No Name Yet - 2001 Thomas Saf-T-Liner MVP ER Conversion

[atx200416]

My name is Kevin and my husband is Jose. We are the proud new owners of a 2001 Thomas Saf-T-Liner MVP ER 84 passenger (14 row). It has a 210hp CAT 3126b engine with a MT643 Allison transmission. We plan on doing a total conversion to where we can live in it.

We need a name for the bus. Please help us think of a name. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Here are the pics of the bus.

[atx200416]

Today we took out the seats. We did it the old fashioned way. Jose was inside the bus with a ratchet and I was underneath with a wrench. We took out all of the bolts this way. Then we did all of the bolts attached to the wall. Holy crud I am so sore and some of the nuts are so hard to get to. My body was in some real awkward and uncomfortable positions today.

Then we tore down the seats to bare metal. At the end of the evening we were organizing the mess we just made. All the scrap metal is at the rear of the bus and the foam and bottom seat cushions are up front.

We still need a name for the bus. So any suggestions would be awesome.

We worked on it 11 hours straight.

Here are the pics from today.

Us at the beginning of the day.


Taking out the bolts along the wall.


Progress.





All of the scrap metal. Believe it or not that is all of the seats stacked on each other.


All of the foam and seat cushions.

[Rusty]

Looks like a very clean bus- congratulations on your new obsession !

Lots of coveted under-belly storage- very useful.

As far as naming it, it will come. I'm early-on in the process, so mine is still called mostly #$%@#$% bus.

Take lots of pictures. Enjoy!

[atx200416]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Looks like a very clean bus- congratulations on your new obsession !

Lots of coveted under-belly storage- very useful.

As far as naming it, it will come. I'm early-on in the process, so mine is still called mostly #$%@#$% bus.

Take lots of pictures. Enjoy!

Thanks. We are trying to take lots of pictures. The under-belly storage compartment made it real easy to get to the nuts for the seats today. I am happy with our bus. Not so thrilled with the CAT engine because I am more familiar with Cummins engines and the DT466. Other than that, I like her.

[atx200416]

What do you guys think of "The Mistress" for a name? Jose jokingly calls the bus my mistress because I devote more time to the bus than him. Lol. I still want more suggestions before we decide on a name. I am indecisive

[M1031A1]

Did you get this at auction? Curious to find out.

M

[fp42583]

Originally Posted by atx200416

My name is Kevin and my husband is Jose. We are the proud new owners of a 2001 Thomas Saf-T-Liner MVP ER 84 passenger (14 row). It has a 210hp CAT 3126b engine with a MT643 Allison transmission. We plan on doing a total conversion to where we can live in it.

We need a name for the bus. Please help us think of a name. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Here are the pics of the bus.

Congrats on the bus! You did a lot of work in one day. Naming is difficult. You might want to wait and see what speaks to you as you work on it. I thought about mine for a good year before I decided on something.
Congrats again

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[Blue]

Originally Posted by atx200416

What do you guys think of "The Mistress" for a name? Jose jokingly calls the bus my mistress because I devote more time to the bus than him. Lol. I still want more suggestions before we decide on a name. I am indecisive

Haha Cute!

I am thinking about naming my bus "Chance" Since I feel like my Skoolie/Stable home that shouldn't be easily taken away is giving me a second chance at life !

Im going to wait and see what comes through once I meet my bus in person though

[spenceronehalf]

great pics! the bus is awesome

[atx200416]

Originally Posted by M1031A1

Did you get this at auction? Curious to find out.

M

We bought it off of Craigslist from a man in Houston, TX. It is a retired Katy ISD school bus.

[Njsurf73]

I love the looks of the Thomas busses and the late 80s early 90s bluebirds (with the double round lights)

[atx200416]

Do I just use pieces of sheet metal to patch the holes in the floor? If so what gauge? I know nothing about sheet metal.

[superdave]

I used caulk around the hole and cut pieces of uluminum flashing. no screws

[Njsurf73]

Originally Posted by atx200416

Do I just use pieces of sheet metal to patch the holes in the floor? If so what gauge? I know nothing about sheet metal.

I have seen people use a variety of things... Weld in 16-20 ga metal, rivet in same, fiberglass. For the bolt holes in the floor a lot of people use caulk or JB weld or something similar.
IMO it's not what you use, it's prepping the area to prevent future issues and sealing the hole.

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[WanderWoman]

Welcome Kevin and Jose!

Like others said, let the name come to you as you work on her. I like Mistress though!

Sandi
www.thismidwifetravels.com
Living full time on my skoolie!

[Tango]

The bi-metal effects of combining steel and aluminum make them a bad choice. Unless totally isolated they in effect create a battery and will accelerate oxidation. Best option is to cut out then weld in appropriate gauge similar sheetmetal.

[atx200416]

Originally Posted by Tango

The bi-metal effects of combining steel and aluminum make them a bad choice. Unless totally isolated they in effect create a battery and will accelerate oxidation. Best option is to cut out then weld in appropriate gauge similar sheetmetal.

I think I will weld sheetmetal patches. Is 20 gauge thick enough?

[atx200416]

Today I changed the oil in the bus. The oil change was very simple. Also did the fuel filter and fuel/water separator. I bought CAT parts and all went well except I had two problems. I couldn't get the fuel/water separator to come loose. My neighbor came over to help me.

I had a filter wrench, but neither of us could get it loose. I was afraid we were going to break the base where it screws on. I ended up hammering a long screwdriver through the filter and that didn't work. I was just tearing the filter. To get the dang thing out I pulled on the screwdriver while my neighbor pulled on the filter wrench. It took both of us to get thing free.

The second problem was the CAT fuel/water separator didn't fit. It wouldn't screw into the base and I didn't want to strip it. So I cross referenced the Luber Finer filter that was on there and it is a Detroit Diesel fuel/water separator on a CAT. Someone installed a Detroit Diesel base for it. I didn't want to leave the bus without a filter installed seeing as I ruined the old one getting it loose. I was so afraid the fuel lines would fill with air. Luckily an O'Reilly's had the Wix version of the filter 25 miles away.

I put the new Wix fuel/water separator on and primed the fuel system. The bus started right away and I ran it for 15 minutes. No air in the fuel system. I was so happy.

Tomorrow we start ripping out the floor. Oh what fun.

[M1031A1]

Originally Posted by atx200416

We bought it off of Craigslist from a man in Houston, TX. It is a retired Katy ISD school bus.

you wouldn't know what number the bus was by chance would you? I work for Katy ISD, and curious to find out if that bus is one I've driven in the past........

M

[Phatman]

Originally Posted by M1031A1

you wouldn't know what number the bus was by chance would you? I work for Katy ISD, and curious to find out if that bus is one I've driven in the past........

M

Hey M, my short bus came from Katy. #811.