FlyingDutchman737
New Member
Hey everyone, this is my first post on this website. I’m a 24 year old pilot and have wanted to build a skoolie for some time and finally pulled the trigger. This is Altara (Alternate to Air Travel). This is my 2006 Thomas Saf T Liner C2. I found this bus on the local Facebook marketplace. It was just down the street from where I live so I decided to go take a look at it. I was not expecting to purchase the bus but after seeing how good of shape it is in I ended up purchasing it. The bus has a Mercedes 906 with 137k miles. The chassis are almost rust free and the body is straight with no damage. My plan is to totally rebuild this thing into a well insulated beast that can handle 100° Texas heat with no issues. I have finished gutting the interior (including the dash) and will be replacing all side windows with double pain windows on fresh sheet metal. I also have a custom utility deck that was welded to the bumper in a way it does not interfere with factory crash physics (in theory this should be easier to insure but we’ll see). The main picture I added is a little old but it’s the best one I have for a cover photo. As you can see on the second picture I have removed stop signs and painted the roof. As I’m sure a lot of you know these are notorious for having JCAN multiplex electrical issues because they were one of the first models to have it implemented from what I have researched. Mine is nothing better. For the past few months the bus has been in the shop to fix the gauge cluster not working. So far no luck but we seem to have narrowed the issue down to a wiring loom coming from somewhere from the back of the bus to the CHM computer. I believe this is the reason the bus was sold at auction in such good shape due to no one wanting to try and fix the electrical gremlins. Thanks to this website I found a wiring schematic someone uploaded for this model bus. I’m sure I will be able to fix the issue and it’s just a matter of time. I’m excited to start building out the interior and this is a very strong bus with a lot of life left once the electrical is fixed. If anyone has had experience with these I appreciate any feedback!
