Wisconsin 2001 Bluebird All American RE

[WIbluebird]

Originally Posted by Bus'n it

I was looking at that fuel tap. Did you get two one for supply and one for return?

These chinese heaters do not require a return line as far as I am aware.

[WIbluebird]

Getting to the end on the wall insulation. It's already getting noticeably warmer inside. 1.5 inch foam board seems to be doing the job



Also got the front pullout couch roughly framed out.

[WIbluebird]

Made a trip to Elkhart Indiana this week and made stops at most of the big RV surplus stores. The RV door I originally put on the bus has already started delaminating and the window in it was a frosted glass which made it difficult to look out of. Scored a new take off at Bontragers for $125. Comes with locks, screen door, tinted privacy glass and a built in curtain

The main reason I went there was to get the tanks in person. Shipping on them is egregiously expensive so even with gas + hotel it was cheaper to make the 4 hour drive to Elkhart and pick them up in person. At Class A customs it was $360 total for a 100 gallon fresh, a 75 gallon grey and a 30 gallon black.



Also scored a fantastic deal off my local facebook marketplace on these swivel captains chairs from a conversion van, $40 for the pair! Just need to figure out where to get mounts for them.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

pics of your existing RV door install would help me make a decision on what to do with my thomas double door?
if you dont mind sir.

[WIbluebird]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger bus 223

pics of your existing RV door install would help me make a decision on what to do with my thomas double door?
if you dont mind sir.

Sure! RV doors come in a handful of standard sizes. My RV door was built to fit an opening roughly 29.5 inches x 71.5 inches. I framed in with 2x4 and 2x2 to create a smaller opening in the factory entry way. I then skinned over. Here are some pics from my RV door install last summer.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

cool thank you.
i have full access to sheet metal shop and and weld for a living so was up in the air about tying the two together to make one and figure out the lock stuff or find a used RV door and frame it in.
on my bus its going to stay original.
on my wifes bus they were originally solenoid operated i think and all of that was removed before i got it so there is nothing there to open or close them and they are stiff so i need options that she would like.
thank you.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

and i am actually putting blind spot left and right cameras on either side of the bus even though i would still like full sight of the ground this is her bus not mine so giving her options.
once again thanks for the pics.

[Willie13]

Looks like a winner. Will be following your build.

[WIbluebird]

Started working on the framing for the master bed platform. Also got the fresh water tank positioned and one of the braces installed. I went with unistrut bolted to the chair rails, still need to do 2 short ones for side to side bracing.



I've been having a heck of a time finding the seat mounting brackets for these captain's chairs. They are from a mid 2000s Chevy Express gladiator conversion van, most likely from the 2nd row. Is anyone familiar with this style and/or know where to get them? Ebay/google is not giving me any meaningful results.

I'd love to retain the factory style mounting so I can easily remove these seats if necessary.

[musigenesis]

Looking great. I like the unistrut bolted to the chair rail idea, very handy.

[WIbluebird]

Finally found a set of floor brackets that should work with the captains chairs. A big pro is I can retain the quick attach capabilities so I can easily remove these chairs for more storage space/cot/whatever

I plan on cutting out a space in my existing floor so these brackets are hopefully flush with the final floor surface.

[WIbluebird]

Got some more work done on the bus this past weekend. The rest of the window blanks are in and 95 percent of the flooring is now complete.

The price of lumber really has me discouraged. I am considering just finishing the bed platform and using it as is for awhile in the event that lumber prices go down.

[WIbluebird]

Blue Fire code reader has been ordered, can't wait to play with it! The odometer on the bus has been broken since I bought it so now I will get an idea of actual mileage. Seller was guessing around 200k but wasn't sure.

Work on the bus has been progressing, mainly doing interior framing on the side walls and figuring out water tank locations. I am almost done bracing the fresh water tank (ended up using 1 inch unistrut). Pictures on that to follow...

[Timeline]

The colors are GREAT! Cool Bus!
My Minnesota bus had dripping wet plywood and rusted away nails, so it came up easy. The floor is amazingly still in very good condition. Going to weld the holes shut.... Good Luck!
John

[Oscar1]

Good call on letting the lumber prices settle down a bit, lots of other things can still be done.
By the way, love those seats.
Cheers

[Oscar1]

Originally Posted by Timeline

The colors are GREAT! Cool Bus!
My Minnesota bus had dripping wet plywood and rusted away nails, so it came up easy. The floor is amazingly still in very good condition. Going to weld the holes shut.... Good Luck!
John

Sounds like a good plan to seal them up well.
Don’t forget to disconnect the batteries before welding, costly computers are a horrible way to learn that lesson.
And keep an extinguisher handy
Cheers

[WIbluebird]

Originally Posted by Timeline

The colors are GREAT! Cool Bus!
My Minnesota bus had dripping wet plywood and rusted away nails, so it came up easy. The floor is amazingly still in very good condition. Going to weld the holes shut.... Good Luck!
John

This bus was from Wyoming then Colorado...plywood was bone dry. Floors had a tiny bit of surface rust near the AC evaporators but that was it.

I used putty to seal my holes.

[Timeline]

Originally Posted by Oscar1

Sounds like a good plan to seal them up well.
Don’t forget to disconnect the batteries before welding, costly computers are a horrible way to learn that lesson.
And keep an extinguisher handy
Cheers

I appreciate your reply Oscar, will do.
Thank You!

John

[WIbluebird]

Finally got the Blue Fire adapter paired with my tablet last night…pleasantly surprised to find out my bus actually has 143,805 miles on it! Seller was guesstimating 175k or so at the time I bought it. Already playing around with the custom gauge templates on the blue fire store. I’m just happy I can accurately monitor all my engine/transmission parameters now instead of relying on the vague dash gauges

(Disregard the mileage on the tablet, that’s the demo data)

[Bon Voyage]

That looks nice; I had something similar on my old Ford Excursion 6.0, I could even adjust the tuning. I don’t think I’d risk tuning my bus though... maybe just a little..

Where did you get it? How much do they cost? I’ll have to get something for my bus.