(Noob)How far should I go

[just_goin_4_it]

Hey My name is Nathan I'm new here! I just bought a but 2004 72 seater Thomas built With the 5.9 cummins AD200 transmission 75,000 Miles. I kinda bought on impulse what everybody tell you not to do I know.
Like my user name implies, I didn't look at it other than pictures so of course it has more rust than I thought it did. I had a guy who used to work on RV's look at it and he said theres no rust that scares him. as fare as the frame and everything goes it's structurally sound. So I'm wondering How far should I go in preventing further rust. I'm planing to tear out the whole floor and all the interior. I'd like to drop all the tanks and redcoat (also looking for and opinion there) but I'm not sure what my budget is yet. I'd like to live in it for a year and then I'll see were things go from there.

So two questions
1(how much Detail/money is this bus worth putting into

2how should I go about rust removing/preventing

Here are some pictures
Dropbox

 

[Rusty-SKO]

Welcome !

Glad to see you started slowly.

Well, you have step 1- get a bus

Looks like more than a little rust. I'd peel-back that curtain to see what prize you won. Check under the floor....I bet there is moar rust.

Evaluate further before spending cash is my 2 cents.

 

[Tango-SKO]

Ouch... way more rust than I would take on. And my bus is 71 years old.

 

[cadillackid]

theres rust but nothing I see thats a red flag.. the worst of it is in the bottom on the skirting and the wheel wells which arent structural... even that rust on the top roof line.. you are likely gutting the interior so you can even add angle bracket inside for extra structural strength, where its convenient. wire wheel it off... sand it, prime it,, paint it.. underneath blow the big stuff off with pressure washer and air hoses then ospho the whole underside of that bus...
-Christopher

 

[EastCoastCB]

For rust, I've not seen anything as badass as Rust Reformer. The clear stuff in gallon jugs. not the spray paint. Its amazing and worth every penny. It converts rust better than anything I've ever seen. That and ospho are your friends.

When fixing rust and prepping for paint, it takes a lot of time and detail to really make it worthwhile. Always go the extra mile. When you think you're about done sanding, you're probably in reality about 10% done sanding!
Take the time to remove the decals and reflective tape and do it right, and your bus will stand out. A NICE paint job really makes the bus.

 

[Tall Grass]

For rust, I've not seen anything as badass as Rust Reformer. The clear stuff in gallon jugs. not the spray paint. Its amazing and worth every penny. It converts rust better than anything I've ever seen. That and ospho are your friends.

When fixing rust and prepping for paint, it takes a lot of time and detail to really make it worthwhile. Always go the extra mile. When you think you're about done sanding, you're probably in reality about 10% done sanding!
Take the time to remove the decals and reflective tape and do it right, and your bus will stand out. A NICE paint job really makes the bus.

Great advice

 

[just_goin_4_it]

Thanks guys

theres rust but nothing I see thats a red flag.. the worst of it is in the bottom on the skirting and the wheel wells which arent structural... even that rust on the top roof line.. you are likely gutting the interior so you can even add angle bracket inside for extra structural strength, where its convenient. wire wheel it off... sand it, prime it,, paint it.. underneath blow the big stuff off with pressure washer and air hoses then ospho the whole underside of that bus...
-Christopher

This is what I'm planning to do! I toor part of the floor out and I was actually impressed it must have been galvanized steel because there was no rust except for at the edges. so my next step is tearing out the rest of the rust. and start building. would you guys recommend I tear out the roof a swell?

 

[leadsled01-SKO]

Par for the course in the rust belt. You Texas guys are spoiled. Most of that will buff out. lol..

Ouch... way more rust than I would take on. And my bus is 71 years old.

 

[EastCoastCB]

Par for the course in the rust belt. You Texas guys are spoiled. Most of that will buff out. lol..

You don't have to be a texas guy to get a texas bus, you know. :wink1:

https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/auction/view?auc=1965279

 

[Tango-SKO]

Actually...I had to go to Utah to find anything as old as mine.

 

[Twigg-SKO]

You don't have to be a texas guy to get a texas bus, you know. :wink1:

https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/auction/view?auc=1965279

Yeah, but you already bought that one

 

[ACamper-SKO]

So two questions
1(how much Detail/money is this bus worth putting into

Personally I do not invest a lot into used cars, trucks, buses, etc, Because you never get the money back out. If you buy a $2000. bus put 10k into it the try to sell it in a year, Good Luck. You could of rented a house with the money you lost.

The reality is it is an old rusted bus. which is fine nothing wrong with that, until.. you start think about it as an "investment" you want to get money back out of.

2how should I go about rust removing/preventing

I would just wire brush it and smear industrial grade paint on it. To remove rust is very time consuming and expensive.

Just my 2 cents(I lost the rest of my money in restoring old cars)

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Personally I do not invest a lot into used cars, trucks, buses, etc, Because you never get the money back out. If you buy a $2000. bus put 10k into it the try to sell it in a year, Good Luck. You could of rented a house with the money you lost.

The reality is it is an old rusted bus. which is fine nothing wrong with that, until.. you start think about it as an "investment" you want to get money back out of.



I would just wire brush it and smear industrial grade paint on it. To remove rust is very time consuming and expensive.

Just my 2 cents(I lost the rest of my money in restoring old cars)

If you do it right, when you choose to sell it you are not selling an "old bus", but a motorhome.

If you want a decent price you need to perform the conversion correctly, which includes rust remediation, and fully document the process.

You can then market your bus conversion alongside other RVs, where your price, and the wealth of information you can provide, will give you a decent shot at a sale.

 

[dan-fox]

Actually...I had to go to Utah to find anything as old as mine.

I'd been wondering about that, Tango. Was that an archeological find? Did you buy it from a museum in a lot with a bunch of flint arrowheads and such?

 

[Twigg-SKO]

I'd been wondering about that, Tango. Was that an archeological find? Did you buy it from a museum in a lot with a bunch of flint arrowheads and such?

It was excavated in Pompeii and shipped over.

 

[ACamper-SKO]

You can then market your bus conversion alongside other RVs, where your price, and the wealth of information you can provide, will give you a decent shot at a sale.

You CAN market your bus in the same market as RVs, still only a small fraction of that market will want an older RV. Most people buy vehicles depending on year and mileage this is a very well used gauge and a dependable gauge.

I have seen a lot of older stuff for sale with massive amounts of time, work and money sit and sit... until they just sell it a market rate. Market rate is usually a small fraction of the asking prices you see for older stuff.

I see tons of nice buses/RV that people are trying to get 15k-50k. They might have that in them but.. they will most likely never get it out.

Not something I would gamble on.

 

[Tango-SKO]

I'd been wondering about that, Tango. Was that an archeological find? Did you buy it from a museum in a lot with a bunch of flint arrowheads and such?

Not far off actually. Guy up near Monroe, Utah runs a wacky, hot springs campground and had a stable of vintage buses he leased out as "Hippie Campers" to the tourists. They were all done up period style inside and some were pretty Trippy. The '46 Chevy I bought was the only "runner" in the bunch but several were quite rare and cool ducks.

Just part of the stable.

An especially Groovy Ford.

And to my mind, the pick of the litter (just too big for my needs). A 1939 International...the same bus that Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and the real Grateful Dead decorated and drove around the country administering the famous Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. I believe this bus was bought by a guy I sent the info to several years ago. He wanted to build a working reproduction of Furthur (A name that was sometimes repainted and also spelled Further just to confuse people).

Hey...they WERE Pranksters after all.

The original...(for you youngsters who missed it).

A touring repro.

 

[Tango-SKO]

A follow up.

Name That Tune...

Escapin' through the lily fields
I came across an empty space
It trembled and exploded
Left a bus stop in its place
The bus came by and I got on
That's when it all began
There was cowboy Neal
At the wheel
Of a bus to never-ever land

 

[dan-fox]

A follow up.

Name That Tune...

Escapin' through the lily fields
I came across an empty space
It trembled and exploded
Left a bus stop in its place
The bus came by and I got on
That's when it all began
There was cowboy Neal
At the wheel
Of a bus to never-ever land

I was, like, I know I've heard that somewhere before. So I asked Secret Agent Google and she told me. So that doesn't count and I'll leave it open for some true child of the 60's to answer. I did get the "cowboy Neal" reference though.

That place you posted pictures of sure does have the Cadillac Ranch beat hands down!

I got serendipitied into a crawl-all-over-it-tour of the 2nd Further! bus one night. Supposedly the 2nd one was the one that went to Woodstock and turned on the Beatles and Tom Wolfe, etc. It was being campaigned around the country trying to raise money for a Ken Kesey Museum and Conference Center on his farm. The guy telling me the story claimed to be his son. I'll post my pics of it up here in an album sometime.

 

[EastCoastCB]

A follow up.

Name That Tune...

Escapin' through the lily fields
I came across an empty space
It trembled and exploded
Left a bus stop in its place
The bus came by and I got on
That's when it all began
There was cowboy Neal
At the wheel
Of a bus to never-ever land

The Other One!!!
Since I'm already a Deadhead does it count?