Straight Bussin, no cap fr fr.

[nikitis]

Hello all, I'm not totally new here, about a couple of months in. Learned a lot but still learning more every day. I contribute a lot here as well from what I know, however I haven't created a Bus Conversion thread yet, so here we go. I've already began my bus conversion but still way into the demolition phase, and I kind of picked a bad bus. Rust is lacking on it so that part is good, but has some serious king pin issues, and electrical issues with what I believe is an issue with the VPM itself. So working on those items are where I'm stuck at.


About my Bus and myself:

I haven't named my bus yet, wife is thinking "Barbara Anne" after the old song, but we'll see, makes it a bit too feminine for my tastes. I'm building out a 1995 International 3800 bus, with a T444E engine, and Allinson 545 Transmission. A classic Thomas body style where the roof in the front goes upwards instead of downwards which I thought was interesting. Love the upwards look, kind of makes it look like it has a Gen Z hair cut, hence the phrase in the title "Straight Bussin, no cap, for real, for real" lol. It already had a paint job of green and white when I purchased it, I'm the 2nd owner. The back has a phrase painted "Get ready to grow" The story goes, The Bus was originally designed for a school district and painted yellow and designed for this purpose, but the order got cancelled by the district, and the bus was sold to it's first owner which was a day care owner, and Thomas put in Infant Child seating along with additional grown up seat belts, so the bus was only driven by the day care for rare events over it's 28 year lifespan, and has 141k miles on it. Flashers were deleted and panels made by Thomas themselves which is also interesting.



I'm a Gen X'r myself (Tail end), who already owns a home on a 3/4 acre lot in a neighborhood without an HOA (Who needs them really) and the neighborhood looks nice and allows me to hold my bus in the driveway while I fix the major issues with it. I also own 30 acres of wooded wild land untouched, with no electricity except for what I bring to it, and no water minus a river that runs through it, where I eventually plan to develop and move onto and retire and die there. And keep the bus there.


My bus will serve first as a temporary dwelling on the property while I develop, as well as go on vacation trips around the country as we have family spread out all around the USA. I have a remote work I.T. job and can work via my cell phone tether so it will work out nicely for us. Got a wife and two daughters who will be joining me on these trips. Also forewarning, I'm a very classical red blooded American who has strong opinions sometimes, so please don't take offense if I come across as too strong or forward. I love oldschool forums such as these and love discussing related topics and politics at times if related to the subject matter, but I'll do my best to keep my opinions to a minimum. Communication is key after all to bringing about a better society and all.


So far what I've done on the bus:
1.) Purchased it for $3500 from Facebook Market Place, in Virginia. I live in South Carolina, and drove it home 200 miles on the purchase day.


2.) Noticed the bus was a little on the slow side, could barely get to 50 MPH. Had a check engine warning light on but the previous owner stated it had been there forever, and the engine starts fine every time. (It did in test driving etc, and still starts up well) However, I discovered from the push button codes that the VPM isn't talking to the ECM. It's a 3 box system. ECM, VPM, IDM. And my engine is running in Limp Mode, so this is likely why it's so slow. Engine sounds good otherwise, just gotta fix the VPM. I narrowed it down via a series of testing, and even went so far as to purchase the old service breakout box the T444E manual calls for to diagnose it. (This thing is OLD tech, but is simply a quick way to the test wiring harness of the ECM quickly). I've narrowed it down to the VPM for sure as both data lines, ATA, and DCL aren't communicating but the wiring themselves are good from end to end on the line, so it's a bad VPM, or it's not getting proper power. I'll figure that out later but that's where I'm stuck with the electrical at the moment. As I understand it, the VPM has all of the specific engine values to run the engine at, and if it's failing to run then the engine runs at a safe default value a.k.a. Limp Mode.



3.) The Speedometer does not work, or at least it's not receiving a signal. I've learned this may also be related to the VPM being dead because the speed info goes across the data lines and my cluster gauge has dip switches which are set to all 0's which means it's to use the data lines. (All of these facts I've learned here on this forum so thanks everyone who contributed!) So there is a correlation there. I replaced the speed sensor anyway and verified it's giving off a signal. I've also taken out the gauge cluster and since I'm a computer guy, I verified all of the solder joints are solid and not broken and have continuity so it's not the gauge cluster as many mechanics who are not bus mechanics keep telling me it's likely to be. It is a common issue, and that's why I've looked into it and found that the gauge clusters often have cracked solder joints and is often the cause but I have continuity all the way through to the chip so all of that is good. So I believe it's the VPM at this point. Also the speedometer is getting power as when you turn the key ON, it does it's reset thing and the needle moves, so the gauge is fine, it's just not receiving a signal likely from the VPM being dead or not powered. Also noticed my 97S line is unhooked.



4.) The other issue is one front tire was worn badly on the inside, I learned that this is due to bad king pins. Getting over 3/4 of an inch play on the passenger side wheel when pressing against it, and the driver side wheel isn't far behind. I could put a new wheel on it those are $850 and it will just wear fast the same way as the old one did. I think many people who have skoolies this old have this issue, but never address it because I rarely see anyone with these issues posted on youtube or here. So I think people are buying and driving these buses around with the issue and not even realizing it's a problem. As an I.T. guy, I'm not a mechanic, but have a mechanic friend who is directing me to do the job because I simply cannot afford current prices to get the king pins fixed, and have a build thread going on now to fix this issue if you'd like to follow along here: https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f37/k...a-42306-2.html I'm building my own king pin press for $100 in scrap metal and $50 hydrolic bottle jack 6T. The cheapest king pin press I can find officially is $1850, but go as high as $2500. So if anyone runs into a similar problem, they can build one of these themselves and save literally thousands of dollars, and buy welding equipment and plasma cutters to cut metal for less than the price of that one tool. Once I tackle problems in items 2,3, and 4 the bus will be worthy of a conversion as there is little to no rust on the body and the engine is in great shape with low mileage. Those are the only issues this bus has at the moment. Maybe more will crop up once the VPM is up and running again, who knows.



5.) Demolition - I've begun demolition, however I will only go so far. I'll work on it while I'm either waiting on parts or have nothing else to do, but I won't start building it out until I'm 100% sure this bus is worthy of a conversion with all of it's major issues fixed, and I'm sure it will be but still waiting. I can easily begin demo though. So far I removed all of the Infant Child seating in the bus, it was able to hold 29 persons or 28 infants and one driver. This task of seat removal was tough as you had to have one person underneath holding a socket wrench on the rusted bolts, and another above socketing it out. I could of ground it out but it would of cost more money in grinding wheels. Another thing to note about me is I'm a cheap SOB. If I can save $5 with some work, I will do so. I almost never pay for the convenience and I promised myself with this project, if I can figure out how to fix something I will do it. It's the best way to learn a new trade. Hands on. I'm a computer guy, not a mechanic, but quickly becoming a bus mechanic as I've learned everyone who owns a bus and sticks with it will be as well. Seat removal was probably the hardest seat removal to do on this model because more modern versions have tracks which the seats lock into making the seats easier to remove. The tracks you still have to go under the bus, but it's like 64 times less bolts to do with a track. With mine it was 10 bolts per seat where as on a track system you may have 10 bolts per track with 4 tracks, so a little more difficult. This task took us 5 days.



6.) After the seat removal, I begun taking out the 2000+ screws holding the ceiling panel and side panels in. I had maybe 50 screws that stripped. A good solution I found was to take a grinding wheel and grind a quick strip through the head, then use a flat head drill bit and screw it out with the flat head. Worked perfectly every time, and was quick and efficient. Ceiling is down, and side panels are still there because I learned they are stuck under the windows. I'm not ready to take the windows out because it's the south and it rains a lot here. The R2 valued insulation that came with the bus came out very easy. NO GLUE! Just tapped up, thank God. Thank You Thomas for doing it that way! I hear now though they glue the insulation and you have to scrape it all off. That alone saved us probably 3 days of scrapping, I completed this task in 2 hours. Very quickly done.



That's all I've done so far. Pictures will be uploaded below for viewing, and I'll keep this thread updated as I move along so please subscribe to it for updates if you are interested. Any problems I run into will be talked about in detail here I promise. Same for any unique challenges.


Plans to still do to the bus and that will be documented:
1.) Roof raise - I'm nearly 6ft tall, and the ceiling is exactly that from floor to ceiling, Once we have R20 insulation which I estimate will take up about 7.5 inches on floor and ceiling combined, and to have a small amount of head room, 12 inches is a good height to raise the roof too.


2.) Rear Gear ratio change for better top speed. I currently do not know what my gear ratio is, but I know it's not enough for top speed, I want to be able to achieve 70Mph so small town backroad traffic isn't waiting a mile behind me to get out of the way. I can't do 55 right now. I know how to obtain this value mechanically. (No the placard does not show it, it's rubbed out, and not readable). But I can lift the bus and do the spin the wheel 2 revolutions method and count the spins on the drive shaft to get my gear ratio. I will post about that when I do it.



3.) Eventually change my Allinson 545 Transmission, but I will run it into the ground first. Likely won't be a part of the initial build. It's not the original transmission either and I don't yet know which transmission should of been in there originally. I need to call International for that. I cannot imagine why anyone would upgrade to a 545 if they had to replace one already as they are garbage tier transmissions. I'd prefer a 3000. But to save money since I'm cheap, I'll run it until it dies.



4.) Electronically flash my ECM/VPM for more power to my engine. I know this reduces the life slightly but if my engine ever dies, I plan on scrapping both the transmission and engine, and doing a full Ford Electric Crate motor drop in to make a fully electric bus from scratch! Those engines are electric, and there's room for it, and provide 230 HP which is about what my 7.3 liter diesel engine has as well. Imagine no more transmission issues! This will make an interesting build thread as well, but won't happen on the initial build like item 3.


5.) Plans to build in a shower, full flushing porcelain toilet, (I don't do composting toilets), and I'm smart enough to make this work and will figure it out.


6.) Queen sized bed


7.) Kitchen, work desk area with possible popout privacy walls with sound deadening. Needed to work in peace with two kids while traveling.



8.) Hooks for the two kids to sleep in Hammocks. Will be easy enough to hook the hammocks up at night to sleep rather than build in additional beds. They are little and can do it and probably prefer it tbh. I'll probably custom build a double hook setup that goes through the bus walls so there's a hook outside and one inside. this way we can hook a hammock to the bus on one side and to a tree outside if they want to sleep outside, but having the same mount point inside of the bus. Will definitely include this build in this thread.



9.) Upper deck on ceiling, with 4-5x 360 Watt panels. I may do something interesting here nobody has done before where I have a deck and solar panel occupying the same space. (At least that I've been able to find) I have a solution in my mind to accomplish this feet, so stay tuned for that. It will require fabricating and welding, but will provide a method to have the whole roof completely covered in solar, but have a deck underneath and make it so the panels slide outwards revealing a deck and have it electronically open.



Otherwise it's not much different from any other skoolie people have made. For now we plan to keep the same Green and white color, but the paint is fading, and clear coat worn off and starting to chip in areas revealing the original yellow, so a paint job may be in the works as well for this initial build. We like the green and white, but not the shade of green, we're thinking of doing a Classic Volkswagon Van style paint job, and possibly chroming out the bumper bars on the Bus if we can swing it. It's a lot more work to remove those, but may be worth it for the shine.


Anyway here's some pics and more to come!

[cadillackid]

the 545 was likely the original... but many times they die befire a school gets rid of the bus so they just stab another one in.. swapping a trans in a bus with the same thing is actually not hard.. esp since a diesel bus engine sits on its own tripod so you dont even need to deal with supporting the engine when you drop out a trans.. a school garage could practically swap an AT545 while the kids waited on board




I ran 2 of the darn things into the ground.. luckily I somehow never ended up stranded more than a few miles.. the first ate itself because it failed to modulate correctly.. i caught that one before it was motionless and upgraded to a 6 speed allison 1000..



the second one (in a different bus) worked perfectly till one day it didnt.. no warning.. just a good jerk when it shouldve gone into 4th, a "snap" and done.. seized up front bearing.. 3 miles from home.. that bus now has an MT643 in it..



its starting to sound like your VPM is done.. unless there;s a crushed wire in the harness somewhere or missing power on the diagnostic data bus..



on the 3 box system the datalink is a modified RS485.. so any open or short along it can cause issues with the network... since the bus runs we do know it links to the IDM... its possible the VPM is just smoked...

[nikitis]

Yeah I think it's a power issue possibly. The VPM looked good when I removed it. I cut a hole in the firewall to access it. I plan to 3d print a cover for it. I had to get to the connector to test the data lines, and they are good end to end. From ECM harness to VPM Connector DCL Data lines, same for the ATA lines from VPM Connector to the J1708. All good. I did see a possible grounding issue though on the VPM connector so it may be that. Tracing it hasn't been easy though. More on that later.


How has the Allinson 1000 6 speed treated you? And is it swappable easily?

The reason I don't think the original was a 545 was the mechanic when he went to swap out the speed sensor ordered the wrong sensor. He ordered it wrong because he said it wouldn't fit into the current transmission, looked up the VIN and it showed a different transmission than what was installed, but didn't state which it thought it should have, but told me I have a 545, so I think it had something different originally.

[nikitis]

Was bored, decided to post an update to catch the progress up to the thread since I started this thread late for my bus build. My wife and I finally named the bus. "Humpty Dumpty" "Humpty" for short except for when it fails me then I'll call it "Dumpty" for short.



I last left off with the bus and it's issues.


As a recap, the major issues still are king pins and VPM module is shot. The latter will be dealt with after the king pin debacle.


Current status is the King pins are out after making a homemade King Pin press for $100. Bought an I-Beam, cut it and welded it to spec, and used a 6 ton bottle jack for hydrolics. They are out now.


I inspected everything else around there and I see issues with one of the 2 front air brakes, it essentially wasn't working at all. And the springs for the return brake screws was snapped (Essentially not working) So I only had one functioning front brake. I wouldn't have known it because that thing stops soooo well. I mean stops on a dime.


So This week I've had to go part searching. I'll list the part numbers here for anyone with an international 3800 from 1994-1997 and is in need to know the part numbers later. I found 2 new air service chambers SC16 sized. (Learned all about sizing this week.) BTW, anyone know if it's a problem using a SC30? Does it just provide more stopping power or do I need to upgrade my air system at all to use them? I wouldn't think I'd need to, but if anyone knows please let me know. There were only 2 new oldstock SC16's on ebay when I went to buy them, so I purchased both and will be replacing even the good one as it's 28 years old as well. Might as well. See pics below for the condition of my current ones. 28 years of crust.

Part number: ZAJ1416001 (OEM)



The Return Spring though, OMG. So much trouble finding someone who will sell it to me. Meritor is the maker of the aftermarket part as the originals don't exist any longer. NAPA has a version of it with a different part number BH0023, but it's no longer for sale or made. So none of the local auto stores have it anymore. Meritor won't sell you anything as they only sell to distributors, and all distributors want a minimum of $50 orders even if all you need is a $2.03 part. I hate this clown world sometimes, no market for the individual. I called Meritor again and asked for every one of their distributors. They gave me a large list, and I finally found one who will sell it to me and ship it to my house for $5 freight extra, this was like after the 25th distributor call. Shout out to TNT Tidewater in Charlotte, NC. Give them your business if you need some older bus parts, They'll ship it to you from anywhere. If they have it they'll not charge you a minimum order fee. So I ordered 2 of each spring and will replace them on both sides. The pads are still like new and seemed to have been changed, probably before selling to me. So the goal is to have new front brake spring sets, and two new front Service Chambers sized 16. I've never cut them before to size, but saw a video to do a tape test to determine where to cut them etc. to re-add the clip. So that should be interesting.
Part numbers: 2258K1181, 2258E1123


Also My steering knuckles are removed having the King Pins out. Looking carefully, it seems like there is no ovaling which would be VERY GOOD news, and highly unexpected given the amount of play ( Greater than 3/4 of an inch ). One of the bushings is worn down to 0.5mm and was about to ware completely through and was about to start the ovaling the knuckle hole, but also a part of the old king pin is worn some so it seems that's where the bulk of the play comes from, the two combined. I found a guy locally who was willing to remove all 4, inspect, and put in the new bushings on all 4 and clean up the knuckles for $100 total. A reasonable price so he got my business. (It's dirty!) I unfortunately did not grab a picture of the knuckles before sending them out but it was so caked with grease that you couldn't see the 38mm castle nuts holding the extender arms on it. I'll send pics of the newly cleaned knuckles when I get them. Probably by this Saturday.


That's all that I've done this week, buying parts in preparation to put it all back together maybe 2-3 Saturdays from now. Waiting on shipping, Freight, and Prepping the SC16 Service Chambers for use with the old pins. I'll post again when I work on those probably this weekend.

[nikitis]

Update:


I've tried for the last 2 Saturdays to get the King pins back in. 2 Saturdays ago it rained due to the hurricane so I couldn't do it, and last Saturday was good weather, but the bushings were too tight and need honing. I created a small burr trying to press them in.
Pic below: Look carefully at the bushing pic for the burr.


The home made press is working a little too good. I backed it out before it got too bad, but I was test feeling it as I was pressing it in and felt the burr I measured with a caliper and it was only about 0.25mm which is just right, if I had messed it up any further I'd have to replace the bushing. My reasoning for this is because as you can also see in the other two pics below with the caliper measurement, the king ping itself is 34.5mm, and the bushing hole is 33.95mm. I need to shave about 0.5mm off anyway to make it exact to close enough with some resistance maybe leaving 0.05mm, so I took them to a machine shop to get corrected.


They said they can make it work and correct the one error in my bushing because I didn't go far enough and it was the right call backing out when I did. This guy has a mill with laser alignment and can get it to shave the other 0.25mm all around evenly which should make it just right all around and even.


It was refreshing to see a machinist who seems to know his stuff and confident in his work, I haven't seen too much of that lately around my parts. If his work is as good as he states, I'll have a lot more business for him, and will give a recommendation here for anyone near the Charlotte area if it pans out. More on that outcome later as I'll know in a day or two.


I HOPE this week I'll be able to get them back in and my wheels back on.


I also didn't mention but I ordered new slack adjusters. My old ones were popped out and weren't working as intended. The spring was shot completely on both. Finding replacement ones were difficult, they are already in the 3rd iteration of aftermarket. I ordered the wrong ones first. I attempted to put them on and the spline was too small for my replacement adjusters, i matched the part number from International that they gave me. I called them back and they said oh, i must of read them wrong to you, those are for the rear....


Funny thing is, I need to replace those too here soon so I decided to keep those and ordered two new front ones, still waiting on one of them to arrive. The other one came and fits well. I'll have all new service chambers, adjusters, and I've refurbished the brake caps etc, pushed rust off of the hubs/ drums/ and whatever those brake backings are that holds the adjusters. Also replaced grease seals as they were shot and leaking. Pics below:


Part numbers:
- Return Spring - 2258k1181(OEM), BH0023(Napa), Automann 104.07221, BWP-NSI M-721
- Retainer Spring - 2258E1123(OEM), Automann 104.05091, TDA2258E1123, QBRC63RM
- Service Chamber Brake(SC16) - ZAJ1416001
- Front Left Slack Adjuster - R802070 (OEM), AY-ASA-1.25-24
- Rear Left Slack Adjuster - 3275-v-1140(OEM), R802446(Meritor), R803048(Meritor), E-11417A(Euclid), 8235-R803048(Mack), TDAR803048(Mack), 139.2832(Automann), 13ASM3048(Roadwolf) AY-ASA-1.50-28
- Front Right Slack Adjuster - R802071 (OEM)
- Rear Right Slack Adjuster - 3287-W-R1141(OEM), R802447(Meritor), R803049(Meritor)
- Grease seals - CR 28745

[Alt1]

Just jumping in on this thread since I somehow have missed it so far.

Sounds like you've got a lot of plans for the bus, hopefully you continue to provide detailed posts as you go along. I can also tell you like to write. I try to follow the model of never posting an update without pictures...as they certainly add to the story.

I'll also keep an eye on your kingpin update in the other thread. Although I mine are in good order today it may come in handy in the future. Keep it up!

[nikitis]

Originally Posted by Alt1

Just jumping in on this thread since I somehow have missed it so far.

Sounds like you've got a lot of plans for the bus, hopefully you continue to provide detailed posts as you go along. I can also tell you like to write. I try to follow the model of never posting an update without pictures...as they certainly add to the story.

I'll also keep an eye on your kingpin update in the other thread. Although I mine are in good order today it may come in handy in the future. Keep it up!

Yeah, Thanks for reading! This is my Bus Story thread for the story from beginning to end, and I will also post in a technical thread to get answers as needed to keep true to the Forum Rules. I love input from others as well.

I also like to write about my thoughts I have during the process because others when they go through their issues will have similar thoughts. I like to write for the new guy trying to learn because I'm a new guy also learning, so we can learn together. Just because I'm new doesn't mean I'm not capable. I've learned many different professions in my short life and quickly becoming a self taught bus mechanic. I'm a top Microsoft Engineer now for 3 of Microsoft's products for Linux and MacOS, so I have a logical mind, if I say anything mechanical in ignorance it's because I'm still new at it.

I'm not a closed minded individual and like to do the impossible, and not work within the limitations of what people know. I like to hear what the proposed limitations are and why, but may also try to pioneer new fixes etc. For example, I may have to come up with a solution to program my own VPM as I'm hearing word from International they aren't programming them anymore. I don't know if they are or aren't but that's what a Georgia Dealership for International told me the other day, he lost a sale because International sent him a blank ECM and wouldn't program it, so he had to eat the cost and let the customer go and couldn't help him. This may be me in a couple of weeks. If it turns out to be the case then I'll purchase a working VPM from the internet, and remove the main chip from the VPM with a soldering iron and do a programmed read, modify the bin with a Hex editor and add my own VIN to it, and Transmission/Engine information, then flash it back, and test.



To give you more history, I've done something similar to the Playstation 3 Console back in the year 2011. I'm a famous reverse engineer guy for that console and helped put Linux back on it after Sony removed the feature without the users input. You can check my work on https://psdevwiki.com specifically around the teensy2.0++ threads, where I pioneered a similar solution for that console that I plan to maybe do with the VPM's here for the 94-97 buses that are 3-Box. I do not tolerate corporate sabotage of already purchased devices. I'm not saying International is doing that, I understand it's a 28 year old bus and I don't expect them to support it forever, they aren't necessarily in the wrong here by making such a choice, but it would be a damn shame to see such classic looking buses with functioning engines otherwise going to the scrap yard over a dead VPM. If I can help that I will, but I also have to need to do it. I'm not going to delve into it if it ends up just being a bad wire connection or something, it's a lot of trouble to go through.

It still may be worth it to do just so everyone has a cheap open source way beef up our buses and would be a good way I can contribute to the Skoolie Community. I'm not in it for profit, only knowledge, and enablement of others. Orion devices are good for what they do, but a bit pricey imo.


I may proceed to change some "Read-Only" items that you normally cannot change with a Pro-link 9000 to increase the bus performance, and modify VIN numbers/Mileage (For replaced VPM's, I'm not encouraging Odometer fraud. We'll see if I need to do this, but it would be nice for the community to have a documented way to program these items to keep our buses alive since the government wants all of these things to die, and even have bounty programs to kill them.

For now though I've been stuck on the King Pin/ Front end/ Air brake job for 3.5 months now. I should be done soon with this and will start tackling my Wiring/VPM issue next.


I also like to post part numbers as I come across them to save people time trying to find parts, including the cross reference part numbers to help people in this thread. So any job I do on my 1995 International 3800, I'll post part numbers here for future reference for anyone else needing to know. Most of the parts from 94-97 are the same (Not all) and could help someone else.

Here's a couple more pics restoring the brake system and drums:
Drum Part Number: 5890567 (Brand True-Pilot)

[nikitis]

Front suspension is good to go. King pins installed, she drove nicely and turned nicely. I did a test drive from Rock Hill, SC to Charlotte, NC and dropped her off at an international dealership. Interesting thing.

I had an issue with VPM and Speedometer, but on the drive to the dealership, the speedometer magically started working. I did nothing to that wiring. One less thing I'll have to fix I suppose.

As this is my build thread, I need to mention what occurred after rebuilding my front end. The bus wouldn't start after sitting for 4 months. I had to jump start the starter. Now that it's at the dealership, it starts on it's own, no issues...

Batteries were multi-metered down to 11.2v. Dead. I charged them up for 2-3 days on trickle and it did come up to 12.3v, but they weren't going to last like that. But even at 12.3v the bus wouldn't start. So I decided to jump ahead and do the battery replacement and upgrade the wiring so there is a battery disconnect. That is also now done. I bought the 2000Amp Col Hersey disconnect and installed it with a newer wiring configuration in the battery compartment.

The first two battery pics are the old configuration. Had 2 positive wires soldered into the cap which wasn't going to work for me and the way I wanted to wire the battery compartment with the disconnect. Also you can notice the one positive connector on the cable was burnt off.

The next two battery pics shows the new configuration, new cables, and batter disconnect on the ground.

And lastly here is the bus with the new front end at the International Dealership to get maintenanced.

[nocoasty]

My first bus, a Thomas MVP Saf-T-Liner had that same roof configuration. Loved the way it looked, hated not having headroom, didn't have the guts to raise the roof at the time.

[nikitis]

Ooooh yeah! Love the raised lip roof at the front! Kind of like a Johnny Bravo look.



This bus is really a great classic shape. It's the style I rode as a kid in school and my favorite. They didn't change the shape from the late 80's to 90's much on Thomas, but technically this bus is a 95 and is newer than one I rode as a kid, but once I was inside it looked just like I remember from an earlier 90's late 80's Thomas I rode on inside and outside. Thomas started changing the styling around 98.


So to me it is worth all of the headache getting this one to work.

[sportyrick]

Like you I completely rebuilt my frontend because it's almost 50 years old, I now feel secure in that everything is rebuilt or new and it will stop and steer like a new one. While there I changed it over to late model hubs and drums with newest bolt pattern to use latest wheels while getting away from the old style lug nuts and their inherent problems. Also because I changed my rearend to a later model earlier I now have wheel bolt patterns that match on all four corners.

[nikitis]

Originally Posted by sportyrick

Like you I completely rebuilt my frontend because it's almost 50 years old, I now feel secure in that everything is rebuilt or new and it will stop and steer like a new one. While there I changed it over to late model hubs and drums with newest bolt pattern to use latest wheels while getting away from the old style lug nuts and their inherent problems. Also because I changed my rearend to a later model earlier I now have wheel bolt patterns that match on all four corners.

Looking at those parts gave me PTSD Flashbacks already from the King Pin job I just did.. But yes I do feel far more comfortable now that it's done minus the insecurity that it was I who did it, but I did have my mechanic buddy check it over and he said I did well and that they were good and tight.


Fixing your own stuff is like going from a veil of not knowing the condition of things to a veil being lifted and can see everything so clearly. The mystery dissolves into nothingness and a huge weight is lifted off of your shoulders. Love that feeling.

[sportyrick]

Exactly, that is a thought that everyone can take away from repairing their own stuff, 1) you now what it does and how it does it so you can trouble shoot and repair on the road if necessary 2) satisfaction of repairing it yourself #3 your are the quality control person making sure it's done right 4) saving money because all you paid for was parts 5) confidence to tackle larger jobs down the road .................perfect ............. that's why everyone needs to try and fix all that they can on their skoolie.

[nikitis]

Updating my Bus story. Been awhile since I added a post here.

I just got the call from the dealership that my Bus is ready and no "Warning lights" remaining! Words are music to my ears! I've only ever had a Warning light since I've owned this thing. Will be nice to have it off for once.

Without hopefully Jinxing it, (knocking on wood), I should finally have a mechanically sound Bus worthy of an interior build.

I could have found a better bus and would of cost me less but then how would I have learned to fix it? I'm in this build roughly 8.5k already. But that got me a Bus with a good engine, new front end rebuild, and partially new computer replacement. Rough breakdown for those interested:

$3500 - Bus purchase price
$1200 - VPM replacement
$800 - Radiator flush and vacuum sealed, and Transmission fluid change.
$1200 - King Pin change + Materials for home made king pin press and parts.
$1800 - Other misc parts like air brake chambers, stuff to reman my drums, brake systems, springs, pads etc, and tools to demo the interior.

So for 8.5k, it's well worth it in my opinion for all the learning I received during the process. Some people now are buying buses for 6k for just the purchase price without any work done to it, and in my case I know all is well, and what issues may crop up soon.

Going forward: Demolition
I still have the rubber floor to remove. (I'm saving this for last because to me, it makes more sense to remove the ceiling and trash first to land on the rubber floor you're about to remove than to have all of that refuse fall on your bare metal.
Cut the heater lines, and loop them.
Remove the Windows to reseal, and rework them. (Almost ALL of the plastic tabs are broken on them, but they stay up from years of gunk build up holding them in place lol) Glass in perfect shape though and aren't leaking, but want to reseal them anyway.
Remove the side panels.
Roof Raise, I'm thinking of doing the extra work, and keep the windows on the bus to keep the original styling, and cutting under the window, those panels, and raising it there. It also makes sense with where my upper bumber rail is located. More weight to lift up during the raise but doable.

That's it for demo, Then build her up. I'll report back in a day or two when I pick her up from the dealership.

[nikitis]

Update on my build thread here. I was able to finally play around with the Pro-link 9000 I purchased. I found I was unable to change any values due to my ECM being password locked and road speed limited to 45mph. But I was able to confirm the reasoning for only going 45mph is the road speed limiter.

I attemtped to change it with the device but it was asking for the ECM password. I'm attempting to work with the dealership now to obtain the password so I can make the changes myself.

I also tested my Bluefire which I ordered months ago, and it is working as well. Not many values though but the basics are there. I didn't expect there to be too many values.

It's been fun to be able to finally talk to my ECM with the VPM fixed.

[nikitis]

Weekly Update on the Bus Build:

King Pins Fixed, VPM Fixed, Mechanically she's sound for now.

I resumed demolition of the interior Saturday and Sunday. I took out the side panels and just decided to grind them off. Water was not leaking anywhere under the windows so for now I plan to leave them likely, and may re-evaluate resealing them in a year or two.

So now I have 98% of the ceiling down. Front header area is mostly taken down over the dash, pics of those coming tomorrow, and the back rear up top panel is still up. And all of the sidewall is now out including digging out the insulation in those side crevasses.

The sparks didn't harm the window at all, I did a test run and checked afterwards, no issues or glass cuts from it.

Pics below.

[nikitis]

New Update Status: New goal accomplished.
Goal Accomplished: Removal of the Rear Heater.

I'm doing my floors last in the demolition because I didn't want all of the crap from the sides and ceiling getting the metal dirty, and potential radiator fluid spillage from the heater loop.

I'd rather use the existing dirty rubber, and while it seems almost nobody does it this way from all of the builds I watch observed on this forum, I feel it is the superior order to go in for the reason I just stated. My insulation in some parts literally disintegrated into fine particles, and I've had screws drop and stepped on some potentially digging into the metal floor causing fresh scratches are potential issues I don't want to have to deal with at this stage.

Now that the ceiling is done, and walls done, I removed the heater. Pics below.

Total Cost: $6.10 for a 1in elbow piece and 2x hose clamps
Materials used:
$4.10 1x 1in Brass Elbow
Free 1x block of wood 7 inches long to help keep the hoses from kinking or closing on the bend.
$1.00 2x Hose Clamps.
Free 4x C Clamps (Already owned)
Free 4x Wood chips to go between the C Clamp and Hose on top and bottom for an even kink in the hose without damaging it.

I only got a few drops on the ground, Better it land on the rubber floor than the metal floor if I had removed the rubber already first.

[nikitis]

Bonus update in one day: Drained long hoses, and removed heater core.

As you'll see from pics, rather than undoing all of those wires (In the very unlikely event I'd want to re-hook this thing back up), and wasting time labeling each wire to go to which, (They were like all orange and red on the heater side, but red, white, green black on the bus side) I decided to just straight cut the bus side of the wires so if I did go to hook it back up, I can just match the colors back and would be simple. (red to red, green to green, white to white, etc)

I put two buckets outside the rear of the bus and released the C Clamps into the bucket to drain what I could, then I unmounted the 4 bolts holding the heater to the floor, moved it outside, and unhooked the hoses and drained every drop into the bucket.

No spillage on this part. Pics below:


Next goal: Rubber Floor removal! You can see in the 2nd to last pic just how dirty my rubber floor is from demo, imagine all that getting on the metal. Save the rubber floor removal till last!

[nikitis]

Update: My Floor is ripped out.

Status of Floor: 99.7% Rust Free!

I was honestly amazed. I've seen buses from 2008 on here with rusted out floors, I thought for sure I'd have some rust spots around the wheel well or something, nope. Solid as can be. The only spot I have rust was a 3x3 inch spot by a mount point of the front heater in the back of it. Probably from condensation or something. And the metal is so thick that I'm just gonna wire brush it and paint over it. It's pretty amazing a 30 year old bus has so little rust from the east coast where it rains and is wet all the time and it's hard to believe no kids spilt any juice boxes over that time.

The last pic shows two things (Look closely) I took the metal strip from the middle lane and cut it and re-routed it behind the seat to make it look factory like Thomas had done it 30 years ago. It also shows the one small piece of rust (Circled in pic). I took a screwdriver to it and pounded it, it was so thick under that i'm not worried. I will just wirebrush it and paint over it.

Next up on agenda:
Will take it into a coach place today to have the ignition system overhauled. It has far too many gremlins that I can't seem to figure out, and I'm tired of messing with it. Just gonna have them replace all of the solenoids, and wiring from ignition to the starter. I can remote trigger the starter no problem and get it going, but I'm over it. Tired of going under the bus to hotwire the thing. (Bendix will not engage which tells me the 12v signal isn't getting to the starter solenoid, but bendix engages fine when voltage is applied), I just hear a heavy relay click, and then nothing. So I'm just going to have them run new wires and completely re-wire the ignition system. I'm tired of messing with it. It's 30 year old wiring, and last thing I want is to be stranded because of deteriorating wires.

Then...

While that is going on, my Tax return should hit my bank account and will start buying the roof raise materials/tools. Roof Raise Next!

Expect my next post to show my plan of attack. It's going to be done slightly different than other roof raises. Closer to Ross V T's method under the windows. It will require cutting under the windows instead of through them. I'm keeping the windows, and will carry them up without removing them (minus 4 of them) and keeping the original look of the Thomas bus since it's classic looking, and I do not want to ruin any of the uniquely pressed panels on the bus. It'll look like Thomas themselves did the raise in factory when I'm done with it.

[nikitis]

Build Thread Update:


Money halted and thus so did the bus build for the moment. A lot has happened since I removed my floor rubber and found virtually no rust. Whoohoo!


Nearly died going to see the eclipse.


The update includes not the bus itself, but upgrades to the space I'll be parking the bus. I cut out a small section to slide my bus into a few months back, and 3 weeks ago I had some rock ordered to cover the area so the bus doesn't sink.



Today, I installed some rudimentary footers that the bus can park on so it's not ruining it's tires on uneven rock or dirt. I bought some Concrete Cinder Blocks, 3 per tire, and some 5000 PSI Concrete, and dug 4 holes to fit 3 blocks per wheel, mixed by hand in a wheel barrow, 4 bags of the 5000 PSI Concrete and poured into each one, and laid 3 blocks on top of the concrete. I could of put them in dirt but I wanted a good mold to help prevent movement of the blocks when I go to park the bus onto it, so I over engineered it a tad. Pics below. I'm going to give it a week before I park the bus on it to dry etc. But that's my update. My permanent Bus Spot for my 30 acres is basically finished. I still have 5 nearby trees that are dead that I'm going to likely saw down and remove the stumps so they don't fall on my bus during the next windstorm, but then the slot is really finished.

I plan to put more footers where I can use jack stands to lift the bus off the ground all together, and sit on the stands for when I plan to have the bus stationary for long periods of time to take the full weight of the bus off of the tires completely and the tires will be suspended in air.

(And yes, that road really is as steep as it looks if not steeper.)