https://www.youtube.com/c/Rehabit8/videos
Edit: I'm not saying that I'd follow everything these people do, but they realistically show how much work a conversion is, especially the demolition part. I thought they did a good job of prepping the interior for the conversion. This took them over a month and they made a bunch of videos of doing it.
I also like that they aren't doing an over the top "Prevost" style conversion, but more realistic what you'd find in a typical home.
Though entertaining to watch, I wouldn't follow them for guidance on a bus build. They do have a few good ideas.
These guys are much more on the ball, being on their third bus build.
https://www.youtube.com/c/LacroixCruiser
I like what they are doing, but I can't figure out why they used bed liner instead of paint.
As a side note, my French has improved watching their videos.
Quote from: richard5933 on August 06, 2020, 08:27:55 AM
I like what they are doing, but I can't figure out why they used bed liner instead of paint.
As a side note, my French has improved watching their videos.
They are good friends of mine,they are in the detail and bed liner business is why he used it,Yvan teaches detailing all over the world,I sold him and Sylive that bus because I didn't have time to fool with it
I watch and subscribe to both channels, I recommend them both.
I find that I am constantly hitting tree branches, it makes me wonder if I should go with a bed liner paint job. I'd have to see the bed liner on a bus in person first, but I think I would rather go the traditional route.
Quote from: mmanning on August 06, 2020, 09:52:10 AM
I watch and subscribe to both channels, I recommend them both.
I find that I am constantly hitting tree branches, it makes me wonder if I should go with a bed liner paint job. I'd have to see the bed liner on a bus in person first, but I think I would rather go the traditional route.
Somebody keyed our coach in Walmart cost me $730 bucks to repair a scratch,now I have damage on the drivers side from a rock slide in Idaho no telling what it will cost,lol bed liner is looking good to me on the doors anyways
The stuff is practical for durability and ability to hide surface defects but oh so ugly IMHO.
Quote from: windtrader on August 06, 2020, 10:55:35 AM
The stuff is practical for durability and ability to hide surface defects but oh so ugly IMHO.
I have a buddy Jim Smith in Albuquerque looks what he does with the bed liner www.smithsultimate.com ,you can sand that stuff and make the finish nice slick and shiny he did on his boat and Harley lol but left it rough on his Eagle bus
Quote from: thomasinnv on August 06, 2020, 06:03:15 AM
These guys are much more on the ball, being on their third bus build.
https://www.youtube.com/c/LacroixCruiser
Thanks for sharing that channel.
Having never done a bus conversion, these are fantastic videos for me to be watching.
I'm surprised at the amount of body work needed on Yvan's an Sylvie's bus.
Quote from: someguy on August 06, 2020, 11:29:03 PM
Having never done a bus conversion, these are fantastic videos for me to be watching.
I'm surprised at the amount of body work needed on Yvan's an Sylvie's bus.
The bus was pretty darn straight except for the cobbled up door , crapy paint job and all the silicone sealant every where and there wasn't much rust for a DL, the bedroom windows were installed in a terrible location.LOL I don't think Yvan really wanted to do another bus.Since Sylive bought the bus he lost that one ,I hated to see the bus go but that damn Claw Foot tub I was glad to see leave
Twenty years ago I bought our first coach, at that time you joined groups went to rallies to see what other "bus nuts" did/doing. After four coaches buying one the was converted from someone I knew in one of the groups worked the best for me, still spent the first two plus years repairing/redoing to what we wanted (after ten years still working, changing, & repairing). We have a coach that we love, I know inside out. To build from a shell is a costly way but really all ways are costly and there is some luck involved to. Watching the Yvan videos brought my back to those days. Here we are today.
Quote from: luvrbus on August 07, 2020, 04:49:54 AM
The bus was pretty darn straight except for the cobbled up door , crapy paint job and all the silicone sealant every where and there wasn't much rust for a DL, the bedroom windows were installed in a terrible location.
It was a touring bus. The roof is raised 9". From factory ? I agree, not too much rust, but still some.
When I saw it in the videos, I thought it would be a quick simple retro. Strip out the old interior and replace it. Little did I know they would strip it back to the walls, just like a seated coach. Then they did all the work on the sidewalls with the windows. Then they completely stripped the exterior, fixed a bunch of stuff and prepped it for paint and painted it.
Way more work than I thought they would put into it. But all necessary work. I like doing that sort of work - rebuilding something, making it good again or improving it.
Quote from: someguy on August 07, 2020, 07:46:21 PM
It was a touring bus. The roof is raised 9". From factory ? I agree, not too much rust, but still some.
When I saw it in the videos, I thought it would be a quick simple retro. Strip out the old interior and replace it. Little did I know they would strip it back to the walls, just like a seated coach. Then they did all the work on the sidewalls with the windows. Then they completely stripped the exterior, fixed a bunch of stuff and prepped it for paint and painted it.
LOL a friend of mine on this board Dave C help me strip walls and bunks everything in that bus was framed with 2x2 or 2x4 red oak screwed together that was a job removing Yvan got off light
t.
Quote from: luvrbus on August 07, 2020, 08:28:29 PM
LOL a friend of mine on this board Dave C help me strip walls and bunks everything in that bus was framed with 2x2 or 2x4 red oak screwed together that was a job removing Yvan got off light
So what is the whole back story on that bus ? How many miles does it have on it ?
Here is another good channel. They raised the roof and then gave up and sold the bus. They put 2 years of weekends into it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbLwgPhTFtE
https://www.youtube.com/c/BacktoSchoolBus/videos
Seems funny seeing these couples do this work together. The other 2 couples are working on their bus nearly full time.
It's a ton of work to prep a seated bus for a conversion. But it looks like a fantastic chassis when you are done. I'm surprised at how much work it is but also surprised at how well it comes out too.
It's like doing a house reno. It gets really dirty and ugly for a while before the value becomes evident.
How much you do depends on what your goals are. Insulation is nice but how much do you really need it? It is far from an absolute. And, since your house has wheels it isn't hard to move it to a nicer place if the climate gets too uncomfortable. Seems like sort of the purpose of the bus in the first place. I think it is more a matter of priorities and how much weight is given to such things as appearances vs practicality. They are not mutually exclusive but it's easy to shift the balance too far one way or the other.
I agree with the idea of buying a completed conversion. But if you then take that, strip out the interior and redo it, replumb it, rewire it, and upgrade the tanks and genset, then rebuild or upgrade the engine and transmission and maybe repaint there isn't much difference from starting from scratch. In which case, why not start with as much as you can use without changing it for the least you can pay? That can take many forms but as a starting point how about a roof you don't have to raise? Maybe an engine you don't have to replace. A transmission that is fine the way it is. An AC system that is a decent starting point. An acceptable aux heating system. A paint job you can live with. Maybe even nice Alcoa wheels. Usable tires and batteries. Can you get that for under $10K? Yes you can. Sometimes for much less. I spent the better part of a year learning the market and searching but the end result was all that and more for $5250. Plus a delivery fee to have it driven to my house. Don't discount the value of that part, at the very least it had to be in good enough shape to make the trip. And at the end the driver said it was a lovely machine to drive. A very welcome reassurance. This is a very firm foundation on which to build.
Now the interior is, pardon my french but simply put, sticks and staples. No matter how fancy you get with it, in the end it is no different from any other S&S RV. So there is little to be gained by paying big bucks for what someone else has already done. Tanks? (for the memories) those are just big square boxes. Worth a couple grand maybe but still just boxes. And the rest is detail work. It does become an interesting hobby. So now we get to the crux of the matter. Is the goal to build the thing or to live in it? Some of us enjoy the building enough to put off the living in it for awhile, and that's fine. I have a really nice house to live in. It's not an urgent thing for me. It's paid for and appreciating. Sure I have to mow the yard and such but it's a small price to pay. By the time we start seriously thinking about changing that the bus should be nearly finished and can provide options. So for me this plan works. YMMV
Jim
The original converter, long before luvrbus got it... was not a reputable business man.
He went to jail.
Yvan and Syvie's bus is a long way from what you will encounter in another coach, it had already been chopped and changed, and not always for the better.
There was no funny business more recently, everyone knew what and who was involved, but there are more coaches running around out there that came out of that notorious shop.
He preyed on the unknowing directly, and his "work" lurks out there for a whole 'nuther generation of new busnuts...
Happy coaching!
Buswarrior
You can't blame Walker for the worst paint anybody ever saw,I did a lot of metal and brace replacement around the tag and engine cradle on that bus and almost had to sell the farm to pay Sam Cayor it is in good shape,paying for the brakes with new drums ,pads and bearings will make you cry,then add Luke with his studs they knew a bargain and never tried to dicker on the price
Here is another couple working on a bus right now.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJBb9pXSdlfqXAyK_BvUlIg/videoshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0WnEdPE-OA
There are now 3 couples that are currently working on converting an MCI coach on YouTube:
- them (Andy Kavanagh)
- Lacroix Cruiser
- Rehabit8
And Back To School Bus, who stopped working on their coach and sold it.
Andy's bus is by far the newest, being a 2007 E4500 with 475,000 miles on it. Cat C12 with ZF automated manual transmission.
He seems to have made it through the demolition and prep part of the bus faster than anyone, though he didn't remove the entire bus floor nor the seat rails.
Comparing the two conversions, I'm not sure Lacroix Cruiser gained anything by buying a pre converted bus.
For example, the coach door on Yvan's bus was all messed up. Someone had installed an RV latch that didn't work in it and bent the door. Yvan said he spent 40 hours fixing it. He did a fantastic job, but 40 hours is 40 hours.
The coach door on Andy's bus appears to be in perfect condition.
Here is another conversion. 2002 J4500.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ6eXMxYmrkvXwStNTm5R7Q/videos
Quote from: someguy on August 09, 2020, 03:34:36 AM
Here is another conversion. 2002 J4500.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ6eXMxYmrkvXwStNTm5R7Q/videos
If you wait 2 more years you can buy the J coming out of CA up to 2009 models real cheap and convert you one, in 2023 they have to be gone or upgraded to a 2010 engine,that guy with the ZF transmission will have his hands full keeping it going,a bus coming out of service with a 1/2 million mile on the clock is going to cost to keep going that is why the company sold it off .The Cat C-12 is not a bad engine but not one of Cats greatest achievements by far,the ceramic cam followers fail in bus application's .Yvan and Sylive are allways up for a challenge they love to work lol me I was going to buy another door ::)
I also opted to keep the floor and seat rails, why tear out a solid floor? If I felt I needed to insulate that could go over the old floor just fine. Ditto walls and ceiling. Balanced against headroom that might not happen. Turns out a flexible light strip should fit those seat tracks pretty close. Seats came out easily, cut off the bin rails behind the rearmost AC unit where the first wall goes for the bathroom and shower. New gas struts for the bin covers (cheap on ebay) and replaced the cracked covers with the spares. Voila, instant overhead cabinets. Looks nice and lots of room. Who says it has to look like a bar in Las Vegas?
Jim
The 96 MCI 102 D3 in my signature was a real good candidate for a conversion as the structural modifications were all done by the government owned bus company I bought it from using tax payers money.
The motor and trans had both been replaced and are being removed for future sale.
The shell will be turned into a hunting shack, tiny home, cabin, you get the idea.
The wheels will be left on it for moving purposes.
With the wheels left on around here it doesn't attract excessive property taxes.
I had planned to take most of the good parts from the 96 and use what I can for the 88 A 3
I was also planning on raising the front suspension removing the air bags then welding stops to hold it up to give adequate clearance to move to a "remote site " or to move if sold as I don't need it.
The D3 has lots of room inside and would be cheaper to convert than to build a small cabin. especially with the lack of taxes.
Sorry to hijack the thread but the Ivan's and Sylvie's project has lots of ideas.
Quote from: luvrbus on August 09, 2020, 05:44:19 AM
If you wait 2 more years you can buy the J coming out of CA up to 2009 models real cheap and convert you one, in 2023 they have to be gone or upgraded to a 2010 engine
Even without that there are a lot of E/J4500s coming on the market. Es started in 2001, so some of them are approaching 20 years on the road, not exactly what I'm looking for. But there are newer ones.
The sweet spot for E/Js is pre 2007, when they had less emissions stuff on them.
Quotethat guy with the ZF transmission will have his hands full keeping it going,a bus coming out of service with a 1/2 million mile on the clock is going to cost to keep going that is why the company sold it off.
I don't know about that. Almost all these buses will need bushings, air bags, shocks, some brake work, etc. Depending on how his was serviced, it shouldn't be that bad in that regard.
The unknown is the engine and transmission combo. I think the ZF will be OK, but I'd swap the C13 for a S60 as soon as I could. He'll get good money for a running C13 and S60s are reasonably priced and plentiful. I'd rather do an engine swap than do a bunch of body work or fix rust.
QuoteThe Cat C-12 is not a bad engine but not one of Cats greatest achievements by far,the ceramic cam followers fail in bus application's .
That engine would be my last choice. My order of preference is S60 -> Cummins ISX -> Volvo -> Cat.
QuoteYvan and Sylive are allways up for a challenge they love to work lol me I was going to buy another door
Or just spend a bit more money and get a better coach. I'd rather do an engine rebuild (inframe) than endless body work and rust fixes.