Updates on Comfort Bus

[OrionsComfortBus]

Sitting in the waiting room while the oil and 5 filters are changed on the Dt360. This will cost me about $380. Is it too much? I'm not sure. The engine needs a new rear main seal/leaking.



Yesterday I picked up 4 - 27"x27" sheets of steel@ $40 including the shearing to size. Going to seal up the roof escape hatches with self tapping screws and Sika sealant. Putting flex tape over the screws and edge of the sheet steel for a complete seal.


I also stopped by a truck parts yard and managed to get a well used drivers seat out of a International Durastar 4300 for $125. It needs to be recovered and that will cost $200 from National Seat. The seat had a air line attached so I will have to get that connected somehow. Going from dark charcoal grey vinyl to light grey fabric. No armrests but the seatbelts attach to the seat with retention straps from the seat to the floor.


Lastly, I am in contact with a guy who will come to my house and have a look at the floor in the bus, possibly do the labor of replacing it with materials I have purchased. Going with Altro Transflor Meta. Slip resistant even when wet due to the quartz aggregate.

 

[EastCoastCB]

Sounds really high to me.
But I do my own for $45.

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

This starts a service history for me.



I wouldn't know what to do with the oil. For some odd reason people don't want it back in the ground where it came from. I will look into getting it done cheaper elsewhere.

 

[EastCoastCB]

I get an extra tall 7 gallon bucket. I dig a bucket sized hole and place the bucket in it after lining the hole with a heavy duty trash bag. Then I drive the bus up so that the oil plug is right over the bucket.

Its super easy and I can take the bucket anywhere that takes used motor oil. I live a block from the Autozone here so that's where mine goes if it doesn't get burned.

 

[cadillackid]

my DTA360 only leaks a few drops of oil on the ground after I started running real Rotella T4 15W40 oil in it.. that engine never leaked a ton.. but more likely leak point is the oil dipstick O-ring, its notorious on those. and it will end up on the bottom of the trans adapter and look like a rear main seal leak.. .. I recently had my flywheel removed for a trans swap and the rear main was clean and dry.. (i was sure it was leaking ).. in reality I found that myself and others have experienced dipstick leaks where oil runs down and looks like rear main..



I change my own oil. my bus sits on 11R22.5 tires.. a DTA360 holds just about 5 gallons. so a 5 gallon bucket holds the oil.. and it fits under the oil pan..


when I see 5 gallon buckets of Rotella T4 15W40 on sale I buy and keep a couple (I have 3 busses).



if its cold weather I take my oil in the house a night or 2 before and sit it near my heating register.. (if you are lucky to live in FL like ECCB you dont have to do that)..






I take a contractor grade heavy trashbag.. open up, unscrew both oil filters and let them plop in the bag.. put a piece of screen I made across my 5 gallon bucket (so I dnt drop the oil plug in the bucket).. and pull the pan drain plug..



while the oil drains I fill up two new filters and install.



put in the plug and using a little hand pump I pump oil from the new 5 gallon bucket into the engine.. once the bucket gets light I pour the rest in.. again usually right around 5 gallons.. . often a quart more because of the filters.. so I hve an extra gallon jug or 2 of oil.



once done I take the lid from the new bucket and put it on the old oil bucket.. sealed and ready for recycle.. little dawn liquid and water cleans out the new bucket.. to store for the next oil change..



filter bag goes in the trash.. old oil goes to recycle (or to my friend that has a waste oil burning furnace in his home workshop)



no mess, less pricey, and done..



-Christopher

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

Very nice. Thanks to you both.

I'll check out the dipstick O-ring. I'd rather not split the engine and trans until I'm ready to swap in the MT643. The same place I got the used seat also has mechanical 466's. Haven't seen em yet but will soon and get a price.

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

Saturday afternoon, I drove the bus to a Independent Contractors house. He is going to replace the floor and install my new/used air ride seat for $900 labor. The total cost shouldnt be much more than $1500-$2000. He is talking about getting plywood from habitat for humanity. Also he will replace the 1" diameter auxillary heater hose. He sent me some pictures to see how bad it was. Found standing water under the plywood, LOTS of rust and slimy plywood. Power wash after removing all old stuff, treat surface with rust converter then paint it before laying new plywood. I will keep this updated as it happens.

 

[Tango-SKO]

If you are going to all the trouble of replacing the floor, use something other "normal plywood" and never use OSB or MDF. Buses leak. Water destroys most wood products. If spending time & money building much on top of it, spring for something like marine ply or at the very least "treated" then saturate both sides with several coats of something like shellac to help keep water out.



Otherwise...it will look just like what you ripped out in couple of years.

 

[cadillackid]

I know its pricey but I would install marine grade plywood.. and of course find the source of the leaks that had the bus so soggy.. in fact id do that before putting new wood down..



pull the old, fix the metal so its solid and protected.. then start hosing down the bus.. school bus windows can be removed, resealed and re-installed wit ha decent amount of success.
-Christopher

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

Thank You both for the replys.
I will talk to the contractor and see if he can seal up the wood with something.
The roof escape hatches are also being removed as they are the main source of the leaks. Old and brittle plastic replaced with sheet steel. Sealant between that and bus roof screwed down and finally a 4" wide strip of white flex tape over the screws and edge of steel to seal up everything. I can get to the windows after the floor is done.

This is a basic transport for my father. A flat floor, a couple seats and four wheelchair tie-downs. I would also like to get the AC functional before spring.

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

Christopher, Hows the mt643 working? Did you have to put a thinner spacer between flywheel and flexplate? Have you noticed a improvement in mileage?

 

[cadillackid]

it works great.. i havent driven the bus alot yet but it surely has more pep and seems to use less fuel.. ( its also season where I have the windows closed and the AirCon is not in use)..



I did a quick and dirty writeup on one of these threads about the pieces needed to swap a 643 in.. you use a new flexplate, remove the old flexplate and the spacer.. put on the new flexplate.. get shorter bolts... and use the old washer-ring, and tighten down.. and you remove the SAE2 to SAE3 ring. the driveshaft needs shortened. I had to drill new holes in my shift bracket and make an extender cable for my speed sensor .. other than being Heavy it wasnt a bad swap to do.. easier than the AT545 to allison 1000 swap i did in the red bus last year..



I still need to finish fixing the floor area around the doghouse where the chassis and body were joined incorrectly.. ive got the metal and wood redone and mounted / sealed.. I need to make a couple pieces and maybe a custom track for my doghouse to seal up nice against.. which should help my Dashboard AirCon keep me cooler


my work is keeping me quite busy .
-Christopher

 

[Dirtdoctor]

Just had oil changed on my dt 466 $200. Filters and lube. International engines are notorious for rear main seals failing around 140,000 miles- I’ve replaced three rear mains around that time with three different navistar trucks... don’t skimp on cheap oil! Those engines will mess up with cheap oil.

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

More updates on the C,B,

The contractor has removed the remainder seats, forward crash barriers and all flooring that was wood or rubber. Drivers seat included. He has scraped up loose rust, power washed the floor and applied rust converter. Recently he has painted the floor with a black paint. He says the easy part is laying new plywood. I found some black 7.5ft x 14ft polyvinyl mats on ebay. Using Roberts 2310 adheasive from home depo $90. Ryder fleet products has 1inch x 50ft Insulone heater hose for about a $1 a foot. My aux heater coolant lines are no longer flexible.

Possibly today, The contractor is removing the roof escape hatches and putting in the steel sheet I got. That should take care of 90% of the leaks. I can do the windows later.

Waiting on ordered materials. Plywood is basic stuff. Getting a vapor barrier (from ebay) laid down before the plywood. That should curtail the wood rotting issue for a few days.

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

Just created and added pictures to a album. Enjoy!

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

The plywood is down . . mostly. Got materials and adhesive delivered to the contractor.

The escape hatches have been removed and the holes are sealed. Contractor used rivets to secure the outer sheet metal.
Still need to bolt down the new/used National air ride seat, front crash barriers and the A-tracks for the wheelchair tie-downs. It's closer to being done than it was a month ago.

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

Headed to the contractors place this afternoon to deliver a new National Seat seat cushion and attaching hardware. Perhaps there will be some progress to take pictures of. Also talking to this same contractor about swapping the rear diff 3rd member and trans from AT545 to MT643.

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

The contractor has the first section of the black diamond plate polyvinyl material down. It looks good, far better than the old flooring.



He has also tested the low air warning buzzer and light. Both function fine.


Shouldn't be too much longer before the bus is back home.

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

Got the front crash barriers bolted back in, doghouse installed, two passenger seats on drivers side and various sheet metal covers for aux heater coolant lines.

The "To Do" is getting smaller every day.

Contractor flushed out the aux heater until it ran clear. Said it had some brown stuff in it slowing down the flow but it's clear now. I got 2 gallons of full strength coolant to top it off.

Old drivers seat is laying on the aux heater. The new(used) air ride National Seat with new fabric seat cushion should make longer trips more comfortable.
Still need the wheelchair tie-down strips and the rear of bus plywood and polyvinyl flooring done.

Another leak in the roof was discovered but should be sealed up before I take the bus home.


In all the total cost is higher but extra work was added. The contractor has been amazing in keeping me informed and updated with pictures, which I have shared here along with some I took myself.

 

[OrionsComfortBus]

The floor to the Comfort Bus is finally done. If you would like to see it, I have recorded a short video of it and posted it on Youtube
youtube.com/watch?v=dpbS3DMP_64