HELP I bought a bus!

[dentarthurdent]

Hi all:

It appears that I have just bought a bus. It's a '90 Bluebird All American 84 pax RE with a Cummins 8.3 and MT643. It's in Pasadena, CA and I am in Oklahoma. Soooo.. I need all the advice I can get for my "go get the bus" trip. I will fly to LAX (I have lots of miles from biz travel) and drive it home - approx 1350 miles. I think I'll ask my brother-in-law if he'd like to go to help with driving. Anyway, any suggestions about what I need to get done before the trip or during the trip would be *really* appreciated. I've really enjoyed reading this site and I am very much looking forward to the conversion adventure.

thx alot!! - Tony

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Call GMAC and insure it first

 

[pete c-SKO]

sounds like a sweet bus. how many miles on it and if you don't mind my asking, what did it cost? if you'd rather not say, that's fine.

 

[dentarthurdent]

It has 206K and I got it for $3,700 - I think it's a pretty good deal.

I now have insurance with GMAC (they beat the pants off of Progressive) and I joined Good Sam and their emergency roadside service.

Any more suggestions or advice are def welcomed! I am really excited about getting it and hope I don't forget something obvious..

thx again - Tony

 

[pete c-SKO]

sounds like a good price. you have what some consider to be the holy grail of drivetrains. that big cummins ought to have alot of life left in it. same with that trannie. good luck. just bring plenty of money for diesel!!! you'll buy a few gallons getting that monster home.

 

[dentarthurdent]

yeah no kidding on the fuel..

I have arranged to have it inspected and serviced by a shop there in CA for my drive home. The seller is replacing one tire but it sounds like everything is in good shape otherwise.

 

[KC10Chief]

WOO HOO! Another Oklahoma skoolie! Where in Oklahoma do you live? I'm in Oklahoma City. There's really not much you can do before you start driving home. Just give it a good look over. I'd take it for a drive before you hand the money over. Make sure it's not over heating, your tires aren't separated and drives fine down the road. That sounds like a nice bus. Excellent motor and tranny! I'm jealous. If you're in the OKC area, I'd be happy to come over and help you gut that baby. I've got an angle grinder! I'm not too bad at painting either.

 

[dentarthurdent]

My nephew and I made it to LA tonight. The shop here serviced the engine, inspected the bus, replaced a serpentine belt, and lubed it up today. Tomorrow AM they are replacing one of the inner dual tires on the rear, then we should be ready to hit the road. We both have obligations back in Oklahoma on Sunday so hopefully the drive home goes smoothly...

Matt - I live near Route 66 and Luther. I work at my home office, but we do our shopping, etc in Edmond. Have you seen Pops in Arcadia yet? I frequent there on the way to the city - very cool place.

 

[dlor1]

Good Luck!

 

[KC10Chief]

I've been to Pops in Arcadia before. I sometimes head out that way and fly my powered paraglider around Luther. Maybe you've seen me out there flying around. My mom lives in Edmond. I'm stationed down the road from you at Tinker. I live on the base as well. I'd sure like to check out your bus when you get it here! Here's a video I shot a couple of months ago from my paraglider. It's the Arcadia, Luther and Edmond area. You can see Pop's, the Round Barn, etc.

 

[dentarthurdent]

Matt - very cool video!

We made it to Flagstaff. We were late getting out of LA because they ended up replacing a couple of wheel studs on the right rear. We were stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half, but once we got clear we were able to make pretty good time. This bus is AWESOME. We are able to cruise on flats at around 65-67mph - slowed to 45 at times on the climb to 6900ft in Western AZ. The only problem we encountered was temps running up when climbing hills. Once I remembered that I could turn on the heaters and heater pump, the heating problems went away. I need to understand if that's normal or maybe the radiator needs a flush?

Anyway, it handles great and is really fun to drive - though the hotel parking lot was a bit of a challenge...

Here she is getting a $4.09/gallon drink...

 

[lapeer20m]

Here she is getting a $4.09/gallon drink...

OUCH!!!!

nice looking bus.

 

[swinada]

yehaa... she looks very nice. Nice wheels, underbelly storage, no rust as it looks like, well taken care of. congratulation on your purchase. !!!!

 

[Griff-SKO]

You owe me a new keyboard & a towel from drooling over your bus! That's one NICE looking bus, Congratulations!

 

[KC10Chief]

When you turn your heaters on, they are just another heat exchanger like your radiator. That's more cooled off coolant going back to your engine thus the lower temps. Any idea what kind of mileage you're getting?

 

[dentarthurdent]

Griff - LOL..

Matt - yeah, I had an old car in college that would overheat a lot - used that trick all the time.

So we made it to Amarillo for the night. We had one incident that kept us in Albuquerque for 3 hours. The oil dipstick had broken before where it had been previously welded and the mechanic in LA was unable to find a new one in time. So we stuck the knob end on the tube and planned to get a new one once home. But today the knob came loose in the engine compartment, oil splattered everywhere and the knob hit the (new) serpentine belt and gouged the back of it.

So we had to top off the oil, clean up the mess as best we could, and find a new belt. Finally, after going three places, and with some great help from AutoZone people, we got a new belt. Fortunately, it only takes a minute to install.

Otherwise, we had a good day driving - the bus is doing great. On the up hill side of the continental divide we got 6.7mpg, but coming down we've been doing a little over 10mpg. That's with cruising between 65 and 70mph.

Off to bed - gotta get an early start tomorrow....

 

[lapeer20m]

i think it is realatively normal for engine temperature to increase when hill climbing. How hot did it get before you turned on the heaters? What was the outside air temp?

this past summer after increasing the engines hp and thus the amount of heat produced, i was getting near 210 degrees on some long hillclimbs along i 80, but the ambient temps were 80 or 90 degrees.

i wouldn't expect a bus to want to overheat when the air temps are in the 50's. You could always add a secondary electric fan to the front of the radiator. Used fan's can be had for nearly free at the scrap yard. The best thing to do with a fan is have it wired to a thermostat to automatically turn on, but alternatively you could just wire it to a switch inside the cab and manually turn it on when you know a hill climb is coming.

 

[dentarthurdent]

The first time it got hot, I wasn't watching the gauge unfortunately - I was looking at traffic. Fortunately when the buzzer went off, there was a pull-off area right beside us so we stopped immediately and let it cool down. From then on, I was watching the gauge like a hawk. I am pretty sure something must not be cooling well enough since the ambient temp was only in the 70s.

Heading out for 5 hours to home...

Thanks for all the kind words and advice!

 

[lapeer20m]

if it got hot enough to set off the temp buzzer i agree that something is not correct. I'm sure you checked your coolant level. I don't have much more advice though.

 

[dentarthurdent]

Yeah the coolant level is good. I guess I'll need to get the radiator checked.

Got home today without incident. It sure looks big in the drive. Fortunately our drive is a long gravel road.

The frustrating thing is that since we are going to TX (sans bus) for Thanksgiving, I won't get to spend a lot of time with it this week... :-(

Anyone have suggestions regarding where I can find an oil dipstick for it?