neewbie with questions already

[jethroib]

Hi I'm Eric
I'm regular fun loving guy, great wife and kids.
Been looking at getting into a conversion project for a couple years now and stalking this site regularly to learn all that I can, seems to be full of nice people with some great ideas.

We are currently looking at a crown bus to convert for some vacation fun.
Contacted the owner through a friend and he's willing to sell but looking for some pointers before I meet up with him to talk price and such.


Here's what I can see from just walking around it
they are hard to figure out what year without getting a look at the tag.

runs and drives but I have not been there to test it out
dd 6-71 not sure if it has a turbo
auto trans maybe mt643
rear sanders
little rust in front lower windshield support
rear emergency door has some rust down low
tires have decent tread but probably out of date
overall condition seems perty good

what am I looking at here
year?
average price?
etc.

thanks in advance
Eric

[Robin97396]

Welcome Eric

I've got good and bad news. There are real Crown experts here. I'm not one of them.

You will need to post more information, like mileage and current asking price for comparative purposes. There will be more questions from the real Crown guys.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by jethroib

Hi I'm Eric
I'm regular fun loving guy, great wife and kids.

Your wife reads your posts, too huh? Kids must not be teenagers yet....

Crowns are cool and strong, but different to raise the roof. If you are happy with the height, go for it.

[jethroib]

naw the wife doesn't read the posts but she puts up with me so that makes her perty cool or at least highly tolerant of my bright ideas.
we have 2 grown kids and a baby we adopted that she is now 3. we hauled the first 2 kids all over in a camp trailer and had lots of fun, now we want to try some bus vacation fun with our youngest.
There is a lot of satisfaction in using something that you've built yourself.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by jethroib

we hauled the first 2 kids all over in a camp trailer and had lots of fun, now we want to try some bus vacation fun with our youngest.
There is a lot of satisfaction in using something that you've built yourself.

Well you guys came to the right spot ! There are some people that know that bus well.

Do you plan a roof raise is my big question, or is yours sufficiently high? It's what stopped me from bidding on them.

Get 'er done !

[jethroib]

The crown fell through but we did buy a 1993 Thomas with a 3116-250ta and a mt643 transmission
runs and drives, great hardly a ding on it.
Driving a bus for the first time, 3 hours in the snow with not so great tires makes for a steep learning curve and lots of pucker factor but it's home.

[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

[Jdawgsfanasty]

Originally Posted by jethroib

The crown fell through but we did buy a 1993 Thomas with a 3116-250ta and a mt643 transmission
runs and drives, great hardly a ding on it.
Driving a bus for the first time, 3 hours in the snow with not so great tires makes for a steep learning curve and lots of pucker factor but it's home.

[ATTACH]Attachment 18230[/ATTACH]

Learn to read schematics...don't cut wires till you're convinced the circuit isn't gonna mess with the ignition circuit...have fun

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[BlackJohn]

[QUOTE=Jdawgsfanasty;242934]Learn to read schematics...don't cut wires till you're convinced the circuit isn't gonna mess with the ignition circuit...have fun

^^^^^That!
Comment of the year so far... you are a wiseman jdawg! TY!

John

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by Jdawgsfanasty

Learn to read schematics...don't cut wires till you're convinced the circuit isn't gonna mess with the ignition circuit...have fun

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Awww!! Be a sport.....

We have not had a "Removed door wiring now my bus wont start" thread in almost 3 days.....

OP: Nice looking bus. Welcome to the insanity that is Skoolies. We look forward to your build.

[Robin97396]

It takes at least two interlock issues per week to keep the rest of us smiling.

[Jdawgsfanasty]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

It takes at least two interlock issues per week to keep the rest of us smiling.

Lol

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[Jdawgsfanasty]

[QUOTE=BlackJohn;242960]

Originally Posted by Jdawgsfanasty

Learn to read schematics...don't cut wires till you're convinced the circuit isn't gonna mess with the ignition circuit...have fun

^^^^^That!
Comment of the year so far... you are a wiseman jdawg! TY!

John

Thx...(blush)

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[Jdawgsfanasty]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

Awww!! Be a sport.....

We have not had a "Removed door wiring now my bus wont start" thread in almost 3 days.....

OP: Nice looking bus. Welcome to the insanity that is Skoolies. We look forward to your build.

LMAO!!! I'm sorry...here, cut that bundle...no issue

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[dan-fox]

In case you've had your head in a bag, or haven't been following the bouncing ball on this forum for very long, this is what they are talking about.

You have a bus. The bus has a side door with the word "EMERGENCY" on it. I don't remember if it's an FE or not, but if it is it also has a rear door with the word "EMERGENCY" on it. It also has 2 roof hatches similarly placarded. Safety regs state that the bus can't move until the stuff that's supposed to be locked is locked and the stuff that is supposed to be unlocked is unlocked.

This is done by using little switches on each opening. These are placed somewhere in the mechanism where they can detect if the bolt is shot or the handle is closed; whatever. If they want to be, they are very annoying. Turn the bus on, it does nothing but yell at you and refuse to start until you find and fix the problem. The same buzzer is used for a multitude of sins, so driving a 12 penny nail through it and hotwiring your ride is not a good answer.

Most people here try to defeat these switches by wiring them out. The trouble is, there are no rules as to how they are set up. Some switches are closed and holler if they get opened; some are the other way round. Some require grounding to the bus body; some don't care; some will see that as an error. Each bus has its own quirks. Don't assume that all 4 work the same way just because they're all on the same bus either.

Damn near every new bus owner, including a lot of people who should know better, just hack the wires, pull them out of the chassis, disconnect them at the terminals, crush the switch, burn it all in a pile on the ground, and jump up and down on the ashes just to make sure that they don't know what colors the wires used to be, let alone how they were hooked up. Then they say "Help! My bus won't start! Why?"

Don't be one of Those People. Go slowly; go carefully; take notes; take pictures. Every time you think you've got one figured out, try to start your bus with the door/hatch in both positions. This is a great opportunity to get to know how to use what's called a multimeter, if you don't know already. This is a necessary and invaluable skill.

Good luck! and, Pictures!

[Twigg]

That sums it up nicely

[Defjr333]

And I was gonna make a scrapbook of all the "Help I cut a door wire and my bus wont start" threads. But my printer ran out of ink.
But seriously, even those TRYING to do the delete correctly still have issues at times, so they arent ALL just cutting wires randomly. Is funny to see it every couple days tho.
Doug

[Jdawgsfanasty]

Originally Posted by dan-fox

In case you've had your head in a bag, or haven't been following the bouncing ball on this forum for very long, this is what they are talking about.

You have a bus. The bus has a side door with the word "EMERGENCY" on it. I don't remember if it's an FE or not, but if it is it also has a rear door with the word "EMERGENCY" on it. It also has 2 roof hatches similarly placarded. Safety regs state that the bus can't move until the stuff that's supposed to be locked is locked and the stuff that is supposed to be unlocked is unlocked.

This is done by using little switches on each opening. These are placed somewhere in the mechanism where they can detect if the bolt is shot or the handle is closed; whatever. If they want to be, they are very annoying. Turn the bus on, it does nothing but yell at you and refuse to start until you find and fix the problem. The same buzzer is used for a multitude of sins, so driving a 12 penny nail through it and hotwiring your ride is not a good answer.

Most people here try to defeat these switches by wiring them out. The trouble is, there are no rules as to how they are set up. Some switches are closed and holler if they get opened; some are the other way round. Some require grounding to the bus body; some don't care; some will see that as an error. Each bus has its own quirks. Don't assume that all 4 work the same way just because they're all on the same bus either.

Damn near every new bus owner, including a lot of people who should know better, just hack the wires, pull them out of the chassis, disconnect them at the terminals, crush the switch, burn it all in a pile on the ground, and jump up and down on the ashes just to make sure that they don't know what colors the wires used to be, let alone how they were hooked up. Then they say "Help! My bus won't start! Why?"

Don't be one of Those People. Go slowly; go carefully; take notes; take pictures. Every time you think you've got one figured out, try to start your bus with the door/hatch in both positions. This is a great opportunity to get to know how to use what's called a multimeter, if you don't know already. This is a necessary and invaluable skill.

Good luck! and, Pictures!

Exactly...

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[plfking]

Originally Posted by Jdawgsfanasty

Learn to read schematics...don't cut wires till you're convinced the circuit isn't gonna mess with the ignition circuit...have fun

After reading threads on here for the last two years, y'all have me terrified of the entire interlock monster.

I even cranked the motor after painting the floor, just to be sure.


Don

[Jdawgsfanasty]

Originally Posted by plfking

After reading threads on here for the last two years, y'all have me terrified of the entire interlock monster.

I even cranked the motor after painting the floor, just to be sure. [emoji2]


Don

LMAO!!! Missed a spot

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[EastCoastCB]

I got rid of all my buzzers, but still have to disable the interlock. Lots of folks will argue that its a safety thing and must be preserved. But my answer to that is why don't RV's have them then?