Building a Skoolie

[Grumblenuts]

Quite the project. Picking up the school bus tomorrow..
Currently looks like this:

More to come..

 

[Hang on Sloopy]

Quite the project. Picking up the school bus tomorrow..
Currently looks like this:

More to come..

You going to make it a hippie bus or a Partridge Family project

 

[Grumblenuts]

Not sure yet. The entire family will be involved so whatever they decide will be fine by me. They're all more artsy-fartsy than I've ever been. Took all of Friday and today just to get someone to insure it for the drive home. Once here I should be able to get it tagged as a motorhome then things will hopefully get easier and cheaper.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Not sure yet. The entire family will be involved so whatever they decide will be fine by me. They're all more artsy-fartsy than I've ever been. Took all of Friday and today just to get someone to insure it for the drive home. Once here I should be able to get it tagged as a motorhome then things will hopefully get easier and cheaper.

Thats what I was going to say.
Never try and get a school bus insured,call it a motorhome and you wont have any problems.
Learned this from a guy doing what your doing on YouTube.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Got her home, safe and sound. Tomorrow: Tag issues, Form mv-41..
Damn, it's colder than a witch's nipple out there tonight!

 

[eagle1462010]

Good luck. From the videos I've seen it's gonna be a pain in the butt. lol

 

[Grumblenuts]

Thanks. Yeah, and no. It's funny how you notice things broken or missing almost immediately after getting the thing home. Nothing earth shattering, thank goodness, and lots of good stuff like practically new rear tires and batteries, clearly well serviced and recently used.

No luck with registering it as a motorhome though. The salesman had initially indicated that they'd just sign the title over when we picked it up. But no. He gave us a fancy temporary state registration card instead, which I should have questioned at the time, but there was too much else to worry about. So I called this morning and the excuse given was that "the boss" only picks up the titles in batches every few weeks or so. But he promised to the ask "the boss" to try and speed things up for us and express mail it as soon as they got it.. because he liked us, lol.

Live and learn. Never buy a vehicle from someone who doesn't have the title in hand. We'll manage fine, I'm sure. Trouble is I'm pretty sure PA requires it to be registered here within ten of getting it here. When I mentioned that, he indicated ignorance and surprise. I don't blame him. Still a good deal and a nice guy, just doing his job, putting food on his family and all. It is what it is.

Waiting..

 

[eagle1462010]

Results for Buses, Transit and School - govdeals.com

GovDeals' online marketplace provides services to government, educational, and related entities for the sale of surplus assets to the public. Auction rules may vary across sellers.

www.govdeals.com

I've thought about doing it and getting one from here. But like I said before, the videos I saw scared me. lol

Excellent deals here for many things.

 

[Grumblenuts]

I bought from a dealer instead. One middle man added, but at least you get to inspect and test drive the thing before buying. That's worth a grand or two at least for a commercial vehicle. Turns out we bought the exact one I was looking at online to begin with (not the one shown, but very similar).

 

[eagle1462010]

You gonna redo the windows and use sheet metal to cover with different ones?

 

[Grumblenuts]

I noticed that only a fraction of a plastic piece remained on one of the supports when I opened the hood this morning. I found another big chunk behind in a crevice. It's either simply polyethylene or perhaps rubberized Bakelite. I can make my own version from scrap black polycarbonate with little effort, but thought I'd check the price first.

Of course they mold the little thing on the right to the big steel bracket so you have buy the whole thing. $70. No thanks.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Little update. Made my own plastic cap to replace our broken one, unlike pictured above. Of course, given a 50/50 chance, I put it on backwards and had to trim it to make it work.. but it does.. just fine. Fuck me. Anyway, the weather being so crappy, we've not been doing much with it. Did manage to remove a lot of the lettering and decals, the top front lights, shrouds, side stop signs, and the bar that swings open out front. We checked all the switches to see what works (turns out everything) and figure out what needs to go. Been watching lots of schoolie bus videos making us both itchy to get on with it. Plan to try and get it inspected as soon as all school and commercial passenger bus indications are removed from the exterior and all the holes get plugged. Not going to do more than primer paint anything until it warms up considerably.

 

[Grumblenuts]

You gonna redo the windows and use sheet metal to cover with different ones?

Planning to keep as many as possible with strategic beads of trim/insulation added to cut down on the drafts. The more videos we watch the more we want the upper portion kept open as possible. We can appreciate how easily things can begin feeling cramped once you divide it up. We'll very likely stick with the stock windows and do minimal sheet metal removal/replacement until we get a chance to try it out on the road for a year or so. Plenty to worry about otherwise.

Figured I'd have to strip it clean at first, but it's really not that old so rust is not of much concern. Plus it's already got factory fiberglass insulation throughout. So, though I'm sure I could improve the upon the R value, I seriously doubt it's worth all the money, time, and effort. We'll see.. In any case, I like keeping the guts (wires, plumbing, connectors, etc.) accessible regardless, behind easily removed panels at worst.

I was thinking we'd have a little wood stove, but there are insurance concerns and I'm not sure they're even allowed in PA. Now I'm liking these little heaters that "sip fuel" straight from the diesel tank. Very cheap, easy, safe alternative from all I've seen so far. Probably do some solar heat exchanging experiments down the road.. Maybe add a fold down windmill..

Speaking of what's allowed in PA.. No decks and no extended bumpers out back. There goes a bunch of worries already, lol.