New Skewly

slade · 07-12-2005, 04:08 PM

I have been lurking around this site for months, stealing ideas for my School Bus conversion. I have gotten quite far and I wanted some feedback.

http://www.walterstribe.com/skewly/index.html

Let me know what you think, and thanks for all of the information.

Eric von Kleist · 07-12-2005, 04:49 PM

Very nicely executed! It looks first class.

phillbus914 · 07-12-2005, 06:36 PM

Wow that is awsome!

Kirbystud · 07-12-2005, 06:43 PM

All I can say is holey crap......I would like to know what you did on the walls. Plywood and then paintable wallpaper????? and once again nice job..

lapeer20m · 07-12-2005, 08:42 PM

it's always the quiet ones!

Excellent job !

let us know how the paint turns out

slade · 07-12-2005, 09:54 PM

You guys are too kind. Thanks.

To make the side walls I installed 1"x2" furring strips down the side of the bus with sheet metal screws right into the sheet metal inside walls of the bus.

Then I installed some fiberglass insulation and put 1/4" thick luon paneling over top. I used luon because it is cheap $10 per 4'x8' sheet and it is smooth.

I covered the walls with a thick, textured, vinyl wallpaper using professional adhesive. The thick, textured wallpaper covers a multitude of sins. The wallpaper isn't paintable. It has a color, but it almost matches the existing paint on the bus roof.

The partition walls are 3/4" MDF (medium density fiberboard.) MDF is really rigid and can stand up on it's own without any studs. That way I could have sturdy walls that were only 3/4" thick to save some space. I covered them with the same wallpaper.

Griff · 07-13-2005, 04:08 AM

W

W! That 'Skewl! Very tasty, I especially like the dash cabinet to utilize some of that pesky extra space up front, and I too like using the economical luan paneling. It's versatile & easy to work with.

Kirbystud · 07-13-2005, 08:19 AM

You don't happen to have that heater that set by the driver still around???? I could use the fan motors out of it if you what to sell them. Mine work they make some noise.

SeanF · 07-13-2005, 11:31 AM

Good stuff!

slade · 07-13-2005, 12:12 PM

Sorry, I sold anything with metal to a scrap metal place. Besides, those heaters weren't in the best shape after what I had to do to get them out of there.

I do have a a couple of seats left over, but my guess is that everybody has a few seats left over.

Demonknight · 07-13-2005, 03:12 PM

bad guess..mine came without any seats outside of the drivers seat *S* nice bus..gives me a few ideas for mine

crazyeyebrow · 07-14-2005, 12:31 AM

Slade...wow...all I can say is WOW!
Your conversion is beautiful!
I have to know...how long is your bus? My husband and I are bidding on a S1700 tomorrow, and it is not a mini, but shorter than a 48 passenger. It holds about 20 passengers plus a couple of wheel chairs. As I was going through your site, I kept telling the husband...ooo he has a shower!!! I want a shower hahah.
Your kitchen area is exactly the kind of thing I have been thinking about. A microwave is just fine for a lot of stuff...and the bar sink was pure genius really. Yours is the first I have seen with a full fridge in it too.

glock17 · 07-14-2005, 11:37 AM

i'm jealous.

slade · 07-15-2005, 01:08 AM

I should have put some specs on my site. I think I will add that. To answer your question about length -

The bus is 30.5 feet long from bumper to bumper outside and about 25 feet from the dashboard to the rear wall, so there is 25 feet by about 7.5 feet of useable space inside. It is definitely not a shortie bus but it isn't a full-length bus either. The gross weight is listed at 23000 lbs, which is cool because that means I don't need a CDL to drive it, even if it isn't registered as an RV.

I made a bunch of sleeping quarters in my bus because of my large family requirements. If I hadn't needed all of the bed space, I would have had a ton of room for other things in this bus. It is pretty large, at least to me.

I have an drivetrain related question for anyone who knows (I will post a similar question in the appropriate section of the forum also): My bus has a 6.9 litre diesel motor but I don't know anything about the transmission and/or the rear differential. Where do I find that out? Is there a panel somewhere in the engine compartment that will tell me? I have looked, I just don't really know what I am looking for.

crazyeyebrow · 07-15-2005, 09:56 AM

ahhh...it looks to be the same size we were looking at. I think that is a great size, not too big, not too small.

Eric von Kleist · 07-15-2005, 01:55 PM

Is your bus a Thomas-built Bus? I can't recall identifying it from the pictures. The interior space and length you mention is pretty much exactly what mine is, and mine's a 60 child/40 adult passenger bus.

On my bus, the "Line Ticket" is mounted on the back of the air intake structure on the front of the hood. Mine's an '85 International S-1800. The "Line Ticket" is the manufacturer's specs about everything installed on the bus (when it was manufactured -- school district could have made modifications over the years), and includes the information you are looking for. I have also heard that line tickets have been found behind the glovebox. My line ticket is a piece of paper about 4" wide by 12" tall that is stuck to the fiberglass with some clear tape or something like that.

That reminds me, I need to copy down all that information, as the ticket is beginning to show signs of wear.

slade · 07-15-2005, 04:25 PM

I found the line ticket, thanks. It was taped to the hood in a spot I hadn't noticed before.

I will post a new topic in conversion discussion with more on this subject.

Dan-O · 07-16-2005, 12:14 AM

Very well done, from the ground up! Nice and clean... and exactly what you wanted.

Great job.

slade · 10-21-2005, 10:19 AM

Well, I finally finished this thing in early September and took it on a good trip. It was great. I just got a new job that I have to relocate for and I am actually going to live in the bus for a few months, it is comfortable enough to do it. Let me know what you think of the finished product.

http://www.walterstribe.com/skewly

slade · 10-21-2005, 05:48 PM

Oh, I forgot to mention how this think performs on the road.

I have a 6.9 Liter motor with a 5 speed manual transmission.

I don't trust the speedometer in this thing, so all of my speed numbers are based on GPS data.

On the Interstate flat and level the top speed is 63.1 MPH @ 2900RPM. It won't do more than 3100 RPM and about 66.2 MPH on a steep Interstate grade (5%). Both of those numbers are pedal-to-the-floor. If I put it in Neutral and coast downhill on a short stretch I can get about 67.3 MPH (the motor is at idle at that point). On one really long downhill stretch in PA I got it to 75.1 MPH. Yes I am insane, no I don't recommend you try it. I just had to know what it would do. I was still being passed by almost everybody else.

Downhill off of the interstate with steeper grades, it would get scary so I usually coasted in 4th at about 45 MPH or 5th gear at less than 60 MPH.

Uphill on the Interstate (5% grade) I can't leave it in 5th gear, it just doesn't have the juice. In 4th gear it will do about 43.5 MPH with the pedal to the floor. On non-interstate roads with steeper uphill grades I was sometimes getting 27 MPH or less in 3rd gear and straining to do it.

All-in-all performance was better than I expected on flat and level ground and worse than I expected uphill. It wasn't a bad cruiser, just a little bit loud.

It burned about 1 quart of oil every 200 miles like clockwork. I just kept a gallon of Rotella-T onhand at all times and everything was great. Gas (Diesel) mileage was pretty good for as big and heavy as it is. About 8-10 MPG depending on how much of a lead-foot I was being. It never ran hot, it always had good oil pressure and it started and ran like a champ. I'm pretty happy with it.

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