95 Thomas rear engine

[Jackula-SKO]

I have just returned from our 1700 mile journey from New Mexico where I bought the bus. It is a 95 Thomas with rear engine, 8.3 mechanical with mt643. It has highway gears and cruised at 60-70 the whole way back but didn’t like the mountains of Tennessee, where it consistently did 40 uphill. It gets about 7.7mpg and has 100 gallon tank. It’s from the desert so it has no rust at all and I will be doing my best to keep it that way. Air brakes, and not air ride but it was not as uncomfortable as some people said it would be, and it will probably improve as it gets heavier with the construction.

Being out west was very nice, it was 95 in Clovis but felt like 75 since it wasn’t way too humid like it is around here. It was pretty nice the whole way back until around Tennessee, then it started to get humid. The air conditioning might need recharged and condensers cleaned since it didn’t work very well. We had only one mechanical problem on the whole trip, the oil pressure sender wire came loose so we had indicated no oil pressure. A red stop engine light came on with the buzzer, which seems way nicer than anything computerized. We screwed the wire back on and it was good the rest of the trip. The other non mechanical problem was the cooler slid down the stairs while turning out of the hotel in Nashville and cracked the lower door glass, but that looks cheap and easy to replace.

The plan is to make it full time capable, but it won’t be used for that right away. My appliances will be diesel for cooking and 12v for everything practical for it to be, and shore power can be used when it is available. There will be solar panels on the roof. The interior will be wood paneling like a cabin, but I don’t know what kind of wood yet. I don’t like knotty pine, and all types of clear spruce are way too soft and would dent easily. Heat will be hydronic heater core type, with fans and a valve for each one, heated by engine or coolant heater. Air conditioning I’m not sure yet, it has two of them which are engine driven. I would like to keep them and make them able to be run by the engine or an electric motor.

First thing is to paint it, as it can’t be registered in Maryland if yellow. Also remove the school equipment, and I will put some extreme high beams in the front where those flashing lights are, and regular floodlights in the back for backing at night. Second thing is to install another fuel tank so I can use my centrifuged waste oil. I am an airplane mechanic and get a ton of it for free, and I don’t need to pay $6 for diesel either. Third is spray foam before it gets cold, since that has to be done above a certain temperature. Then I will begin the rest of the build. The layout will be pretty typical, big bed in the back, closets on either side, bunk bed room in front of that for guests and storage, bathroom across from that, and kitchen and living area in front of that.

 

[Alt1]

Great bus. I've got a 98 5.9 12v with a mt643. It sounds like you've got a similar goal and layout as I do. I'm excited to see how your build progresses!

 

[Jackula-SKO]

Yours looks good, does it have air ride as well as the air seat? Mine seems pretty smooth with neither.

As for the progress, all the seats are out except for two which are above the fuel tank so I can’t get to the nuts underneath. I will cut them off, but in order for it to pass inspection is has to be green (pronounced not school bus yellow) so now painting it is the first priority. I took off most of the lights today and scraped off some of the vinyl stickers. Tomorrow I will remove the stop sign and flashing lights and the other things that have to come off to paint around them. I am thinking of trying to sell my interior luggage racks, is that worth doing? I know they are not as common and may be of value to someplace that wants them. If not it’s plenty of straight aluminum tubing for me to use for something else.

 

[magnakansas]

nuts over the fuel tank

I could see the nuts with a mirror. my transmission is kind of in the way... I used this flat bar 3/8 drive it is used for accessing tensioners for serpentine belts. I was able to see/feel when I was able to get onto the nuts. I slid a wedge of carpet between the tank and the socket/tool to holt it up. while I had another person inside turn bolts with battery powered impact tool. I used the same method when I was working over the top of side mount boxes and a/c condensors.

similar methods for when I started bolting new seats and equipment back in.

https://www.harborfreight.com/serpe...73IcifVYhzySSBzu1YrqlCU3mhhFtHocaAq6TEALw_wcB

william

 

[Jackula-SKO]

That looks like a good idea, the problem with mine though is that the air tanks are on either side of the fuel tank right there, and the ac condensers are outboard of those. I was able to reach my arm up over the fuel tank for some of the other ones, but not these. I have a couple of different long special wrenches similar to that one that I can try today.

 

[Jackula-SKO]

Last week I got those last two seats out, I used my extra long snap on box end wrench and my thin alien style arms to reach up there around the air tank to get the nuts while my friend turned the bolts from inside. We took out the luggage racks and the stop sign too, as well as most of the other lights which are in the way of painting. The ground-reachable stickers are all removed, but there are still two large desert-baked ones along the top above the windows that are difficult to reach. We also filled in the seat holes with bondo just in case they count them as holes in the body when it goes for inspection. I will remove the floor and weld them over after that. My paint is here now, I am using Eastwood single stage olive drab. It’s expensive but it’s very good and will last a long time. I just finished making a lean-to style paint booth, and we will be painting it in sections since my air compressor is not massive. Next I need to start sanding the whole bus, one section at a time.

 

[magnakansas]

Jackula

Good to hear you were able to reach the bolts.

william

 

[Jackula-SKO]

I have been making slow but steady progress with the painting. I am using the real deal, it’s expensive but will last the life of the bus or me and look good the whole time. It’s Eastwood single stage urethane battlefield olive drab. 4 gallons seems like it will be enough, which was about $800 with the hardener and reducer. For inspection it has to be about 90% not yellow, so I’m doing the edges of the roof and end caps after that at some point. So far the left side and back are done, and this week I’ll probably get most of the right side done. I still have to cover up the holes where the flashing lights were, and I sanded the sign at the top to make it accurate to what it is. I hope to have it inspected and registered in the next 2 weeks, then I can start driving it around- very exciting

 

[Jackula-SKO]

I got temp tags on Friday, I didn’t have any trouble. I just gave them the title and insurance card and it was all good. I told them it was green. Once I get it inspected I will be able to get the permanent ones. They didn’t give me paper ones, but a real license plate with a sticker that expires next month. I guess only dealers give out the paper ones

 

[Jackula-SKO]

Passed inspection

I painted all the rest of the yellow, and some of the white on the edge of the roof just up to where you can see. The paint was out of stock online until like the end of November, but I called the Eastwood store in Pottstown pa and they had one can left. It was on the scratch and dent sale, it was about 50% off just for having a small dent on the side of the can. The store is in walking distance from the airport, so one of my friends from our airport flew me up there instead of making the 4 hour round trip drive. If you’re painting above the windows, rent scaffolding. I paid $120 a week for 2 weeks and it was definitely worth it.

The inspection was good, I took it to the diesel shop where my friend works. It just had a couple of burned out marker lights and one of the high beams was burned out which he fixed there before they looked at it. The inspector said this was the nicest bus he had ever seen, he said it rode like a Cadillac, and it doesn’t even have air ride. Now that that’s over with I can start taking out the interior metal this weekend and get ready to spray foam

 

[Jackula-SKO]

Since my last post, iv gotten the interior metal all removed and the fiberglass from behind it. I extracted the insulation from behind the chair rail as well, and it’s almost ready for the spray foam. I also changed the oil and added camgaurd. The oil filter on the 8.3 is very large, it took almost a gallon of oil to pre fill it. I took a sample of oil and transmission fluid to send to blackstone labs.

Tomorrow I’ll start removing a few windows and making the new skin for them. I am also expanding the engine compartment under the bed so it will be easier to access from the outside without having to move the mattress. In the first picture, I will build a box around that open area which has more space inside to work than the bottom of the seat that was there. Today I loaded up all the interior metal and seat frames into my friends deuce to take to the scrap yard next week, unfortunately there are no scrap places around here that are open on the weekends. I also got my cool license plates

 

[Alt1]

Keep it up. Looking good.

Im pretty jealous of the underbay. I'm currently working on mine since it had no storage from the factory.

 

[Jackula-SKO]

It’s pretty large, but I will definitely be reinforcing it where the tanks will be. It doesn’t seem like it could hold a ton of weight

 

[Iceni John]

It’s pretty large, but I will definitely be reinforcing it where the tanks will be. It doesn’t seem like it could hold a ton of weight

Instead of using most of your precious underfloor storage bay for tanks/batteries/propane/etc, consider doing what I did. Behind the front axle I hung both my 110-gal fresh water tanks from the frame rails and underfloor longitudinal beams next to the side walls, using ten lengths of 1/2" threaded rod for each tank. The 115-gal grey tank and the 65-gal poo tank are similarly hung ahead of the rear axle. All four tanks are secured at their tops to prevent lateral movement, then the hangers need only hold them up tight against the underside of the floor. By doing this, and by making slide-out trays for house batteries and propane cylinders, I've kept all of my underfloor storage bay free for Other Stuff. So far, so good.

John

 

[Jackula-SKO]

My fuel tank and ac condensers are in front of my storage bay so there’s no more room there, but I moved the spare tire from in front of the front axle and I’ll be making a bumper mounted tire carrier. This gives me a little bit of space there where I was thinking of putting batteries, but I would have to measure and see if I could fit any tanks there. The other thing is it would be hard to plumb the drains all the way up there. The black tank could maybe be there since I’m getting a vacu-flush head which pumps it into the tank.

Today I got started on removing the windows and making the patches, it is really easy on this bus. There are panels between the windows which I’m basically just making wider to cover where the window was. There’s some of that nasty black goo sealant around the edges, but it’s not too hard to pry them off. I’ll try using the wire wheel on the grinder to remove it from the bus. I also got started putting some spray foam from a can into the skinny areas where the real spray foam won’t get to. It’s been hard to get much done during the week when I come home and it’s dark, so I got some lights and hung them up on the ceiling. The 4:45 sunset won’t stop me now

 

[Jackula-SKO]

I finished the spray foam, it’s also about 90% trimmed but the trimmer my dad made broke so I will finish that later. I took it to the airport where I have access to a heated hangar while a plane is away for the whole month for annual inspection. I still have to spray the wheel wells, but I will do that after I take out the floor. See my post “how to be good at spray foam” in the insulation section for more details. I also removed all the wiring for the lights on the back engine door, they were kind of dry rotted and had many splices in them. I installed new wiring and led brake lights and turn signals, and used spiral wrap instead of that awful wire loom stuff. The lights I got from tac bus parts and the spiral wrap from McMaster carr. I cut the wiring for all the door buzzers and then made sure it could still start. On some busses it is integrated into the starter circuit, so you want to be sure before you remove it all. I still need to connect the light wiring to the original harness, but I tested all the wiring I made using a power supply before I put the spiral wrap on. I don’t have a picture of that but they are much nicer than the old ones.

 

[Jackula-SKO]

Recently I got the floor out, and put the air conditioners back up on the ceiling. There was a little bit of surface rust where some of the windows had leaked, which I treated with ospho and will paint this weekend. Then I’ll seal up all the seat bolt holes by gluing sheet metal patches made from the ceiling metal over them. Then I can put the floor insulation down and then the plywood. I still need to spray foam the wheel wells. I also relocated the seatbelt bracket from where it was on the ceiling to a more reasonable height by putting a steel c channel in front of the window for the seatbelt to mount to.

 

[Jackula-SKO]

I have been working on fixing leaks as I find them.I believe I have them all sealed up now except for the roof hatch, which I will be replacing at some point. I recently re sealed the front panels under the windshield, and while that was open removed some more extra wiring and cleaned out a bunch of dust. I also removed all the wiring from the electrical cabinet for things like the under seat heaters, interior dome lights, flashing school bus lights and control box, door buzzers, etc. all that’s left on the switch panel now is the defroster switches and the horn, and I will be making an all new instrument panel and switch panel at some point over the winter. My coolant lines are almost done as well and the diesel heater needs to be connected to fuel and electricity before it gets cold. My first priority now is to install my second fuel tank system for running on used oil, which I hope to be getting to soon. My oil centrifuge has been operational for a year bus I haven’t been able to use any of my oil