1993 Blue Bird in NW IA

[bjornj]

I've been coming to this site since early 2016, we purchased our bus in March and have since been working to turn it into our RV-traveling oasis. Love coming here to see everyone's builds, ideas, and feedback. Looking forward to participating in the community.

 

[BusFiend]

Congratulations! Post some pics so we can drool over our monitors!

 

[bjornj]

Sorry about that! Been trying but kept running into trouble. Usually I'm the guy people ask tech questions but now I'm off to an embarrassing start on the forums . Started uploading them into an album to see if I can post them from there into this thread. Thank you already for the support - why I love this site !

Testing image post via link.
http://www.skoolie.net/forums/members/11044-albums979-picture13721.html

BANSIL: I right clicked on picture and then pasted into img box, the above I just made it hot

 

[bjornj]

3.20.16 - Homecoming pictures

Thanks again for the help, I think I finally figured it out.

Passenger Side Exterior

Captain's Chair

Interior View, rear to front

Interior View, front to rear

 

[lizzabus]

Hey! Congratulations!

My bus is just like yours only it 28' and has a wheelchair door.

Hooray for the flatnosed Bluebirds!

 

[bjornj]

3.30.16 - Start of Demolition

For removal of the seats I went the route of an impact driver and broke the heads of the bolts by tightening them. Had started out with one person under the bus holding the nut while someone inside the bus loosened the bolt. That was more work and once we got to where the rear inside heater unit was, found a large metal shroud/housing protecting it's components (or something else) that was going to be a lot of work to remove.

For the rubber flooring we used a combination of a wonder bar, rubber mallet, and drill where it worked for removing the screws in the metal strips running along the middle of the floor.

View from the rear, seats in back half removed and first layer of flooring.

View from the front toward the rear.

View of the front half of the bus.

 

[bjornj]

Hey! Congratulations!

My bus is just like yours only it 28' and has a wheelchair door.

Hooray for the flatnosed Bluebirds!

Hooray indeed! We fell in love with the flat noses right away!

 

[bjornj]

6.29.16 - Rivet, Wall, & Ceiling Removal

Dirty, sweaty, and tiring is what I call this process! However I'm extremely glad we went the whole 9 yards and removed floors, wall panels, and ceiling panels. We are planning on having our Skoolie for a very long time and making tons of amazing memories...starting fresh is well worth the time invested to ensure we don't have mold growing under our feet or around us as we enjoy the world. The insulation in the walls was all fine, same with the ceiling, but the wood layer of flooring was almost all wet and moldy.

Regarding the process, I used both a hammer drill and grinder for removing the rivets to pull the wall and ceiling panels. The hammer drill worked great on the wall panels which had smaller rivets; easier, cleaner, and a bit faster than grinding. However the ceiling rivets didn't work well at all for a drill bit as they were bigger and differently shaped. There was a center portion portruding out that made it extremely challenging to keep the bit steady/straight. Used the grinder to remove all the rivet heads and pull the panels down on the ceiling.

Then swept it all out, used wire brush attachments for the grinder and drill to remove loose rust, and used a scraper to remove any rubber or sealant left over to have all floor surfaces ready to prime.

 

[bjornj]

7.17.16 - Priming Floor

This was a very exciting day when we finally got to stop removing and demo'ing and start the very beginning stage of construction prep. We started with priming the floor...rustoleum rust preventative primer. We grinded off any loose rust/metal so we could start fresh.

Started priming the floor after grinding off the loose metal/rust:

Floor is primed!

We used JB Weld cold weld sticks (Steel Stik), mix up 2 putty like substances and pushed into all the holes in the floor. Can be sanded, painted, etc. - rock solid and will be using them in other areas of the bus.

 

[CaptainHooligan]

That's a good looking skoolie!

 

[bjornj]

7.29.16 - Sub floor

On to the sub floor! First we laid down 6 mil poly as a vapor barrier between the metal floor and the sub floor. Then we cut 2x4's for bracing and support before fitting in the pieces of 1.5" foam board insulation. Lastly we put 1/2" plywood on top and secured it into the studs. We went with a floating floor so we didn't screw or nail the studs into the metal floor (leaving vapor barrier in tact). Still very happy with this decision!

Poly followed by insulation and studs:

1/2" plywood over top screwed into the studs:

 

[bjornj]

8.1.16 - Painting the Roof

We bought the white paint and clear coat from Bus Kote, paint does it's job on reflecting heat and ended up using more than we thought. Pretty thick stuff so plan extra just in case .

First coat has begun

My wife Britney loving painting the roof

The first coat is progressing

Finished - front

Finished - back

 

[Tango-SKO]

Great start! Keep the pix coming.

 

[CaptainHooligan]

What kind of highway speeds can the bus do?

 

[bjornj]

Unfortunately not very fast. My brother inlaw is a diesel mechanic and he adjusted it to have a little more power and wants to do new fuel injectors. With the original injectors we can maintain 55mph on a flat road. However, small hills slow us down to around 45mph and really steep/long hills down to 35mph at the worst. Then going downhill we get up to 65mph-70mph. I didn't buy a bus to be in a hurry but that certainly was disappointing...hoping to replace the injectors this fall. We'll see how much of a difference that makes.

 

[cadillackid]

Unfortunately not very fast. My brother inlaw is a diesel mechanic and he adjusted it to have a little more power and wants to do new fuel injectors. With the original injectors we can maintain 55mph on a flat road. However, small hills slow us down to around 45mph and really steep/long hills down to 35mph at the worst. Then going downhill we get up to 65mph-70mph. I didn't buy a bus to be in a hurry but that certainly was disappointing...hoping to replace the injectors this fall. We'll see how much of a difference that makes.

I purposely drive mine at 55... drive it any faster and your MPG go way down, you get blown more by wind so more tendency to get sway as you drive, more noise, etc..

traffic passes me on the highways at 55 but in over 5000 miles of driving this way now i have yet to be honked at or get the middle finger from anyone...

its really easy i get i nthe right lane and stay there.. rarely have to pass anyone so its a nice leisurely ride..

I had high hopes about going fast in the beginning.. in fact even bought larger tires when I got new ones.. my bus will max out at 68 MPH engine redlined.. but after driving different speeds and learnign the bus i settled on 55.. my fotts barely on the pedal and i get get over 11 MPG..

people see a school bus on the highway and expect it to go slow.. they see a converted school bus on the highway and expect it to go slower because they just assume its "old"..

-Christopher

 

[bjornj]

I wasn't worried about breaking any school bus land speed records, my most basic goal would be able to maintain 55mph on most hills. If I am able to do a little better than that and drive 60-65 mph that would be fantastic. On the interstate with wider lanes I'm not uncomfortable at those speeds as the bus seems to handle well and I'm willing to sacrifice the mpg when I feel like going a bit faster.

Offending other people isn't on my list of worries either because I drive respectfully and do my duty of being a slow-vehicle driver and pull over if someone has been stuck behind me for a long time with no opportunity to pass (or if the line up behind me gets excessive).