Splash Party Bus (97 E350)

[Stuff]

looking goooood! she looks nice black w chrome! even the doors look good.

[lapeer20m]

I didn't get home from work until after 5pm, and i had to do some adult stuff, like mow the lawn, so i didn't get as much done tonight as i wanted.

I did get the lift removed. My understanding is that it is over 400 pounds.

First i set the lift down:



Then unbolted it:

Removed the 12 volt power wire

Then loaded some pieces of a maple tree trunk on the bottom part of the lift....because that was the heaviest item i had handy.



Then i started jacking:







and it didn't quite fit out of the door.....so i spent a few minutes getting that figured out.....



eventually it pretty much came right out of the door.



Then i pulled it away from the bus with my lawn mower and drove the bus away.

[Stuff]

lol nice use of your lawnmower. man thats big!

[lapeer20m]

It has rained probably 12 days in the past 2 weeks. This weather is depressing! It takes the motivation right out of a person. That and i did something to my back. Had to go visit the chiropractor so i didn't get any work done yesterday.

Unfortunately i will not have the bus finished in time for tonight's concert. All is well as most people in our group decided not to go since it's an outdoor venue and there is more rain forcast. Rain and 45 degrees when i got up this morning.

I did some playing around with the interior, but just wasn't happy with the way it was turning out. Although i was quite impressed with my handywork when it comes to making the black seat cushions. I hand cut the foam, glued wood onto the backs, cut out and sewed the vinyl covers, and stapled the material onto the back.

I was going to try to re-cover the stock bus seats, but they were just too difficult.





so we decided to purchase some "new" bus seats. I am going to pick them up this afternoon. They should look very professional.

new seats:



I also got the new vinyl raindrop graphic's in the mail. I still need to do the writing which will say "SPLASH PARTY BUS"



After working almost non-stop for an entire week, she is still not finished

[Stuff]

http://www.youtube.com/user/billstmaxx

this guy does great vynil work. think he must be reasonable priced if he is shipping all over the place

[Diesel Dan]

Yeah, I'm blown away by how fast this thing came together, especially considering all the obstacles of a job, weather, etc... I guess it helps that you're not fussing with insulation and tearing up the floor.

[lapeer20m]

I got lucky I guess. My floor is real solid. My windows don't leak either.

This bus was built well for a shuttle, but it is weak by skoolie standards.

I think there was a big effort to reduce weight which in turn costs more money ie: the ceiling is aluminum and so is the rear bumper among other things.

I'm pretty sure that a rollover would be catrostophic.

I just picked up the new seats and I'm on my way home.

[lapeer20m]

Here are the new (used) seats i bought off of craigslist. They are all just piled in the bus, i haven't had time to mount them yet. The color scheme is perfect! I also scored some free hardwood flooring for the bus.

I'm pretty tired of working on the bus......can't wait until this nightmare is finished! lol

[Stuff]

those match very well!

[lapeer20m]

After the floor and seats are installed I still have a few projects left:

Install solar panel to maintain batteries while bus is parked.

Install white lights under bus to light up the ground when door is opened

Install inverter

Fix rear ac

Install 12 volt and 110 volt outlets

Then I think the project will be finished

[sdwarf36]

I think you are the only person ever on this forum to INSTALL seats!

I had this site recommended to me for stickers--www.harrisdecals.com
A buddy did his racecar from them-I plan on doing the same.

[Stuff]

did you put the vent in or was it there? they are nice to exhaust hot air!!

[lapeer20m]

[quote="Stuff"]did you put the vent in or was it there? they are nice to exhaust

The vent was already there.

[lapeer20m]

Started installing the 3/4 inch hardwood prefinished flooring. Also got my rear a/c fixed! (yah!) The temps went from the 40's a couple of days ago to a high in the 90's today. I hope to get the flooring finished today, and start welding legs onto the new seats. They were meant to attach to the chair rail, so they only have legs on one side.

[lapeer20m]

more progress....I got legs welded onto the seats, and bolted groups of seats to each other. They are not yet bolted to the bus. I have to paint the back wall before i secure the seats.

It's coming together nicely!

[Sail Man]

No surprises here that you would do a bang up job.

[lapeer20m]

Photos from when i was welding the legs on the seats. I wished i had something a little less heavy duty laying around, but the material i had on hand is 1.5 inch square tubing with 1/4 inch wall. About twice the strength i really needed.





Today i got the remote keyless entry installed. Here is a video:

Installed the inverter....although i seem to have lost that pic..



When connecting the inverter, I like to take the copper ends, smoosh it on the cable, then fire up the torch and fill the empty space inside the copper end with solder.

[Diesel Dan]

So I assume that since you've converted several buses, the Harbor Freight inverters work out well for you? I've had bad experiences with their stuff, including a battery charger and air compressor. So even though I considered the "Chicago Electric" brand, I ultimately went with something else.

[lapeer20m]

I have used Chicago electric inverters in most of my buses. One inverter was a Coleman, but it was identical to the chi electric brand, just had a different label on it. This particular one is the new version of the 2kw inverter.

Harbor freight sells a lot of junk. Especially anything that comes with rechargeable batteries.

I have had exceptionally good luck with these cheap inverters. Over the past ten yeArs and hundreds of hours of use, I can recall only two of these inverters I toasted, both as a result of operator error. One was the result of a jello shot that fell directly onto the unit. The second one died while I was spraying the ceiling of the bus wih aluminum based paint. The cooling fan on the inverter sucked in a bunch of alumni paint covering the circuit board with a layer of conductive metal. The only useful thin I ever heard at radio shack invol ing electronics: "once the magic smoke escapes you can never put it back in.

I have destroyed far more alternators than I have inverters. I have plugged in literally hundreds of devices to these modified sin wave inverters and have been very pleased.

[Stuff]

Originally Posted by lapeer20m

"once the magic smoke escapes you can never put it back in.