Early Crown Pics : Volume One

[Sharkey]

<table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFC0"><tr><td>Somehow, I managed to let myself be talked into posting some detailed early photos of work on the Crown. I guess it makes sense, if I can't post any new progress (since there hasn't been any), then I might as well show what I've already done. Come to think of it, that's much easier than actually working on the bus anyway...


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The first thing I did after getting the bus home was to sweep it out, remove junk and debris, investigate and take photos of all of the nooks and crannies, and try to get some idea of what I was going to do with it now that I had it. In this photo looking forward, you can see that the band saw that I hauled back from my friend's house in Portland is still strapped to the grab bar at the front of the bus. Date on this photo and the next would be Feb 20, 1995.


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Here you can see that I've pulled up the access plate in the floor to see what's under it (some radiator hoses).


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One of the big attractions of this bus was the heavy-duty chassis and running gear. No worries about overloading this rig, and it's undeniable that these tandem-dual, fully driven axles have lots of macho appeal.


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Once my curiousity was satisfied, it was time to actually work on the bus. Since it was still crammed into a corner of my driveway and sitting at an odd angle, I busied myself with rubbing off all of the black spray paint that the previous owner had used to obliterate the school bus and district lettering on the bus. I didn't stop when the spray paint was gone, but kept rubbing with the lacquer thinner-soaked rag until the lettering itself was removed as well.


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Here's what the area alongside my driveway looked like when I bought the bus, a Rambler graveyard. I shipped the two left-hand cars off to a classic-car salvage yard (the one on the far left under the tarp was a rare 9-passenger 1960 station wagon, it was later rescued by a collector who restored it), and moved the right hand one to another part of the yard so that fill dirt could be brought in to level the area.


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The fill is almost complete here, the bus is parked where the cars were previously, and the area in front of the bus is still receiving dump truck loads of dirt and gravel. In all 18 truckloads of fill were brought in during this phase of the project. The area under the Rambler crypt had previously gotten two loads years before, so the total was now 20 loads, or about 180-200 cubic yards.


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I installed an electric service panel to run power tools and then got to work removing the interior of the bus. All of this junk was either reused or recycled. Still working on getting rid of the last of the spray paint and lettering.


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Close to being stripped to the exterior skin. I've cut the rear bench seat out and removed the rearmost section of flooring...

<center>Continue to Volume Two</center>

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[twinkle48]

How much has this project cost you? Original cost of bus, cost of plumbing, electrical, roof, windows/door, etc.?

[Sharkey]

Ha. Too much, both in terms of money and time. Here's a off-the-top-of-my-head list:

Bus: $6,750
(Within a couple of years of buying it, I found newer buses with more desirable running gear for as little as $2k. Oh well...)

Structural steel: $1,000

Custom metal work (bending structural steel, forming panels, cutting complex shapes, etc):
$1,000

Aluminum sheathing for roof and walls: $1,200

Insulation: $1,500

Doors and Windows $10,000 (!!!)

Wiring and plumbing: $800

Five used tires to get it on the road to move to my new place: $500

So, $25,000 plus or minus to get it to the condition it's in right now (insulated shell with doors and windows, plumning and electrical roughed in)

In terms of my time: 13+ years of my life's "spare" time...

[j_nigrelli]

any chance you could share some "now" photos? the stripped shell makes it look really looong inside. and why were the windows so costly?

thanks,

j

[Sharkey]

The current photos of the inside of the bus are contained in this topic thread here on the forum. I'm still using it as a guest house and home theatre space.

As for the cost on the windows and doors, Everything was custom-made-to-order. After living in the Housetruck with crappy aluminum trailer windows, I knew that I wanted wooden frame, aluminum outside clad, double pane windows with effective weather stripping and low thermal loss. Of course, I wanted "energy panel" double glazing, and all of the glass in the bus is tempered.

The rear windows and door are the centerpiece of the bus, and I demanded that they be exact to specifications. The windows of the sleeping loft are arched on top to exactly mimic the arch of the roofline. The lower windows and door are designed to blend into the top windows exactly in appearance and dimensions. Of course, everything had to be made to fit in the spaces available after the rear of the bus was cut out. Nothing was available out of a catalog that even came close to what I needed. I ended up shopping the job at about a dozen door and window mills, and ended up with a winner is Versatile Door and Window in Portland, OR. Form the moment I showed Alan the plans, he made extraordinary effort to make sure that they came out to spec, and even get enthused about the fact that they were going into a bus and helped design them to fit and seal better. These six pieces cost $4,000 to have made out of Douglas Fir.

The side windows are Marvin "tilt-turn", designed after European windows. They are constructed of Pine, with aluminum cladding outside. The mechanism allows them to open as an inswing casement, or as a hopper. The have a six-point latch, and are purported to keep out water blowing horizontally in a 60 MPH wind. They were quite expensive. The bathroom and two kitchen windows, for example, are 40 x 24" and cost $750 each.

The road side door is a Pella patio door, similar six-point latch, removable energy panel, and between-the-glass shades. Cost on that one, $1,700, with the storm door added.

All of which is even more reason to get the bus finished and move into it. I dread going through another winter in the Housetruck, but it looks like I'll be here for at least one more.

[j_nigrelli]

ooohh...... that explains it!

thanks for the link; i Will have more questions.


j

[dpjohn69@gmail.com]

I just started on my 1984 crown high floor just wondering how you get to the engine after installing the rear door I would love to add a rear door to mine but can`t figure out how i would get to the engine any advise would be apreicated john

[Sharkey]

Access to the engine on my coach is still accomplished as it always has been, through the "basement doors" along the sides of the bus under the floor.

I think maybe were are discussing different configurations of Crown running gear, though. My bus has the engine "pancake" style, under the floor midships, in front of the rear axles. Your bus, by the sound of it, is one of the "pusher" styles. Not having investigated these myself, I can't say how one would go about putting in a rear entrance.

One of the big attractions of my bus was the fact that the frame rails end just behind the rear axles, and it had a big open area for a downstairs room under the loft.

Tell us a bit more about your bus. Photos?