Pulling into Nanny's House for the 1st time. Nanny coming out to see the new arrival.
The Work Begins
Our bus is a 42 passenger, gas engine, with a 4 speed / 2 speed rear end. Before we started on the conversion we needed to upgrade the running gear a bit, by far the biggest chunk of money invested. We had the rear end rebuilt with a different ring and pinion to give us a higher gear ratio. We also got the bus with widow maker rims(Split rims) and bad rubber. We replaced these with single piece rims and tubeless tires including a spare. The exhaust had to be redone and the ignition replaced. So now we have a very strong running platform for the rest of the project.
We live in a small town so Steve's choice was
to make friends with the local welders instead of doing all the welding
himself with his little "toy" arc welder. Steve decided not to raise the
roof (even though he is 6' 5") because of the additional work involved.
He's just used to bumping his head. We did a roof rack for additional storage
and for the spare to live. Steve created a winch to lower the spare from
the roof rack if need be. (Hopefully never) He also fabricated two
additional fuel tanks
to bring the total capacity up to 92 gallons.
We did find a small house trailer that was
of no sentimental value to us. It provided us with a fridge, stove, oven,
water heater, and kitchen unit, and space heater all for $400.
Trailer Before
Interior Of Trailer
Trailer After
The bathroom unit is another story... At a junk yard we found a motor home that had a one piece toilet, shower, sink unit. Now all we had to do was get it out in one piece. Once we had the unit free we realized that they had constructed the shell around the unit and there was no way to get the bathroom out of the motor home with the existing openings. After all that work to free it we weren't going to leave it! So, we asked the hispanic security guard if we could bring in a chain saw to which he replied, " No liquor, no torches, no cameras." Steve took that as a yes. (Still can't figure out why no cameras) We had brought one anyway! Armed with my new tool of destruction, Steve made short work of that motor home. It looked like a tuna can gone south! But he did wheel that unit out strapped to our son's little red radio flyer. All that fun only cost us $60.
Bathroom Still in RV
We found a generator in the paper, an Onan with very low hours. We bought it from a lady who was divorcing her husband and the generator had been pulled out of their fairly new motor home, as part of the settlement. So we got a good generator with remote for $800.
Steve got to know the guys at the metal yard well with all his trips for angle iron. He created two tanks under the bus. One Black water and one fresh water. We figured our family of five could dry camp for three days.
The bus is painted with the help of a local welder. We are now concentrating on the interior. We went with an off white and black trim for the color scheme. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
Thinking Inside The Box
Here the inside of the bus is really starting
to take shape. The wood work is getting done and the seating that
will turn into bedding is just about ready
for some custom cushions. Most of the wood has been stained since these
pictures. I have blue material for the cushions and some for curtains.
Steve and Andy cleaning the donated carpet
from a little local restaurant called "Big John's".
We would like to give them a big thank you!
Here the table is being worked on so that it
can also be used to drop down and
convert the back bench area into a bed.
Here Steve finishes the table.
July 4th 2002 we take "The Bus"
For a road test!!!
Steve at the helm.
Before the fireworks began there was a GREAT pre-show in the sky!
Click Here to see our first big trip!
