Just Plain Nasty!

[abebris]

Started ACTIVELY working on my conversion today.  I think that in spite of the fact that I had a pretty efficient work crew of 4 others in addition to myself, my expectations for the day were a bit too optimistic!  We did get all of the seats out, but I had hoped to start the tear out of the commode in the rear of the coach and that was not to be.  The floor bolts were far harder to remove than I had anticipated - in fact we ended up just using a pry bar on some of the seats.  It damaged the floor slightly, but I'm going to lay a new subfloor anyway - so - why not tear it up a bit!  (Besides - its sort of fun to just tear stuff up and out!)

Here's the disgusting part - the looks of under the seats and inside the tracks... I was thinking BIOHAZARD as we pulled them out.  I was a police officer in a major city for a long time and thought I had seen a lot of nastyness - until today.  Rat filled sewer holes have NOTHING on the underside of an old bus seat!  I am almost afraid of what I am going to find behind the panels under the windows when I pull those...

Happy New Year to all - looking forward to moving my project forward and getting on the road in '08!

Alex

[tekebird]

was it a greyhound?

as far back as the early 80's hounds were known to be infested with roaches etc.

that is what happens when your clietele is the lower rung of society

[Paladin]

When I got my bus the seats were already out as was the lav but when I pulled the floor out is when I got disgusted. After losing the old nasty and rotted wood floor and insulation I pulled at least 30 pounds of old hair and crud out of there and even sprayed the area down with lysol. Even with a respirator I was afraid of what I had kicked up in the air, mouse turds were under there too.  I finally scrubbed everything down and then covered the metal with POR-15 to help keep the rust at bay. Now it's nice and clean and almost pretty and has all new insulation and wood but I'm not sure I'd be happy to take on that job again.

Also took me quite a bit longer and more money that I initially had guessed.

 

[Hartley]

Welcome to the world of bus conversions...

Wear a mask and eye protection and gloves if ya got them....

30 plus years of crevice creatures will surely upset your allergies and could make you sick.

I once thought the worst places to have to work were under the back seats of old police cars and taxi cabs, then I discovered that working on garbage trucks with the old radios under
the seats were bad. Then later found that amusement rides ( indoor type ) were a haven for the unseen and discarded hair and gritty skin flakes all mixed with greasy human chaff and a lot of stuff you don't want to hear about....

Then I stripped 2 RTS buses... One from Delaware and the other a New York MTA bus...
It took 3 months to get the smell off my clothes and out of my nose....It gets worse when wet and then turns to a gooey mess.... Then I did 2 Flex 870's and an 81 Flyer and others...

4,000 psi of water pressure, Full body suit and 10 gallons of purple stuff works well....

Dave...

[ChuckMC9]

Didn't I hear a tale of someone actually discovering a sack of diamonds in theirs?! Or something valuable like that? It was a few years ago. Heck maybe I dreamt it...

[JohnEd]

Alex,

Did you get the part about that center duct?   Vac out as much as you can and then pressure wash and hose out the rest.  Soak the area down with degreaser in a garden sprayer.  Elevate the rear of the bus and start in the rear and flush the stuff towards the front and out the door.  Wear a full resperator like the painters use, get a 3M from a auto painters supply house.....$30.  Mine has lasted 8 years and is still good and you will find use for it lots of times.  Sheet plastic draped and taped across the front dash and floor like a chute for the sludge.

Good luck and glad I'm not there .  Better you than me.

John

[buddydawg]

Besides the usual nasty grime I had enough acorns to last a squirrel a lifetime.  The rats had brought them in.  The darn things were even in the ceiling!  I also found 86 cents, a silver ring, a tape of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Live, and much more.  It is definitely a tough nasty job but it smells so much better on board.

[prevost82]

I'd replace the floor while you're at it. Mine looked good from the top side but had mold and was rotting on the underside. When I pulled the floor up in the rear wheel area I had a couple of steel frame parts that were rusty ... replaced them and put a new floor in ... good for another 20 yrs.
Ron

[TomC]

When I first got my AMGeneral transit, the PO had already pulled the seats.  I know that the walls and ceilings were insulated so I was thinking on just doing a fast down and dirty conversion-in that I would just go over the existing walls and keep what insulation that was in the walls.  Out of curiousity, I pulled one of the roof panels and one of the side panels.  What had been white fiberglass insulation was completely black now!  I couldn't live with knowing that kind of dirt was hidden behind the panels, so I completely stripped the bus to the inside frame.  Good think too since I discovered two cracks, each above each door from years of openings and closings that I re welded up.  Also, fixed a couple of minor rust areas, wire brushed everything, and primed with Rustoleum.  Then screwed 1x2"s at 12" intervals to the frame and had foam insulation sprayed into the level of the 1x2's for 2.25" of insulation.
Anyone that buys a used bus of more than 10 years old and doesn't strip it down to the frame is just doing a down and dirty conversion without the knowledge of what's under the inside panels (gross).  Good Luck, TomC

[Bob Belter]

Ahoy, Abebris,

Whenever I recall removing the bathroom and toilet from -- first my GM 4106, and later, my Eagle -01,
I remand myself to the shower and 'flense' myself with a wire brush!!!!  I believe that there was 'stuff' in there that could jump six feet!!!

Nasty is the proper discription.

Enjoy  /s/  Bob