1987 international navistar school bus

[EastCoastCB]

It was so ancient, it disintegrated before we could get a pack of papers!

 

[WIbluebird]

The best thing I ever found in a bus was a key fob for a brand new Mercedes. I found it while sweeping out my bus after a late night bar run. Luckily it had the guys name and phone number on the keyring otherwise i would've had a new car :biggrin:

Middle school kids are the worst. They bring all kinds of food on the bus and then throw it anywhere but in the garbage can.

 

[kanijapukka]

Go further in, and pull the cable chases down. I found mold and dirt in all the insulation in my bus towards the back of the bus, but since I was going to replace the ceiling and insulation anyway, it's all coming out- top to bottom.

hmm, I will definetely do that once the floors done. thank you for the picture! Never thought about how nasty a school bus could be.

No salt? Hmmm. What the new thing is even worse-a salty brine like liquid they put down before the storm-rots things even faster.

Another excuse to run from the snow and flee to the south!

Save it to make cushions for the seats in your dining area!

Might make seats stick to bare legs on hot days, might makeover the dashboard or something.

I found a little flash drive on my bus. The kids apparently made a Pizza Hut themed rap video, so I posted it to youtube.... Todd County Ky Representin!

I'm STILL finding candy wrappers and the occasional penny.
My first bus came with a free dimebag of weed that we found in one of the seats.

Hahahaha, thats such a find! It will be stuck in my head all day...
and nice, atleast you know theres no mice! brother found mice had picked at his stash and made a nest of it under the floor boards.... he was blaming everyone else lol.

I found a tube of sunscreen and a bag of new foamy ear pro in the glove box, and a whole bunch of kids crud between the seats, including crushed Chinese Matchbox car knockoffs

I would have love some kind of memorabilia other than my candy garbage.

I found a lot of candy wrappers and old chip bags. Got excited when I saw a zippy bag, but didn't find anything as awesome as EastCoastCB. I took the foam off the seats and saved the scrap metal. Any seat with a hole in it was crammed full of crap.

yeah, kids kids kids. Im surprised I found so many quarters. I would never throw a quarter away! Unless I thought it was the bus fee...

The best thing I ever found in a bus was a key fob for a brand new Mercedes. I found it while sweeping out my bus after a late night bar run. Luckily it had the guys name and phone number on the keyring otherwise i would've had a new car :biggrin:

Middle school kids are the worst. They bring all kinds of food on the bus and then throw it anywhere but in the garbage can.

nice! was he surprised when you returned it to him?
yeah, I found waaay to much gum. Theyre right, that sht never degrades! Maybe I can use it to patch my holes

 

[kanijapukka]

Herlooo, so we haven't given up on our bus, just very busy with babys 1st birthday party and life, and on top of that my laptop with a memory card reader has kicked it, so I cannot show you the pictures I took We are slowly making some progress but also set back discovering TOOOO MUUUCH RUUST in the hardest spots to rebuild. Especially her underbelly. I ended up pushing a screw driver all the way through a rust patch in the front wheel well, and also on a corner of the stairway. We haven't tackled getting out wall or ceiling panels out, but that will come soon.

Is there a point where too much rust is just too much? We don't have any experience with welding or drilling metal. We were going to bolt on new sheeting over the current holes in the back wheel wells and seal with good glue, but knowing that a good amount of weight will sit over that area, I'm not quite sure what will be ok.

In the mean time, does anyone know of any good electrical how to books or RV build/maintanence guides? My internet browsing time is very limited.

 

[milkmania]

I found a little flash drive on my bus. The kids apparently made a Pizza Hut themed rap video, so I posted it to youtube.... Todd County Ky Representin!

I'm STILL finding candy wrappers and the occasional penny.
My first bus came with a free dimebag of weed that we found in one of the seats.

I think these guys got into your dimebag had fun with their productions
NOTE:
"colorful language disclaimer!"

 

[M1031A1]

Is there a point where too much rust is just too much? We don't have any experience with welding or drilling metal. We were going to bolt on new sheeting over the current holes in the back wheel wells and seal with good glue, but knowing that a good amount of weight will sit over that area, I'm not quite sure what will be ok.

This is an opportunity, well, at least in my book. If either of you two know how to sew, then you know how to weld. It's just hotter. At least that's what my grandma told me (yes, she was a welder in WWII, God rest her soul). I've heard this many times from many other people too. From my experiences with sheet metal low heat built up to a good penetration just below blow-through temperature and plenty of rod to ensure good seams takes a little practice - but is well worth the effort! It's extremely effective in replacing rust with solid metal. Look at your bus as an opportunity to learn new and valuable/marketable skills! Just my opinion.....:marshmallow:

 

[Stu & Filo. T]

I think these guys got into your dimebag had fun with their productions
NOTE:
"colorful language disclaimer!"

Nice tune easy to dance to.

 

[kanijapukka]

Hey all, it's been a while since last post but we've been working hard! After the floor was painted the walls were tackled. Grinding down the middle of the rivets and hammering them off didn't work as quickly as I hoped it would, but it was the only thing that we had.
The walls were covered in black tar (asphalteum I now know) and those were scraped and wired wheeled off as well as we could. We couldn't get down behind the railing that the seats were mounted on, but those were insulated in layers with spray foam and rigid foam scraps.

Our floors were roughed up by the scrap metal >;( But atleast the walls are looking good.

At least the bus was happy about being stripped.

Destruction at it's finest.

We needed to remove the windows to reseal them and realized we should have cut behind this piece when cutting out the wall panels. And we caulked behind them too to add more work for us when getting the windows out.

Back panel came out too, ready to be de-rusted and lightbulb housings patched over. After insulation it will back a cool nook for a book shelf.

More pics when I find them. Window frames were repainted and some windows resealed as we figure out which ones to leave out, ceiling is getting cleaned up from the asphalteum tar and getting ready for paint. We're having freakishly high temps for NY for december (forcasted 70 for christmas eve?!?) so hopefully we'll have enough time before real cold hits to seal everything up and insulate.

 

[kanijapukka]

some updates...

Posting a few pictures of what we've been up to with the bus.

For the third time, removed windows that will be covered up with sheet metal. Here's an idea of how passenger side will look with the windows covered. Same on the other side. Thinking about leaving one or two more windows in the back passenger side (where the bed& bunk will be) and an extra on to the kitchen. Looking for clear covers for the front flashers to use when we need some more light when parked.

Layout idea with ssssss ketchup. I've been playing around with this for a month or so getting sick of finding crayon scribbles all over my graph paper layouts. The lime green is highlighting where there will be original bus windows, the rest will be sheeted over. Cab still has all windows. Bunk will be slightly lower than the top of the windows to give more space up top, so would have to squeeze our hands behind the frame to open/close the windows.

Old muffler was rusted out, so here is what we came up with. Might get a bigger muffler, but it is a lot more quieter then it was so...

The caps don't go any farther out then the mirrors.

This is the dining area, seats will be moved forward a bit more.

Hearth, Kitchen & bathroom side.

Set up to cut 4X8 sheet metal to use to cover the windows. Actually cut the length today, sandwiched in 2x4s, clamped, and cut carefully with an angle grinder. I didn't get pictures of the process but I will get pictures later.

 

[Kubla]

Having the exhaust pipes stick out like that is a very bad idea and is illegal, mirrors are exempt from width laws, the exhaust pipe is not, and you will hit them on something, like the car next to you. If you want big chrome tips sticking out, run the exhaust out the back end of the bus. Also there is a reason that the exhaust on a passenger vehicle goes all the way to the back, if you drive with windows behind the exhaust open, you will get fumes into the bus while you are driving, not a good thing

 

[kanijapukka]

Having the exhaust pipes stick out like that is a very bad idea and is illegal, mirrors are exempt from width laws, the exhaust pipe is not, and you will hit them on something, like the car next to you. If you want big chrome tips sticking out, run the exhaust out the back end of the bus. Also there is a reason that the exhaust on a passenger vehicle goes all the way to the back, if you drive with windows behind the exhaust open, you will get fumes into the bus while you are driving, not a good thing

We plan to extend them to the roof eventually because we like the amount of space we opened up in the back to hold some tanks &storage. Before we put the muffler on they didn't stick out, but we threw it on there to make it legal soundwise. I will look up the laws for NY to see what they say about the distance, all I have read so far is very vague. The tips are to divert the draft by the way, thinking back pressure would slow us down. Wouldn't really need that in the back. Thanks for the input though.