Buscapades

[FuzzWantsABus]

Hey all! I've been lurking for a few months now. I finally found a bus, and am currently on my way back to Colorado from Kentucky with it. As there is a giant snowstorm in the way, I have some extra time on my hands while I wait for the ice to come off the roads. So I figured I'd get started on my conversion thread. My good friend who lives outside of Cincinnati drove me down to pick up the bus, a 2000 International CE w/at DT466E, MT643, air brakes and rear suspension, and cargo bays. It was a wee bit chilly at 9 degrees, but the bus started right up, no problem.

Here's my first peek at her IRL:

Me and the awesome farmer, Ed:

My good friend Johanna and I (I'm on the right):

Once I got things figured out (I've never driven a bus before....*gulp*), I got headed out towards St. Louis. I stopped at a truck stop for gas--yet another learning experience.

Once I made it into St. Louis, I learned about the crappy weather coming. My one front tire was almost entirely bald, and the other front had maybe 30% tread remaining. I found an awesome tire place that put on two new front tires for me, and let me keep the better of the old ones as a spare.

I got back on the road just in time to be stuck in the ice storm and sit on I-70 at a dead stop for 2+ hrs. I finally got off the highway and got parked, and my cousin came and rescued me. I'm waiting at their house now--hopefully tomorrow things are better and I can get headed home.

When I get home, I'll get more pics of the bus up. Everything looks really good as far as I can tell, with only a small amount of surface rust on some of the hinges, etc. We'll see what it looks like after I start tearing down.

My intent is to build towards eventual full-time living. I'm single, and have a small dog and two cats, which I will have to try to figure out how to incorporate into living in the bus (litterbox, etc). My plans in general include a roof raise, 4+" of spray foam insulation, walling off the driving area completely (or possibly using a pocket pass-through door) and using the side emergency exit as the "main" door, an Incinolet, double bed (maybe murphy-style), and solar/generator/shore power.

My skills are not great, but I have some awesome friends I will be recruiting to the task. I am plundering shamelessly from ideas on the forum, and am excited to see how things come out in the future.

Any feedback and suggestions are always welcome, and thanks to all who share their knowledge freely!

Edit: Not sure why the pics aren't linking. Here's the link to the album until I get it figured out: Bus Photos

 

[Carytowncat]

Welcome, glad you are here

She is a beauty! and wowie look at those brand spankin new fronts
Good to treat ourselves

Funny it took me a minute to realize being from Colorado makes you no strange to snow storns lol Glad to read you are safe and with good folk. Buses seem to summon the best of more people. I suspect deep down most people secretly admire and wish to live Skoolie too.

Looking forward to seeing what unfolds with the bus build.


PS. Many here have furry companions and i know a particular lady Cat who adores her new bus home

 

[AlleyCat67]

I can't remember now where I saw it but somewhere I saw something where they cut an opening in the stairwell and made provisions for the cat litter box there... so it's out of the way but still easily accessible both for the cat and for cleaning.

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

Cats

I knew if I posted about cats, folks would come out of the woodwork. I've tried searching the forums for info, but it can't tell the difference between felines and engines, and I didn't have the patience to wade through all of the results.

I'm rattling around ideas of building a custom sized box under furniture (i.e. couch), and possibly making a dog kennel on top of it. Who knows! The awesome thing about building stuff from scratch is you can do whatever makes the most sense for you.

 

[Tall Grass]

How come i can't see the photos?

 

[WanderWoman-SKO]

I'm living full time on my bus with 2 chihuashuas and a huge maine coon cat. I have his box up under the dash for now. We've been full-timing it for 7 weeks now and we're loving it!

Sandi
www.thismidwifetravels.com

 

[dalez-SKO]

I have a litter robot, it's a huge space waster but it looks cool and I dont have to scoop daily

 

[WanderWoman-SKO]

I have a litter robot, it's a huge space waster but it looks cool and I dont have to scoop daily

I've thought about one of those. I currently have a massively tall cat box with a top entry to keep my poop eating chihuahuas out of it!

 

[WanderWoman-SKO]

I can't remember now where I saw it but somewhere I saw something where they cut an opening in the stairwell and made provisions for the cat litter box there... so it's out of the way but still easily accessible both for the cat and for cleaning.

I saw that on Pinterest the other day, but can't find it... but I did find this blog, apparently written by a cat, LOL. And they have some ideas on there for a cat box place and other cool stuff. Bus Renovations: A Cat’s Purrrfect RV Litter Box | Technomadia

Sandi

 

[AlleyCat67]

That might be the one I looked at, sounds vaguely familiar......

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

How come i can't see the photos?

As to the photos....I have no idea why they don't work. If you right click, and choose "open photo in a new tab," it seems to open just fine.

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

I saw that on Pinterest the other day, but can't find it... but I did find this blog, apparently written by a cat, LOL. And they have some ideas on there for a cat box place and other cool stuff. Bus Renovations: A Cat’s Purrrfect RV Litter Box | Technomadia

Sandi

This is awesome! I'm definitely going to keep this in mind. I had been thinking about the venting myself, so it's good to know that others have found ways to do it.

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

Finally home!!

Gosh what a relief to be home. I didn't even mind having to shovel a foot of snow out of the driveway before I could get Buscapades into the yard. She fits better than I expected, and is now all settled in so that the real work can begin! So excited.

Also....Anyone know why the photos won't link? They're in Google photos. Too big, maybe?

Anyway, if you right click, and click "open in new tab," they seem to open fine.

 

[WanderWoman-SKO]

Glad you made it home safe!

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

Glad you made it home safe!

Me too! Thanks.

I had to work my real job today, but hopefully tomorrow if I get off on time, I'll take some overall pics of the bus, and some of the smaller issues I've found thus far.

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

Finally--Started!

It wasn't a big start, but it was a start. I got a bunch of photos taken today, mostly trying to document her overall condition, and things that will need to be fixed. Some small amounts of rust, nowhere important. Small dings, also nowhere important. All the cargo bays are locked, and can't be opened. I guess I'll have to drill out the locks?

I got all the benches out today before I ran out of light. Hopefully tomorrow I can get to grinding. I've never done it before, so hopefully it'll go ok. I'm a little concerned about how to get the bolts out of the chair rail, since they're down in a channel and harder to get at. We'll see!

All photos are here.

Some selections (I started using Photobucket, I hope this works):

 

[GreyCoyote]

We found the magic answer for getting those seat rail bolts out quickly is this: put a deep socket on an extension attached to an impact. With a big screwdriver have Friend pry back the seat foam from the wall and stick the socket/impact onto the rail bolt from the top. Now you crawl underneath and stick a combination wrench on the nut while holding it on with just a finger. Have Friend spin it with the impact from above. The combo wrench only turns until it hits the wall and then the nut unscrews. No muscle needed, just fingertip pressure to keep the combo wrench from dropping off the nut and the impact does the hard part. The whole thing just falls off when its done. Lather, rinse, repeat, eject seat.

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

Ha! Good to know! Alas, no friend. But I bet I can rig something up to do that myself, it'll only just take a little more time. My limited tools aren't really up to the ginormous task of the bus......All that means is I need to make a trip to HF!

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

Moar toolz

So I went and got more toolz. Still don't have it quite right, but I'm getting closer. I'm still taking seats out. I decided to take some pics of stuff that I haven't really seen, but it's stuff that seems silly (but answers questions I asked myself before I got started).

How do the seats attach to the chair rail? Two bolts, in a u-channel, which means you need an extension on your socket wrench.

How do the seats attach to the floor? Two bolts on each of two legs at the aisle.

What does it look like when you take a seat out? Messy.

How long does it take one person to take a seat out? About 15 minutes. In an hour, two seats and the two front dividers. I hope that the right adapter for my hammer drill will cut that time in half.

 

[Rameses-SKO]

How had I not found this before now?!

You told me you were going to post about your trip back with it, but I never thought to look in this part of the forum. Haha.

Don't drill your locks out! If you look on the lock right next to where the key slides into the lock, there'll be a few numbers and letters which identify the key that goes to the lock. A little digging on the internet and most of the time you can procure a new key for around 10 bucks for those kind of locks.

You mentioned an adapter for a hammer drill... hopefully you're talking about an impact driver? (Impact drivers hammer in a rotational direction, while a hammer drill hammers in and out longitudinally while spinning at a constant speed. Hammer drills are great for drilling in concrete and other masonry, impact drivers are great for breaking loose and tightening nuts and bolts. A hammer drill won't do you much good with a socket attached to it though.)

Glad you got back home safely! That weather could've made things bad!