It begins 07 Thomas MVP-EF Purchased Today

[HandyAaron]

Howdy, I just bought a 37ft Thomas flat nose bus with a 5.9l Cummins and Allison 2500 transmission, some rust but not bad. My wife(30) and I(26)will begin with a roof raise first of March and hope to keep the build moving very quickly. We would like to be done by mid summer. I’m not sure if I’ll document everything here yet or not, I will if there’s enough interest but I’m not sure how active this site is anymore.

[AlphaHare]

Welcome Aaron! IDK how busy compared to when and what, but it's active enough. It's not FB (x, snap, insta, tt, you name it) which is a good thing IMO. People come and go....

PS - start a build thread and post pics ;>)

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by HandyAaron

Howdy, I just bought a 37ft Thomas flat nose bus with a 5.9l Cummins and Allison 2500 transmission, some rust but not bad. My wife(30) and I(26)will begin with a roof raise first of March and hope to keep the build moving very quickly. We would like to be done by mid summer. I’m not sure if I’ll document everything here yet or not, I will if there’s enough interest but I’m not sure how active this site is anymore.

IMHO. Start your build, post then see if it suits you. I don't think you will find better advice, problem solutions, or help any where. I you are looking for cash, do a youtube or other to post vids and link your build to them. Depends on what you are after - views, doc, or cash. One thing the doc will do for you is act to reinforce your memory, provide some sort of operating manual or blueprint and help with any remodel or sale when/if you decide to sell further down the road. If you are planning on doing piss poor work and taking every short cut then you shouldn't doc it or youtube it.... or build it.

[Devans30474]

Hey Aaron,

My first visit to the site. I just purchased a 37 foot 07 Thomas that sounds like yours. I've got some other projects before I can start on the bus but I'm looking forward to it. I may keep an eye on your progress to see If I run into similar issues.

David

[HandyAaron]

Originally Posted by Devans30474

Hey Aaron,

My first visit to the site. I just purchased a 37 foot 07 Thomas that sounds like yours. I've got some other projects before I can start on the bus but I'm looking forward to it. I may keep an eye on your progress to see If I run into similar issues.

David

Sweet! This conversion will go quick! I’m starting first of March and plan to be done within a few months. I’m doing all the work myself.

[cadillackid]

watch doinf roof raises on thomas busses.. some of them have a slight slope inward from the window line to the roof.. you'll need to build accordingly as you may not be able to just attach to the existing vertical structure. this wasnt every thomas but many of them.. esp the transits..

[HandyAaron]

Yeah I’ve heard about that on here. Many says its 6º per side. I’ve modeled it and it doesn’t look right, from what I can tell it’s closer to 3º per side. I won’t really know till I actually start, but I’ve got a plan. Cut the hat channels right at the bottom of the windows where the angle starts and extend them straight up. That should mitigate any issues with angles. Alternatively I might just cut them in the middle of the windows and just bend the hats to align with each other. I’ve seen that done successifully on YouTube, but I don’t like that most of my interior wall will be angled then… decisions decisions. What would you do?

[nikitis]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

watch doinf roof raises on thomas busses.. some of them have a slight slope inward from the window line to the roof.. you'll need to build accordingly as you may not be able to just attach to the existing vertical structure. this wasnt every thomas but many of them.. esp the transits..

Yeah so on this topic. I went to skoolie.com 's Headquarters in North Carolina, they were only about an hour and 40 minutes away so i decided to show up to their little warehouse. He's got a nice thing going there. he had a Thomas bus in there he was working on for a customer, a shorty, and the angle was really bad on it. I told him how I was planning to do my roof raise and he was able to tell me a couple of things about it and how I may need to modify my tactics a tad and he was right looking at it.

I had heard the angles are true, when I look at my bus, there is a slight angle but it's not as sharp as the bus I saw in his warehouse so there appears to be varying degrees of angles used on Thomas buses. Mine is only like an angle of 2% vs 6% so it's not nearly as bad. It even seems to straighten out as it hits the front of the bus by the doors.

I have an FS65 Style Frame though on an International Chassis which seems to be a Unicorn because I've not seen many of the FS65 Freightliner style Thomas bodies on an International. I do have the Thomas body that goes onto the Freightliners but on an International. The origins of my bus seem to be very unique for some reason. Even the window style is pretty unique compared to others. I don't believe Thomas made many of these style cabs on the international chassis. I wonder if I was one of the buses in transition phase from body styles and they had to use up the remaining bodies so they just married two odd parts together.

That's partly what I love about the style of my bus and what catches my eye about it is the uniqueness of it.

That being said, I won't have to really modify my style of roof raise cut which was to be under the windows much, but in the rear I will have to now cut under the windows in the rear as well. I was originally planning to go over the windows and just remove the cap, but seeing the slight angle I won't be able to make it work without it looking odd. so I'm going to have to cut straight through the back at the same level as the sides which means I'll be cutting the door in half and extending the height of the door which is a little more work than I wanted to do but will need to do it to make it right.

I've also purchased new rub railing to match my existing rub rails so I'll be adding another layer of rub rails around the back to cover up the cuts

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by nikitis

Yeah so on this topic. I went to skoolie.com 's Headquarters in North Carolina, they were only about an hour and 40 minutes away so i decided to show up to their little warehouse. He's got a nice thing going there. he had a Thomas bus in there he was working on for a customer, a shorty, and the angle was really bad on it. I told him how I was planning to do my roof raise and he was able to tell me a couple of things about it and how I may need to modify my tactics a tad and he was right looking at it.

I had heard the angles are true, when I look at my bus, there is a slight angle but it's not as sharp as the bus I saw in his warehouse so there appears to be varying degrees of angles used on Thomas buses. Mine is only like an angle of 2% vs 6% so it's not nearly as bad. It even seems to straighten out as it hits the front of the bus by the doors.

I have an FS65 Style Frame though on an International Chassis which seems to be a Unicorn because I've not seen many of the FS65 Freightliner style Thomas bodies on an International. I do have the Thomas body that goes onto the Freightliners but on an International. The origins of my bus seem to be very unique for some reason. Even the window style is pretty unique compared to others. I don't believe Thomas made many of these style cabs on the international chassis. I wonder if I was one of the buses in transition phase from body styles and they had to use up the remaining bodies so they just married two odd parts together.

That's partly what I love about the style of my bus and what catches my eye about it is the uniqueness of it.

That being said, I won't have to really modify my style of roof raise cut which was to be under the windows much, but in the rear I will have to now cut under the windows in the rear as well. I was originally planning to go over the windows and just remove the cap, but seeing the slight angle I won't be able to make it work without it looking odd. so I'm going to have to cut straight through the back at the same level as the sides which means I'll be cutting the door in half and extending the height of the door which is a little more work than I wanted to do but will need to do it to make it right.

I've also purchased new rub railing to match my existing rub rails so I'll be adding another layer of rub rails around the back to cover up the cuts

Instead of cutting the door in half, can't you just add to the bottom of it and maybe move the bottom hinge depending on where you cut the body. you only need to move half (one side of the hinge), either on the door or the body. seems it would work if you can make the hinge pins line up.


Thats what I was planning before I decided to forgo the roof raise.


Cutting below the windows also makes it easier for you to look out the existing windows when you are standing but makes you looking upwards when you are sitting, depending on how high you raise it.