Introducing my first bus

[Stopbit]

Got some more work done today. My son and a couple of his friends got all the reflective tape off the outside. I sealed up all the bolt and nail holes, touched up a few places with metal primer I missed and prepared the inside to be painted.

[Stopbit]

Dropped the bus off to get painted this morning. Found a place that usally paints locomotives willing to do it for $1700 which was the cheapest of all the places I tried that had a paint booth big enough. Should be done Tuesday or Wedensday. I am going with a dark gray color instead of black to make the girlfriend happy.

[Stopbit]

Originally Posted by Smitty

And you believe it's that easy?

Smitty

lol...Let me restate...happy about the bus(at least for now). She is also pushing me away from anything that makes the bus seem like a party bus.

[jkindt]

Originally Posted by Stopbit

lol...Let me restate...happy about the bus(at least for now). She is also pushing me away from anything that makes the bus seem like a party bus.

Next thing you know she will want all smooth sides with Nike swooshes all over! And pull-outs! And skylights! And...

[Stopbit]

Got the bus back from the paint shop and don't think it looks too bad. Also made a stop at Home Depot and picked up four 4x8 pieces of 3/4" plywood, 1/4" rigid pink insulation, red rosin paper, tek screws, 1 gallon of gloss white rustoleum (for the inside) and 3 rollers. The new paint job really shows how bad those wheels look. Think I am going to rattle can them black until I get some chrome simulators or new rims.

[RUskoolietailgater]

Good looking paint job.

[Stopbit]

Got most of the plywood sub floor, sprayed some black primer on the wheels, removed the stop sign, and started looking at the bus wiring today. A wiring diagram for this bus would be nice, there are way too many wires behind the dash. Replaced all the big fuses since the contacts did not look so hot. Going to have to caulk a few big gaps in the plywood sub floor since it seems I can't saw very straight. Also scuffed up the walls and roof to prepare them for painting. Have more pics on my blog.

[Stopbit]

Got the plywood subfloor finished. It got a little to cool to paint so will have to wait until next weekend to finish that. The tek screws worked great and only broke two old phillps drill bits.

[sdwarf36]

If you want to do a wheel color other than black, Rustolem Hammertone spray paint is one of the greatest inventions since duct tape. The finish comes out like a Craftsman tool box-you cant spray it wrong-the heavier you spray it, the more of a hammered finish it gets. I used the silver-its not chrome shiney-it looks "right" -like a new rim with some texture. The stuff will paint right over rust-dirt-anything.

[Stopbit]

Ended up just screwing the plywood to the metal floor and not using furring strips.

[Stopbit]

I finished putting the last little piece of plywood down and added a few more screws to one piece that seemed to move a little while driving. Washed the dome light covers and reattached them. The inside was painted by Ryan last week with white rustoleum. Installed the new lock for the door and had the truck shop flush and fill the coolant. Posted pics on my blog since I get the following message here "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached."

[Stopbit]

Got the carpet ordered and should be installed in a week or two. Also started on the overhead shelves this weekend.

[Stopbit]

Got some more work done on the overhead shelves.

[Stopbit]

Got a Sony head unit and four new speakers installed today. Also got a two port 12v power socket installed as well for powering GPS and phone. I did goof up the seat belt and will have to order a new one, but at least I have music when I work now. Uploaded a few pics to my blog.

[Stopbit]

My bus already had those cheap speakers installed from factory so installing new ones was easy. They where wired a little weird, sharing negative between speakers. They don't sound bad, was worried the metal roof might add some weird sounds but did not notice anything.

[Stopbit]

Had the carpet installed today and it doesn't look too bad. Also got the new drivers seat belt ordered. I did manage to lock myself out of the bus and am worried the only way back in is to break a window. I will try to maybe go in thru one of the roof emergency hatches if I can get it open from the outside. As always pics on my blog.

[Stopbit]

Got the windows tinted at Best Buy and they also installed the new seat belt that was broken during the radio install. I had 5% tint put on the side and rear windows and 35% on drivers window and folding door. Uploaded a few bad pictures to my blog.

[Seeria]

Looking good. I like the shelving. What screws did you use on those Lbrackets?

[Stopbit]

The brackets holding it to the bus frame are connected using the screws and holes that hold those metal cover pannels in place. The rest are just basic wood screws from Home Depot. I did use tek screws on the few that need to go into the metal frame.

[Stopbit]

Just ordered 8 clear lenses to replace the red and yellow flashing lights. Kansas Truck Equipment Co. Inc(http://www.kansastruck.net/default.aspx) can get them for my bus for $5.40 each. The part number for my bus was 4286498 if anyone needs it.