32 Foot Pusher - Poli

[Remington-SKO]

Meet Poli, from Thermopolis, Wyoming!

2003 BlueBird All American, Cummins 8.3 ISC & Allison MD3060_R

146k miles and 7200 hours. Featuring a center mounted 100 gallon fuel tank, underbody storage bays on both sides, an Air Foil, factory front door lock, air brakes, air ride, block heater, battery tender, full service records and all manuals, bus-watch camera system w/ dvr

The bus is in fantastic condition. There is minor surface rust in a few areas but overall it's super clean. Much better than my other bus from CO.

I picked up Poli for an auction price of $5200. After taxes/fees, travel to & from Wyoming this cost me about $7k total. A high price compared to my first bus which I bought for $2500 back in 2017! But this bus checks all the boxes for me, so I had to get it.

I've always liked the idea of a rear engine bus and so far all my expectations have been met. Such a smooth and quiet ride! I think 10 window is the absolute shortest rear engine skoolie that is realistically attainable. It's definitely the shortest I have seen! Outside of proper coach/transit or gilligan phantoms.

I never thought I would get a bus this size but on my 1200 mile drive home I didn't have any issues driving it. It took a bit to get used to the flatnose riding position and air brakes but I can honestly say I prefer both of those now.

My other bus is a 24 foot long conventional. So now with a 32 foot flatnose its 8 feet longer but nearly 12 feet more interior space. I'll have a harder time maneuvering the new bus, but it will also feel more like a home.

I have big dreams for this conversion. I'll be doing a roof raise and spray foam insulation this time around. Also I will be documenting this entire build on video. Really excited to get started!

 

[Remington-SKO]

Got the bus seats removed! This was way easier than my last bus. I just tightened the bolts with an impact and the majority of the heads broke right off.

Had to use a cut off wheel for a few. Also my last bus had that t-slot track in the floor which was an absolute nightmare. Really appreciated not having that this time around.

The next steps will be preparing for the roof raise, and hopefully finding a covered place to do it in. I dont feel great about attempting a roof raise outdoors in WA this time of year

 

[nikitis]

Good Youtube production quality.


I never thought to over tighten the bolts to remove them, now I wish I could try it. Come to think of it, I did have a couple of heads break off when loosening them because there was 28 years of rust on them. We did the hard way with wife under the bus and me up top torquing by hand with a socket wrench. Had to be me on top because the wife didn't have the torque strength in her arms to remove by hand.



The only thing We found between the seats on ours was a un-eaten tootsie roll pop, and a vape stick. Kids...


I also find it interesting you removed the seat pads on each one first. I removed mine without touching the seat pads, but I had room to use a drill with extender for the wall bolts.

 

[Remington-SKO]

Good Youtube production quality.


I never thought to over tighten the bolts to remove them, now I wish I could try it. Come to think of it, I did have a couple of heads break off when loosening them because there was 28 years of rust on them. We did the hard way with wife under the bus and me up top torquing by hand with a socket wrench. Had to be me on top because the wife didn't have the torque strength in her arms to remove by hand.



The only thing We found between the seats on ours was a un-eaten tootsie roll pop, and a vape stick. Kids...


I also find it interesting you removed the seat pads on each one first. I removed mine without touching the seat pads, but I had room to use a drill with extender for the wall bolts.

Yeah I'm really happy I picked up on that tip to overtighten the bolts, it worked like a charm. On my first bus I did the same as you, I was down under and my dad was uptop. Unbolting them one by one. But honestly, that was a walk in the park compared to DRILLING out every single screw which held in that t-track stuff all throughout the floor lol.

But the over tightening method was especially useful on this new bus, as my 100 gallon fuel tank and underbody storage would have been a real pain to work around to try and unbolt them from underneath.

Man, finding vapes in an old school bus is a sad site I must say these Wyoming kids were pure. Hotwheels and rockstar pins only haha.

I might have been able to undo the chair rail bolts without removing the cushion but it was a lot easer for me to get my hand under there through the seat frame. Also my socket would fall off trying to stick it between the seat cushion and the wall. It was a tight fit

 

[desrtdog]

Removed the t-shot tracks on my bus by cutting the plywood floor on each side of the rail, punching the center core of the rivets out, and using a sawzall to cut the rivets…drilling was not an option due to the hardened core. Went pretty quick once I landed on this, but did leave me with almost 600 holes in the floor to plug.

 

[s2mikon]

You will love the retarder in the mountains. I know I love mine.

 

[nikitis]

My bus predates t-tracks. Every seat had 4 bolts bolted through the foor, 8 bolts total per seat.