Thomas Followed Me Home Today

[Robin97396]

That's a real accomplishment. You had a lot more interior space to strip out than I did.

Get yourself a six pack of your favorite libation and a lawn chair in your bus to celebrate.

[Twigg]

I thought long and hard about this.

I had already decided that if the floor was in as good a shape I thought it was, then the OEM plywood was staying put, and I'd insulate and add a new sub-floor above it. As I can screw through both sheets of plywood to fix things down I could get away with a fairly thin ply sub-floor.

But what about the vinyl?

Initially I thought to leave it there. Then I decided that it is doing nothing useful, it's hiding the true condition of the plywood and I wanted eyeballs on that, and it weighs a ton.

So I have half of it out. I cut a 12" square and did the math. The vinyl weighs over 300lbs, that's a 50 gallon fresh water tank full of water.

No need to be carting that around. Half of it is out ... and that wasn't easy. The rest will come out tomorrow.

[Twigg]

Received paperwork back from the Oklahoma Tax Commission today.

Body Change from School Bus to RV ... Approved.

Sales tax on purchase will be $88 plus $40 Tag Fee

When the Tag Agency opens on Monday I'll be able to get License plate and change insurance to "RV".

[Robin97396]

Originally Posted by Twigg

Received paperwork back from the Oklahoma Tax Commission today.

Body Change from School Bus to RV ... Approved.

Sales tax on purchase will be $88 plus $40 Tag Fee

When the Tag Agency opens on Monday I'll be able to get License plate and change insurance to "RV".

That's pretty cool to get RV plates already.

That's a good example of how rules are different from state to state. Here in Oregon you'd have to show you had certain appliances and facilities permanently mounted onboard. Even with our rules you can get away with using camping equipment inside the bus to qualify it as an RV prior to it being finished. Like propane burner stove, some sort of potty chair that's not a bucket, some sort of bed, a heat source, etc.

I'm glad you're working all that out already.

When I read your posts I mentally apply the voice of David Attenbourough as your voice.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

That's pretty cool to get RV plates already.

That's a good example of how rules are different from state to state. Here in Oregon you'd have to show you had certain appliances and facilities permanently mounted onboard. Even with our rules you can get away with using camping equipment inside the bus to qualify it as an RV prior to it being finished. Like propane burner stove, some sort of potty chair that's not a bucket, some sort of bed, a heat source, etc.

I'm glad you're working all that out already.

When I read your posts I mentally apply the voice of David Attenbourough as your voice.

even within a state.. my experience with ohio DMV has been super easy./.. a fellow member in NE ohio went through double H *ll to get his DMV stuff done..
-Christopher

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

That's pretty cool to get RV plates already.

That's a good example of how rules are different from state to state. Here in Oregon you'd have to show you had certain appliances and facilities permanently mounted onboard. Even with our rules you can get away with using camping equipment inside the bus to qualify it as an RV prior to it being finished. Like propane burner stove, some sort of potty chair that's not a bucket, some sort of bed, a heat source, etc.

I'm glad you're working all that out already.

When I read your posts I mentally apply the voice of David Attenbourough as your voice.

David Attenborough is way more cultured than I ever was.

So in Oklahoma you simply sign an affidavit stating that various modifications have been done.

The form provided has a very helpful phrase at the top. It says:

"On or around (date) the following changes were made:"

That "on or around" is an awesome clause, because "around" isn't defined at all

I have all the stuff in the shop that could be temporarily installed to pass an inspection if there was one, but my position now is that everything that was changed "on or around" has been pulled for upgrading.

No one actually cares.

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

That's a real accomplishment. You had a lot more interior space to strip out than I did.

Get yourself a six pack of your favorite libation and a lawn chair in your bus to celebrate.

Ugh!

Doing a lot of fiddly bits now. The entire interior is stripped, including the front overhead panels. I'm going to have to do something about relocating the plate that carries the VIN#.

Rear 2/3rds is clear, clean and ready for insulation and subfloor. Front needs a clean. At the moment I am trying to delete the unnecessary wiring and switches, to avoid spending money (it has to be done anyway).

I will keep the front upper lights, but paint them black. The wiring can come out though. It's just separating what can go and what needs to stay.

I'm planning R-Max under the sub-floor and walls. Not decided on the ceiling yet, but probably the same. As the OEM ply is still down, I think 15/32nds ply will work fine and laminate on top.

I want the lining-out done just leaving space to run wiring before closing up the ceiling so that we can use the bus as a tin tent while permanent fixtures and fittings are being built and installed.

I'll work from back to front when I build out.

[Robin97396]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

even within a state.. my experience with ohio DMV has been super easy./.. a fellow member in NE ohio went through double H *ll to get his DMV stuff done..
-Christopher

You're right. Everything actually goes pretty easily at the DMV. I think it helps if we don't look like the poor cousin of Gandolph when dealing with bus registration. Everyone profiles us mentally anyway when dealing with a bus registrations.

With online access to virtually all infomation in the universe, there's no reason to not be prepared when going to the DMV these days. It should go smoothly. DMV clerks are bored and tired like all state workers, and they respond well to being treated decent.

I was a state worker at one time too, but not at the DMV. I was buried deep in the Department of Revenue in a tiny cubical pretty far from the windows. Yeah, I didn't fit there very well and was sumarily excised after turning down repeated requests to join their church. I made a few efforts to trim the fat that were quite unwelcome. There were more than double the number of managers compared to the number of actual clerks that did the work.
But I digress, because I could go on and on all day.

[Twigg]

We no longer own a bus.

We now have a licensed and tagged RV.

About that .... The state was pretty good about making the change, but very slow, and they are insisting on penalties for late payment. The penalties amount to around $100.

So we are going to fight about it.

I went to the Tag Agency in plenty of time, and well within the time-frame allowed for a vehicle purchase. They couldn't deal with it on the day (they did the VIN inspection), and all the paperwork had to be sent to state.

Well it was sent the following day and it took WEEKS for them to respond, and now they are saying it was out-of-time and applied penalties.

This is not going to stand. I cannot control how quickly they deal with applications. I did everything I could and I did it all in good time.

Still .... the new plate looks nice

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Twigg

Attachment 18924

We no longer own a bus.

We now have a licensed and tagged RV.

About that .... The state was pretty good about making the change, but very slow, and they are insisting on penalties for late payment. The penalties amount to around $100.

So we are going to fight about it.

I went to the Tag Agency in plenty of time, and well within the time-frame allowed for a vehicle purchase. They couldn't deal with it on the day (they did the VIN inspection), and all the paperwork had to be sent to state.

Well it was sent the following day and it took WEEKS for them to respond, and now they are saying it was out-of-time and applied penalties.

This is not going to stand. I cannot control how quickly they deal with applications. I did everything I could and I did it all in good time.

Still .... the new plate looks nice

Can't fight City Hall. They are used to you paying for their incompetence, why would you expect different outcome?

In Illinois, they've given some people RV plates on conversions, only to demand them back few months later. Consider your self lucky, Citizen.

[Twigg]

I redacted a couple of details:

[david.dgeorge07]

Good for you!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Twigg]

Been busy pulling wiring.

This bus has a completely separate wiring harness carrying all of the wiring for the upper-level lights and the interlocks on the doors and windows.

As discussed earlier, the interlocks on mine do not tie into the ignition system. That is, whatever the position of the doors or their locks, the bus still starts even though buzzers go off all over the place.

There are two distinct harnesses coming from the front panel all the way to the back of the bus. They are taped together as one, but there are two connectors right behind the driver, overhead. From those connectors the wires run to the back.

Unplugging one of them has zero effect on the bus operation. That one carries the wiring for the flashing lights and interlocks.

So I am separating them. The electrical tape used to bind the wires was good stuff. It is still sticky after 18 years, but is coming off okay. I do plan on re-purposing some of the wires, but I want the wiring that runs the bus completely separate from the house wiring, even the 12V stuff.

So when I have them apart I will remake the harness from the engine, clearance lights, strobe, and vehicle lights and bind that as a complete harness.

The wiring from the other harness is in excellent condition, and some of it is pretty heavy duty ... maybe as big as 12 gauge. That's expensive stuff and there is hundreds of feet of it when you add it all up. So I will save that and use it later.

Once that is done I can pull all the unnecessary switches from the side panel and remove the "Bus Light" module and its associated wiring. Should clean things up a lot.

[david.dgeorge07]

Originally Posted by Twigg

Been busy pulling wiring.



This bus has a completely separate wiring harness carrying all of the wiring for the upper-level lights and the interlocks on the doors and windows.



As discussed earlier, the interlocks on mine do not tie into the ignition system. That is, whatever the position of the doors or their locks, the bus still starts even though buzzers go off all over the place.



There are two distinct harnesses coming from the front panel all the way to the back of the bus. They are taped together as one, but there are two connectors right behind the driver, overhead. From those connectors the wires run to the back.



Unplugging one of them has zero effect on the bus operation. That one carries the wiring for the flashing lights and interlocks.



So I am separating them. The electrical tape used to bind the wires was good stuff. It is still sticky after 18 years, but is coming off okay. I do plan on re-purposing some of the wires, but I want the wiring that runs the bus completely separate from the house wiring, even the 12V stuff.



So when I have them apart I will remake the harness from the engine, clearance lights, strobe, and vehicle lights and bind that as a complete harness.



The wiring from the other harness is in excellent condition, and some of it is pretty heavy duty ... maybe as big as 12 gauge. That's expensive stuff and there is hundreds of feet of it when you add it all up. So I will save that and use it later.



Once that is done I can pull all the unnecessary switches from the side panel and remove the "Bus Light" module and its associated wiring. Should clean things up a lot.

Just finished that process myself, and it was worth the effort. It is kind of a can of worms but it feels good to have things tidied up so you know what is what and that you don’t have a bunch of unneeded stuff.

I know some people like to leave it there but without doing more work it’s hard to know which wires would be free to use and which were already being used for something. I kind of like knowing but if it’s there it needs to be there and then I can just easily add back in a wire if I need a new circuit.

[Twigg]

New wiring harness made, run from front to back:





This harness now carries all of the lighting for the rear of the bus (Stop/Tail/Turn/Brakes/Clearance) plus the wire for the Strobe.

All other wires were stripped from the original harness. Those included School Bus Flashing Lights, Interior Lights, Individual reading lights, all Interlock wiring.

Some of that will go back later, mainly lights, but with the exception of the Driver's Dome they will be run from the House 12V system, and I want all the house wiring separate from the bus wiring.

This is a nice skinny harness, not the big fat thing I started with

[TJones]

Great progress!

[Twigg]

This is the monstrous heap of wiring I have so far removed.

It's most of it, I'm about done.

The Romex-looking stuff under the pile is, in fact, Romex. Thomas used it to carry the power for the heater fans.

[Tango]

Save all that copper and use it later.

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by Tango

Save all that copper and use it later.

That's the plan.

All of the wiring appears to be in great condition, and much of it is fairly heavy-gauge. Not anticipating having to buy wire for my 12V install.

[Twigg]

Most of the demo is done now, and here are most of the fasteners ... some made a bid for freedom and I'll probably be finding them forever.



Starting to consider layouts:



Next job .... spend $500 on foamboard!