Straight Bussin, no cap fr fr.

[Omnibot2000]

Come to think of it, isn't our fuel heated with 12 volts in the filter housing found in the valley of the engine? I have not looked into it. I know the powerstroke are.

 

[RoadWarriors-SKO]

I am also converting a bus in SC. It was a 2002 Bluebird TC2000, it is now a registered MH with a title that calls the bus a Bluebird RV. I am still not 100% sure how my wife got the DMV to do that, but I am also not complaining. State Farm is insuring it with minimal hassle. They only asked for a couple of current photos. I would estimate that we are 75 % complete with the conversion. This week we are installing the mini-split.

 

[Omnibot2000]

I am also converting a bus in SC. It was a 2002 Bluebird TC2000, it is now a registered MH with a title that calls the bus a Bluebird RV. I am still not 100% sure how my wife got the DMV to do that, but I am also not complaining. State Farm is insuring it with minimal hassle. They only asked for a couple of current photos. I would estimate that we are 75 % complete with the conversion. This week we are installing the mini-split.

Don't ask how. Just be thankfully.

For myself, all I did was pull the seats out and I was about 40% done. Drove in and asked to safety it as an RV. Once it passed inspection with my RV safety paperwork, I walked in to the insurance and said please register my bus as an RV....done

The safety for RV covers nothing RV related. It only covers the mechanical fitness to drive safely down the road. In my case I only needed 1 lightbulb.

No pictures, no nothing for the conversion. I was only told if I use the thing for anything else other then an RV, I would not be covered and denied and would be sued back for any other damages caused to the other party or injuries if I continued using it as a bus.

 

[nikitis]

Been a month since posting. No new updates.

I did try using the block heater and have cranked her up twice and she started pretty immediately both times. She is not one to start with a cold engine at all

Today" South Town" got snow! We rarely get snow. (Reference to the Rudolf Christmas claymation).

Decided it would be fun to take the bus out on the snow and ice to test how she handles and to test the ability to crank her up while cold using block heater. Worked out very well.

 

[nikitis]

Update. Been about a month. Sit down as this will be an interesting read for you.

I also appreciate those who PM'd me asking about my wellbeing as I had taken a break while doing the below.

I ran into some drama with the city. I've had my bus parked in my driveway for nearly 2 years now with no issues from the neighbors. Most of the neighbors that walked by loved stopping by and looking at the progress as they are interested in what I'm doing. Not a single complaint. (I review Nextdoor App on Android for comments).

Step back a bit, it all started on Martin Luther King Day and I went to go check my mail, and found a notice from the city to remove the Bus from my driveway. Stated to remove the Commercial Vehicle by January 20th (Same day as MLK Day)

Now I looked into our laws and I'm allowed a vehicle under 30ft to be parked in my driveway before I even parked it there 2 years ago. In SC you should note you cannot convert a bus to RV on title. (SC if they realize it and try to get a SC title, they will research the vin history and see it was a bus and change it back from RV to BUS.) However, SC DMV asks you the purpose of the bus to which I replied "Residential" and does give you "Residential Plates" if the bus is not used as a commercial vehicle and SC does have a "BUS" plate for school buses and commercial vehicles that are of a BUS variety, but my bus has "Residential" on it so according to SC law, it cannot be both Residential and Commercial, it's either or. Commercial vehicles can of course be used for home purposes, but not the other way around in SC. Mine is obviously residential and seats are even removed with a new subfloor put in and even has a kitchen sink!

When I got said "Letter" from the city, it stated I had to have it removed by Jan 20th which was the Same day I'm reading the letter or fines will ensue. It's a Federal Holiday and nothing is open. If I had not already purchased 30 acres prior and set up a Bus parking spot on that property prior just weeks before, I'd have been screwed. Literally no time to find a spot to park it at. And they said if you need an extension or wish to dispute to call the number listed, but of course as it's a holiday I could not call the number there. RIP. So I packed my things at 6 PM (Already dark here) and drove the bus to my 30 acres to park the bus on the parking space I made for the first time ever in the dark. It actually went very well and parked with no issues. It's kind of a steep hill and in the woods so backing up a bus with no rear view mirror or cameras yet in the dark down a slim corridor down hill is tough, but I managed to do it no problems.

Honestly I was a bit angry, and in my head started blaming my neighbors thinking which one turned on me without at least confronting me telling me he'd prefer it not be there first or made mention somewhere they'd not prefer it being there. Going straight to the city is just underhanded and caused me a lot of undue stress. I felt betrayed by my neighbors. I even considered selling my house over this because I'm just tired of people if this is the kind of thing they'd do to a neighbor and believe me, other than having a bus in my driveway, I'm by FAR the least problemsome neighbor with the most up kept house and lawn and they would agree with me if you asked them.

More backstory. We have no HOA in our neighborhood. And the house across the street from me has an RV the size of my bus and a Boat in his driveway so I don't really see the problem here as I'm not alone in this and he did not get a notice to remove. I asked him. Several have them in their driveways.

Luckily, I have a friend who works for the city, and I had him look up my "Incident" on record, and he stated that there are two fields. "Complaint" or "Discovery" and that if the incident lists "Complaint" it means a neighbor did so and may or may not have a name field filled out depending on anonymity, and it did not have a name or "Complaint" but listed "Discovery" which means someone from the city drove down the street and saw it and reported it in and it was not any of my neighbors. So after discovering that I kind of hated myself for jumping to quick conclusions thinking it was the neighbors, but this sort of "Quiet reporting on your neighbors" does happen all the time today because no one wants to talk or confront you about problems and would rather sick the police or city on you first. And if someone had even REMOTELY hinted even once that there was discomfort about me having a bus on the drive way I would have taken further actions and removed it and only parked it there to work on it, and there was no hints at all about it. I even told my neighbors if you get tired of seeing it, please let me know it won't offend me. Never got a peep.

So January 21st comes along... The day after MLK Day...

Bus is moved to the 30 acres. I call the city first thing in the morning. I'm like "What's the deal? The statutes here say I can have a vehicle 30ft or shorter parked on my driveway, my bus is 29.5ft long" I said it so seriously, but inside I was dying laughing because it just sound so ridiculous after repeating it so I know it did for them as well, however Statutes are Statutes and I have not violated them! They replied "Where is that statute?" They didn't even know the law.... I looked into it and gave them the statute, and were like "...uh.....hrm... okay..." I then said "The letter here states that I cannot have a trailer over 20ft, but my Bus is not a trailer it's a vehicle. I know it's a little rare to have a vehicle nearly 30 ft long as the average person does not have such a vehicle but I do happen to have one and it is not a trailer", to which they replied "oh... well it's a commercial bus".

So I then said "No it is not a commercial bus, it's a residential daily driver, so proven by the Tag plate that has a Residential Tag on it. Take it up with the DMV. I cannot use this bus for commercial reasons any longer with this plate therefore it is no longer commercial. As well as the seats have been removed and a subfloor installed in preparations for RV conversion. Sink is on the floor. The city guy who reported it did not do his inspection fully and should of caught that but he obviously did not take the time to really investigate it."

So they realized they had goofed, but still wanted to save face so they were like, let me get my supervisor. He came on the phone and he was told everything just mentioned, and he said let me group up here and look over the laws and statutes you gave me and I'll call you back in an hour.

An hour goes by, and he does call me back promptly, and was like "Okay, since this is uncharted territory, here's what we're going to do. Nobody here has ever tried to store a residential bus in their driveway, and so while you have not violated any statutes, the fine will be thrown out however, the city will not allow you to park a "BUS" in the driveway as we do not want to set a trend and start allowing people to do this even though they can right now, but if it became a trend we would change the statutes to cover your situation and you would no longer be able to do so nor would anyone else."

So fine was thrown out. He continued to say "We don't even allow cars to be worked on in driveways, you have to work on your car in your garage, we do have statutes that state that fact and because you are still developing your bus and obviously cannot store it in your garage, if you are willing to comply we will put in an exception here and allow you to store it on the side of your house AND allow you to work on it in the side yard, but asked us to remove it from the drive way as they don't want people to get the idea it's okay and start to deal with the complaints. Eventually they would add it to statute if it got out of hand, and it could be fought in court and you'd likely win today, but would ruin it for the next guy so what we will do is let you get away with working on it in the side of your house which is technically not allowed but this is a unique circumstance and the city will allow it in your case and a note will be put on the residence in case another inspector sees it he'll see there's an exception made and they will not make the same mistake again and report you again, and this will protect you if a neighbor does complain."


So I thought about it, and I don't want to have the city on my bad side, and I also don't want to ruin the ability for buses to be parked in driveways even for temporary reasons in SC like to visit family or something. I don't want to be that guy, so I seem to have the only exception in SC in play right now to be able to work on my bus in the neighborhood with legal sanction of the city, so while I'm in my right to park my residential BUS on my drive way, I'm not legally allowed to work on the bus while in the driveway, and it's not gonna fit in my residential garage. I took the deal because I do not have the tools or power to weld things on the 30 acres yet and won't for awhile, and I need the garage for my tools and power. This deal will allow me to work on it locally at my house where I technically could not do so in the driveway. I decided accept the deal in this case because I can work on it there at the house. They only asked that I try to keep the noise down while working on it to not cause a stir in the neighborhood.

So what have I been doing to not have posted here for about 3 weeks?

Clearing the side yard in preparations to park a bus, what else!

See pics below of the bus in it's current place on the 30 acres, and you can see the cement blocks it's parked on to keep the tires from dry rotting. (It's working out well tbh and I plan to do the same block setup on the side yard.)

What I'm doing is digging a square hole big enough for the wheels to park on, filling the hole with 2-3 inches of cement, and then while still wet, placing the solid 3x8x16 solid cement blocks onto the wet cement and let it harden. Makes a good footer for the bus to park on to not dry rot the tires and keeps them out of the dirt. Total cost for the footers $63.

Additionally I tore down my back side yard fence to convert it into a GATE that will open up and further block some of the BUS view to not be so disturbing and the bus will be pushed past the fence into the backyard so it doesn't stick out so far in the front yard.

Pics explained:
First pics are bus current spot on 30 acres with their footers.
Side yard house pic is before clearing. A dead tree, and briar patch full of thorns covered the whole side yard. That was rough to clear!
Inside garage shows new dog ear fence posts to build a new gate with new blocks if you look closely and cement.
Old fence was rotting, so it's a pic of both fence types next to each other where I had already repaired. The new gate will look like on the leftside, right side will be the old rotting fence.
Post holes to show new walk through gate, and larger swing gate to park the bus through.

 

[Omnibot2000]

That's why I moved out to the country 21 years ago. To much Drama.

 

[nikitis]

That's why I moved out to the country 21 years ago. To much Drama.

Well that's the plan, just not willing to up and sell everything. Smart play here is to pay off the house which will be soon. Nearly there. Then rent it out while living in the bus for a year. Or buy a second bus and live on both on the land.

 

[Omnibot2000]

I would probably do this in my later years.

My buddy baught this. $19,000 Canadian delivered. He finished the inside and is wicked awesome.

14x32 I think the size is.

 

[Albatross]

What the city-supervisor just admitted to here is planning to create an ex-post facto law to specifically address your case, which is clearly covered under the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution. Nothing you've done has actually harmed anyone, so it cannot be a crime; which can only mean that they are trying to single you out for harassment--especially since no one has even complained about it, and you know that it is some kind of busy-body trying to pretend like they have some kind of authority over you in order to justify their job.



Unfortunately, a lot of places are like this, not only in the Carolinas, but also everywhere else in the nation. If I were in your shoes, I would put the fictional legal group calling themselves "the City" on legal notice, and that any further harassment would constitute a violation of your natural rights, and that a suit at-law would follow. Your intentions are peaceful, and no harm is intended to anyone, and since no Person has addressed the matter with you, the situation is moot, and "the City" needs to mind its own business, and keep their nose out of yours.

 

[nikitis]

What the city-supervisor just admitted to here is planning to create an ex-post facto law to specifically address your case, which is clearly covered under the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution. Nothing you've done has actually harmed anyone, so it cannot be a crime; which can only mean that they are trying to single you out for harassment--especially since no one has even complained about it, and you know that it is some kind of busy-body trying to pretend like they have some kind of authority over you in order to justify their job.



Unfortunately, a lot of places are like this, not only in the Carolinas, but also everywhere else in the nation. If I were in your shoes, I would put the fictional legal group calling themselves "the City" on legal notice, and that any further harassment would constitute a violation of your natural rights, and that a suit at-law would follow. Your intentions are peaceful, and no harm is intended to anyone, and since no Person has addressed the matter with you, the situation is moot, and "the City" needs to mind its own business, and keep their nose out of yours.

Completely agreed. I had an earlier encounter with the city and tried to sue them over replacement of my Smart Meter. I put a sign rejecting the replacement of it, and the city sent a police officer to protect the guy while he changed it out. I went to sue the city but all of the lawyers have the city as a client and refused to sue them. It would be a similar situation here. I could potentially get a lawyer in a city an hour away and sue the city that way, but I have to pick my battles, and right now I got a lot going on a home and cannot fight this at the moment. I probably should, but like a lot of people in my situation, the current situation doesn't permit.

And this way they have put an exception on my residence so I can work on my bus which technically isn't allowed normally, which is more important to me to have my tools and electricity nearby to work on it. My property could store it and is right now while I build out the side yard, but I have no power out there, nor are my tools out there. So this is a better situation and now they can't touch me.

Built out the new walkthrough gate in pic below, and also burned the old fence along with the brush and stuff. Had a nice bon fire. The chickens on the right slept on top of the coup so they could watch the fire.

 

[nikitis]

Update. Finished the gate rebuild. Now both sides open up. And one side large enough to park a bus through it.

The large gate turned out to be too heavy for the wife to move when opening so I'm going to purchase a gate wheel for the bottom so the fence can roll open without much effort. But other than that it's together. Pic below.

Next is to bring the bus home and park it so I can mark where the wheels are to place footers out of blocks, then cement them in and then I'll be past this city ordeal.

 

[Corbi]

The school bus is its own breed of vehicle. It likes to stand out! I noticed that when I look for paid off street parking, at first the owners say “sure, come look at the spot” but when they see a picture of my Corbi bus, they say, “oh no, we can’t have that”. That’s why I kept to the street parking owned by the state, so there is no blowback. I use a small generator to power some of the tools and to plug in the block heater.

 

[nikitis]

The school bus is its own breed of vehicle. It likes to stand out! I noticed that when I look for paid off street parking, at first the owners say “sure, come look at the spot” but when they see a picture of my Corbi bus, they say, “oh no, we can’t have that”. That’s why I kept to the street parking owned by the state, so there is no blowback. I use a small generator to power some of the tools and to plug in the block heater.

So you would just randomly park on the road? Or park on the street in the same place?

 

[nikitis]

Small update. Did a lot of digging with the excavator and cut a new driveway. This was needed because the ground was way too soft. I also had a couple of stumps in the way so removed those too. Then I compacted the driveway with the excavator and poured 25 bags of cement on it to mix and harden the soil.

 

[nikitis]

Back to building!

I finally put the bus back into its final resting place on the side yard. Gravel is in. I did not yet put the footers in yet but I felt like I needed a pick me up from not building on the bus recently.

Next up on the agenda was extending the wires from the bottom to the top half in anticipation for the roof raise. I'm going 1ft higher so I'm making my extensions 14 inches just in case I make a math error somewhere I have a little play room.

You can see on the left side is my extender job. I'm using "Solder Seal Wire Connectors" where you just push the copper together and use a heat gun. Doubles as a wire wrap plus these have a yellow composite to additionally melt around and hold the wires together more structurally and the solder melts joining the two copper wires as one.

I decided to use these because Thomas simply used wire nuts when they did splicing in the harness.

These should hold much better over time.

I'm also giving it a solid go on documenting the wire labels and writing down which goes to what as best as I can do we can have a reference for these model year Thomas bodies.

I've gotten down the first 4. Took me about 15 mins. Now I have a process and have done them I can likely do them much faster. Got about 25 more wires to go on that harness. I've never used these as they are kind of new here in the states. The only caveat I have against them is that on the cool down process you have to hold the wire straight until the solder cools which can take about 10 seconds. The heat gun takes about 3 seconds to melt to the wire with the wrap as any wire wrap would do and the solder takes like 15 seconds to melt so two per wire puts it at about 1 minute per wire if you are fast at it.

I've got some soldering to do. Till next time!

 

[Corbi]

So you would just randomly park on the road? Or park on the street in the same place?

In my city, each neighborhood has a street parking permit system. You apply to city hall for a permit based on your street address. They send you a sticker that you place on the rear window. It has a distinct picture that makes it unique to your neighborhood. If you park outside your neighborhood, you can receive a parking ticket. It turns out that there is a reservoir and some parkland owned and managed by the state within this permitted parking district. The land includes a street that runs alongside the reservoir. On part of it, the area that abuts some apartment buildings, has convenient diagonal parking spaces, since it is an access road. I have parked my bus in one of these spots for a few years now. The state police and the parks and rec staff patrol the area and check for parking permits.

 

[nikitis]

Update on bus build 03-30-2025:

I finished the main wire harness extension. About 50 wires. There's still two smaller harnesses in the back that need to be extended and the two wires on the sides that ride up the hat channel for left and right side Blinkers.

On top of that I went ahead and started removal of the exit hatch that was cracked and leaking. I would of just left it personally however it was in bad shape so sealing it up made the most sense.

I then went to scrape the remaining roof sealant material which got it fairly smooth but left a residue.

So I decided to use my heat gun on it and then used paper towels to easily wipe it off while hot. You can see in the next picture on the right after removal vs before on the left side.

The brown btw is not rust in case anyone was thinking that. It's actually the brown paint they dip these panels in to protect the metals in the factory. It's in great shape. You can also see how quick they cut them by how uneven the edges are. Not straight at all nor done with a machine. All built by hand.

So it's all clean now.

Next up is to cut a replacement square sheet.

Then test fit it. Fits like a glove. I was a bit worried I'd not get a straight cut but I did very well. Fit with not even 1mm to spare with a grinding wheel.

Next is to paint it and use some dynaflex Ultra.

To be continued... Hit the picture limit of post

 

[nikitis]

Continuation of last post:

I laid some weights on top while it dried. And went under the now sealed hatch. And put an extra bead of dynaflex to better ensure no leaks.

Then I had to get down.

I was under a time crunch because rain was forecasted the next day so I did not have time yet to drill and screw in the new hatch but the dynaflex is waterproof within 1 hour and I will do the drill and screw tomorrow likely.

 

[DeMac]

Continuation of last post:

I laid some weights on top while it dried. And went under the now sealed hatch. And put an extra bead of dynaflex to better ensure no leaks.
View attachment 1069068

Then I had to get down. View attachment 1069067

I was under a time crunch because rain was forecasted the next day so I did not have time yet to drill and screw in the new hatch but the dynaflex is waterproof within 1 hour and I will do the drill and screw tomorrow likely.

Nikitis,
You & I performed a lot of the same steps to remove the old hatches. Demo sux.

The weights will definitely help. I used weights and clecos to squeeze the two planes from separating as I drilled, mostly to keep the holes aligned.

(photo before removing the metal flakes in the sandwich or adding Dynatron550)


I made a tiny continuous bead on both side of the holes to form a pair of gaskets. (more is not better, imho)

I found that each cleco I added compressed the dynatron more than the weights, but the real magic happened when I swapped each cleco to a compressed rivet. the sealant squeezed out as thin as mayo. Waiting an hour feels like peanutbutter. But at 12 hours, it's more like compressing rope.

idk if it helps with this patch, but the thread below might be useful on your (or any skoolie's) next roof patch.
Roof Patches Tutorial

 

[nikitis]

Been a few days. I did not get back to the roof. I had to get some major dental work done and that put me back. I plan to get back to it Sunday.