Rusty 87 build thread

[musigenesis]

Continued trying to paint my flasher covers burgundy and navy blue.



Painted the edges laboriously with a little craft brush. Very un-fun.



Decided painting these things is way too difficult and I wasn't really sure I was going to like it anyway, so I just sprayed them antique white again. The easiest jobs are the ones not done.



Cut down and sanded flush the openings for my emergency exit door windows.



I had originally planned to round off these corners with wood filler to match the windows on either side, but realized it's too much work and they'll just end up cracking like those did as well. Having them angular like this looks fine.





I'm hired as a school bus driver. My first trip is Monday morning - my CDL hasn't come through yet but they're going to have me driving the little Minotaur which doesn't require a CDL. Apparently they don't have to do the full stopping at railroad crossings thing either, for whatever reason.

[AdamKnox]

Originally Posted by Mountain Gnome

Then I won't be coming to your graduation party.
Or your bus' christening party.


Unless of course they are keggers. Just don't expect me to talk to you.

Nah, you can go to the celebration...just watch out for the bear hug.

Congrats musigenesis!

[joeblack5]

Congrats on the CDL and on finishing details on your bus. That Pinz looks like a fun Tow.. you might get appreciative looks from the Leo's.. when I was traveling with my small 4*4 bus Elfie and had an accident on black ice the state trooper was not friendly and assumed I was a homeless Bumm living out of it and free loading the system. Later in court to fight his charges, points and fines my military vehicle collection came on the table as part of the insurance premium and all my problems went away....that is only the fine remained.

Johan

[musigenesis]

Another lazy Sunday, plugged a few screw holes with high-performance filler.



Not sure if this will fix the cracking on the rounded corners. We shall see.







This corner took a lot of shots from ladders and wood loaded in from the back door. I suspect this corner will just require continual repair.

[Buster Junior]

Sorry I am a little late on the congrats on the CDL...way to go! Yay you!!! And very nice work with the window framing, neat way to handle the corners. Although I love your paint job and color scheme, I think I like the rear flasher covers painted burgundy and navy. Of course just my opinion, it does look quite fabulous as is. Good luck with your first day of official bussing��

[Oldyeller]

The bus is really looking good. Congrats on the CDL

[musigenesis]

Man, didn't realize my last post was a month and a half ago. Driving a school bus is only 4 or 5 hours a day, but it's split up so that I just can't find any time to work on the bus. I've been doing some hole-filling on the bus but not taking any pics out the shear boredom of the task. I really need to pick up the pace if I'm going to get the inside painted before Winter.

Painted some more cabinet doors yesterday.



And painted all of the window pillars.



Today I managed to prime the rest of the loose pieces, and since tomorrow will be upper 50s I should be able to get them all painted.



I've been using Valspar primer/sealer and Valspar satin porch paint, both of which products are now completely unavailable. I don't know what I'm going to switch to. I have about 1/3 of a gallon of the primer left, and I have one gallon of the white porch paint and one gallon of untinted porch paint (which I bought by accident many months ago). Since I'm doing two coats of paint on everything, I'm going to use the untinted for the first coat and then the white for the second, which should work OK (?) because they look to be the same color anyway. I don't think that's going to get me through the entire interior.

[peakbus]

Yeah, from multiple posts a day to nothing. I was having withdrawals!
Could you have the untinted tinted at a paint store?

[Phatman]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Man, didn't realize my last post was a month and a half ago. Driving a school bus is only 4 or 5 hours a day, but it's split up so that I just can't find any time to work on the bus. I've been doing some hole-filling on the bus but not taking any pics out the shear boredom of the task. I really need to pick up the pace if I'm going to get the inside painted before Winter.

Painted some more cabinet doors yesterday.

Attachment 62437

And painted all of the window pillars.

Attachment 62438

Today I managed to prime the rest of the loose pieces, and since tomorrow will be upper 50s I should be able to get them all painted.

Attachment 62439

I've been using Valspar primer/sealer and Valspar satin porch paint, both of which products are now completely unavailable. I don't know what I'm going to switch to. I have about 1/3 of a gallon of the primer left, and I have one gallon of the white porch paint and one gallon of untinted porch paint (which I bought by accident many months ago). Since I'm doing two coats of paint on everything, I'm going to use the untinted for the first coat and then the white for the second, which should work OK (?) because they look to be the same color anyway. I don't think that's going to get me through the entire interior.

Looking good MG. Definitely brings back memories of painting.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by peakbus

Yeah, from multiple posts a day to nothing. I was having withdrawals!
Could you have the untinted tinted at a paint store?

I wonder if they would just laugh at me if I say I want the white paint tinted white.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Phatman

Looking good MG. Definitely brings back memories of painting.

The painting is OK - it's the bit about filling in all the screw holes with high-performance filler that is making me want to smash my head into a wall.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I wonder if they would just laugh at me if I say I want the white paint tinted white.

Just laugh with them... Then hand them the tint code if you have it, and tell them you are serious. I am sure that they will understand, since they probably have a 100 shades of white they may not even laugh.

[Tejon7]

Originally Posted by kidharris

...they probably have a 100 shades of white...

But only 50 shades of gray, I'm told.

[Oldyeller]

Originally Posted by Tejon7

But only 50 shades of gray, I'm told.

LOL, a literary reference on a school bus conversion forum, well done.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Oldyeller

LOL, a literary reference on a school bus conversion forum, well done.

I'm not sure Fifty Shades of Grey counts as "literature".

[musigenesis]

Barely above 50°F but I was able to finish painting all my cabinet doors and loose paneling and ottomans.



My untinted porch paint did not work - without being tinted it just goes on semi-transparent. I'm going to have to see if Lowe's can actually tint it for me, and then maybe I'll have enough to do the whole bus inside. The paint is just so good for this application, it dries out smooth while doing a good job of filling surface imperfections.

Maybe I'll be able to finish the inside over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

[musigenesis]

New auto-purge valve:



And it only cost me ... $750. Sigh. I called the place that towed my bus from the Wawa and installed a new starter for $900 two years ago and had them send out their mobile tech for this. I don't have an invoice yet but I'm guessing they charged me something like $300 for the valve and 3 hours @ $150/hr for the mobile tech's time (which apparently includes driving to and from the site). I think this is probably a job I could have done myself a lot cheaper but oh well, at least my bus should be drivable again.

I wonder if it would have been possible (and obviously a lot cheaper) to just delete this thing and manually purge the tanks after each drive (which I do anyway)?

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

New auto-purge valve:

Attachment 62737

And it only cost me ... $750. Sigh. I called the place that towed my bus from the Wawa and installed a new starter for $900 two years ago and had them send out their mobile tech for this. I don't have an invoice yet but I'm guessing they charged me something like $300 for the valve and 3 hours @ $150/hr for the mobile tech's time (which apparently includes driving to and from the site). I think this is probably a job I could have done myself a lot cheaper but oh well, at least my bus should be drivable again.

I wonder if it would have been possible (and obviously a lot cheaper) to just delete this thing and manually purge the tanks after each drive (which I do anyway)?

I didn't know that schoolbus drivers made so much money.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by kidharris

I didn't know that schoolbus drivers made so much money.

We don't - that valve is about a week and a half's worth of work.

[musigenesis]

Turns out the valve was $225 (only twice what I figured it would be), road service fee of $45, and road service of $440 including travel time to the parts warehouse etc. Probably should have tried fixing this myself.