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Old 03-26-2018, 02:26 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
Finding My Inner Squid

Greetings! Long time reader, first time posting...

So, I got a bus. I love my bus. She's very easy on the eyes, long and lithe, with gorgeous features. She is 25 years younger than me but I think we can make that work.
  • 1993 Blue Bird All American Rear Engine
  • 321,842 Miles
  • 8.3L Cummins (recently replaced w/ only 18k miles)
  • Allison transmission (not sure which yet)
  • 4.44 Rear axle ratio

No leaks. No rust. No cracked glass. All lights working. Beautiful paint. The previous owner even removed all but one of the seats, too! Just the perfect bus for what I'm planning.

I was sure my HOA wouldn't be too happy with me parking in front of the house so I had to look for alternate parking arrangements. None of the RV storage places wanted a school bus so I tried commercial yards. Again, couldn't find anyone willing to host my project. Turning to the internets, I ended up finding a beautiful spot to park/work on her but it's between 45 min and an hour away (depending on SoCal traffic) so I'm going to be mainly working on the weekends.

I'm very excited about this project and am looking forward to learning from all the other converters on here.








Note the mouse nest on the lower left under the washer fluid. I also found a ton of acorns a squirrel had been stashing in the wall inside the fuel door.




View from the parking/working site in Ramona, CA.

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Old 03-26-2018, 02:36 PM   #2
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Brunswick, GA
Posts: 150
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: TC2000
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
Very nice bus!! I look forward to seeing your build.
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Old 03-26-2018, 02:37 PM   #3
Bus Nut
 
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 335
Year: 2004
Coachwork: Corbeil
Chassis: Ford
Engine: Ford PowerStroke Diesel 6.0
Rated Cap: GVWR 11,500
Nice score! By my math, it looks like you have an engine with 9,017 Miles and only 18K on the transmission? Sounds like a pretty sweet setup! Good luck and be sure to share your progress!
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Old 03-26-2018, 02:38 PM   #4
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
I went over the whole instrument panel and switch panel and there's a few things I have no idea what they are or do:


The switch and red buttons? I'm guessing they're for the exterior stop signs?


So this says "Not for Parking" so I'm guessing it has something to do with the brakes?


What are the 'WL' buttons, lights and switches?


"Air Control Accel?" Whatzit?


This is on the lower left of the instrument cluster (to the left of the red buttons above). Any idea what it does?
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Old 03-26-2018, 02:49 PM   #5
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Eastern WA
Posts: 6,401
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: All American RE (A3RE)
Engine: Cummins ISC (8.3)
Rated Cap: 72
Good looking bus! Congrats!

Don't follow my example and let the commute to the bus become an excuse for not working on the bus.

I wasn't getting much done until I brought my bus home.
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Old 03-26-2018, 03:02 PM   #6
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
Quote:
Originally Posted by PNW_Steve View Post
Good looking bus! Congrats!

Don't follow my example and let the commute to the bus become an excuse for not working on the bus.

I wasn't getting much done until I brought my bus home.
The owner of the land where it's parked doesn't have a problem with me staying overnight. I've already got my Nature's Head so I'll be doing a bunch of mini-camping trips so I can get the most out of my weekends.
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Old 03-26-2018, 03:11 PM   #7
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
What are these things?

There are a couple things on the dash that I'm not quite sure what they are or do:


These are directly to the left of the steering column. I'm guessing they're for the stop signs?


Something to do with the brakes but not sure what...


"Air Control Accel" means what exactly? What air am I accelerating?


All the buttons, lights and pulls labeled "WL ____" are for what?


This is to the left of the red buttons in the picture above. Any idea what it does?
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Old 03-26-2018, 03:39 PM   #8
Bus Crazy
 
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Billings, MT
Posts: 1,269
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: HDX
Engine: Cat C7
Rated Cap: 84 passenger
Lever is Jake Brake, shipmate.
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Old 03-26-2018, 03:45 PM   #9
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptSquid View Post
Lever is Jake Brake, shipmate.
Thanks, Cap'n!
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Old 03-26-2018, 03:59 PM   #10
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Brunswick, GA
Posts: 150
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: TC2000
Engine: 5.9 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
WL = warning lights - it's the amber and red stop lights warning drivers that the bus is picking up students (the lights at the top of front and rear). Mine were disabled by the school system when I picked up the bus.
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Old 03-26-2018, 04:02 PM   #11
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrailLifeBill View Post
WL = warning lights - it's the amber and red stop lights warning drivers that the bus is picking up students (the lights at the top of front and rear). Mine were disabled by the school system when I picked up the bus.
Ah! That makes sense. Thanks!
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Old 03-26-2018, 04:54 PM   #12
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Owasso, OK
Posts: 2,627
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: Cummins 6CTA8.3 Mechanical MD3060
Rated Cap: 46 Coach Seats, 40 foot
With that 4.44 final drive, my guess would be the MT643 transmission.

That would give a top speed of around 60 mph @2200 rpm. If your rpm limit is set at 2400, it would be around 66 mph.

If you happen to have the MD3060, top speed in 5th would be around 80 mph, with zero chance of getting 6th unlocked (and you wouldn't need it).
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Old 03-26-2018, 05:06 PM   #13
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
Quote:
Originally Posted by Twigg View Post
With that 4.44 final drive, my guess would be the MT643 transmission.

That would give a top speed of around 60 mph @2200 rpm. If your rpm limit is set at 2400, it would be around 66 mph.

If you happen to have the MD3060, top speed in 5th would be around 80 mph, with zero chance of getting 6th unlocked (and you wouldn't need it).
Currently the speedo and tach aren't working (the previous owner had disconnected the emergency exit buzzers and it has the interlock so not sure if that has anything to do with it). Strangely, it has a remote start in the back that does actually start the engine even with the buzzers disconnected.

When I brought it to it's new home, I was on the 8 in San Diego and I had no problems keeping up with traffic. Not sure how fast I was going but whatever it was, I'm happy with the performance.

The shifter is a lever with R - N - D - 3 - 2 - 1 so not sure if it has a 5th gear or not.

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Old 03-26-2018, 05:24 PM   #14
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Owasso, OK
Posts: 2,627
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: Cummins 6CTA8.3 Mechanical MD3060
Rated Cap: 46 Coach Seats, 40 foot
Quote:
Originally Posted by J A M View Post
Currently the speedo and tach aren't working (the previous owner had disconnected the emergency exit buzzers and it has the interlock so not sure if that has anything to do with it). Strangely, it has a remote start in the back that does actually start the engine even with the buzzers disconnected.

When I brought it to it's new home, I was on the 8 in San Diego and I had no problems keeping up with traffic. Not sure how fast I was going but whatever it was, I'm happy with the performance.

The shifter is a lever with R - N - D - 3 - 2 - 1 so not sure if it has a 5th gear or not.
I think the MT643 has 4 gears, so that sounds right.
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Old 03-26-2018, 07:32 PM   #15
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Pendleton Indiana
Posts: 348
Year: 2010
Coachwork: IC
Engine: MF DT466
Rated Cap: 81
Man that a clean bus,still got a shine.
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Old 04-10-2018, 09:20 PM   #16
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
Nearly done with the gutting...

It's been a few weeks but I'm happy with my progress so far.
  • All ceiling panels and insulation remove
  • Almost all side panels removed
  • Both the front and rear inside panels removed
  • Cleaned all the spray paint off the outside
  • Removed the stop sign and swing arm

The main thing I learned: removing rivets sucks. I tried several different methods but the one that ended up working the best for me was taking a hammer and punch and knocking out the pins then for the bigger rivets (all the ceiling ones and the ones attaching the walls to the vertical ribs), a 3 lb hammer and a chisel that had one side of the tip ground flat. That allowed the chisel to get under the rivet head pretty quickly and pop it up and off. For all the smaller rivets like the ones directly under the windows, a similar ground down chisel attached to a Ryobi hammer drill made much quicker work than the chisel and hammer route. It seemed that with the hammer and chisel, the metal around the rivet head tended to move or deform much more easily but the hammer drill just cut through those rivets with no problem and none of the deformation on the underlying metal.







The Ryobi P222 SDS Rotary Hammer Drill with the filed chisel bit.

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Old 04-10-2018, 09:24 PM   #17
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
Also, I found a decent 11.1 cu ft fridge that was on sale and the Cubic Mini Grizzly wood stoves were also on sale!



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Old 04-10-2018, 09:34 PM   #18
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: San Diego
Posts: 16
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 84
Last week I contacted the school district that used to own the bus to see if they had any of the service manuals or service records for this bus anymore. They got back to me and said they did and I could come by and pick them up any time. So yesterday I got up at 5:00 and drove an hour and a half to the school before work. The maintenance guys were really curious to know who bought the bus because it had just gone to auction and the winner stopped by and picked it up without talking to them. They had plenty to tell me about my bus and the main guy had even found the time lapse video I had posted on Facebook of my first drive and said he laughed when he saw me having issues starting it because that bus had always given him troubles with the ignition! Great news (I think)...

He also had 2 sets of service manuals and the complete service history going back to 2008 along with the delivery manifest and original temporary registration card from the CA DMV! Sadly neither manual set contains a wiring diagram but there are complete instructions for almost every other system.


Bad attempted panorama of the docs but you get the idea
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Old 04-10-2018, 10:17 PM   #19
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Owasso, OK
Posts: 2,627
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: Cummins 6CTA8.3 Mechanical MD3060
Rated Cap: 46 Coach Seats, 40 foot
Not seeing any of your pictures.
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Old 04-10-2018, 11:56 PM   #20
Bus Nut
 
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Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Frisco, Texas
Posts: 829
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Dt466e
Rated Cap: 71
I see the pictures on my end
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