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Old 12-22-2015, 09:01 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Nov 2015
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Year: 1994
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: TC/2000
Engine: Cummins 5.9TA
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"The Baptist" 1994 Bluebird TC/2000 5.9TA Cummins

Hello, I recently acquired this vehicle from a church for $1300. it doesn't have much rust and has good tires. It was bought in 1994 by a school for $75,000 and sold to the church in 2012. I have all the records and manuals for it which I have enjoyed looking through.



I'm an organic farmer/permaculture enthusiast primarily, but I am capable of doing research and it has been fun learning about buses.


The dude who started it up and told me about it was one of several people who went on a church camp trip and got baptized in a creek during the last trip the bus went on before ending up in my hands. So that's where the current name comes from, kind of doubt I'll end up calling it that but it's good enough for now.



It is in an offgrid location and I don't yet have a generator, I didn't have hardly any tools going into this so I am buying everything as I go.


he had no problem jumping up into the bus from the back door, yet gives me the puppy eyes and makes me pick him up to load him into my pickup... silly pup...

Tools used so far:
4.5" Ryobi Angle Grinder
18v Ryobi Compact Drill
Estwing handy bar
72" 16lb pry bar/digging bar
Locking pliers

The plan
I have removed the seats by grinding off the bolt heads and loosening the bolts on the side rail then just pulling them out and stacking them outside and covering with a tarp for now, going to try to sell them.

I am now in the process of removing the existing floor, I started out trying to break the rubber floor at the seams of the plywood but soon realized that by getting my big 72" 16lb bar underneath and just using my power the rubber floor will rip along the seam and long as I make a small starting cut by using the small handy bar to break it. This is going pretty well and I'm about halfway done. I need to get these heaters out and I guess my plan is to just cut it off up near where the two houses come out near the driver's seat and then loop them into each other, then drain the coolant into buckets and take it away. Is that a good plan? Do I need to check the coolant level in the bus afterwards and do anything to bleed out any air? in the lines? Again I am no mechanic, I just saw someone say something about that somewhere and read something about that in the owner's manual when refilling coolant? Anyone have advice here?? Then I will have to remove the wiring too somehow which I don't know where it is but assume I can figure it out later...



this has got to go too I suppose, I can probably use it for something else somehwere...



anyone know what this is?



I then plan to use a knotted wire wheel to clean up the rust as much as I can, this floor doesn't look very bad compared to some of the stuff I've seen in other human's buses on the site here but there is definitely a fair amount mostly concentrated near the wheel wells and back door. I will then use ospho or naval jelly or something like that (any advice on this? please) to treat whatever remains. I will then use rustoleum primer and paint. Then I need to seal up the holes from the nails and seat bolts, would this be a good thing to use to do that? Black Window Silicone or should I use epoxy and some pieces of metal? My plan after that is to mostly follow what JakeC did in Project "Brutus" which is to use Red Rosin Paper on top of the primed/painted metal floor followed by 1" (which is the only size available at my home depot) Owens Corning FOAMULAR on top of this I am unsure whether or not I should use OSB or plywood and then I am also unsure of whether or not I need an underlayment or vapor barrier? (advice please ) then on top of that I plan to go with the TrafficMASTER Allure Vinyl Plank Flooring

I have a Englander 1,200 sq ft Wood Burning Stove being shipped to me that I am going to put up in the front of the bus and vent it through the roof following these instructions

Quote:
Originally Posted by nat_ster View Post
Yes, many of us have installed wood stoves in our buses.

You need to go read as many build threads as you can. That is where the real info and experience is.

Without knowing anything about how you converted your bus, it's hard to give advice. If your bus is anything more than a steel tent, please read the following.

You will need a two or three foot piece of insulated pipe like used to pass through the ceiling in a house installation. These pipes are expensive. I payed over $200 for mine, but it is stainless steel inside and out. You will also need the hanger kit for it. The hanger kit also finishes off the cut opening in the ceiling.

Pic of the pipe. This is Super vent, sold by Lows


Then you will need a silicone rubber roof flashing to seal up the outside.

Like this one. Just be sure it's made for wood stoves, not plumbing.


Nat
Once I get the floor and woodstove in I plan to move into it, I don't really plan on doing too much else, I have a propane oven but that's about it, I want to have maximum floor space... the japanese live on floors (foolish statement? ), I think that's what I will do.

I don't have experience doing anything like this so I hope no one would follow this and do things how I am choosing to without researching first, I have found that using google and typing skoolie.net; (insert search keywords here) is a good way to search the site. I am mostly making this thread in the hopes that I can get advice from those of you who have done this stuff before. Thanks!

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Old 12-22-2015, 11:09 PM   #2
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That would be a booster pump.

Obviously you live in cold country. Why ever would you pull the heaters out?
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Old 12-22-2015, 11:11 PM   #3
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don't want them taking up space, putting a wood stove in it. It's mostly just for living in although I plan on taking it on some trips, but yeah, it won't be running 99.9999% of the time so the heaters are useless.
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Old 12-23-2015, 03:07 AM   #4
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I was actually referring to the black box in the picture below the comment asking what it was, it's the black box with the wire going into it, it has a lock on it.
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Old 12-23-2015, 05:55 AM   #5
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I'm in for the build and the nature views.....

Whoooooo
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Old 12-23-2015, 07:31 AM   #6
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Mine had one a lot like that and there was a 12 volt vcr in it that was connected to a camera inside the bus
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Old 12-23-2015, 12:45 PM   #7
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The one picture that says flomaster is a pump that moves hot coolant from the engine to the heater cores. the box with the lock on it is part of the video system. Welcome aboard and good luck. Ask if you need anything.
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Old 01-31-2016, 12:49 PM   #8
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everything's coming along, had a delay due to my truck needing some pretty major work done to it after the timing chain skipped. back on track, next trip I make to it I'll be installing the woodstove and patching the holes from the seat bolts. then the next trip will be putting the insulation and plywood down.

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Old 01-31-2016, 04:21 PM   #9
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You quote Masanobu, are doing a minimal bus as I intend to, and you live in the cold, doing the work at an off grid location. Just like me! ... You are my new motivation. Following!
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Old 02-05-2016, 09:07 PM   #10
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got the woodstove put in today and burned some cardboard and some small sticks as part of the break in fire stage





let me know if theres'a anything you'd like to see a close up of or info on how I did it
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Old 02-06-2016, 03:21 AM   #11
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Sweet! How are the temps in that bus with the stove? And do you have a dedicated fresh air intake on that unit? IF so, where? Thanks!
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Old 02-06-2016, 03:31 AM   #12
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i just put it in this afternoon so i don't have that data yet... it will have an outside air intake, haven't put that in yet tho
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Old 02-06-2016, 09:36 AM   #13
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Nice looking stove! Can the chimney easily be removed for travelling?
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Old 02-06-2016, 12:57 PM   #14
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yes, the 3 ft section connects to a 6" section that goes through the boot so the 3ft section can just be pulled off leaving just ~6" sticking out which I can put a cap on, should work fine.
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Old 02-06-2016, 03:11 PM   #15
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Please wear at a minimum a paper mask and use fans to exhaust the rust dust while using the grinder and wire wheel. Build for the climate you plan on spending your most time in. The flue pipe or smoke stack out of the roof in my opinion needs to have an elbow to turn the top away from the rain and double wall pipe is definetly needed and I would recommend something (in my world called a hot boot (by commercial contractors) I use them for steam vents and they are rated for 6-8000 degrees. A one time install from the roofer that has a 50-year warranty on the penetrations in there roof.
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Old 02-06-2016, 03:19 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jolly Roger View Post
The flue pipe or smoke stack out of the roof in my opinion needs to have an elbow to turn the top away from the rain
This is poor advice for a chimney install. 90° elbows significantly reduce the chimney's draft. The appropriate solution is to use a chimney cap. It appears that one has already been installed.

I used an orange, flexible dektite seal (hot boot. I like it) at the roof and it has been holding up well.
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Old 02-07-2016, 01:57 AM   #17
Mini-Skoolie
 
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When I was grinding the rust I could only do it for 30 minutes tops at a time due to the batteries not lasting very long, I wore a mask/bandana and had the windows open but due to it being off grid I couldn't have fans running to vent the dust. I always did the grinding towards the end of my time so as not to be in the presence of that dust very long... it is definitely something you do not want to breathe in.

I agree with jatzy regarding the chimney, I read as much as I could find on this forum before installing and talked to the guys at the local woodstove/hardware store for a few hours before putting it in.
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Old 02-07-2016, 09:53 AM   #18
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Both Home Depot and Lowe's offer free ship to local store on many items they do not stock normally if you want a thinker or thinner size on the insulation .

I usually shop online to see whats available at my store and find what I want if not stocked and prepay to get it sent to the store . The contractors desk can help you even if you are not one too.
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Old 02-07-2016, 01:40 PM   #19
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I agree and disagree on the flue piping. I do commercial boiler installs for a living and of course the exhaust flue is not removed and capped when not used if I use a straight up hood then I have to turn an elbow within x-amount of distance into a tee with a drain because blowing rain, and just condensation in the piping from being exposed to the weather will drip back into the equipment when sitting idle. We have gone to using two elbows to make a turn down with a bird screen. It solves the problem of the blowing rain but not really the condensation so the new talk is the tee with drain for the outer layer and double elbows because double wall pipe does its job but the outer layer is what condensates. If the flue is sized for the install then it won't matter how many twist or turns you need. I know this was probably more info. Than needed for a wood stove but I try to build to last and never look back? And where I live it's freezing one day and 80's the next and I have seen a lot of boilers rusted out before there time because of the flue pipe including cast iron billion BTU's that cost the owners 800,000 to replace because of improper flue piping.
I can't disagree with your install or jatzy's advice all I can do is provide my experience with flue piping whether it is poor advice or not is up to each individual to decide there own path. If you can't figure out why the bottom of your stove rots out quicker than expected please think about this. I do government work and even with the new technology boilers that use PVC piping for exhaust we do elbows and tees with drains to get the condensation away from the metal heater whether it is fuel/oil, natural gas, propane and even coal fired that is fed 24/7. I just helped rebuild 3 out of 14 that provide steam for an entire base. Steam fitter/welder by trade and just trying to relay some experience until the residential world catches up
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Old 02-19-2016, 12:35 AM   #20
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I tried to move the bus today because it appears there is a seasonal creek quite close... anyways, the ground is too muddy to move it right now... should be fine. But when I went to shut the bus off I ran into some confusion, when I bought the bus the dude who showed it to me told me about how turning the key off doesn't shut the bus off... Okay... so he showed me how to basically kill the engine by what I seem to remember was turning some kind of throttle lever down stalling it out... When I parked the bus back in the fall I turned it off in this way, but when I went to turn that throttle lever down today I couldn't find it anywhere... I looked for a long time not sure what the hell to do, after 20 minutes of trying to read through the manuals and looking around I read in the trouble shooting part that some spring that triggers when you turn the key off might be loose, so I turned it off repeatedly and after 4-5 times of just turning the key off the engine shut down.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of the throttle lever? That I'm talking about. The floor is almost done, everything is looking good, I'll have some pics soon.
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