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Old 09-21-2015, 09:34 AM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Sep 2015
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Year: 1992
Coachwork: Champion
Chassis: Ford E-350
My new (used) shuttle bus! (SC)

Alright so I owe a friend $3000 for this baby. 1992 Ford E-350 shuttle bus from a church on craigslist. Specs as far as I know:

7.5 liter engine (unleaded)
113k miles
New shocks, brakes, rotors, drums and tires

Pics:









Pics are from the craigslist post. Currently the seats are taken out and some of the metal fasteners have been removed from the floor. I got to drive her 40 minutes total the first day and she runs like a beaut. I figured 113k for a 23 y/o vehicle wasn't bad at all and I don't plan on driving her a whole lot the first four years I'll have her. I plan on converting it to a nearly completely self-sufficient RV complete with a solar panel setup and some kind of water system (maybe) and living in her through college. I'm looking to get a degree and a ton of money saved up out of this. I don't really know anything about vehicles let alone accomplishing something as ambitious as this so expect to see me a lot around here y'all.

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Old 09-21-2015, 12:48 PM   #2
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Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Marshfield, WI
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Year: 1997
Coachwork: El Dorado Aerotech 220
Chassis: Ford E-350
Engine: 7.3 Powerstroke
Congratulations ! Welcome to the site. That's a fine looking rug for a 92', the one I'm eyeballing is a 97' and it's not that clean.
Have fun!


Hank
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Old 09-21-2015, 02:37 PM   #3
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Year: 1992
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CDHenry6 View Post
Congratulations ! Welcome to the site. That's a fine looking rug for a 92', the one I'm eyeballing is a 97' and it's not that clean.
Have fun!


Hank
Thanks! She's quite beautiful indeed. I got super lucky with a deal like this. First thing I'm gonna do it strip her all the way down to the frame then get to work on flooring. Been watching videos and taking notes all day. I'll try to take pictures as I go along so y'all can see the progress I'm making.
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Old 09-22-2015, 08:24 AM   #4
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Pulled up some of her floor covering last night to expose the water damaged subflooring underneath (just plywood/OSB) though I'm sure plenty of people would scoff at calling the thin rubber covering on top "flooring". Gonna try to go in this evening to rip up the rest of it and get to work on taking the wall panels down while I'm at it.

The mother of my girlfriend had a whole bunch of laminate flooring lying around that she gave me that I want to use as wall paneling. Does anyone here have experience with using laminate as wall paneling? I'm plan on putting down hardwood for the actual floor so the laminate has no use there. Seems like a good use for it.

Also, my phone got wet and is currently undergoing rice treatment. Not sure if it's gonna work again or not but as soon as I have a working camera again I'll be sure to upload pictures as I go along. Just don't expect pictures for a little while maybe.
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Old 09-22-2015, 08:02 PM   #5
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So I peeled off the back paneling and low and behold there is effing SPRAY FOAM already applied. I would be thrilled if it wasn't for the fact that I'm trying to run electrical **** through my bus (which I haven't planned out yet). So I have another question for y'all: If I have to put electrical behind the foam, which I probably will, how many of you all have had experience removing spray foam? Is it a pain in the ass or relatively easy?
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Old 09-22-2015, 09:35 PM   #6
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Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
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Rated Cap: 15
Fairly easy on flat surfaces with a sharpened scraper. A Biotch in the curvy areas.
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Old 09-23-2015, 08:59 AM   #7
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Fairly easy on flat surfaces with a sharpened scraper. A Biotch in the curvy areas.
Good to know. I've also got like a million rusty stripped screws to remove before getting there. These 23 year old buses man.
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Old 09-23-2015, 09:05 AM   #8
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23?...that's barely broken in. Mine's about to turn 70.
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Old 09-23-2015, 09:43 AM   #9
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m00py,

Did your avatar die or just go blind?
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Old 09-23-2015, 10:12 AM   #10
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m00py,

Did your avatar die or just go blind?
Apparently it was making people go blind. Or something like that. I got a message from the admin of this site this morning:

Quote:
Originally Posted by bansil
good morning,
Can you change your avatar please, it has offended some folks
Thanks
I figured it was the nipples so I X'd them out. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me but I guess there are always going to be 'those' kind of people out there. They probably wish that everyone wore tape when they go to the beach, too, or that babies were born with shirts on.
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Old 09-23-2015, 01:35 PM   #11
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I don't wear tape on mine at the beach due to hair
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Old 09-23-2015, 08:11 PM   #12
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How would you see where you are going if you wore tape?
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Old 09-23-2015, 08:44 PM   #13
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Screw the the cry babies.

I love your avatar.

I like your style. Rather than remove it, you modified it.

We should start banning the people that complain to mods about stupid $hit.

Nat
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Old 09-24-2015, 04:19 PM   #14
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Year: 1992
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nat_ster View Post
Screw the the cry babies.

I love your avatar.

I like your style. Rather than remove it, you modified it.

We should start banning the people that complain to mods about stupid $hit.

Nat
There will always be idiots in the world. Anyway, progress:







So getting these screws out have been a serious pain in the ass and as you can see I've still got like 40 or more left to get. Power drill won't get them and it's just way too hard on my arms and body to try to muscle the **** manually so I think the only option I have here is to put a dremel with a rotary saw attached to 'em and cut my own slit so I can get them with a flat head. Reeeeally super frustrating though, like, I would have SO much more done if it weren't for these damn screws.
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Old 09-24-2015, 04:34 PM   #15
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m00py ,

I am even newer than you. I really don't know where to begin. But I have been looking at the same shuttle bus that you got. To you have any reasonable expectations on usable sq footage of this Ford E-Series 350. Trying to convert passenger numbers to square foot expectations is not a readily formula that I have found yet! I know it can be frustrating but it looks like you have gone gang busters and got started
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Old 09-24-2015, 04:49 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bottomfeeder View Post
m00py ,

I am even newer than you. I really don't know where to begin. But I have been looking at the same shuttle bus that you got. To you have any reasonable expectations on usable sq footage of this Ford E-Series 350. Trying to convert passenger numbers to square foot expectations is not a readily formula that I have found yet! I know it can be frustrating but it looks like you have gone gang busters and got started
I think the inside is something like 20' long, 8' wide, a little over 6' in height. I'll get exact measurements next time I'm there.
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Old 09-24-2015, 06:52 PM   #17
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Hmmm-on my Champion the windows are mounted opposite-little slider windows up top. I actually turn one over for my dog to hang her nose out.
Look real close at your wheel arches for rust. Champion used spray foam as a filler between their body + the Ford partial chassis' wheel well. It collects water over the years + rots out.
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Old 09-24-2015, 07:06 PM   #18
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Year: 1992
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Hmmm-on my Champion the windows are mounted opposite-little slider windows up top. I actually turn one over for my dog to hang her nose out.
Look real close at your wheel arches for rust. Champion used spray foam as a filler between their body + the Ford partial chassis' wheel well. It collects water over the years + rots out.
I'll be sure to do that and to check out your build thread. We had to go under the bus to removed the nuts from the underside of the bolts that held the seats down and there certainly is spray foam underneath. I'm not sure what a wheel arch is but I'll do some research and take another look underneath and see what's going on with that. Thanks for the heads up.
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Old 09-25-2015, 08:49 PM   #19
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m00py

check out roach motel a lot of good info in his post
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Old 09-25-2015, 09:03 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by m00py View Post
I'll be sure to do that and to check out your build thread. We had to go under the bus to removed the nuts from the underside of the bolts that held the seats down and there certainly is spray foam underneath. I'm not sure what a wheel arch is but I'll do some research and take another look underneath and see what's going on with that. Thanks for the heads up.
Wheel arch : the lump of metal over your tires.
Champion LOVES spray foam. I have places on mine where there were loose dangling wires underneath-and they just shot some foam and glooped the wires to the side of the bus!
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