Straight Bussin, no cap fr fr.

[nikitis]

Update on title and registration. I've been sitting on the Virginia title of the original owner for over a year now. And driving it around with Virginia expired plates. But today I started the process of titling it in South Carolina. My name was on the Virginia title, but handed it over to the DMV. They granted me my title and will send it over mail within 30 days, (usually less). SC doesn't give same day titles anymore due to fraud.


I also cannot change the BUS to RV anymore if I want it registered in SC. It must remain a bus, however, I drove back and forth between the Tax Office and the DMV today, and there's really no need to change it here to an RV.



The tax office said because the bus is over 15 years old (30 years old actually), that I'd get the lowest which was $30 a year in property taxes.


The DMV said it would cost $24 for Bus Plates and regisitration per year.


$54!!! I'm ecstatic! I thought SC was gonna charge me like $1200 for registering a commercial bus, and it would have been if it was a new bus, but because it's over 15 years, $24.


I didn't do it just yet because I'm waiting on the title to arrive first, but then I'm heading to the tax office to pay the $30 property tax, then DMV $24 plate and registration, and picking up that BUS plate.


I had a long talk with insurance too. I told them that SC doesn't change the titles like others do under any circumstance, and the agent there told me as long as I can prove it's going to be an RV in design and that an RV was what they were insuring they'd give me the RV pricing in South Carolina. For Full coverage, it's $524 a year, for liability only, it's $250 a year. Which ain't bad imo, and I get to keep it as a bus. I asked the DMV if I require a CDL, and she said not likely if you can prove the weight is under 26000 lbs. I asked her does a ticket from the local city dump weigh station count? And she said yup, have it on your bus to show law enforcement. As long as you're under that I shouldn't require a CDL in SC.

[nocoasty]

Glad you didn't die on your way to view the eclipse. SC sounds a lot like TN for registering a bus, which is awesome. Our registration is like $27 and it's always simple.

[Omnibot2000]

Do not use a jack stand on cinder blocks. Pour some solid concrete footing or purchase solid concrete blocks.

I purchased 18x18x6 solid concrete blocks and they worked good for lifting a house with teleposts.

[nikitis]

Originally Posted by Omnibot2000

Do not use a jack stand on cinder blocks. Pour some solid concrete footing or purchase solid concrete blocks.

I purchased 18x18x6 solid concrete blocks and they worked good for lifting a house with teleposts.

I'm using solid concrete blocks. I said cinder blocks, but I meant the solid ones. I also poured 5000 PSI concrete under them between the dirt and the solid concrete blocks and nestled them in.

[nikitis]

Starting the floor prep of my bus. Adding to this thread. I have another thread asking questions about metal prep for this bus, however, Adding pictures here for the journey thread.

Using Rustoleum Automotive Self-Etching Primer.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003CT499O...ix=rustol&th=1

Using Rustoleum High Performance Enamel
https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-75...93&sr=8-4&th=1

[Omnibot2000]

Try that paint on your toe nails and take another pic 😅

[nikitis]

Lol, whoops. Need to take better photos.

Here are some more. Got a little more paint on.

This was like 1/3rd of the bus. Its looking like I can get it done with 6 self etching cans. Maybe 4 enamel cans. The enamel seems to go farther than the primer for some reason.

[nikitis]

Middle isle and left side done.

Left side dried so it looks lighter. Middle isle is wet still.

Gotta wait for it all to dry so I can play Tetris and move all of the bus parts over to the left side so I can paint the right side tomorrow.

I think I'm wrong on amount of paint cans for self etching primer. I need 6.2 cans. So gotta buy a 7th can, and if I gotta wait on one can, might as well order 4 cans so I can do the hat channels as well.

The enamel goes way farther. I've only done 2.5 cans so far with 60% of the floor done. Not ordering any more of those.

[cadillackid]

ive had great luck with that rustoleum self etch primer.. in fact i use used some today and metal im using to patch some rust on the DEV bus..



i camt imagine tryiomng to rattle can a whole bus floor though.. my poor finger!!

[nikitis]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

ive had great luck with that rustoleum self etch primer.. in fact i use used some today and metal im using to patch some rust on the DEV bus..



i camt imagine tryiomng to rattle can a whole bus floor though.. my poor finger!!

It's not that bad. Just switch between index and middle finger.

[nikitis]

Build Update:

Finished the floor protection. It's done and protected. I didn't paint the floor diesel hatch because it already had some sort of protective finish on it and was fine.

Additionally I replaced all 4 storage area compartments with fresh locks. 3 of the 4 compartments had a handle with a lock in them, 1 (The battery box) did not have a lock on it. So I upgraded it, welded a tab inside, drilled a hole in the handle, destroyed the spring from heat when I welded the tab. Caused it to shrivil up, handle lost it's ability to close. Cut it open, 3D printed a new mechanism so I can use 2 round springs instead, worked like a charm. Door opens and closes. More on that here:
https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f9/ne...tml#post510611

Pics below:

[nikitis]

Couple of updates to provide today in the build:

1.) Inner framing Ribs have been ground down and sprayed to make the Bus last another 60 years. (The body anyway)

2.) Started work on the rear door locking mechanism. I made a wooden adapter to offset the thickness of the Bus Door with the back wall to line up the lock. This took me a whole night to get all of the screw holes lined up enough to where it should work right.

3.) Materials for the floor plugging have come in.

Pictures below in the next two articles as it's a few pics:

[nikitis]

And materials for the next project: Floor hole plugging.

I want to seal it to make the inside water proof from underneath, but also so I can spray the underside without wetting the inside and then spray the underside and seal it up as well.

[ridetherails]

Originally Posted by nikitis

And materials for the next project: Floor hole plugging.

I want to seal it to make the inside water proof from underneath, but also so I can spray the underside without wetting the inside and then spray the underside and seal it up as well.

The sealant you're using is very radiopure. I assayed and analyzed the radioactive properties of these GE sealants for my job (I'm a physicist) for the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search.

The emanation of Radon (and decay of its daughters) was very low, nearly on the order of a nanoBecquerel!

The paper will likely be published later this year.

Anyway, that's what I'm using to seal my windows.

[Timeline]

Originally Posted by ridetherails

The sealant you're using is very radiopure. I assayed and analyzed the radioactive properties of these GE sealants for my job (I'm a physicist) for the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search.

The emanation of Radon (and decay of its daughters) was very low, nearly on the order of a nanoBecquerel!

The paper will likely be published later this year.

Anyway, that's what I'm using to seal my windows.

Plugging holes with plastic plugs and silicone under this floor is not going to be problematic.



Sealing windows with silicone caulk is problematic. Using a paintable polyurethane sealant is a better choice.


Silicone can not be painted, so where paint meets the silicone the seal will be lacking. Masking tape will not stick to silicone caulk... also... not even silicone sticks to silicone so re-doing failed silicone caulk requires removing every trace of the old caulk, that is done mechanically... and can be almost impossible.


Silicone caulk will always fail, eventually leaving you with a nasty problem!

[Ronnie]

One other issue with silicone is that it is hydroscopic. So in time it will cause rust under it, as it wicks the moisture in.


As mentioned polyurethane is the better choice.

[nikitis]

Originally Posted by Timeline

Plugging holes with plastic plugs and silicone under this floor is not going to be problematic.



Sealing windows with silicone caulk is problematic. Using a paintable polyurethane sealant is a better choice.


Silicone can not be painted, so where paint meets the silicone the seal will be lacking. Masking tape will not stick to silicone caulk... also... not even silicone sticks to silicone so re-doing failed silicone caulk requires removing every trace of the old caulk, that is done mechanically... and can be almost impossible.


Silicone caulk will always fail, eventually leaving you with a nasty problem!

No worries, I will not be using silcone on my windows. It's just for the floor plugs, and only to prevent water from coming in from underneath. It was the other guy who mentioned using silicone for Windows. I never planned to use that for Windows.

[nikitis]

Finished my lock for my rear door. I can now lock it with a key.

[nikitis]

Update on my bus build.

Floor sealing up. Pics included.

I even sealed up the pin holes randomly placed everywhere.

I was prepping for my underside etch coating and
3M rubber coating and realized why my bus isn't so rusty after 30 years in wet west virginia.

Someone had beat me to it and already rubber coated it 30 years ago.

I used a wire brush on a couple of areas and found the coating under the dirt. Very little comes off with the brush, but there are some areas where the coating is removed on its own and is starting to rust so ill need to clean and spray over it again anyway. Neat find though.

Question for y'all. Has anyone known Thomas to do this on their builds? Trying to determine if prior owner did it or if it was an option for school districts.

[cadillackid]

undercoating was an option.. but there are also 3rd party companies that will do it too.. as for the floor.. ive seen some busses where plywood was not ordered that had the interior sides of the floors coated... not something ive seen real often.. but its really nice they did yours.. less work for you