96 International 3800

[sickrunvanyardsale]

Here's the beginning of our conversion project:
Exterior

Interior


Engine Tag


Vital stats:

96 International 3800, Thomas chassis, 22 seats, 11 windows.
57,000 Miles, DT466, 5 speed manual Spicer transmission, 4.44 Rear end.
No school bus lighting or wiring to contend with, 78" ceilings, floor is mat over metal (no plywood).
Tape deck/AM-FM radio, exhaust brake, brakes pads are new, tires look very good.
Seller threw in a new clutch that he had around the shop as a spare part. New manuals.
Seems to be governed at 60 mph in 5th gear with pedal to the floor.
Fuel tank looks small, I know some of his other buses had 35 gallon tanks and I hope that's not the case with this one. I cannot find a tag on the tank anywhere.

Purpose:

Standard skoolie conversion for Alaska travel and possible lower 48 trip next year, ski hauler?? We need more sleeping space than anything else.

Progress so far:

My crew got most of the seats out in a few hours. They came out a lot easier than the seats in our previous short bus.

 

[porkchopsandwiches]

Welcome! Looks like an awesome, clean bus. The High-roof thomas ones are great, mine is like yours but with a rear engine. The DT466 is a great motor, simple and easy to fix. It may be governed by engine speed. Looks like there is minimal if any rust! Great score.

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

Yes, this bus has minimal rust for an Alaskan rig of its age. This bus was run mostly during the summer months and then sat idle during wintertime. I'm open to any suggestions or ideas from folks!

 

[Tango-SKO]

Only three recommendations. Do it your way...make it your own...have fun.

Welcome to the Madhouse & keep the pix coming! Don't hesitate to ask technical & specific questions. Lots of experience here to draw from.

 

[YOLO_bus]

Nice bus!

That is an awesome crew! You're building memories that will last a life time. I wish I would have did a conversion when my kids were younger.

Have you had a chance to calculate mileage yet? I'm thought about looking for a manual as well; for the better gas mileage.

Hope your build goes well!

Yolo

 

[jmar896]

Here's the beginning of our conversion project:
Exterior

Interior


Engine Tag


Vital stats:

96 International 3800, Thomas chassis, 22 seats, 11 windows.
57,000 Miles, DT466, 5 speed manual Spicer transmission, 4.44 Rear end.
No school bus lighting or wiring to contend with, 78" ceilings, floor is mat over metal (no plywood).
Tape deck/AM-FM radio, exhaust brake, brakes pads are new, tires look very good.
Seller threw in a new clutch that he had around the shop as a spare part. New manuals.
Seems to be governed at 60 mph in 5th gear with pedal to the floor.
Fuel tank looks small, I know some of his other buses had 35 gallon tanks and I hope that's not the case with this one. I cannot find a tag on the tank anywhere.

Purpose:

Standard skoolie conversion for Alaska travel and possible lower 48 trip next year, ski hauler?? We need more sleeping space than anything else.

Progress so far:

My crew got most of the seats out in a few hours. They came out a lot easier than the seats in our previous short bus.

Nice bus. Those are cool seat covers on the back. Never saw those before. Let us know your MPG once you got it.
Good luck!
Jake

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

I haven't had a chance to calculate fuel mileage yet. When we picked it up it was located about 5 miles or so from our house so it was a short drive to get it home. It's super clean so far, only found one piece of gum under a seat and that was it for garbage!

 

[gmarvel]

As others have said, welcome to the crazy world of bus conversions. Ask lots of questions. There are great experts on this forum who love to share. Pictures are a must. There can never be enough pictures. Welcome!

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

Thanks for the good words. Seats are all out. We're saving a few to repurpose as a dinette. Now the flooring issue...



The floor is glued down to the metal pretty good. It's still very shiny looking where the glue hasn't stuck to it. We found a pea pod sized bit of rust on the right wheel well.




I read most folks take the rubber mat up to treat rust, etc. would it be a bad idea to leave the mat in place? Also the auxiliary heater... I noticed most folks take it out but being in Alaska... You know, I think it would be a good idea to leave it in?. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[gbstewart]

keep the heaters if you want , you will just have to make your floor plan work around it that's all. as for the rubber floor, I would get rid of it, I think they give off that nice "school bus smell" but that's just me.
gbstewart

 

[Tango-SKO]

Roger keeping the heaters if you are mostly in "cool zones". Most of them are very efficient as well as costly units. Do what works for you.

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

Progress slow but steady. Removed all seats, flooring, and metal trim from floor.


I hated to throw all those seats away in such good condition but I could hardly give the seats away from the last project.


Scraped off as much floor adhesive as we could. Wire wheeled a couple of small rust spots, ground down some MIG holidays I found around the wheel wells. Painted the floor with Rustoleum smoke grey we had leftover from another project and caulked all the screw/bolt holes.


I saved some of the seat back metal to see if I could repurpose it. Next on the agenda is subfloor. First, I have to find a level spot around here. Worst case scenario, I park out in the street during flooring and framing ops.

 

[Crazy]

Nice looking bus. It's great to have all that slave labor...eh hem...I mean little helpers.

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

Pretty short people, some are better helpers than others.
1 inch of EPS covered with 1/2 plywood, fastened to the floor with Teks screws (screws I highly recommend)

I had to cut off the wall metal which was a huge pain in the rear end.

700+ screws later, we had the ceiling metal off. I am very thankful the panels weren't riveted on.

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

All roofing insulation out, nice place to ride the bike during the monsoon season.

A little note left over from the factory.


I had the idea to put the metal roofing panels back up, I'm very hesitant to do this because of condensation at the rib area where it meets the panel. I put some pipe wrap adhesive insulation on the rib where the panel would screw in. I'm wondering if this would have any effect on the thermal break.

I really think I would like to put some luan plywood or other paneling on the ceiling for ease of installation. Putting those ceiling panels back up is a major chore.

 

[sdwarf36]

HEY! No riding bikes in the bus! Wait..I'm a grandfather now--go ahead.

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

A quick update, pics to follow. Built a three seater bench/bed up front with lap belts. Five inch foam for the seat portion and two inch foam for the back, needs covers sewn yet. Put some lauan on the ceiling. Couldn't get it to bend despite all attempts at kerfing and steam/water treatment so we just pieced it together. Looks awful in my opinion but it will work.

Repurposed two bus seats for the dinette/bed. 3/4 plywood for the table top secured to the wall with aluminum style hinge and folding leg underneath. The dinette will also have lap belts installed and enclosed underneath for storage.

Removed some windows and skinned over with 20 gauge cold rolled sheet steel. Riveted in place with 3/16x1/4 wide flange steel rivets. Butyl rubber tape between the skins and channels.

Waiting on more building supplies to arrive via usps...

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

The conversion's been a whirlwind of activity lately. Our biggest problem is our short summer coupled with a maritime climate which typically brings a lot rain. So it's been a lot of cutting plywood and dimensional lumber inside the bus, spending time enjoying the summer doing non-skoolie stuff, fishing, and doing other repair projects around the house. The original intent of this project was to do a conversion with a full plumbing setup, grey water/blackwater tanks, 12 volt potable water/city water connection, full 120/12 volt electrical, refrigerator, stovetop, air-conditioning, etc, etc. We planned on driving down from Alaska to the east coast to visit family with the skoolie but despite having an inordinate amount of leave, work decided it was a no-go on granting an extended absence. So we decided to convert to a minimalist "dry skoolie" setup for camping around the state and use as guest lodging for friends and relatives.

I'd say the biggest improvement we made was sealing all the seams on the roof, windows, and "suspect" leaking seams on the sides with "Henry 212 All Purpose Patch". Then we put two coats of white elastomeric white roofing sealant on the topside. This resulted in total (as far as I can tell through multiple torrential downpours) stoppage of all leaks.

Here you can see the port side double bunk setup with a little built in storage compartment.


The bunk space is approx 30" x 72", large enough for kids or average size adults to sleep and sit up in comfortably. The bottom bunk will be hinged for storage underneath.

Both double bunk setups, very messy inside when this photo was taken.


Dinette built with repurposed seats (doubles as a sleeper), 3/4 plywood table, folding leg, rv wall connection device. Bottom of the bus seats are hinged for storage access, etc.


Countertop with sink and hand pump/city water faucet. Faucet is fed with a water jug underneath in the cabinet underneath the sink. Sink drains into a 5 gallon bucket with lid.


Bench doubles as a sleeper, seats 3, homemade cushions, storage underneath.

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

Toilet closet with window. Standard 5 gallon bucket waste container, nothing fancy.

 

[sickrunvanyardsale]

Finishing the queen bed frame build in the aft of the skoolie tonight. Replaced clearance lights, ID lights, and turn signals with LED units from Amazon/Ebay. Originals were rusted out and leaking. Stop lamps will be replaced with LED units from Amazon, waiting for them to arrive in the mail.