New beginnings - My skoolie build

[jjhwick119]

Well, been a member for a few months now, learned a good bit from everyones advice, and finally bought my own school bus! just drove it home 500 miles yesterday from Missouri to Texas, and got her into storage today. Been posting in another thread, but figured id start my build thread now that i have it.

plan is to build it for full timing with garage, bedroom, bathroom with shower, kitchen with fridge / oven / sink, table, living area with couch and tv.

the bus -
1998 International 3800 with Thomas body. 11 window, 71 passenger.
I got it on auction for $2047.84 after auction fee.
DT466E motor with MT643 transmission max speed is 65mph @ 2600.
no label on motor with HP specs, just a remanufactured sticker, so i know the engine has been rebuilt. I wasnt given any service records, so im attempting to get them to figure out the mileage the rebuild was done at, and the work done. currently showing 150k miles

The 500 mile drive home went great, and the bus was invisible even without a plate to police. I was very nervous to drive it for the first time, and there wasnt really a reason to be. after a few minutes, youre pretty comfortable with it, and in no time you realize its not much different than a car.

I do have an issue with the trans temp gauge. Theres a beep beep beep sound (basically nonstop the first 200 miles, and on and off the last 300), and ive realized its tied to that gauge. the needle will be bottomed out while beeping, but sometimes the needle goes up past 100 (doesnt have to move much. even ust a slight bump) and then it goes silent, but sometimes the needle just drops again and the beep comes back, like it lost signal. 2 gauges next to it had the light go off/on a couple times on drive so im thinking its a connection issue in the gauges on that side of the cluster. i was told the mechanic said you could sometimes hit it just right to make the beep stop, so it could be damaged

I was able to get back to it tonight and do minor work. i took interior measurements. 28'8" interior space behind driver with 7'6" width. 78" roof on center, 70" at the side. i took out all but 6 of the seat bottoms. gonna have to give my nieces and nephews a ride before the last come out. also took of the swing arm up front. when i took it off, there was an alarm whenever i put the key in, so i popped the panel off and pulled the blue wire going from the buzzer mechanism to the buzzer terminal on fuse block, and the noise stopped and bus started and acted just fine.

i think thats enough words for right now...we all know everyone just comes for the pictures anyway.

[jjhwick119]

more pictures

[o1marc]

Hadn't seen step bumpers like that on one before.

[consti2tion]

Should be fairly easy to find another bumper if you want to get rid of that one. Not sure how bad the rust is on it. Bus looks like a great platform buddy! I didn’t even get a chance to take the nieces/nephew for a ride before removing the seats dang it.

[JDOnTheGo]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

just drove it home 500 miles yesterday from Missouri to Texas, and got her into storage today.

Congrats and well done!!

Let the deconstruction begin!!

[jjhwick119]

I'm okay with the bumper, just surface rust. It's just so damn big, lol. Removing it wouldn't make enough of a difference to invest money into a different one though. Some sanding, treating and paint shall be done when I'm doing the floors

Gonna pick up a dewalt 20v angle grinder today and see how it does on some seat bolts. The lot I'm at says no major repairs allowed, so I don't want to risk running a generator and power tools on their lot. Can always return it and go the other route if needed. Also gonna pick up a lock for front and rear doors. Nothing fancy, just something basic so people can't just walk right in. Current lock is broken

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

I'm okay with the bumper, just surface rust. It's just so damn big, lol. Removing it wouldn't make enough of a difference to invest money into a different one though. Some sanding, treating and paint shall be done when I'm doing the floors

Gonna pick up a dewalt 20v angle grinder today and see how it does on some seat bolts. The lot I'm at says no major repairs allowed, so I don't want to risk running a generator and power tools on their lot. Can always return it and go the other route if needed. Also gonna pick up a lock for front and rear doors. Nothing fancy, just something basic so people can't just walk right in. Current lock is broken

If you haven't bought it yet, it will eat batteries.

Try a couple of the cheap Harbor Freight angle grinders. Set one up with a grinding disk, and one with a cutting disk. The job will go faster.

[Gdog 5651]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

I'm okay with the bumper, just surface rust. It's just so damn big, lol. Removing it wouldn't make enough of a difference to invest money into a different one though. Some sanding, treating and paint shall be done when I'm doing the floors

Gonna pick up a dewalt 20v angle grinder today and see how it does on some seat bolts. The lot I'm at says no major repairs allowed, so I don't want to risk running a generator and power tools on their lot. Can always return it and go the other route if needed. Also gonna pick up a lock for front and rear doors. Nothing fancy, just something basic so people can't just walk right in. Current lock is broken

Congrats on an uneventful trip the battery powered grinder will be fine with a backup battery or two.Ground failures in dash panels are common and usually easy to diagnose and repair.Good luck with your journey.

[jjhwick119]

Well, I went through 2 fully charged 20v batteries in 3 bolts. Going right back in the box, lol. That was a fail. Couldn't even get 1 seat out to show some progress. Batteries got hot

[jjhwick119]

Trying to brute force it out, I dug a hole and found out I actually do have plywood underneath. I'm happy to know this, because now I just gained 3/4" interior height because I thought it didn't have wood. Thought I was gonna lose that space when adding the wood.

Edit - first seat out! Twisted it until pole broke loose from the plate. I'll deal with bolt later. Gonna remove the trim between windows and ceiling since the angle grinder was a fail. Maybe some other trim too since I'm out here

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

Well, I went through 2 fully charged 20v batteries in 3 bolts. Going right back in the box, lol. That was a fail. Couldn't even get 1 seat out to show some progress. Batteries got hot

Yeah, I told you that but I was too late.

Battery tools are great, I have several, but they don't work well on high-power applications like grinders and saws.

They are okay for the average diy task, but you just took on an industrial job.

[brokedown]

My 18v Bosch cordless impact has never met a seat it couldn't remove. I have done many seats.

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[Twigg]

Originally Posted by brokedown

My 18v Bosch cordless impact has never met a seat it couldn't remove. I have done many seats.

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I used an air-impact wrench for that, but cordless would work too.

The tools that suffer are the ones that either need a steady stream of compressed air (makes for an expensive compressor), or a steady supply of electrickery, like a grinder.

For the short-burst applications, both air and batteries work well.

If you have a decent air-compressor, air tools are excellent, but batteries have a big edge in portability.

[jjhwick119]

My problem is trying to do it myself and the bolts just spinning because nobody's underneath. Impact wouldn't help that. I'll just wait until another set of hands

[Santa]

Pick up an angle grinder from Harbor Freight if you have one near you.

Get their Chicago Tools for cheap money plus their constant 20% off coupon.

Or maybe the Hercules branded one for $40. Each bolt only takes a a couple minutes to grind off.

I've gone only through two blades and have a 72 passenger. The one that comes with the grinder and another that cost me about $2.50

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

My problem is trying to do it myself and the bolts just spinning because nobody's underneath. Impact wouldn't help that. I'll just wait until another set of hands

Loosen both bolts per foot.

Use a pry-bar under the foot to keep pressure on the nut while you use the impact wrench.

Unless the bolts are very rusty, this will get most of them out.

[Thomas1985]

You can't run an extension cord and use an angle grinder? We did that yesterday. You need to buy the $20.00 diamond cutter not the cheap disks. We cut all the bolts and are still using the same wheel.

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by Thomas1985

You can't run an extension cord and use an angle grinder? We did that yesterday. You need to buy the $20.00 diamond cutter not the cheap disks. We cut all the bolts and are still using the same wheel.

no electrical hookups at the storage lot. it was cheapest in town with availability since the place i had lined up fell through

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by Twigg

Loosen both bolts per foot.

Use a pry-bar under the foot to keep pressure on the nut while you use the impact wrench.

Unless the bolts are very rusty, this will get most of them out.

I'll try this too. Im recharging my batteries and gonna head back out to finish pulling the trim and install locks on both doors. the ones i had grabbed wouldnt work.

[brokedown]

When I was 12 or 13 I enjoyed playing with tools in useless ways to make a bunch of noise without really getting much done. This is how grinding seat bolts out feels to me today.

You can knock out 13 rows of seats in about 10 minutes with one battery on a cordless impact with a friend. Cutting a bolt is just not efficient compared to un bolting it.

I also don't recommend grinding off rivets. It's just a big waste of time and energy for something that actually pretty easy.

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