The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Old Dominion Stovebolt Society (MD, VA, West VA, DC, DE and PA) Road trip to AmTrakJoe's ....

I ran the MEDS system this evening. It sprayed out a mist from the three nozzles ... Who knows? I'll probably repurpose its components for more useful endeavours. It has a neat little air compressor, a 1,000 Watt sine wave inverter and some impressive plumbing fittings.

Let me know when it’s time for the solar panel upgrade so you can do extended off-grid operations. I just finished upgrading my Beast to 1000 watts of freedom.

Roger all and WilCo.

Wow, MEDS system.. that's a new one for me pretty neat. The inverter and compressor will come in handy for your conversion. Have to find you an old lay down compressor tank to mount up under the body somewhere so you can have onboard air for airing up tires and maybe running some air tools. I'm assuming the rig is gonna be outfitted for road service on itself and whatever is in tow. And yeah Solar is a must I've got 4 panels sitting in the shop I'm planning on adding to mine.
~Mongo

Between the MEDS inverter, and another I have, I have about 2KW available now. Much more late aswe go along.

Primary goal now is to get registered as an RV-

Update on the Stovebolt Mobile HQ:

Almost done de-schoolbussing (removing all the signage and flashy things)
Learned that the heat gun is not your friend as much as the decal eraser wheel is... Note: when using the eraser wheel, do NOT park the daily driver next to the bus ...

John, is that last picture of the same bus but with the color doctored?
I think a camo paint job would be cool and would be a great group project for maybe 4 guys each with a paint gun with different colors in them. The job could get done 4 times faster that way. That monster is probably going to need 5 gallons of paint.

Kevin,

I'd love a Woodland Camo paintjob to match our old M-817 ... but ...

When I saw NapcoMan's H-3 in Desert Khaki a few years ago, I thought THAT was COOL! I originally thought we'd paint the bus to match our '49 ... Then I priced that color (Jaguar Red is the best modern match) .... YEEEEOOOOWWWW!!! Forget THAT!!

My painter ( a local who is well respected and does superlative work) said to get a gallon of primer/sealer, two gallons of base (Desert Khaki) and two gallons of clear coat.

I jokingly asked the paint store rep what Krylon rattlecan Desert Khaki went for by the case ... But I don't think my index finger would be up for that.

We'll see.

Today, I finally finished removing all the lights and reflective decals. Even the "International" logo at the top side corners. I'm thinking of eventually putting an "International Farmall" decal back up there And a classic IH on the front.

Saturday was the paint.... Tuesday will be the 6 new tires... Oh well, at least my kids won't be spending it on stupid stuff after I'm dead.

And yes, that last picture is a Photoshopped image to show, approximately, what the new paint job will look like.

If that painter's name is Robert, I would heartily agree on the superlative work. I've seen pics of his work, and he's helped me out as well on my project, even from Maryland.

Kevin, "even from Maryland" ... that's awesome. Robert is a very nice guy. He's got some good posts throughout the site.

I tell you what... looking forward to sitting in it with good friends and having an adult beverage ( or two, three, whatever!)

Mongo... I rode old #13 to school in the 1st and 2nd grade, then again in the 7th grade. She was a 53 and I think about her often. Cold ride in January.

Actually, Robert won't be painting the bus. I have someone else on that.

Are his initials D. J. ?

JB, actually.

Got half the bus painted today! The rest tomorrow.

Wow, It looks better than the photoshop!

Starting to look like a prison transfer bus. Great Idea, the cops will leave you alone!

Don

Looking good !

Painting this RV/motorhome will end up being the easiest job compared to the interior infrastructure...lol

Congrats on progress!

Mike B

Mike, painting this early was a NEED TO DO in order for the bus to pass inspection. The things that make it a school bus had to go like certain lights and flashers, a "whip" thing ... John can give those details. He'd normally post first thing but today's "first thing" was to go get Rosebus and drive it to its temporary resting place (where we had Wrenchfest, at Morgan's). There he can finish the last few things to get it inspected and then registered.

ITMT, John's been noodling with Pat Guy, Mongo, and other Skoolie owners on some interior ideas. I'm just amazed at what some folks have done inside the shell. We don't need much for it to work for us, but we do need more "leg" room, so to speak.

Update:

She's ready to go for inspection

Looking good John. Interior looks spacious and screaming for a fit out !!!!

You sure got a lot done in a short amount of time. I’ve noticed a few of your posts on Skoolies site; I signed up there when I got our 59 short bus.

Great job and good luck with the inspection!

De-schooling officially complete today! After painting and a few other things ... Rosebus passed Maryland inspection and I got her registered, tagged and titled today!

Looking good!

Way to go John. Now you need a nice box hitch receiver welded to the frame to round out your adventures.

Congratulations!!

Thanks for the kind words.

Joe -- I'll be bolting on the hitch. In case I ever need to take the 466 out...

For those who may be interested, this gem is sitting at Newburg looking for a new owner.... '69 GM Parlor coach converted to RV. 6-71N

John, will the bus be going to Winchester? All you need is a air mattress and a sleeping bag!

Mike B

Looking good John. Lots of progress in a short period of time. Almost like there is an event coming up soon or something.

Some recent photos of progress on Rosebus. You'd think I'd be be farther along. Not like I've had much else on my plate ...

Removing the flooring ... the linoleum is held to the subfloor by runners and the wheelchair tire down tracks. The runners have screws about every 8 inches. The screws go all the way through the metal floor Under the 5/8s plywood sub floor. The wheelchair tie down tracks have flush head bolts every 4 inches. These bolts go all the through the metal floor. They have to be cut as they can't be unbolted (hard to get to and they're rusted anyway) or ground. I've found the easiest way to deal with them is with a cutting wheel on the die grinder -- cut down the center of the track and through the center of the mounting bolts, then take the 3 lb hammer and the wrecking bar to split the tracks away from the bolts. Then, cut the bolts. Lastly, the 5/8ths plywood is mounted to the metal floor with rusted screws randomly spaced throughout the floor. These screws generally pull through the plywood when the big wrecking bar is used to pry up the plywood. The plywood generally breaks where it was routed for the tie down tracks.

Slow, tedious work. Plus, making it even less pleasant is finding all the dried "body fluid absorbent" that's congealed under every thing ... yuck.

To make up for that, I found quite a few little figurines, pencils, notes and even a picture ... each one stops me in my tracks to make me ponder the special needs child who lost that item on the bus and what kind of life they've had since. I hope they have nice memories from riding Rosebus.

Also ... Rosebus rolled off the assembly line in February of 2001 and was inservice with the Bayonne, NJ school system on the morning of 9-11. Bayonne is directly across the Hudson from Ground Zero. The driver and possibly the kids may have seen it happen.

The things you think about when grinding bolts one after the other after the other ...

I also have a bus we call the Rose bus, because it's actually my daughter Rose's. Thankfully it's long since been RV converted, but it's pretty rusty underneath. Kinda dreading to open that can of worms.

Yikes ... Already converted to an RV ... At this point, can you even deal with that floor without ripping everything out and starting over?

We called it Rosebus for sentimental reasons ... We (Peggy and I) both like "Citizen Kane" and our first project vehicle together was a '71 VW we painted red and named "Rosebug." We even had the personalized tag on it that said ROSEBUG. It was fun and we got a lot of comments on it at gas stations, etc. We were going to paint the bus a deep red and do the "Rosebus" name and flower motif (like on the sled in the movie) front and back where the "School Bus" was. Then ... I priced out the red paint... well, we dropped the red paint idea but the name stuck.

Heck, just bring Rosebus to Winchester. I’m sure I’ve got some red paint in can splash on it while we’re there!😊

There’s a lot of real estate to deal with: both inside and out. When I had Magic Bus I started pulling the seats out, and then stopped because I really didn’t have a goal for it. At least you know what you want.

Rosebus Update:

The interior demo is complete at this point. As of Christmas, I have patched the rust holes in the floor, rust treated the floor, patched all the bolt holes in the floor (with Flex Seal fabric tape) and have started installing the new sub floor.

Making progress...looks good!

Mike B

OK, so the wheelchair lift removal is not technically part of the demo process (which I have previously declared "Mission Complete" and awarded myself several medals and a promotion) because, after I clean up under it and replace the floor, it's going back in. But wait you say ... "What about the subfloor under the wheelchair lift ... aren't you "demo-ing THAT?" Ha. Nice try, but no. It was so rotted, it had demo'd itself. When we tilted the lift back to walk it to the other side of the bus, it all pretty much just disintegrated and fell out of the door, thus demoing itself and saving me the trouble.

Which pretty much settled the question of whether or not removing the lift was going to be worth the trouble. I was afraid of pulling the lift only to find pristine floor under it. I needn't have worried. The plywood was completely rotten and the steel floor was heavily surface rusted. Which, I admit, is pretty twisted on my part -- being glad to find rotten plywood and a little rust. So perfect situation ... bad enough to validate my decision to remove the lift but not bad enough to require patching -- just clean up, repaint, seal, redo that section of sub floor and then finish the Grey Oak vinyl planking! So big day yesterday in the bus. Monumental step forward. Perhaps even worth another round of awards, promotions and even a parade (I'll go for a spin around the farm in the Jeep).

I say "we" because Pastor Mike came and helped. It was nice to have help figuring out how to grind off the carriage bolts (8 of them) attaching the unit to the bus. Like most components of this bus, the wheelchair lift was installed with the thought that it would remain in place for the entire life of the bus. Not only are these components hard to remove in a shop/maintenance scenario, they are meant to remain in place in a crash scenario. Removing the 8 bolts required 5 different tools -- The big crew-served angle grinder (for 6 of the 8 bolts), the generator to run the CSAG, the cordless cut off tool (for two of the bolts inaccessible to the BCSAG), cordless drill (to drill out the rivets on the door trim plate and the cordless oscillating tool to get at one little metal thing blocking one of the bolts.

I recently re-read the history of the "Carrollton Bus Disaster" of 1988 in Carrollton, KY. It helps to keep me in check when I grumble about how hard EVERYTHING has been to get at in this bus. It reminds me to be glad for the kids riding school buses today. I just hope I *NEVER* have to drop the fuel tank ...

Enjoy some pictures.

Glad to hear of your continued success on the bus! We all pretty much know what we will find hiding in circumstances like that. I hear it's been unusually cold down there in AL land. Hope you bundled up for the parade ride.

Indeed it has. 22 degrees here atop the mountain this morning.

I am confidant I will be warmed by the love of the cheering throngs along my parade route. My therapist tells me they're only in my head. Whatever. Their love is real. I feel it.