry's tropicool am I crazy for wanting to paint the side of the bus with it? Does it look really bad or why is it that not that many people do this ?
I met some kids who'd painted their whole bus with elastomeric roof coating. Looked HORRIBLE.
EastCoastCB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2018, 09:52 AM   #71
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
Thanks East Coast, I figured there was definitely a reason people are doing it and that answers it. we'll go back to our first plan of Henry's tropicool on the roof and the rest rustOleum with enamel hardener on the sides. Now we just have to deal with that dang tree that is spraying sap all over the bus. I'm sure that wouldn't be good for paint
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2018, 10:01 AM   #72
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
Sanding and seam sealing the roof of the bus, made a bunch of Headway yesterday. Hopefully today refined enough time to paint the roof!
Attached Thumbnails
0606181847a~2.jpg   0606181902a.jpg   0606181900.jpg  
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2018, 12:42 PM   #73
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
The first coat of Henry's tropicool is on the roof and can not
wait to get the second on there . in the mean time though i had a question about manual transmissions. I have been thinking about trying to track down a 5 speed spicer for a tranny swap but would it work with the short snub nose? I don't know if this would put the shift linkage to far back . also has anyone done a swap like this before who would care to share their experience? I know it will be hard but how hard....
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2018, 12:44 PM   #74
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 42
I've seen a few YouTube video bus builds where they used Henry's. In every case they seemed to love it. It seems like a great product for the roof. No personal experience, however.
glenncooper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2018, 02:09 PM   #75
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
Yeah we only have one coat on and its already extremely white. It only took one paint tray worth for a whole coat and we bought a 5 gallon jug so well have enough for just a few more coats

Hows your bus hunt going ?
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2018, 02:10 PM   #76
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 42
I'm keeping my eyes open everywhere. I'm not in a terrible rush, so patience is my friend. Sooner or later the right rust free bus close to home will show up......
glenncooper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 11:48 AM   #77
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
The roof is painted !
It still needs another coat or two but it's so nice to see some visual progress .
Attached Thumbnails
0609180922.jpg   0609180923c.jpg   0609180923b.jpg  
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-14-2018, 11:23 AM   #78
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
Hi guys I had a question about oil-based paint for those of you who have use this to paint their bus. I'm planning on painting our bus a two tone color scheme with oil-based paint sprayed out of a paint gun. I have everything sanded wipe down and clean and taped off. My plan was to start painting today and be done whenever but it doesn't seem like the weather is going to allow for this plan. We have rain coming in here in Arizona on Saturday. Thinking about the 24-hour dry time between coats and the fact that I wanted to do two different colors. I'm questioning if I can make it happen before Saturday. The big variable would be how many coats of oil-based paint requires. I've never sprayed oil based paint out of a gun and don't know if it usually requires one or two or two plus coats to get full coverage.

I would love to get it done before Saturday but if that sounds impossible to you more experienced painters maybe I'll hold off see how well the masking tape holds up through a rainstorm and then try painting next week
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-14-2018, 10:16 PM   #79
Skoolie
 
mikerob643's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Posts: 149
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Vista 36pp
Engine: 7.3 L diesel
Sprayed the white today , the enamel hardener gives it a really nice shine
Attached Thumbnails
0614181516.jpg   0614181517.jpg   0614181517a.jpg   0614181517b.jpg  
mikerob643 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-14-2018, 10:20 PM   #80
Bus Geek
 
Tango's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
Usually the best results are with at least two coats with a scuffing in between. More work but will last a long time.


And the hardener is a very good idea.
Tango 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 04:13 AM.


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