Milkshake Bus - 2005 RE300 build Thread

[ewo1]

This is my second bus. Originally purchased for parts but it was too good/nice to cut up!

I have several other threads on this bus and I'll just post the links for them and continue this thread as the official BUILD THREAD !

Short summary, paid $500 bucks at auction for a non-runner from Broward County Schools, towing turned out to be free...has a new engine that is running well, three 1,500 mile trips so far and preparing for more!

In the last few days I have started to skin the bus and first thing on the list is insulation and a functioning toilet !!! bus already has factory A/c !!!

This bus has a DT466E /EGR motor, 6 speed already open, 6.14 gears I think, brand new Bridgestone tires all around!


Here's the links for the previous threads.
I'll post a few pics too...

DT466E - Milkshake oil
03/24/2021
https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f37/d...oil-35395.html


2006 DT466E Rebuild
04/18/2022
https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f37/2...ild-39125.html


Slow/dead pedal at startup
09/01/2023
https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f37/s...tup-42231.html

[ewo1]

Bus Pics...

So when I bought the bus the body was perfect!
rookie wrecker drier did not raise it high enough, kept the wheel lift level, and damaged the entry door when he turned out of the school garage lot!

Dumba$$....

The wrecker company owner was a friend and I just bartered the tow for the damage... not a fair deal financially but hey, this is what friends do when they screw up.... 2 years later I sold my building and guess who bought it...my friend... Karma huh?

The repair was not that difficult. I removed and threw away the bi folding doors and used a 1 ton harbor freight chain hoist to pull out the bumper and the step well too.

I rebuilt the door area and now all is good!
The wrecker driver did get fired...so sad... oh well.

[ewo1]

So far I have added music for driving, gutted the bus, temporarily attached 3/4 insulation board to the walls inside the bus, covering all the windows, temporary bed and a luxurious swivel, power reclining captains chair removed from a big yacht, for the wife's comfort. this is after all the "hers" bus in our "his n Hers bus"...I have 2 Re300 busses. She does NOT like the the roof raised bus! So that bus will be designed for me and the grandkids and the milkshake bus when travelling with the wife.

The A/c system...front unit was working fine, rear unit was dead. Turned out it was dead because it's circuit breaker was tripped and the high pressure hose at the compressor was like burnt toast.

Replace the hose, new filter and recharge, Ice cold A/C now !!!

UPDATE: on my last trip back from Miami my serpentine belt let go due to the belt tensioner was worn out. Got new tensioner and belt but this one compresor decide to retire and it is now toast!

I am sourcing 2 new compressors and gonna get this fixed this week.

His n Hers bus..

roof raise-NO A/C - HIS
stock bus with A/C - HERS

[DeMac]

I love these long wheelbase IC chassis.

303" wheelbase, 42ft-2in long, tall ceilings, 36" wide entryway and completely open underneath.

The rear wheel humps are beneath the 13th window - back of the bus. That's nearly 10 windows between the wheelwells. Anything is possible in this land yacht. Full bath, side hall, L-shaped kitchen....
I can't wait to see the boss-lady's vision.

[ewo1]

They say pics are worth a thousand words...so I'll just post pics instead!

Materials used:
1x3 tubing
2inch insulation board
Used RV window
Door handles n hinges
lots of POPCORN welds....

[ewo1]

Progress is gonna be real slow on this bus but hey, what's the hurry ???
All I need is a place to sleep and pee...

I have seen where others do the window blanks / inserts....That's alot of metal folding and not real easy to do with 16ga. and no brake press....and I personally don't like the final look.

I went ahead and removed the rub rail and windows and put in sheets of metal 8' x 33 3/4", lots of rivets and sealant.

removed some of the rivets on the drip rail, not all (too much work) and slid the panels up under the rib rail.
followed up with Ospho, Acetone and rattle can self etching primer.

I only have 1/4 done, from the e-door back to the motor.

Texas sun sure is hotter than Miami sun !!!

This is what it looks like so far.

[ewo1]

I have posted this before in my other build thread, post # 79.

I inspected the same area in this bus, no rust on the driver side but I went ahead and added some sealant anyways. An ounce of prevention....

I feel that ALL amtran RE owners should seal this area up!

Here is pics of that area, I forgot to take a pic of the sealed up area.

The sealant I am using can be found at Home Depot, in the same area where you will find the metal gutters.

It is gutter sealant, can be applied wet so if your bus is leaking in a rain storm....you can apply it no worries.

It dries hard and it is self leveling and paintable too.

[-TC-]

That is some good looking, factory glass you're removing. Tall & tinted, just the way I like my.....

Oh, yeah windows.

You know DeMac already painted window #16 onto our bus. A couple of real ones will fit nicely though, with room to spare. Dibs!

Seriously, I hope he makes it to TX safely.

[cadillackid]

love that sedean style door build.. id probably want a bigger window though... it is easy to Lose cars (and especially motorcycles)from your mirrors that are viewable from the lower door windows... I always have to look 3 times on busy multi lane freeways..



mirrors..windows..mirrors..

[ewo1]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

love that sedean style door build.. id probably want a bigger window though... it is easy to Lose cars (and especially motorcycles)from your mirrors that are viewable from the lower door windows... I always have to look 3 times on busy multi lane freeways..



mirrors..windows..mirrors..

Yup, mirrors are our friend!

I am keeping those 1/4 moon mirrors, they are just what the doctor ordered! Not only can you see down low in front of your bumper but you could easily keep an eye on small cars and motorcycles that are right there next to your front door!

the actual door window, I have found it needs to go up nice and high on the door when you mount it. I am tall, 6' and with the air ride seat up, with a lowered or smaller window I find myself having to hunch over to the side to see out a smaller-lowered window. As it is now it sits within 1 inch of the actual door frame, top and sides when viewed from the inside of the bus and I can see quite well when making a right hand turn.

I myself have years of both tractor trailer and wrecker experience so I am well adjusted with constantly looking at both side mirrors while driving and also with planning those turns well ahead in advance.

[ewo1]

Originally Posted by -TC-

That is some good looking, factory glass you're removing. Tall & tinted, just the way I like my.....

Oh, yeah windows.

You know DeMac already painted window #16 onto our bus. A couple of real ones will fit nicely though, with room to spare. Dibs!

Seriously, I hope he makes it to TX safely.

If you need some windows, let me know. I have no need for them right now. I have pulled them out both sides from the wheel chair door & E. door - back!

[ewo1]

A little bit more progress on the skins...

When I opened up the rear engine air vent on the passenger side, this time I found rust.

For all of us who have Amtran RE, everyone knows that rear engine bay rust is a problem!

One solution it to remove the air vent cover and apply some sealant.

Second and easiest solution is to drill 3 1/4 holes in the "U" channel, on the bottom side of the channel or for easier explanation, right above the engine bay doors!

If you don't seal this area, water WILL enter this channel and stay there. It has no way to get out other than dry air and time...but you will get rust sooner or later!

By drilling the drain holes, water now has a way to exit this area.

I scraped out all the rust and applied some OSPHO. Tomorrow I'll try to get some red rusty metal primer in there.

Luckily this area is only about 1-2 feet in length.

what can you expect, this is a south Florida bus, Lot's and Lot's of rain in S. Florida! At least it has never seen road salt !

The first pic reflects how this happens. That space/hole where I have my finger... NO SEALANT from the factory!

[ewo1]

Skinning on the passenger rear side...so far.

right now it's just hanging in place with self tapping screws, on the drip rail.

This weekend I'll try to rivet it all in place.

[DeMac]

Originally Posted by ewo1

Skinning on the passenger rear side...so far.

right now it's just hanging in place with self tapping screws, on the drip rail.

This weekend I'll try to rivet it all in place.

--------------

Hey, don't do all the fun stuff, without me.

Save me an egg!

[ewo1]

Originally Posted by DeMac

--------------

Hey, don't do all the fun stuff, without me.

Save me an egg!

If you wanna do some work, don't worry I have a large to do list.... LOL...

I'm only gonna do the back half for right now. Once the rear skins are done I am gonna focus first on a bathroom and a bed.... that way I can travel somewhat more comfortably than running to a toilet at a rest stop in the middle of the night!

[DeMac]

Originally Posted by ewo1

If you wanna do some work, don't worry I have a large to do list.... LOL...

I'm only gonna do the back half for right now. Once the rear skins are done I am gonna focus first on a bathroom and a bed.... that way I can travel somewhat more comfortably than running to a toilet at a rest stop in the middle of the night!

-------------

I'm looking forward to joining in on the exciment. You make it look like a joyful experience. I've been known to pay as much as an apple to have the pleasure whitewashing fence.

Schedule a two-man gig for us in abot two-three weeks. I hope not longer, breakdowns will happen.

[ewo1]

Got some work done today... secured the panels on the driver side but ran out of rivets to finish up securing the rub rail.

guess I'm gonna order another 500 rivets!

Friend of mine came over and we also got working on enhancing the A/c system.

When I got the bus the rear a/c unit was inop. We found the a/c circuit breaker tripped, high pressure hose cooked at the A/c, replaced/splice 12' of hose, and it had a freon leak too.

the front unit is just fine but ... I decided to go ahead and replace both a/c compressors. they are installed and sometime during the week we'll do a vacuum and charge.

before that though I am gonna open up the blowers and do a clean and inspect.

[Hooker]

That's unfortunate for the wrecker operator. Where I work, they don't fire us, they make us pay for what we tear up. Even if it's a honest $hit happens unavoidable accident. Wrong IMO, but when you live in a right to work state, you take it in the azz. Employers have you right where they want you. You did great on that repair though. I'm not that handy with metal work and do not have the patience. I'd have had to have sourced a new/used step well from a bus on it's way to the scrapyard.

[Hooker]

Originally Posted by ewo1

Got some work done today... secured the panels on the driver side but ran out of rivets to finish up securing the rub rail.

guess I'm gonna order another 500 rivets!

Friend of mine came over and we also got working on enhancing the A/c system.

When I got the bus the rear a/c unit was inop. We found the a/c circuit breaker tripped, high pressure hose cooked at the A/c, replaced/splice 12' of hose, and it had a freon leak too.

the front unit is just fine but ... I decided to go ahead and replace both a/c compressors. they are installed and sometime during the week we'll do a vacuum and charge.

before that though I am gonna open up the blowers and do a clean and inspect.

I like the layout on that bus. So is the passenger side door a handicap lift door? It look plenty wide for an E exit. How tall is the ceiling is in this one? I've been looking at RE engine buses, but Blue Bird so far is the one I want with an 8.3ISC Cummins and MD3060. Not a huge fan of Thomas buses. So I get to play with rivets. I haven't got to take a look at an International more modern bus, an no RE at all. Nothing wrong with a DT466 and MD3060 for an RE bus either, if I can like the cabin part. But Wow, and here I thought a 40 foot BB was long. But over 42 feet for real? You need to get a zip line installed from the rear of the bus to the front service door. My hike would be over by the time I got outta bed and made it to the front door.

[ewo1]

@hooker,
Sorry for taking so long to reply, been super busy lately.

The passenger side is the wheel hair lift. E door is on driver side.
I have the high lift roof on this bus.

I like the DT because it easy to repair and parts are available like crazy and not as expensive as a cat is.

I don’t know much about a cummins other than to say they are solid engines.

I spent most of my life in big cities where space is non existent, guess thats why i feel more comfortable in a big bus versus a mini.

So i see your in OKC, we just did a trip ( non bus) to broken Bow. Beautiful country !!!!!!!

Lots of places todo lakeside camping and man how clear that lake water is!!!!
We are planning to go bqck next season, in the bus, with the utv and go have some trail fun.

What you got in the OKC area to do, skoolie wise that is ?