Finally get to work on the bus.

We got to work on the bus today. Got the rest of the seats out and the rest of the rubber mat. Thought I was going to do much more but was worn out by the time we were done with the floor.

Next we will clean the interior and address any rust issues then paint the floor. Its really great to move closer to starting to build and away from demo.

Ready to start working.

She was on top and I was underneath, just the way I like it.

Yes, that's a broken nail. But that didn't stop her from helping.

Was going to put the lock on the side door but was too tired and did not want to mess it up.

The rear after all seats were taken out.

The front. Still have to clean up, fix minor rust, then start building floor.

Until next time.

Removing Floor

01-05-10

Took bus to Lake Houston to drop off seats at other bus, trip was about 100 miles there and back. Batteries were dead in camera so the only pics were of me and wife starting our trip.

Bus ran great and we really enjoyed the trip. Got seats out and only had time to return bus to storage.

01-06-10

Started taking out the floor today. Man it takes longer than I had thought. I thought I would be putting plywood down today.

There is no plywood under the rubber flooring. I guess because it is a Texas bus they did not need the insulation.

I started by taking up the trip around the wheel wells. Could get some of the screws up, but a lot of them had to be cut.

This pic is of me the day before after all the seats were out.

I'm taking the hose cover off the heaters. My plan is to keep the heaters so it will help keep the bus warm when traveling. I plan on putting them back once the plywood is down. I'm keeping all the screws in zip lock bags.

 

We then took up the strips of aluminum and the rubber from the center walk way. We are going to keep that and see if we can reuse it somehow. We then started at the back and used a shovel to help get up the rubber. Like I said earlier, no plywood on the floor.

 

Looks like some rust hu. Really there is no rust there. The rust is from the metal strip that was inside the rubber trim that I took off before the rubber flooring. The flooring all over was in good shape. A few areas of surface rust but that was about it. I did learn that I have a leak from the heaters. I need to find out where and fix it.

Rust again from the strip in the trim.

This is the hose going from the back to just before the side door. I am surprised to see no hose protection on these hoses. I'll be putting something on them.

That's really all I was able to do. tired and worn out. I thought I would have gotten a lot more done. We pulled up the flooring up to the front two seats that I had left in for passengers. Next time We are going to remove the seats and pull up the rest of the flooring. Then clean and treat any rust, and paint and prepare to lay insulation then plywood.   

Until next time...

Pics of today's work.

Out with the seats

Well my wife and I spent the day (more than I thought I would) driving from west Houston to Lake Houston to where my dog nose bus is located so I could store the seats from my flat nose. It was about 50 miles each way and the ride was enjoyable, average speed was 70MPH.

My wife dragged the seats to the side exit door and I carried them to the other bus about 50FT away. There were about 15 seats so it took us a little time. Once done we drove back stopping to grab lunch at Chick-fa-lay then to Lowe's to price and look at material, then to Sam's to get needed groceries.

I thought I was going to have time to work on the floor but it got too late, so we will be doing that tomorrow.

 However looking at an area near the front I don't think I have plywood under the rubber. Only have two pics because my battery was dead in my camera, so pics are from phone.

One is of my Wife and I. (Our first trip together in the bus)

The other is a locking devise I made to secure the folding doors.

1983 Thompson Body / 7.3 International For Sale

This is my dog nose front (conventional) bus I now have for sale. $1500.00 cash. She is a good bus, but after being an owner and looking at other buses I longed for a flat nose diesel pusher with under belly storage, and came a cross a deal I could not pass up so now I have to sale this one.

Other side.

Paint is Brown that has faded.

In side. only the bus seats go with the bus, but I'm always willing to wheel and deal.

When we go camping, we use this as a bed.

We've never used it, but this was put in for a restroom. There is no pluming just a bucket.

Automatic Allison trans. / not sure if this is the correct mileage.

Motor runs really good. Have two diesel truck batteries that I got in 08. I was told by the original owner that the motor had be rebuilt and had only about 500 miles on it. I may have put 200 miles on.

Call me for questions. 281-330-2268

Seat removal.

Tools needed to start. Not shown is the air compressor and air tools. I thought I was going to grind all the seat bolts off but after trying I found that it really was easier and less time consuming to undo the bolts that I could get to. DDH was a Texas bus and has little or no rust. So only the ones that I could not get to under the bus due to obstructions were grinded off.

 

My helper. Isn't she so sweet. She really did most of the work on this part. I was under the bus and only had to hold the nut and she used an air ratchet to unscrew, then pull out the bolt. I did however get a lot dirtier.

 

Got to have this picture. Every Skoolie conversion has to have this pic. I removed the seat in front of the side emergency door first, so I could get stuff in and out if needed.

First seat out. This seat had all four legs, unlike the others that only have legs on one side and attach to the bus wall on the other. We will keep this one and use it as an outside seat when camping, or should I say RVing. Can you see the look of grizzly determination on my face.

I am working on DDH right in front of my house. I am just waiting for the letter from the HOA. That's one thing about schoolies, if they looked more like an RV I would not get a letter as quickly. I found that out with my 83 International.

I had to get into the bay so I could hold the nut, so the wife could backout the bolts. If you look closely you can see a lot of spiderwebs. I don't like spiders, I'm not afraid of them, I just don't like them. I would never invite one over for dinner.

Little helper number two. She really wasn't helping today, but wanted me to take a pic as if she was. But she did help a lot when we removed the seats from my 83 International, so I thought it fitting to include her.

I removed all the seats on the driver side then from the passenger (right) side of the bus. We left two seats on each side for now, but will replace them with a co-pilot seat and a couch later. I have to get the seats out of this bus and put them unto my other before we can do anything else.

I don't know if I'm going to remove the rubber flooring and plywood. This bus has little rust and I don't want to replace the flooring unless I have to. Once all the seats are out, I'm going to look in some key areas to see if I need to replace the flooring.

This is what it's all about.

Looking forward to all the fun and adventure we will be having together.

Deals a Lowe's

Went to lowe's and found in the clearance some special order flooring marked down to $45 a box. My lovely wife has the gift of gab and was able to get another $20 off the price. So we got four boxes of flooring for $25.00 a box. Wood is much darker than in the pic.

To rainy and cold, so to the RV dealership for inspiration.

Pics of us at a RV dealership getting ideas and insight. It was rainy and cold that day so I could not do much to DDH because of the weather, so we went to get some inspiration. I don't think I will look this good, but wanted to get some ideas of how we could do things.

Pics of DDH

Look at all the wonderful underbelly storage.