a bus named gypsy bird.... im serious

[Wutm8]

... thats what happens when you let your 3 year old daughter name the bus. my daughter is named after a bird, nick named bird and her mothers always been called gypsy.... thus the name. I dont have a better idea, but i am still determind to change her mind before this is all over, if it was up to me... it would be bus.. or the bus

1997 bluebird tc2000 8.3l, we have 3 months to get it all done... well i..i have 3 months, as i'll be the one doing the conversion. this will be our new home, a brain condition, a fww surgeries and 2 years out of work have made this a necessity.... lucky for me we are all super stoked about it. plan to go from state to state working seasonal jobs. have a few lined up which is good news but if anyone has any recommendations for a family of 6 ( me, my daughters mama, my devil child, 2 pits and a cat) let me know! ill use this thread to document the conversion. i have no skills, no nun chuck skills... no ninja skills... to help in this, so ill do what i can and hire help for the things i cant figure out. So feel free to give me tips if you think of any. i i think we have a reasonable budget and should be able to have a pretty comfy place in the end.

i picked the bus up from colorado a few days ago, a 79 tc2000 40' ft bluebird.

first pic is me and my uncle in grand junction, i stopped by to see him and my aunt on my way to phx

near vail

moab ut

 

[Tango-SKO]

Welcome to the madhouse! --- Looks like a pretty solid rig you found there and CO buses have a rep for being well equipped and maintained. Let us know what engine & tranny and if it has a retarder as many mountain rigs do.

Best of luck on the build and don't hesitate to pick brains here. Some of these folks have some pretty impressive skills.

 

[Wutm8]

Thanks a lot angle! It's got an Allison Transmission but I can't remember which. It's an 8.3 liter Cummins with 160k miles on it. Drove down like a dream from Colorado accept the oil cap came off and oil went everywhere. Got the engine cleaned up and I'm going in for an oil change soon. Other than that no issues with it, yet anyway

 

[Wutm8]

Hey guys, also we are in Phoenix. We've got a large space where we are keeping our bus with plenty of room so if anybody wants to come and we can do some work on the buses let me know

 

[mdeese]

Mighty fine looking rig, I look forward to following your build. It seems like we are both getting started at about the same time.

 

[Wutm8]

Mighty fine looking rig, I look forward to following your build. It seems like we are both getting started at about the same time.

Awesome man! If you have a thread doing let me know would love to follow along

 

[TAOLIK]

Welcome to the community, awesome bus you have there.

Moving in in 3 months? Not a day to waste! God speed to you, good sir.

 

[Wutm8]

Welcome to the community, awesome bus you have there.

Moving in in 3 months? Not a day to waste! God speed to you, good sir.

No Joke! Thanks a lot taolik

 

[Wutm8]

hey guys, only had about an hour and a half to do stuff today and only got the chairs on the engine cover and 2 additional chairs out.. i wont have another chance until monday, lucky for me i have a lot of time Monday and the chairs were much easier than expected.

having only seen videos on youtube of pairs of folks getting the chairs out i was a little worried about doing it myself and thought i'd have to recruit some help but figured out a way to get them done in less than 10 min per chair.

i went the axle grinder route, chopped off the heads and then grinded them down until i could punch the rest of the bolt out with a punch and hammer

after that all i need was a 12mm wrench to take off the bolts that held the chair to the side of the bus. was expecting this to be much harder but going this route was super simple. most of you have already gone through this but i couldnt find much in regards to youtube (my go to for diy) so ill probably post something later for those needing to take this on themselves.

will get the rest of the chairs out monday then onto floor removal... siding, the roof and old insulation... its all coming out. we'll see how far i get monday.. really hoping to have at least the chairs and floors out.

last thing, i only had these safety items around

seemed to be fine enough but i will be upgrading to a respirator as the little mask seemed somewhat useless... anyway, not much in regards to fumes but there was a ton of debris flying around.

 

[Rameses-SKO]

I was hoping you'd pick that one up. That was a good buy.

I know you said the engine noise on an FE wouldn't bother you, but now that you own an RE you can admit it... Having the engine that far away from you is pretty damned nice when you're cruising down the road, right? :biggrin:

edit: Oh! I almost forgot to add... Be careful with your windows while using the grinder. Sparks will burn/melt the glass and create a speckled and rough finish on the glass. Hang something in front of them, or open the windows and drape something over them while you're making sparks.

 

[Wutm8]

Thanks rameses, I don't think I would have bought it if it wasn't for you guys.
after driving it from Colorado although I'm sure I would have been okay with the noise having the engine that far back made for a better ride. Being that we plan on having our bed about five feet off the ground the engine cover is actually going to work in our favor.
Thanks for the heads up regarding the windows, I'm hoping we get to replace those but there's a good chance it won't fit in the budget so I definitely don't want to screw them up in case

 

[ol trunt]

Another heads up------don't wear a paper respirator when you are grinding, they easily catch fire. I learned the hard way. Jack

 

[Rameses-SKO]

Thanks rameses, I don't think I would have bought it if it wasn't for you guys.
after driving it from Colorado although I'm sure I would have been okay with the noise having the engine that far back made for a better ride. Being that we plan on having our bed about five feet off the ground the engine cover is actually going to work in our favor.
Thanks for the heads up regarding the windows, I'm hoping we get to replace those but there's a good chance it won't fit in the budget so I definitely don't want to screw them up in case

Yep, that's pretty common to put the bed over top of the lower part of the engine enclosure. I'm going to put mine oriented side-to-side in the bus and use the upper part of the engine enclosure as a bedside table on that side of the bed.

I'm leaving the skoolie windows in mine. I just like the way they look. I can't remember who it was, but I remember seeing somebody on here that built insulated panels that slid up over the windows for when you don't necessarily need/want sunlight or a view. I'll see if I can find that thread.

Another heads up------don't wear a paper respirator when you are grinding, they easily catch fire. I learned the hard way. Jack

I'd never even considered that as a possibility before.

Another note about respirators... There are a whole bunch of different kinds of filters with different ratings that can be attached to the mask part of the respirator. The two most common kinds are a rectangular plastic box and a round pink fabric disc. The rectangular box kind is a dust filter. They work great for grinding, sanding, etc. The pink fabric kind is rated for dust as well as chemical fumes. They cost a bit more (if memory serves me correctly) but are worth it if you're working with any kinds of chemicals. Gasoline, degreaser, acetone, epoxy, anything like that, you can't smell it while you're using it and you don't get that raw throat feel that happens if you're around it long enough.

 

[Wutm8]

Yep, that's pretty common to put the bed over top of the lower part of the engine enclosure. I'm going to put mine oriented side-to-side in the bus and use the upper part of the engine enclosure as a bedside table on that side of the bed.

I'm leaving the skoolie windows in mine. I just like the way they look. I can't remember who it was, but I remember seeing somebody on here that built insulated panels that slid up over the windows for when you don't necessarily need/want sunlight or a view. I'll see if I can find that thread.




I'd never even considered that as a possibility before.

Another note about respirators... There are a whole bunch of different kinds of filters with different ratings that can be attached to the mask part of the respirator. The two most common kinds are a rectangular plastic box and a round pink fabric disc. The rectangular box kind is a dust filter. They work great for grinding, sanding, etc. The pink fabric kind is rated for dust as well as chemical fumes. They cost a bit more (if memory serves me correctly) but are worth it if you're working with any kinds of chemicals. Gasoline, degreaser, acetone, epoxy, anything like that, you can't smell it while you're using it and you don't get that raw throat feel that happens if you're around it long enough.

I'm sure I'll be working with all of that so it's worth getting one, thank you. I'll check Amazon as soon as I'm out of work.

We definitely want to keep all the windows and the school bus look as much as possible I just worry about the insulation Factor. Was going to look into switching them out with a double pane version if possible. We are looking into raising the roof as well but hoping to do under the windows as to not drastically change the overall look of the bus

 

[Rameses-SKO]

Here's a link to the insulated window covers I was talking about...

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f10/making-your-existing-windows-warmer-15931.html

 

[Rameses-SKO]

We are looking into raising the roof as well but hoping to do under the windows as to not drastically change the overall look of the bus

That's exactly what I'm doing too. If you notice, when you're standing up in the bus, the windows are kinda low, and all you can really see is the ground right outside. I'm going to raise my roof 8-10 inches and take the windows up with it. That also adds enough room under the windows to for cabinets and countertops with backsplash without overlapping the windows.

 

[El Tanke]

any admin please PM me,

 

[Rameses-SKO]

Here's the only roof raise I've found that was done below the windows. I think it looks great.

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/roof-raise-complete-as-of-08-13-2014-a-9478.html

any admin please PM me,

What's up? Welcome to the party.

 

[El Tanke]

I did one as it happens. Trying to post a build thread but it keeps getting deleted.

 

[Rameses-SKO]

That looks great!

I think I'm going to raise the front cap on mine to keep all the lines straight. The sloped roof looks good on yours though, with it being a conventional.

I think the thread not working has to do with your post count. I believe there's a minimum post count to be able to start a thread. You know, to keep spambots from starting threads about how to make your johnson bigger and stuff.