Hello from BC, Canada!

[teambadass]

So, I actually own a bus now. Terrific and terrifying at the same time. This is it: A Bluebird with a DT466 engine in it, and a seven speed manual transmission? (New to me, for sure). Just over 200,000 original kms on it, and the engine was recently rebuilt anyway. I took a picture of it, but I can't get it to upload, but it's a school bus, so not much new to see there, right?? The plan? Convert this bus into a Skoolie for my daughter and I to inhabit full time, off grid, in various locations. Being that I live in more northern parts than most of you members, insulation is going to be a priority for me. I want wood heat and cooking with propane options, and minimal solar electricity - enough to run some lights and a computer, and maybe a fridge. I'm planning for my rig to be as low-tech as possible, for various reasons, so if you have low tech ideas to share, please do! I will be doing the majority of the work on my own, with my daughter in my care, so progress will be slow, I know, so I'm here to gather helpful tips! I can't even drive it yet, so I have to get my airbrake certification, and in the meantime hire someone to get it off the lot and over to my workspace, which happens to be off grid. So yeah, huge challenges ahead! But I'm into it. Really grateful to be a part of this forum, and super looking forward to sharing this journey of learning with you all! Wahoo!:greetings:

 

[freakn]

Welcome to the madness. where abouts in the West Kootenays are you? I may be able to move your bus for you.

 

[teambadass]

Hey! If this works, that'd b great. I am willing to offer $ to move it, and if u could offer a few driving pointers that would b great. I will msg u with my location deets, see if it can work

 

[teambadass]

Augh ma gawd! We moved the bus! Thank yous Freakn! Such a helpful ossum guy... Anyways! I am stoked because this bus has cargo bays, a keyed front door (feeling super lucky about this!), a ton of speakers on the ceiling, and this sweet ass horn! Am I lucky or what?? What a bus!

, https://www.flickr.com/photos/138353704@N07/24604400570/in/album-72157664463050545/, https://www.flickr.com/photos/138353704@N07/24806604571/in/album-72157664463050545/, https://www.flickr.com/photos/138353704@N07/24782043352/in/album-72157664463050545/, https://www.flickr.com/photos/138353704@N07/24811735951/in/album-72157664463050545/, https://www.flickr.com/photos/138353704@N07/24811823431/in/album-72157664463050545/

 

[teambadass]

And I crawled under the bus to assess the nuts that hold the bolts of the seats in there, and guess what? There are none! Just pointy lil' ends peeking out. Guess I'll try to remove those by myself with a hand tool or two. Feeling stoked!

 

[Roadrunner-SKO]

Hi teambadass, good name. Sweet bus too! Welcome to the best place on the net. Yes it is good and scary at the same time. And no we are not your average people, thank goodness. If you go to the Conversion Tutorials and How-to section and read the 5th post down it tells you how to post pics and videos. You upload them to photobucket or a similar site. It is not too hard. Anyhow congratulations on getting your bus. Now let the work begin. Read all you can on here and ask lots of questions. You can learn so much here. We like to help people here and we LOVE pics. Who ever thought that an old school bus could be so beautiful. Good luck in your new adventure/obsession! Enjoy it all.

 

[teambadass]

Thanks for your input Roadrunner. I'm going to try and do the photos again... It can be confusing for me - I'm a spoiled Mac user who drags n drops everything! ... I try to get stuff done and done well over here, but it's a team effort and player #2 is less than half my height with probably three times my energy! Once I teach her how to use some power tools or upload some pix, we'll be stylin'

And yeah, that bus! I can't believe how much I love it already. I've had my amazing van for about 10 years now, and I never thought I'd find one I loved as much as her but... Damn! What a machine! I get serious permagrin just even thinking out it. :biggrin:

 

[VeldatheWonderbus]

So rad.
It's a steep learning curve, but you can do it! At least, that's what I keep telling myself