I FINALLY GOT MY FIRST BUS! HELLO FRIENDS!

[BuffaloStampede81]

HELLO!! I love tailgaiting @ Buffalo Bills games, camping, adventuring, traveling and all that comes with it. I have had tow behind campers, and been around plenty of RV's, they are all made to fail out of cardboard and paper!! So for bout 4 years ive been looking for a vehicle to make into an RV...maybe a bread truck, short bus, school bus, shuttle bus, box truck... i decided a school bus was the way to go cause of their robustness and i found the one i was looking for so i pullled the trigger!! I got a 99 TC1000 Blue bird with a 5.9 Cummins 130k miles, 9 windows long, wheelchair lift in the passenger rear, all seats on Q' straint rails, Q'straint rails above the windows, full maintainance records back to 8 miles old, nothing leaking, good exhaust, no rust, great tires, and CAB OVER style!! i cant wait to get to work on it!

Just wanted to start the dialogue, and see what others think! Im not looking to get too fancy with the interior but whats the first thing i need to know to do or not do with my bus?!

 

[TheRainbowBoxer]

Welcome to the nuthouse

 

[chev49]

other than making sure you have it in great mechanical condition, i assume ya first have to make some sort of floor plan, depending on your usage, and begin taking seats, etc out of it.

 

[BuffaloStampede81]

thanks guys! i have a floor plan idea and the bus is in really good working order, i plan on taking it on some short trips to make sure its gonna stay that way...as far as a floor plan goes im keeping this cheap and durable, the seats are on rails called i think Q'straint? all except the front wall and 2 seats on the passenger side... what have people found is a good setup for a floor plan? i have so far...
-a bunk bed set (one low one high that i will build) made from lumber with somekinda pads on them
-a couch that i already have that both end seats have feet rests
- a booth out of 2 bus seats with a dropping table to support a bed pad (to be built)
- set up 2 bus seats somehwere (so we have total 8 seatbelts and a drivers seat, do i need to have seatbelts for everyone riding?)
- a gravity fed sink with unheated water, 35 gal barrel up in a cabinet over a sink drained into a 55 gal barrel, hose tucked in the cabinet to drain out the door
-fridge i have, its a stainless milk crate style fridge, low and cube shaped, front half of the top opens up and back and the top half of the front openstowards you and down... think about it...got it?
- stove, i have a small stainless counter top and a stainless propane grill to mount to it

im thinking of keeping the "kitchen" in the back cause of the rear door and lift door in and out for tailgaiting... thoughts?

im soo pumped, im blowing off some responsibilitys this weekend to go home to work on it!

 

[BuffaloStampede81]

how do i post images with this Img button? cant copy n paste...

 

[bansil]

how do i post images with this Img button? cant copy n paste...

Easiest is go to photobucket.com create free account,load picture to account and then under pics button when uploaded(can't do it on my phone...its the bottom link on your picture,click it and it will copy it,then you can paste it here or onto notepad etc so you can add text...it will copy link as bracketed img's) and then you can copy img links to here

 

[The_Stuff]

welcome to the insanity!

 

[putterspitt]

Smitty used to say, no pics, it didnt happen

 

[BuffaloStampede81]

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12322

 

[BuffaloStampede81]

some recent pics from this weekend...

 

[BuffaloStampede81]

some more pics

 

[browncrown]

Welcome! Looks like a good start in the conversion

 

[BuffaloStampede81]

hey guys! the bus is comming along well, this weekend i got the sink mounted in there next to the stove and got it pushing water from a barrel, to the sink, to another barrel... works good (pictures to come, my phone is messed up and i didnt have a camera) ... i finally got to drive it again now that i have a plate, it seems to govern out at 65 mph... headed down a hill on a nice road i noticed that at 65 i had no more push from the throttle, im sure it was a computer controlled governer not a problem but that sux! im not looking to fly in this thing but if im headed down hill and up another id like to get her goin like 75 or so to get some momentum...maybe set the governor @ 80?

what do i do? anyone deal with this before? its a 1999, TC-1000 blue bird with a 5.9 cummins...

thanks!

 

[chev49]

i havent worked on one of those...but a short bus kept under 65 mph with the 5.9... should get great fuel mileage... like at least 12 or better on freeway.