Seats 3/Floor 1

Got all the seats out... figured that was the way to go since we are going to do the whole flooring and everything right away.... We can always put some back in if we decide to....

 

Then started ripping out the rubber flooring and then the plywood underneath.... It was black and rotten in the back of the bus, disgusting, but glad to have it out of there.... Hope to get all the plywood out and have the outside painting done by the end of the weekend, I think we can do it.

Seats 2

Thanks to my new Skoolie friend Shawn who came over and let me check out his amazing bus and helped with me getting the seats out, we got them all out in around an hour.

Among loads of spilled soda and candy wrappers we also found a half deck of cards, a ring, a pack of gum, but some how no money.....

Here's a quick shot of his amazing bus....

Flashing Lights 1

After a bunch of research and recommendations online I decided to get sheet metal and cut out pieces the same size as the lights, then use the same screw holes and some adhesive.  I am sure that I didn't do it right, but it was the first go at it... it's messy but it will work, I'll be better on the other ones, got two done, 6 to go.....

Seats 1

Turns out it's not going to be as easy as un-screwing the bolts.... I went to home depot and get a little drill that will cut metal, I was hoping to cut off the tops of the bolts easily, I got a few off, but it takes a while, not the best saw for it... I got one seat out though, although two of the 4 bolts on that one just snapped off.  I have a friend coming over today with a 4" saw that should be able to get them off easily.

Painting 3

Getting close to being done now.... Just need to do some of the hard to get to areas and the details.... Looking good though!  After pulling off the tape over the yellow reflectors I realized that it was going to slightly look like a Packers bus..... Hope I don't get too much blowback from that, it'd be way better if we were in WI,

Painting 2

The green coat I put on once and then once more over after it slightly dried, ended up giving it a really solid nice green.  I'm really happy with how it is turning out.   About half way done or more with the whole painting project, although we still have to get the lights off on top and do some more detail painting..... Then on to the seats.

Paint

I found a lot of Facebook groups that connected me with people who have done this type of conversion before, so that helped me with a lot of ideas and questions.

I was able to find the right paint to get, Rust-Oleum from Home Depot, and after reading the label on the paint also bought the primer for a better coat.  We wanted the bus to be olive green, but they only had certain colors, so I got the hunter green paint and the white primer, hoping the white primer would lighten up the green a bit, we will see.

Also took off the stop sign.

Couple of days of painting and I have the primer pretty much done.  I used some of that blue tape to save the black lines and other black areas.


Day 1...

Day 2....

We Bought a School Bus!

Less than a month ago I realized that purchasing a school bus, converting it to an RV and using it to move across the country was a great idea.

So, after some convincing, searching and researching, I found the right sized (41 passenger) school bus for sale from a school, I went to check it out and although my school bus & diesel engine knowledge is small, he answered all the questions right and I went for it.

He agreed to deliver the bus to our house (I was either looking for this to happen or I would have needed someone with a CDL to move it legally).

Then, we owned a school bus!   I had to drive it around the yard a bit to get it parked where it is the least visible for neighbors (although one neighbor did not approve).

She's a 6.5L Diesel 1999 Bluebird.   It's got 150k on it but the engine was rebuilt at 90k.  Runs really well!  Our plan is to convert it to an RV and move out to Portland in spring with it.

The adventure begins!