the wild blue yonder

[atcc77]

My name is Allen, and I just bought a 1979 International Loadstar 1653 with a Superior body. She makes me smile. Some of her previous owners have started a conversion of sorts, the guy I bought her from was planning to use her as a hunting cabin (notice the platform on top), and the original owner was the Air Force Reserve. This girl has been around...
True to Turner form, I jumped right in to this project without much knowledge, just the idea of,"Hey, you know, I think making a giant loop around the country with my family in an old school bus that I turned into a camper would be fun. My 5yr old son will love it!". My wife Suzy is on board with this madness also, so we are really going to have fun.
Will be posting pics soon and also looking forward to any comments, suggestions, and assistance you guys can give

[itsme1738]

welcome....you have come to the right place

[chev49]

My second bus was a 1978 International Air Force bus.. 35' with a 345 gas engine... was a great bus.. Had a bad valve which i ground all of them, drove it back and forth across the states and lived in it for 2 yrs...
about 30 yrs ago...

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by itsme1738

welcome....you have come to the right place

Yep, we're all slightly mad! Makes us interesting...

[atcc77]

Thank you welcoming us, we hope to post our progress often, since we are trying to get this done before next summer. We enjoy looking at other people's work here on this site, the creativity level here is awesome! I've built a couple of teardrop trailers before, but this will be the first time for a full scale rv.
I got her running after sitting over three years before I bought her, and am looking forward to the shake down ride to my house. I already know we'll need a new transmission shift cable, (already discovered the difficulty in finding parts as well). Hopefully she won't need much of anything else as far as repairs go, the diesel fired right up after replacing the batteries and starter solenoid, smoked alittle at first, but really sounded good... much better than she looks right now.

[Tango]

Welcome to the MoneyPit --- Looks like you found the two essentials...a solid stater unit & this forum! Keep us up on the fun with pix (we love pix).

[gbstewart]

welcome, remember if your knuckles arn't bleeding and nothing is stuck in one of yours eyes, your doing something wrong!!
good luck post lots of pixs and ask lots Qs

gbstewart

[atcc77]

The Yonder finally got in the driveway last Monday. The shakedown run home revealed a few issues, but nothing too terrible, a busted radiator leaking antifreeze into the transmission fluid, a gradual brake fluid leak, and a few minor electrical items; not so bad for a $500.00 bus (or $500 anything that moves under its own power)!

We are still cleaning her out so that we can assess exactly what we're working with and formulate a game plan. Our son Ian has been very involved with this, he's full of design ideas like skylights and automatic smoothie machines.

I've been kicking around a few design ideas and need to ask some questions,
1- door locking mechanism, Has anyone tried using something like a remote trunk lock like found on cadillacs? My wife loves the folding bus door, I'm not
allowed to replace it.
2- rear wheel clearance, How much do I really need? Can I encroach some for a shower pan?
3- skylights, would like to put two above my son's bed, Would the windows out of the side of a custom van work? are the curvatures of the window and of the bus roof close enough to work?

Here are some pictures from the last week,

[atcc77]

these pics are actually from earlier than those in the last post

[Tango]

Originally Posted by atcc77

skylights and automatic smoothie machines.

What else could anyone possibly want in an RV! Have fun with the build.

[atcc77]

Last weekend I figured out my method for skylights! This week I've been making all the pieces/parts needed after getting home from the job site. hoping to install them this weekend and post some more pics. just not much to show this week yet.

[TygerCub]

Smoothie machine! I Knew I was forgetting something important in my bus!
That boy of yours is a genius

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by atcc77

... 1- door locking mechanism, Has anyone tried using something like a remote trunk lock like found on cadillacs?

Electric Bay Door Locks By Hawk

[Tango]

Re; "Smoothie Machines"...

Don't forget that they can do double duty as Margarita Machines as well!!!

[scott_farmer]

How big of a battery bank and how many solar panels will I need to run my margarita/smoothie machine 24x7?

[atcc77]

Ian says the smoothie machine has to be automatic, you know, it automatically knows when you want a chocolate or vanilla one.

[atcc77]

Started installing skylights today. I've made frames out of some white oak thats been air drying in the shop for the last 4yrs, using lexan for the glass.
Each lite is 2'x 3', cut into the last roof section, just over Ians bunk location.

[Tango]

I LOVE skylights...but...I would definitely consider engineering some kind of shade/sun block for them. They let in an enormous amount of heat, plus, at times you just don't want the light in your face during an afternoon nap. Saw an arrangement many years ago that worked great. This chap had just routed channels on the inside of his frames and then installed a tambour closure. Tambours are the rolling, slated closures you see on "Roll Top" desks and are pretty common in kitchens these days. Worked great. These days there are some very effective solar tints for windows that should make a big difference as well.

Great idea...best of luck with the build and keep the pix coming.

[atcc77]

Already thought of that. I have cut grooves in the frames so a heavy curtain of some sort supported with slats every 6-8" or so, can be opened and closed.
Thought of doing a wood rolltop first, but thought the cloth version would ultimately be easier to operate as well as to maintain.

[atcc77]