Shuttle Bus Trailer Conversion - Page 3

BeNimble · 08-03-2020, 01:53 AM

Got the cab removed from the bus. A lot of cutting and sawing.
Now you can see the Prize inside, the big Ford V10 in all its glory.

So tomorrow probably pull the engine/trans. or drive to an hour to get a free stove. lol Tracking down free stuff is a lot of work! Very time consuming, and not to mention gas expense, as I am not shy about going a distance,
and my explorer gets 14mpg. I am seriously considering converting one of my three Prius into a truck, but alas it will sidetrack this project, so i am resisting.

Got another file cabinet. Missed two others. Tore apart a Freezer today, not too bad, but was not quick process either.

BeNimble · 08-03-2020, 02:28 PM

Picked up what I think is the Best Score for sure for this project,
a free small electric heater fireplace!

BeNimble · 08-04-2020, 04:30 PM

Would this Free item be Over the Top in a trailer?? lol
I better not let my wife see it, should would want it for our house (she just 'scored' a bunch of stuff from Pier 1 close-outs. "It was only $2600" ! )

BeNimble · 08-04-2020, 06:27 PM

Ha! That clock did not last an hour on the free list. Now here is something else that fits the Nautica theme. If it wasn't just plastic might give it some real thought.

BeNimble · 08-06-2020, 01:06 AM

More stuff acquired..got some free insulation, and some tile, and actually bought some insulation at a bargain price, 1/4 thick accordian sheets of pink stuff should work well for the walls and maybe roof and a layer on top of the floor.

I think I may make this trailer a bumper pull, now that I've shortened it a bit.
Well see how the weight distribution works, but can probably make it work given I can put things where I want to put them.

BeNimble · 08-07-2020, 07:43 PM

Scored a nice solid oak cabinet. Hard to find real solid wood anymore.
Had to drive 25 miles to get it.

Got the v10 out of the bus frame, time to move back to the truck now and see about getting it to fit in there. Going to take some firewall/floor changes.

BeNimble · 08-08-2020, 12:12 PM

And finally, finally! I found a free electric glass cooktop range!

Been looking for one since I started this project. Lots of gas ones, I need electric AND glass top, as I will be modifying it to use the guts of an inductive cooktop unit, which sadly I had to buy for $30. I am thinking of making the entire kitchen counter glass, so this is exactly what I needed.

I am wondering if I should keep the oven DOOR, but gut the oven itself. Nice looking door and it snaps closed pretty well.

BeNimble · 08-11-2020, 07:12 PM

Just missed a big free sale where they had a corner black glass desk, but it was claimed before I got there. They had like 100 file cabinets to give away, so I got another one even though I think I'm good already with 5 of them.

Missing that I went searching and found some black quartz countertop remnants. Not thrilled about their weight, but look nice, good match for the stovetop.

And then I also got TWO truck fiberglass tonneau covers, all flat and with double layered foam core, so lot stronger than the single layer shell I already had.

Starting to collect too big a pile now, so might just delay the truck build and go right to the trailer to shrink the free pile.

BeNimble · 08-12-2020, 05:54 PM

And...another free score, a pool cover roller, seems ideal for a rollup awning setup, lightweight aluminum.

BeNimble · 08-13-2020, 03:42 PM

Scavenger Hunt continues, this time I got a battery powered lawm mower missing the battery. Took it apart and as expected, about as simple as it gets with a dc motor.
Label said 24v, 500watt, 4300rpm. Power the mower with my 12v battery charger, works great. So pulling the motor out, plan is use it to spin a compressor for a 12v fridge.

Ronnie · 08-13-2020, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeNimble

Scavenger Hunt continues, this time I got a battery powered lawm mower missing the battery. Took it apart and as expected, about as simple as it gets with a dc motor.
Label said 24v, 500watt, 4300rpm. Power the mower with my 12v battery charger, works great. So pulling the motor out, plan is use it to spin a compressor for a 12v fridge.

Might be good for a small air compressor too. Need to rig one up for my bus

BeNimble · 08-13-2020, 06:29 PM

How small? There are many small 12v air compressor you can find made mostly to pump up car tires. I got a free one of those, plan to use it to pressurize the water tank instead of water pump. Tend to be very noisy though, so gotta do something about that!

If your not on the free challenge, a much more powerful 12v motor you can buy cheap or something find even free is the motor from a winch. I've used the $50 harbor fright ones for a number of things, but for $100 on ebay you can get a pretty big "5 hp" winch motor. It is missing the front bearing support which is held in place by the winch, but I've fabbed up a plate for it and used one in my 1/4 yard cement mixer. They are not rated for continuous use, certainly not at that power level, maybe compressor if off more than on will work well.

Ronnie · 08-13-2020, 09:18 PM

Now that you mention it I have a 2 ton winch that the gear case split open. That would be a good motor to use. Mostly want it for the air horns, and tire inflation. Not so much for the bus but for equipment like my bobcat.

BeNimble · 08-14-2020, 03:15 PM

This one I paid $20 for..the little 2-stroke Harbor Fright 800w generator.
I actually have been accumulating these for the last couple years since I wanted to build a 2-stroke V8 engine, and I have about 6-7 of them, all $30 or less, some free, so could really say one is free for this project, but i did pay $20 for this. Guy said it wouldn't start, but it started up for me (didn't have choke or on/off on?) and ran this fan.

I've also torn one of these generators apart and went to convert it to an inverter generator to output 14 volts to charge lithium 12v pack. I really just need to wind the stator, but like many things, since the boat project was mothballed, this got mothballed too. Maybe I now finish it? Or leave 120vac output for this trailer?

Let me add, a typical generator runs at a constant 3600 rpm so it generates a 60hz output 120 volts. This makes them loud even when they are not producing much if any output. So the Honda EU2000 is quiet because it idles in 'comparisons', whereas the 3600 rpm generator is screaming no matter what.
The inverter version uses permanent magnets which increase voltage as it increases rpm, and the inverter will keep the output voltage constant using a dc-dc converter. More complicated but more compact and efficient and quieter.

BeNimble · 08-16-2020, 05:49 PM

Got the v10 hanging in the truck, have to fab some motor mounts.
It is out of the way though, so I'm back to the nautibus.
Cut off the front frame. I'm going to make it a bumper pull as that gives more space and windows in the front, and it makes it easy for anyone to tow it. Not ideal for a true trailer, but I'm going tiny house so won't really move much.

I have my old car trailer, so just going to cut off the front of it and weld to the bus frame. My plan now is to put in some 'bay windows' in the "V" and put the toilet in that area.

btw, it has been over 100F and supposed to get even hotter, finally some sacramento summer, been nice until now.

Kinda like this trailer, but different..

BeNimble · 08-17-2020, 01:02 AM

So start demo on the interior of the Nautibus. Looked closely at the white panel on the walls, and it was a decorative panel glued to the structural honeycomb and the glue was not gluing anymore. It just peeled off where it was already not attached. So good news, I thought maybe the structural part was failing (the core), but just decorative panel attachment.

Going to remove all the windows and the white paneling. The windows are easy to remove, and are pretty lightweight, I was surprised.

BeNimble · 08-21-2020, 11:57 PM

Just about have all the interior stripped down to bare fiberglass. The drivers side wall was ok, but not the passenger side. The two doors on that side were letting water in and the core is pretty much gone. So I will be rebuilding that wall. The roof must not weigh very much since the wall is still holding it up given there is no front wall now. The good news is I have the interior fiberglass panels from the ceiling that I can use elsewhere. So much wiring removed, and the a/c hoses so long.

Also scored a few other items, got a free toilet, some closet doors, truck tool box.
Also got a big Battery Backup UPS. I wanted to mention this as an option for a small inverter. I bought a few of them before at a county surplus store for like $10, and use them to power led lights in my shed that doesn't have power. I got a big one as surplus from UC Berkeley for $29. Of course the batteries were toast. I took it apart and it has a giant transformer in it. This transformer is bigger than a 120amp welder,
though the label only says it has 2400 watts output. Seems it could a LOT more.

And I got another induction cooktop for $20...I drove all the way to sf since I was out there to get the UPS unit.
Not a great time to drive that way when the freeway going east had some lanes closed from the fire that jumped the freeway.

About to start actually building now.

BeNimble · 08-22-2020, 11:07 PM

Here is a pic inside the UPS showing how big the transformer is.
This unit is what they call a Low Frequency inverter, which takes the 48v DC and makes it into 48v AC at 60hz in the transformer, which has a winding to produce the 120v AC at 60hz. See some other 6,000 watt LF inverters, this looks bigger than those, so I think the limit is what the batteries can deliver and not the electronic components. In fact, under 220vac, it does 3600 watts converting the 220 into 120. It has three 120vac 15 amp plugs with breakers, so that is 4800 watts of output max.

With this unit in hand, it makes more sense to use all 120vac on the nautibus instead of getting everything to run on 12v DC. I just need to work on this one inverter to make it run on 12v dc. As an "almost free" build, it will not be as efficient, but will be almost free to run everything on 120vac.

BeNimble · 08-23-2020, 09:03 PM

Scored a bunch of redwood lumber. Someone was putting in a pool and removed their treehouse. My shop has filled up with free stuff, don't know where to put all this wood...

Removed the gas tank from the bus, omg was that heavy, looks like it holds 50 gallons, and I removed 35 gallons from it, so this was like 400lbs.
So it came with $100 in fuel.

Was planning to put it in the 72 Truck, but my that is one big heavy tank.

BeNimble · 08-24-2020, 05:10 PM

Was thinking of using the bus gas tank as grey water tank given it is already setup to mount, but just too freaken heavy.

So I dug up an old boat tank I had, 36 gallons. I am a bit concerned about sloshing, as it doesn't appear to have anything to prevent it when I put in some water and moved it around. I am tempted to open it up and put in some baffles...really necessary? I'm thinking not, too much else to do.

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