1985 Blue Bird 'Micro Bird'

[Griff-SKO]

It's a beauty! Looking forward to watching it morph! Welcome to the asylum!

 

[lapeer20m]

congrats

 

[Roasting8]

Man, that's a nice bus. You should be able to do a lot with it.

Good Luck with your conversion.

Robert

 

[behappystupi]

Maybe somebody tampered with the leaf springs on the right side trying to make the possible factory lean go away.

Oh, and congrats on the new bus

 

[Roasting8]

Thank you guys for the comments, I appreciate them!

I do have a few questions regarding the conversion of my bus in case anyone could help me:
1. Like I said in my previous thread (before I bought the bus), it has a slight lean on the left rear side to by about 1.5" to 2" when compared to the right side. KC10 thought it might have been a factory defect. The weird thing about this issue is that the leaf springs on the left side seem to be more in-tact than the leaf springs on the right side. Am I missing something? If the leaf springs on the right side need some attention, shouldn't that be the side the bus leans to, not the opposite?

2. The previous owner left two seats in the bus, one of which has a heater below it. Am I correct that if I disconnect it, I'll have a few gallons of fluid all over my floor? I'd like to avoid this and not take the heater out, but it's a short bus and every inch of spare space adds up! I was thinking maybe I could take an angle grinder and just cut off the top part of the seat and leave the heater there? It's in the same place where I want to build my bunks, so maybe I could just grind the top of the seat off and build over the heater. Any thoughts/advice?

Many thanks in advance, I appreciate any and all the help I can get.

IMHO, if you want to leave the heater, I would recommend that you'd take off the seat all together and then build your bunk beds.

Happy New Years everyone.

 

[timbuk]

shortbus that heater will be hooked into your cooling system with hoses running down the frame into the heater core remember that is the seat that you would run for when you were a kid and it was cold in the bus that was always the warmest seat if you remove the heater you will have to delete the heater hoses and block off the connections in the heater system looks cold where you live maybe you should keep it in maybe build over it and remove the seat like roasting 8 suggested as for the lean you could cut another leaf and add it to the existing leafs but you may have to change the u bolts that would be the cheapest hey that bus looks great for the money! live it love it!

 

[odyssess]

I took out my rear heater in my shortbus because it didnt work, but I wish I had replaced it and built around it. It may come in handy if you can work around it. Congrats and good luck.

 

[bus-bro]

If there are isolation valves for the heater coolant circuit at the engine, close them and drain the coolant at that location (after the valves). When you disconnect a heater, bypass the heater inlet and outlet connections (i.e. connect the hoses). That way your coolant loop can supply any othe heaters in the loop.

 

[Roasting8]

IMHO, if you want to leave the heater, I would recommend that you'd take off the seat all together and then build your bunk beds.

If it wasn't a messy job, I'd probably take it out, but at least it shouldn't be in the way too much if I decide to put the bottom bunk right over the top of it. I'm just curious how those leather seat cushions are attached to the seat frame, it's dark out right now otherwise I'd take a look for myself. I'm thinking if I can somehow get both of the cushions off, then all I'll have to do is take a grinder or hacksaw or something and chop off the frame for the back cushion. Then (I think) I should be left with a flat seat frame with the seat heater below that I will be able to build over without hassle.

If the seats are attached like the big buses, all you have to do is unbolt the seat from the floor. You'll find that the bottom part of the seat is angled towards the back, making it difficult to make a bed out of it (I may be wrong).

Good luck with the bus.

 

[reprobate]

Welcome home. Can't wait to see the progress.

 

[Roasting8]

Man, I can see why you didn't want to take out that seat with the heater. Most big buses have their seats separate from their heater, which makes seat removal easy.

Looking into my crystal ball; I see a bed over that heater or is it another seat, I'm kind of hazy there.

So far you're doing good and you'll probably have that bus on the road in no time.

Best of luck and don't be afraid to ask questions (OMG, I'm beginning to sound like a moderator :shock: ).

Robert

 

[bbkid]

sorry to hear about your trouble man, but out of curiosity, do you have cummins tool sales where you live?? if you do you could pick up a grinder for pretty cheap. and they do have midrange quality ones about on par with my dewalt, and one of those should last you fine but not cost anywhere near $70. if your looking at the ones that cost that much i suggest atleast going to a different store. most good manufacturers make ones that are mid-level quality. and like i said one of those should last and save you money compared to renting one whenever you need it.

 

[phillbus914]

My $15 angle grinder worked great taking out rusted bolts on my floor. I got it at harbor freight. It's 3 and a half years old and it still works, even after all my seats and anything else that's slowed me down. I even used it last summer to take the brake drums off my sisters 02 Taurus - that was funny... I'd never tried that before, but it worked great.

With an angle grinder you'd have knocked the heads off those stubborn screws in seconds. They also have sanding disc's you can get for it, it sands away rust very quickly.

Wear eye and ear protection and don't be afraid of the sparks.

 

[bbkid]

My $15 angle grinder worked great taking out rusted bolts on my floor. I got it at harbor freight. It's 3 and a half years old and it still works, even after all my seats and anything else that's slowed me down. I even used it last summer to take the brake drums off my sisters 02 Taurus - that was funny... I'd never tried that before, but it worked great.

With an angle grinder you'd have knocked the heads off those stubborn screws in seconds.

Wear eye and ear protection and don't be afraid of the sparks.

only thing i've noticed about the cheap grinders is quality control. some work great for just as long as the expensive ones. some burn up within a couple uses, it all depends on that particular grinder's build quality.

 

[bbkid]

Thank you guys for your posts. Unfortunately we haven't got a Cummins Tools Sales or a Harbor Freight around here (actually until I joined this forum, I'd had never even heard of those two places!) The local Sears store has an angle grinder for $27. The only thing I'm iffy about is that if I use a grinder to cut off the heads of screws, the shanks will still be left somewhere in body of the bus and if I want to put whatever it was that I took off back on, I'll have to probably re-drill new holes and put new screws in.

Do you guys know if an angle grinder could be used to cut the vinyl/rubber floors in my bus as well? (I'm thinking I could kill two birds with one stone this way.) I mean, if they can cut through metal I guess naturally I'd think vinyl/rubber wouldn't be an issue, but I've been wrong on seemingly-obvious things before :? .

let me just put it this way: an angle grinder will cut through almost amything. but if you cut those floors with it, make sure to have a fire extinguisher on hand and ready. you'd be best off to use a skill saw with a fine tooth blade set to about the thickness off the vinyl. but to be honest, that stuff does get brittle. you may be able to use like a roofing shingle remover to remove it. i've used them on cheap linoleum floors with good results.

 

[phillbus914]

Will the rubber easily separate from the wood? Mine pealed off with very little effort, I'm sure mostly in part because the wood was so rotten under it. Once that's up, I cut out parts of the wood then put a long pry bar through the hole - under the wood and pulled it and cut it out of there. It wasn't that bad.

 

[phillbus914]

Well that stuff you've got up so far doesn't look to be in that bad of shape... is it?

Maybe just get a big roll of vinal floor and put that on top of whats there and call it good.

In my case the rubber pealed off by hand, and after what I saw under it I had to replace the plywood. Which is why I always recommend replacing the wood on the floor (or at least getting a good look at it) If it's that stubborn to come out though and it doesn't look that bad I'd just leave it.

 

[behappystupi]

Maybe they were cargo tie downs originally?

 

[bbkid]

a couple things here for you. first off, depending on how widely spaced they are from front to back, they appear to be the tie down holes for a regular van seat, only i'm not able to see the little bar that a seat would latch on to. the reason i think this is that it does indeed appear that atleast the middle sectoin of your floor is from a regular chevy van. maybe they used it for the middle then extended it left and right when building the bus? not 100% on any of this, but that's certainly what the pictures suggest to me.


-chase

 

[the_experience03]

Good advice given above...

Check to make sure that CTS isn't the reason your coolant is low. If it's gone there should be a geyser of coolant coming out somewhere. Your gauge would also...er...fail to work.

About the rear leaf springs...that is a project you really can do by yourself. I know it sounds scary, but rest assured it is not.

1. Block the front wheels and then jack the frame of the bus up until the tires are no longer touching. Place jackstands under the frame.

2. Place a jack under the differential and put a jackstand out on each side. The stands don't need to be touching, but should be close.

3. Unbolt the u-bolts from each side. You're looking at 4 nuts each. Your new grinder might be quicker than using a wrench anyway and you're not reusing the old u-bolts.

4. Lower the axle down onto the stands with the jack. It shouldn't have had to go more than maybe 1-2 inches so brakelines and the driveshaft shouldn't be an issue, but pay attention just in case.

5. Grind the heads off the shackle bolts and the spring hangers. Drive them out the otherside with a punch and a BFH. If worst comes to worst just start hacking with the grinder until the springs come free, even if it means cutting the spring. Just don't damage the hanger or shackle.

6. Hang the new springs with new greased shackle and hanger bolts. Torque them down good, but it should be a self locking nut. Don't overdo it.

7. Jack the axle back up off the stands and install 2 new u-bolts per side. I want to make sure you remember to use NEW u-bolts. Hammer those suckers down...you're probably looking at 200-250 ft lbs each on them.

8. After a hundred miles or so just retorque everything.

I can't remember whereabouts in Minnesota you said you were, but your best bet is probably going to be Husky Spring in St. Cloud. They will build you a new pack or even just rework your old one if you want. They will also bend you up the u-bolts you need and will be able to bush the springs for you. We have one of their shops up here in Virginia and they've done good work for me. The owner of the company is a good guy and I don't think you will be disappointed with the service and pricing you receive. [/shamless plug]