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Q&A time folks! Question: Who likes making bad decisions? Answer: We do! Q: So what's mine? A: Like our forum treasure cursedshitbox, I decided I needed a much bigger pain in the rear end project, so I went and bought myself a bus! Q: But why? A: Like many of my fellow millennials, I don't share the dream of home ownership with our parents generation. I have been looking at buses for a couple years now, waffling back and forth between that or wanting to restore an Airstream or building a trendy tiny house on a trailer. In the end I decided something that can move itself would be the best idea as my El Camino would be ill suited to tow a full size travel trailer (let alone all the junk I'd put in it). So here she is boys; A 1977 MCI by TMC (Owned by Greyhound) MC-8 Crusader. Formerly owned by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, this bus was known as the Fire Flyer. With just over 42k original miles, the bus was used for transporting members of the department to areas around the Southwest United States for training and aiding in fighting brush & forest fires. I spoke with the owner, worked out a price $4500 plus tax, and then just yesterday went down and picked it up. After climbing out of the LA basin (averaged ~40 mph), and a long squirrely drive north (the steering needs adjustment) it's sitting here in my dad's front yard ready to be converted into a bedroom on wheels.  STUFF THAT YOU PEOPLE CARE ABOUT -Overall Length: 40 ft -Overall Width: 8 ft -Overall Height: 133 in -Wheelbase: 285 in -Approximate Vehicle Weight: 26,760 lb -Engine: Eight cylinder supercharged Detroit 8V-71 two-cycle diesel developing 285 HP at 2150 RPM -Transmission: Automatic Allison HT740 (four forward and one reverse) -Brakes: Air operated two shoe service brakes are installed at each axle. -Emergency: Air operated Bendix-Westinghouse DD-3 emergency and parking brakes are used at rear driving axle. -Electrical: 24 volt negative ground. Two heavy duty 25 plate, 204 ampere hour capacity batteries -Air Conditioning:3 cylinder compressor, belt driven off the main engine -Storage: Underfloor enclosed compartments - 300 cu. ft. Inside parcel racks - 109 cu. ft. -Fuel Tank: 144 gallon capacity -Suspension: Air ride - automatically maintains a constant ride height -Steering: Hydraulic - power steering is standard NEXT POST The Grand Tour: With Photographs! (Not affiliated with the Amazon show or its hosts.)
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Dec 29, 2016 22:53
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 07:45 |
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Jealous of your weight and engine. grease the gently caress out of everything stat.
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Dec 29, 2016 22:56
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Picture time! So here's where the bus will sit for the next however long it sits. Please note the pressure treated lumber under the wheels. Where I'm at is below sea level with the soil consisting of a dozen feet or insubstantial peat, gravel, and loose dirt. Without the planks, the drat thing would sink to its frame.      Those mirrors have the worst visibility ever. I managed to aim them so that once I can see both headlights on whatever I pass, I know I can safely pull in front. Pretty much all of the stainless steel panels are in excellent condition. The bay doors all fit tight and open and close without problems. Whoever maintained the bus even went so far as to use white lithium grease on the catches and latches for the hatches. The only modification to the exterior I've noticed are the highly useful backup spot lights.     This is where the magic happens. I finally own a supercharged V8.  If it ain't dirty, it ain't a Detroit. Port aft hatch gives access to the oil bath air cleaner and transmission dipstick.  Let's take a look in the rear where the poop is.  The access for the holding tank is starboard side aft. The dump valve for the tank has no fittings for a sewer line, just goes straight to the ground  Please excuse the angle, but look at these tires! They're brand new!   Tattler put on only a couple hundred miles after the thing was built. Such low mileage on a 1977 anything is pretty awesome.   And now to show the interior. Up and in we go. This is my seat. Not yours. Mine. (I need to replace the drivers seat, it's gone flat.)      Some plaques, stickers, and other junk up around the drivers area.    The interior is a bit shabby, but it's all going away, so I'm not disappointed.       I do like all the factory installed "No Smoking" signs right next to the ash tray on the bus designated to be ridden by fire fighters. Ah ha, hush that fuss Everybody move to the back of the bus.  Let's take a look at the lavatory. It's pretty lovely.     I don't know what the button used to do, but it does nothing now. Hey, look at my poop chute.   It's literally a poop chute. This will not work for full time use as it was meant to be dumped daily. Ooh, look, logs!  Alright kids, you're botherin me, get outta here.  Next time Strippers and blow: Put that down, it's dirty! or I have no idea where to put all these seats.
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Dec 30, 2016 00:35
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That seat fabric is awesome. I wonder what other cars those manky things would fit in.
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Dec 30, 2016 02:17
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Detroit power. It's barely supercharged, sorry. I'm a huge fan of those engines, be glad you didn't get a turbo one. Twice the fuel consumption, more complex, and shorter lives.
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Dec 30, 2016 06:19
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Oh man, 8-71. You'll literally be buying lube oil by the 5 gallon bucket. On the plus side it should run forever. Try not to use starting ether and if you absolutely must it should go on a rag draped over the intake not sprayed directly down.
Bibendum fucked around with this message at 10:30 on Dec 30, 2016 |
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Dec 30, 2016 10:15
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If this update is any indication of how this thread will go, I foresee quasi-monthly postings. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. First step to making this ol' girl ready for the ball is to strip her down to her underwear. To do that I need to grope her seat(s). Ahh, seats. Taking a look under the skirt shows a mess.  Pop off the little black caps to see the T-bolts and nuts.  And voilla x4!  And now to repeat for 42 seats, 2 seats per bench (not counting the rear).  Stacked and ready to get out the door.  Half done.  Oh hey, I can remove the cushions. Wish I knew this an hour ago. Seats are much lighter and easier to unbolt.    Presto changeo! Magically the seats have been converted to chewed gum and random detritus!  Alright. I've spoiled you enough with this post. I have some relaxing to do.
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Jan 17, 2017 06:14
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I love this bus, it's in great shape. Please don't hack it up too much. You got it for a steal, though!Noeland posted:
But it says "smoking permitted"  Bibendum posted:Oh man, 8-71. It's an 8V71
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Jan 17, 2017 08:57
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Raluek posted:
I realized this shortly after I pulled out all the seats and re-read the sign up forward. The bus is officially non-smoking now (except for con/destruction). Raluek posted:
And the guy I got it from paid significantly less than I did. He wheels and deals at public auctions all the time. He had several 20kw+ portable generators with under 10 hours on em that he picked up for like $50 ea. YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK. I'll have to hit him up sometime in the future if I ever do decide to find a plot of land to fill with junk. Worry not about hacking the bus up, it'll be cleaned up and stay mostly as is, except the interior... well it's gotta go. Many of the side windows have been sun cracked to the point of being impossible to see out. The forward windows will be replaced, there's a company out of somewhere in Oregon that makes thermal replacements. The aft windows, however, will be blanked. I do plan to make the blanks blend in with the style via running them through a bead roller. I don't want this thing to look too much like an RV. I'm not raising the roof (except during shindigs).
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Jan 17, 2017 11:28
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I love seeing these old busses being kept alive by turning them into homes on wheels. I can't wait to see the project move along and the end result 
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Jan 17, 2017 13:42
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Engine driven A/C? Do you have plans in the future to add a generator so that you can run A/C off that, and other appliances? Cool project!
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Jan 17, 2017 17:02
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You and csb are giving me unattainable desires for a huge bus. I have no place to store a bus, but by god, I want one.
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Jan 17, 2017 18:40
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GentlemanofLeisure posted:Engine driven A/C? Do you have plans in the future to add a generator so that you can run A/C off that, and other appliances? The engine driven compressor is MIA, but all the hookups and poo poo are there. I can't open the forward A/C compartment to take a look at the pax system, so I may have to build something from scratch. Lucky for me I can don't need to buy a package unit to get what I want. If I can find one, I'd like to install a 24v or 48v DC compressor so I can have off grid cooling. For heating I'm looking at propane direct venting boat fireplaces.
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Jan 18, 2017 00:23
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Ah good plan. I worked in boats for several years, I think that's a good place to look for ideas. Everything that goes on a boat is ridiculously expensive though, so get the actual parts somewhere else if you can.
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Jan 18, 2017 18:28
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Well I've got a bit of free time in the wee hours here (Read: too early to fire up the power tools), and since I don't go to bed until 10AM, I'll go ahead and add a bit of trash to this pile. When we last left our hero, he had removed all the seats, except for 2, the one up front and the one in the back. Let's get some headroom before I do anything else and remove those parcel shelves. Pretty straightforward, unbolt the stanchions, then unscrew a half million screws and bolts and let that poo poo fall in pieces.    Those gold anodized aluminum extrusions weighed a good 40 lbs each section, 2 sections per side. Drivers side chopped in half to make it less skull crushy before dropping it. I also figured out that the shelves separate from the shelves and left the extrusion up on the drivers side, to be removed when I have more space to move. I pulled out a bit of insulation to see what condition it was in. Needless to say, it was gross. Not gonna reuse any of it.  Called it a night right there. Already it looks more spacious from outside!  Since I'm a time traveler and live several weeks in the future of my posts, it's now morning! Time to get back to work. Let's pull of those stainless side ducts/seat rails. I'm feeling curious.  I'm no longer curious. I am now disgusted. This bus is very furry. KEEP ON TRUCKIN'. Let'g dig deeper and pull off the side panels. There are many layers, like a filthy onion.   So there's a layer of wood veneer over this super 70's vinyl poo poo over a thin layer of fiberglass insulation over this aluminum skin that sits on standoffs to allow air to flow up and defog windows so the soot covered passengers could see the charred remains of the forest they just tromped through. Neat. Gross. It's all gotta go.  Better, but what's this in the back corner?  My name is Tom, how did you come upon my bus? Hello, Tom, my name is Noeland. No one has ever understood me like you, Tom. LET'S RIP SOME MORE poo poo OUT.  Get rid of the poop chute room. I prefer to not live with an indoor outhouse.  Broke the mirror removing it. 7 years bad luck? Looks like I know how long I'm living on the bus for.  Water tank for the wee sink was behind the mirror.   Neat little setup here. There's an air pump/piston attached to the door that I traced out to where the flushing tank was underneath the bus (it's missing along with the A/C compressor). Every time the door opens and shuts it shoots enough air to give a shot of blue juice to knock down your brown. Now lets unbolt the straps holding down everything and that chute should just pull up and out as one unit, or so I read.  I was lied to. All those guys that just unbolted everything and slid it out did so without an engine in the way. Also, the floor is partially attached to the Lav. Sorry for the jump, but the process to pulling out the john involves putting down the phone. Here's what was underneath the floor though.    Soot covered insulation and corroded firewall/flashing. Lets clean all this poo poo up and call it a day.  Much better.
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Feb 21, 2017 14:48
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drat son! already down to the dungeon of that fucker.
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Feb 21, 2017 18:04
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Awesome. Have you gotten to habitat layout plans yet? I love bus conversions.
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Feb 21, 2017 19:19
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Well NOW where are you gonna take your dumps?
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Feb 21, 2017 19:39
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My van dreams of having as much space to work with as your bus. How much headroom will you have? I'm 6'5" so I will never be able to stand in any vehicle 
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Feb 21, 2017 19:40
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Wounded Unicorn posted:Awesome. Have you gotten to habitat layout plans yet? I love bus conversions. I'm an active worker and lazy poster, so I'm actually a small bit further than just making floor plans  Astonishing Wang posted:Well NOW where are you gonna take your dumps? I plan to paint one side of the bus with Ultra-Everdry and hang my rear end out the window. Man_of_Teflon posted:How much headroom will you have? With all the flooring in and ceiling in place it's gonna be just a tad over 6'3" in the center. Most professional conversions use the later model MC-9 or newer buses and section from the drivers seat back and add 9" or so to bring em up to max legal height. I'm only 5'9" tall so it wasn't a concern for me.
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Feb 22, 2017 07:00
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Alright folks. I'm lazy, so here's this dump of a gallery to bring you up to date. //ABANDONING THREAD// (Feel free to ask questions here though.) http://imgur.com/a/iZQ9I
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May 16, 2017 03:51
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WHAT, I was just getting invested. Why no windows for the bedroom?
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May 16, 2017 04:11
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StormDrain posted:WHAT, I was just getting invested. Because of the implication.
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May 16, 2017 04:34
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StormDrain posted:WHAT, I was just getting invested. More insulation and cheaper to block over em than to replace the sun cracked plexiglas. Edit: just to replace the windows in the forward half (thermal upgrade!) will cost me ~$5000.
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May 16, 2017 05:01
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I enjoy how gaudy the bedroom looks already.
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May 16, 2017 09:21
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Olympic Mathlete posted:I enjoy how gaudy the bedroom looks already. Pretty serious missed opportunity, though 
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May 16, 2017 21:15
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Oh poo poo, that would've been pretty amazing
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May 16, 2017 21:18
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That bedroom looks like it'll be amazing. YOU BETTER NOT LEAVE US HANGING 
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May 17, 2017 00:06
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ExplodingSims posted:YOU BETTER NOT LEAVE US HANGING I'll leave you at the next truck stop like a lot lizard if I have to.
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May 17, 2017 16:37
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Noeland posted:I'll leave you at the next truck stop like a lot lizard if I have to.  Do post pics.
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May 17, 2017 16:49
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 07:45 |
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Noeland posted:I'm an active worker and lazy poster, so I'm actually a small bit further than just making floor plans Well consider me loving excited, then A friend of mine and I converted an '86 IH Schoolbus into a Skoolie and put a full-length western red cedar roof deck on top. I'm not gonna lie, the craftsmanship was passable, but it was sturdy and man did we drink some loving beers on that roof deck.
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May 17, 2017 23:48
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