POTD 2006 (Progress on the Crown)
Moderator: TMAX
Well, that huge stupid hole is where the exhaust pipe used to exit the bus - through the bumper. I've been trying for years to find an affordable replacement for that quarter section of bumper, but so far, no one has stepped forward with a decent replacement. Guess it'll just have to remain ugly until I make a trip to CA and visit a bus wrecking yard and get my pockets picked by the Gomer behind the counter.
Yea , I was just razzin ya a bit. I know a couple places here that I might be able to score one. Probably cost more to ship than the price of the bumper tip. If I find one for around $20.00 ya want it??? Is it just the top piece? I figure the top and bottom are the same, probably all four are the same from left and right side. Mine has the hole thats split between the top half and the bottom half. Heres a pic. Also some small holes drilled in the top lip to hold the sheet metal as shown in pic. I know the exhaust pipe is "long" but it keeps the soot off of my bike!!! 
Heres the trailer hitch I made also. The bumper is not really strong, so I just haul a small utility trailer with a bike in it.
Heres the trailer hitch I made also. The bumper is not really strong, so I just haul a small utility trailer with a bike in it.
Gary, yeah, if you can score one for $20 + shipping, I'll go for it, I can paypal the $$. All four corners are the same, but as you mentioned, the top units have holes to support the trim sheet metal.
That exhaust looks deadly. I would have scars on my legs if I had to be around that!
On a related note, today I hauled the last of the leftover steel from the roof job on the bus to the recycle yard. The back bench seat sheet metal, the rear emergency exit window frame and other assorted small bits. In the last week, I've gotten rid of all of the original window frames, all of the interior skin, all of the original roof aluminum, the tubular grab bars around the front seats, etc. Most of this stuff has been laying around for the last eleven years, if I haven't needed it by now, it's unlikely I'll ever need it.
If you need side window glass, now is the time to speak up, it's going to the used building materials yard next week (if they'll even take it, if not, it's off to the dump...). I also still have one of the two rear exit windows and both rear quarter round side windows.
That exhaust looks deadly. I would have scars on my legs if I had to be around that!
On a related note, today I hauled the last of the leftover steel from the roof job on the bus to the recycle yard. The back bench seat sheet metal, the rear emergency exit window frame and other assorted small bits. In the last week, I've gotten rid of all of the original window frames, all of the interior skin, all of the original roof aluminum, the tubular grab bars around the front seats, etc. Most of this stuff has been laying around for the last eleven years, if I haven't needed it by now, it's unlikely I'll ever need it.
If you need side window glass, now is the time to speak up, it's going to the used building materials yard next week (if they'll even take it, if not, it's off to the dump...). I also still have one of the two rear exit windows and both rear quarter round side windows.
<table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFC0"><tr><td>Normally, I wouldn't be inside posting photos and updates when I could be out working on something or other, but right now, it's 104 degrees and I'm not showing much interest in being out in that!
Yesterday, it was "only" 99 degrees, so not knowing any better because I didn't keep an eye on the thermometer, I worked on the bus most of the day.
I've been trying to get the bus ready to move when the time comes, so I'm doing things like glueing the flooring material down in the driver's compartment, putting in the seat base, which I cleaned thoroughly and painted a couple of months ago, installing rigid insulation in the wall between the bath and the driver's seat, and covering that with lath for the final wall covering.
One of the troubling little things that I've had nagging me since the beginning of this project was how I was going to integrate the original interior of the bus to the new construction up front in the driver's area. The original header over the windows is now on the inside of the new walls, and the whole thing promised to be awkward to trim in and make look neat.
As usual, I somehow managed to anticipate my future needs when I was removing the original roof and kept most of the materials I'd need and left plenty of the original framing materials sticking out in all the right places. It was not a lot of fun working around large sharp-edged metal structural materials from the cab of the bus for all those years, but leaving them "running wild" allowed me to trim them to useable lengths as the new construction revealed the proper sizes and shapes needed to make it all work.
So, yesterday's sweaty project was to reinstall a modified portion of the original aluminum headliner from the bus, covering the driver's seat and joining the cab of the bus to the new front wall inside:
The square cutout you see is the opening for the door to the bath.
Also visible in the end of the wall are the three grey nonmetallic conduits that carry all of the wiring from the house portion of the bus to junction boxes under the driver's floor. The conduits sweep through the step behind the driver's seat, then go into "ell" boxes to make the sharp transition through the floor. Here's what's under the driver's seat on the road side of the bus:
The left box (without the wire, it's all coiled up on the driver's floor still) will be all of the shore power and inverter supplies that run the AC powered devices onboard the bus. The right hand box is everything else, Category-5 network and telephone cables (5 of them), RG-6 video cables (3), audio (4 stereo pairs), alarm trap loops (2) and keypad, a 25 conductor low current control cable for ? whatever, and four runs of #6 wire for battery and lighting supplies for DC appliances. It's all quite a mess right now, but everything is contained in one place, and I won't have to drill holes in the floor or try to snake cables through window or door frames to get signals or power inside the bus.
The other ongoing project is the installation of my Velvac mirrors. This was a project from the first year of the bus, but they've been in storage until I needed them:
Ick, this photo shows how badly the bus needs washing and paint scraping!
That's it for now, the heat may be getting near to slacking a bit, and the papers from the top of my desk sticking to the bottoms of my arms is driving me nuts. Guess I should be thankful that it's only 90 degrees inside the Housetruck. Uhg, I had hoped that I'd be moved out of the Valley by now. The whole reason for buying property on the coast was to avoid this type of ugly weather.
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Yesterday, it was "only" 99 degrees, so not knowing any better because I didn't keep an eye on the thermometer, I worked on the bus most of the day.
I've been trying to get the bus ready to move when the time comes, so I'm doing things like glueing the flooring material down in the driver's compartment, putting in the seat base, which I cleaned thoroughly and painted a couple of months ago, installing rigid insulation in the wall between the bath and the driver's seat, and covering that with lath for the final wall covering.
One of the troubling little things that I've had nagging me since the beginning of this project was how I was going to integrate the original interior of the bus to the new construction up front in the driver's area. The original header over the windows is now on the inside of the new walls, and the whole thing promised to be awkward to trim in and make look neat.
As usual, I somehow managed to anticipate my future needs when I was removing the original roof and kept most of the materials I'd need and left plenty of the original framing materials sticking out in all the right places. It was not a lot of fun working around large sharp-edged metal structural materials from the cab of the bus for all those years, but leaving them "running wild" allowed me to trim them to useable lengths as the new construction revealed the proper sizes and shapes needed to make it all work.
So, yesterday's sweaty project was to reinstall a modified portion of the original aluminum headliner from the bus, covering the driver's seat and joining the cab of the bus to the new front wall inside:
The square cutout you see is the opening for the door to the bath.
Also visible in the end of the wall are the three grey nonmetallic conduits that carry all of the wiring from the house portion of the bus to junction boxes under the driver's floor. The conduits sweep through the step behind the driver's seat, then go into "ell" boxes to make the sharp transition through the floor. Here's what's under the driver's seat on the road side of the bus:
The left box (without the wire, it's all coiled up on the driver's floor still) will be all of the shore power and inverter supplies that run the AC powered devices onboard the bus. The right hand box is everything else, Category-5 network and telephone cables (5 of them), RG-6 video cables (3), audio (4 stereo pairs), alarm trap loops (2) and keypad, a 25 conductor low current control cable for ? whatever, and four runs of #6 wire for battery and lighting supplies for DC appliances. It's all quite a mess right now, but everything is contained in one place, and I won't have to drill holes in the floor or try to snake cables through window or door frames to get signals or power inside the bus.
The other ongoing project is the installation of my Velvac mirrors. This was a project from the first year of the bus, but they've been in storage until I needed them:
Ick, this photo shows how badly the bus needs washing and paint scraping!
That's it for now, the heat may be getting near to slacking a bit, and the papers from the top of my desk sticking to the bottoms of my arms is driving me nuts. Guess I should be thankful that it's only 90 degrees inside the Housetruck. Uhg, I had hoped that I'd be moved out of the Valley by now. The whole reason for buying property on the coast was to avoid this type of ugly weather.
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<table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFC0"><tr><td>No interesting photos for this update, but the weather has been much nicer! As such, I've been putting some time into the bus doing more preparation for moving.
First, I got the cables for the shore power put through the floor and into the junction box. Then I put in barrier strips to terminate the wiring, and finished up by installing the shore power inlet and several 120 and 240 volt outlets under the bus.
What this means is that I have now heated up the load center in the bus and am feeding power directly to (some) of the bus' internal wiring. Gone are the extension cords and multiple plug strips that have been the routine for the last 11 years.
I've also done some temporary connections with the internal network cabling to allow the telephone connection to use bus wiring, so at last, the entire coach is "plug n' play", that is, I can simply unplug a few connections and be on the road. No more extension cords draping from the utility pole next to the car shed and entering through a hole in the framing somewhere up under the rear overhang.
Today, I installed furring strips and insulation in front of the shower enclosure, and made some wooden retaining blocks to keep the enclosure from moving around while the bus is being moved. Progress in moving ~and~ progress on the bus that will be useful towards getting it finished in the end.
Detailed in another thread here is my inquiry about getting some replacement rear tires for the bus. $90 each for good used take-offs at the truck tire dealer. Tires much better than the moth-eaten skins I have on it now. Gives me the shivers to think about even driving across town to get them changed....
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First, I got the cables for the shore power put through the floor and into the junction box. Then I put in barrier strips to terminate the wiring, and finished up by installing the shore power inlet and several 120 and 240 volt outlets under the bus.
What this means is that I have now heated up the load center in the bus and am feeding power directly to (some) of the bus' internal wiring. Gone are the extension cords and multiple plug strips that have been the routine for the last 11 years.
I've also done some temporary connections with the internal network cabling to allow the telephone connection to use bus wiring, so at last, the entire coach is "plug n' play", that is, I can simply unplug a few connections and be on the road. No more extension cords draping from the utility pole next to the car shed and entering through a hole in the framing somewhere up under the rear overhang.
Today, I installed furring strips and insulation in front of the shower enclosure, and made some wooden retaining blocks to keep the enclosure from moving around while the bus is being moved. Progress in moving ~and~ progress on the bus that will be useful towards getting it finished in the end.
Detailed in another thread here is my inquiry about getting some replacement rear tires for the bus. $90 each for good used take-offs at the truck tire dealer. Tires much better than the moth-eaten skins I have on it now. Gives me the shivers to think about even driving across town to get them changed....
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<table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFC0"><tr><td>The photo says it all...
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Today, the Crown returned to the road.
The image shows my friend Mark (who found the bus for sale in Portland back in 1995) walking back into my driveway after guiding me out to the street. It's 9:45 in the morning and I'm on my way to get the rear tires checked and replaced.
Prakash followed me in his pickup to give me a lift back while the tires were worked on, and to serve as a chase vehicle in case of problems. He actually got some good photos through the windshield.
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This was just before I exited the freeway and missed a downshift, leaving me coasting, as I couldn't find any gear to get it to go into. Good test of the brakes....
The engine performed very well, but there was a lot of light blue smoke, probably the result of 11 years of starting the engine, but not getting the exhaust gas temperatures hot enough to burn off the diesel oil film in the manifold and muffler. Prakash is still complaining about his sinuses after following me. It really did lay down quite a cloud. By the time I reached the tire shop, it had lessened to a light haze.
I was amazed at how quickly I got used to the steering. I was kind of phobic about getting out in traffic with the bus, as I couldn't remember anything much about driving it before, and was concerned that I'd get in a situation where I'd have to back up to complete a turn, or get penned in by cars waiting for turn signals, etc.
No problems there, in this shot, I'm actually entering the tire place, squeezing between a pickup truck leaving the lot and the curb.
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At the tire shop, I checked in and left them the bus, parked in the shop building. After a few hours, they called back and told me that I had five new used Michelin tires. They removed all of the tires from the rims, checked them internally for problems, and put new tires on the wheels that needed them. Total bill was $489.50, a bargain!
On the way home, I was in 4:00 PM heavy traffic. Nerve wracking, but no problems. The blue smoke was gone too.
Now for the bad news.... It looks like the bus has some power steering problems from sitting for so long. I noticed that during left hand turns, there is a strong pulsation in the steering wheel. It's also there when going straight down the freeway. The pulsation is there when the bus is stationary and the wheel is turned, so I don't have suspension problems. If you turn the wheel to the left when sitting still, the steering wheel takes off by itself and if allowed, will crank itself all the way around until it hits the stop. It's quite scary to drive this way, so the bus is going into the shop Tuesday for a checkup. Several sources say that the valve assembly on the tie rod has either gotten gunked up, or it needs adjustment. In either case, it's going to get fixed before I attempt to drive to my new property on the Coast.
For now, the bus is back in the yard, backed in a few feet from it's former parking spot so that I can begin packing it for use as a moving van.
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</center>Today, the Crown returned to the road.
The image shows my friend Mark (who found the bus for sale in Portland back in 1995) walking back into my driveway after guiding me out to the street. It's 9:45 in the morning and I'm on my way to get the rear tires checked and replaced.
Prakash followed me in his pickup to give me a lift back while the tires were worked on, and to serve as a chase vehicle in case of problems. He actually got some good photos through the windshield.
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</center>This was just before I exited the freeway and missed a downshift, leaving me coasting, as I couldn't find any gear to get it to go into. Good test of the brakes....
The engine performed very well, but there was a lot of light blue smoke, probably the result of 11 years of starting the engine, but not getting the exhaust gas temperatures hot enough to burn off the diesel oil film in the manifold and muffler. Prakash is still complaining about his sinuses after following me. It really did lay down quite a cloud. By the time I reached the tire shop, it had lessened to a light haze.
I was amazed at how quickly I got used to the steering. I was kind of phobic about getting out in traffic with the bus, as I couldn't remember anything much about driving it before, and was concerned that I'd get in a situation where I'd have to back up to complete a turn, or get penned in by cars waiting for turn signals, etc.
No problems there, in this shot, I'm actually entering the tire place, squeezing between a pickup truck leaving the lot and the curb.
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</center>At the tire shop, I checked in and left them the bus, parked in the shop building. After a few hours, they called back and told me that I had five new used Michelin tires. They removed all of the tires from the rims, checked them internally for problems, and put new tires on the wheels that needed them. Total bill was $489.50, a bargain!
On the way home, I was in 4:00 PM heavy traffic. Nerve wracking, but no problems. The blue smoke was gone too.
Now for the bad news.... It looks like the bus has some power steering problems from sitting for so long. I noticed that during left hand turns, there is a strong pulsation in the steering wheel. It's also there when going straight down the freeway. The pulsation is there when the bus is stationary and the wheel is turned, so I don't have suspension problems. If you turn the wheel to the left when sitting still, the steering wheel takes off by itself and if allowed, will crank itself all the way around until it hits the stop. It's quite scary to drive this way, so the bus is going into the shop Tuesday for a checkup. Several sources say that the valve assembly on the tie rod has either gotten gunked up, or it needs adjustment. In either case, it's going to get fixed before I attempt to drive to my new property on the Coast.
For now, the bus is back in the yard, backed in a few feet from it's former parking spot so that I can begin packing it for use as a moving van.
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etinhidesert
On the road again......
Wow, the Crown looks good being on the road, Wish I was there to witness the event. I hope the events of the past weeks evaporated for a short time as you took the wheel of your 11 or so years of excellent work and craftsmanship for a ride.
The power steering problem sounds like the positioning valve not returning to center. (I think that is what it is called) Somewhere on the net I read how to correct the problem, but can't remember where.
Hope the rest of the move goes smoothly.
Elden in Hesperia
The power steering problem sounds like the positioning valve not returning to center. (I think that is what it is called) Somewhere on the net I read how to correct the problem, but can't remember where.
Hope the rest of the move goes smoothly.
Elden in Hesperia
So, what do you do with a 12-1/2 ton giant diesel housebus once you get it able to go on the road? If you're me, you use it to go to the grocery!
This afternoon, we needed to get some food, but the only vehicle that was available (due to a half-loaded trailer clogging up the driveway) was my Ford Ranger. Thomas wanted to go, and so did Prakash. Three in the front seat is a cram job, and mighty uncomfortable, so we took the bus, housebus that is. I decided that it wouldn't hurt to have some more practice driving it, and since it's all ready to pull out without any obstructions, it wasn't any more difficult to get into and drive away than the pickup.
At the market, I took up a block of about twelve parking places, just pulling across them at what seemed like the most convenient angle. All the time we were shopping, I expected to hear the store's public address system call out "Will the owner of the big yellow school bus please come to customer service".
Returning to the bus, there was a small family van with a guy who has Roger's book who had pulled alongside the bus and waited for us to come out so he could talk. Eventually, we had to break it off as we were hungry from loading back at home and wanted to eat.
Moving the bus through the Sunday traffic wasn't any problem, but returning from left hand turns is difficult with the shuddering of the steering wheel, and it seems that the power assist is not as strong as it is during right hand turns. Oh well, all that will be corrected Tuesday when the bus goes into the shop.
All for now, we have another big trip to the new land planned for early tomorrow, I need to sleep....
This afternoon, we needed to get some food, but the only vehicle that was available (due to a half-loaded trailer clogging up the driveway) was my Ford Ranger. Thomas wanted to go, and so did Prakash. Three in the front seat is a cram job, and mighty uncomfortable, so we took the bus, housebus that is. I decided that it wouldn't hurt to have some more practice driving it, and since it's all ready to pull out without any obstructions, it wasn't any more difficult to get into and drive away than the pickup.
At the market, I took up a block of about twelve parking places, just pulling across them at what seemed like the most convenient angle. All the time we were shopping, I expected to hear the store's public address system call out "Will the owner of the big yellow school bus please come to customer service".
Returning to the bus, there was a small family van with a guy who has Roger's book who had pulled alongside the bus and waited for us to come out so he could talk. Eventually, we had to break it off as we were hungry from loading back at home and wanted to eat.
Moving the bus through the Sunday traffic wasn't any problem, but returning from left hand turns is difficult with the shuddering of the steering wheel, and it seems that the power assist is not as strong as it is during right hand turns. Oh well, all that will be corrected Tuesday when the bus goes into the shop.
All for now, we have another big trip to the new land planned for early tomorrow, I need to sleep....
Last Tuesday, I had to take the bus over to the big truck service shop to have the power steering looked at. Since I'd be out on the street, I left home early and made a trip over to the local DMV to finally get a title for the bus. All these years, I've just been holding the school district's signed title, so all that time, I didn't legally own the bus!
Arrived at the DMV office and took a number from the machine. #01. "Now serving: 65". I settled in a seat with a book, figuring I'd spend the last of the morning, if not the lunch hour waiting. Looks like a lot of people must have lost patience before me, as the clerks at the counter were having to call 3, 4, 5 numbers each time before anyone stepped forward to claim their place in line. I waited a total of maybe 10 minutes.
After explaining my transaction to the nice lady clerk, we went out to the Crown in the parking lot so she could examine the serial number (My bus is too old to have a "VIN" number. She wanted to know the purpose of the bus, at which point I launched into a lot of practiced arm waving, telling her all about the Crown Corporation and showing her a copy of Ed Hass' Crown Firecoach History, turning to the page with my bus on it and telling her convincingly that that photo in the book was the same bus she was standing in. She wanted to know if there were any sleeping or cooking facilities in the bus, although it was obvious that there were none. She also wanted to know if it weighed over 26,000 pounds, at which point I reminded her that the seral number plate she had just read said that the unladen weight of the bus was 23,000 (apparently vehicles over 26k have a higher title fee).
Back inside the office, she consulted with her supervisor about what to call the bus. It's not an RV because it doesn't have living facilities. Not a truck or trailer, so I guess we'll leave it a bus for now. Paid the $66 title fee and skipped out before they could change their minds and decide that it's a motor home and hit me with the ~$400 fee for registration. Titled as a bus, I can apply for standard passenger registration at $30/year. I'm also investigating registering as a "Special Interest" vehicle, that is, one that is over 25 years old and used for exhibits, parades and club functions. The registration fee for that one is $15 and is a one-time fee, no renewal, ever!
After leaving DMV, I stopped by Roger Becks cabinet shop and ate my bag lunch in the back yard where he has a picnic table and a nice lawn.
Then it was off to the truck shop, where they adjusted a tie rod end, changed the power steering fluid filter, tightened the belt on the pump and charged me a paltry $54 for nearly an hour of two men's time. Turns out that the shop was the same one that the new owner of the bus described in this topic had do the necessary repairs to get back on the road, so the office staff was very interested in another housebus showing up.
After the repairs, the steering was much improved. On the way to DMV and Roger's shop, I noticed that the pulsation problem was much less, like the problem was "healing". I drove around the block doing multiple left-hand turns and didn't get the wheel to shiver at all.
To finish off the day, I drove out to the scales on Clear Lake Road to weigh the bus. On the way home from Portland in 1995, I weighed the bus and found that it had 10,000 pounds on the front axle and 15,000 on the rear. After cutting the original roof off, building ne new raised roof, insulating, doing the 7" boost in the floor, and all the other modifications, the weights are now 8,900 on the front and 15,220 on the rear! The bus weighs exactly what it did before I began any modifications!!
Drove home and backed the bus expertly into the driveway, parking against the 2x4 lumber that I had laid down to mark the rear wheel position on the ground. This trip has made me more comfortable driving the bus, I'm beginning to get a much better feel for the size of the bus and it's turning radius, and I find that I'm having much less stress worrying when making turns. I also got to play around with the exhaust brake a couple of times, it makes a gnarly rumbling sound when it's on.
Arrived at the DMV office and took a number from the machine. #01. "Now serving: 65". I settled in a seat with a book, figuring I'd spend the last of the morning, if not the lunch hour waiting. Looks like a lot of people must have lost patience before me, as the clerks at the counter were having to call 3, 4, 5 numbers each time before anyone stepped forward to claim their place in line. I waited a total of maybe 10 minutes.
After explaining my transaction to the nice lady clerk, we went out to the Crown in the parking lot so she could examine the serial number (My bus is too old to have a "VIN" number. She wanted to know the purpose of the bus, at which point I launched into a lot of practiced arm waving, telling her all about the Crown Corporation and showing her a copy of Ed Hass' Crown Firecoach History, turning to the page with my bus on it and telling her convincingly that that photo in the book was the same bus she was standing in. She wanted to know if there were any sleeping or cooking facilities in the bus, although it was obvious that there were none. She also wanted to know if it weighed over 26,000 pounds, at which point I reminded her that the seral number plate she had just read said that the unladen weight of the bus was 23,000 (apparently vehicles over 26k have a higher title fee).
Back inside the office, she consulted with her supervisor about what to call the bus. It's not an RV because it doesn't have living facilities. Not a truck or trailer, so I guess we'll leave it a bus for now. Paid the $66 title fee and skipped out before they could change their minds and decide that it's a motor home and hit me with the ~$400 fee for registration. Titled as a bus, I can apply for standard passenger registration at $30/year. I'm also investigating registering as a "Special Interest" vehicle, that is, one that is over 25 years old and used for exhibits, parades and club functions. The registration fee for that one is $15 and is a one-time fee, no renewal, ever!
After leaving DMV, I stopped by Roger Becks cabinet shop and ate my bag lunch in the back yard where he has a picnic table and a nice lawn.
Then it was off to the truck shop, where they adjusted a tie rod end, changed the power steering fluid filter, tightened the belt on the pump and charged me a paltry $54 for nearly an hour of two men's time. Turns out that the shop was the same one that the new owner of the bus described in this topic had do the necessary repairs to get back on the road, so the office staff was very interested in another housebus showing up.
After the repairs, the steering was much improved. On the way to DMV and Roger's shop, I noticed that the pulsation problem was much less, like the problem was "healing". I drove around the block doing multiple left-hand turns and didn't get the wheel to shiver at all.
To finish off the day, I drove out to the scales on Clear Lake Road to weigh the bus. On the way home from Portland in 1995, I weighed the bus and found that it had 10,000 pounds on the front axle and 15,000 on the rear. After cutting the original roof off, building ne new raised roof, insulating, doing the 7" boost in the floor, and all the other modifications, the weights are now 8,900 on the front and 15,220 on the rear! The bus weighs exactly what it did before I began any modifications!!
Drove home and backed the bus expertly into the driveway, parking against the 2x4 lumber that I had laid down to mark the rear wheel position on the ground. This trip has made me more comfortable driving the bus, I'm beginning to get a much better feel for the size of the bus and it's turning radius, and I find that I'm having much less stress worrying when making turns. I also got to play around with the exhaust brake a couple of times, it makes a gnarly rumbling sound when it's on.
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Dj
Lookin' great!
Sharkey,
It's lookin' great. I've been following your blogs and progress for a couple years now, and your craftsmanship on this bus never ceases to amaze me.
But now, my question is, when are you giving me your bus? See, I need to know ahead of time so I can make room for it.
In all seriousness, though... I've been wanting to construct my own housebus for as long as I can remember. I'm a month away from my 33rd birthday, and I distinctly remember telling the Trailways driver when I was only about 8 yrs old that "some day, I'll own a bus like this, and I'm going to live in it, it's so cool!"
I keep saving my pennies, and keep searching for the right bus. A few times I've almost bought one that someone else built, but each time I talk myself out of it because it's not done up quite the way I would do it.
I found a perfect shell in a GMC 4905 about a year ago, but alas I had just had something come up that depleted the bulk of my savings and I just couldn't justify the purchase at that time.
So, cheers to you for getting the housebus on the road, and here's to my future success in selecting a shell to work with and completing it as well.
It's lookin' great. I've been following your blogs and progress for a couple years now, and your craftsmanship on this bus never ceases to amaze me.
But now, my question is, when are you giving me your bus? See, I need to know ahead of time so I can make room for it.
In all seriousness, though... I've been wanting to construct my own housebus for as long as I can remember. I'm a month away from my 33rd birthday, and I distinctly remember telling the Trailways driver when I was only about 8 yrs old that "some day, I'll own a bus like this, and I'm going to live in it, it's so cool!"
I keep saving my pennies, and keep searching for the right bus. A few times I've almost bought one that someone else built, but each time I talk myself out of it because it's not done up quite the way I would do it.
I found a perfect shell in a GMC 4905 about a year ago, but alas I had just had something come up that depleted the bulk of my savings and I just couldn't justify the purchase at that time.
So, cheers to you for getting the housebus on the road, and here's to my future success in selecting a shell to work with and completing it as well.
Dj, I suggest that you get busy and start building as soon as possible. If you are anywhere near as slow at it as I am, you'll need all the time you can get.
Meanwhile, here's an update:
<table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFC0"><tr><td>Since moving the bus to the new property, I haven’t had a lot of spare time to work on much of anything on it. Some months back, I began converting the interior into something that would pass as a guest room so that friends would have a place to stay if they stopped in for an overnight visit. Additionally, I had a rented garage storage space with all of my home theatre equipment stored in it, so I combined the guest quarters with the theatre and stereo equipment and came up with a multi-purpose indoor space.
The bus is served by a 240 volt, 30 ampere electrical service directly from the house’s electrical load center, so there is adequate power for heat and lights. The audio and video equipment, surround speakers, overstuffed furniture and such makes the interior a bit cramped, so I’m using a TV set instead of the video projector to display the pictures.
Overall, the oriental carpets and furnishings have made the interior of the bus pretty comfortable, and I’ve spent quite a few nights watching DVD movies to while away the long winter hours of dark.
Towards the front, I’ve set up my backup desktop computer for use, and to have it handy for email checking and file backups:
Having all this stuff inside the bus will make it difficult to do much of anything in the way of construction, so I expect that this will be the last update of the year. Once I get the house I bought fixed up enough to put the couch and theatre equipment into, I’ll empty out the bus and get back to work on the interior.
Today’s contribution to the project was to run a telephone cable from the house so I can catch calls while I’m vegetating in front of the tube, and to allow the computer to access the ‘net through the painfully slow dial up connection.
</td></tr></table>
Meanwhile, here's an update:
<table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFC0"><tr><td>Since moving the bus to the new property, I haven’t had a lot of spare time to work on much of anything on it. Some months back, I began converting the interior into something that would pass as a guest room so that friends would have a place to stay if they stopped in for an overnight visit. Additionally, I had a rented garage storage space with all of my home theatre equipment stored in it, so I combined the guest quarters with the theatre and stereo equipment and came up with a multi-purpose indoor space.
The bus is served by a 240 volt, 30 ampere electrical service directly from the house’s electrical load center, so there is adequate power for heat and lights. The audio and video equipment, surround speakers, overstuffed furniture and such makes the interior a bit cramped, so I’m using a TV set instead of the video projector to display the pictures.
Overall, the oriental carpets and furnishings have made the interior of the bus pretty comfortable, and I’ve spent quite a few nights watching DVD movies to while away the long winter hours of dark.
Towards the front, I’ve set up my backup desktop computer for use, and to have it handy for email checking and file backups:
Having all this stuff inside the bus will make it difficult to do much of anything in the way of construction, so I expect that this will be the last update of the year. Once I get the house I bought fixed up enough to put the couch and theatre equipment into, I’ll empty out the bus and get back to work on the interior.
Today’s contribution to the project was to run a telephone cable from the house so I can catch calls while I’m vegetating in front of the tube, and to allow the computer to access the ‘net through the painfully slow dial up connection.
</td></tr></table>
Well, it seems a shame to let 2007 slip by without some progress on the Crown, but a whole topic devoted to so little would be a waste, so I'll place it here and hope for more to report in 2008.
<table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFC0"><tr><td>Last year, when I finally got a title for the bus, I also inquired about getting "Special Interest" registration for it. At the time, I was kind of pinched for time, and when I inquired about it, the DMV clerk gave me a form that needed to be filled out, and then dropped the subject. I didn't want to press it, since I was already nervous that they might get weird about titling the bus as a bus instead of a motor home.
Last November, I had to go into the DMV here on the coast to renew the registration on one of my cars, and I took the form along. This form was pretty simple, it had check boxes for several possibilities, "Antique Vehicle", "Show Car", etc. At the bottom of the form was a section that was supposed to be filled out describing the "recognized club or vehicle association" that had designated the car or truck as a collectable, with all of the warnings for false statements, etc.
One of the check boxes simply said "This vehicle is over 25 years old". I checked this one, and left the rest of the form blank, as it didn't request any confirming information from the recognized association.
The clerk at the DMV had me fill out a registration application, filled in the blanks for "office use only", stamped everything with the ink stamp, and collected $84 from me. No difficult questions, no arguments, no requesting of validation by an outside source. Nothing.
One of the main reasons I wanted this registration is that it is permanent, no renewal, no additional fees, no tags to purchase, nothing. From now on and for as long as I own the bus, it has registration.
Of course, it comes with some restrictions. The "Special Interest" registration is supposed to be for vehicles that aren't driven frequently. The enclosure when the plate arrived described that the vehicle was supposed to be driven for "special events, parades, shows, exhibitions and other gatherings", and that "misuse of the registration was a Class D infraction and may result in the rescinding of the registration".
Well, I think it's a pretty damned special event when the Crown gets driven anywhere, and I didn't lie on the application form, the bus is over 25 years old. Who is to say whether I am using it for a special purpose at any given time? I could see if your friendly, local traffic officer saw the bus drive past the cop shop twice every day, but unless I gathered a bunch of traffic citations for speeding, etc, it would be hard for them to prove that I was not in compliance with the terms of the registration. What? No special events on the calendar? Well, maybe not in this county, or maybe even in this state. Big Crown reunion in Chico, California, I hear... Maybe I'm taking the bus to the tire shop to prepare it for the big Independence Day parade? Next year? Year after?
Anyway, thanks to Bradlee, a years-ago contact I met through this web site for cluing me into the Special Interest registration. He had it on his Crown Supercoach, and all these years I figured that DMV would turn me down flat if I applied for it. No more trip permits for me, and no $200 per year motor home registration fees, either!</td></tr></table>
<table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFC0"><tr><td>Last year, when I finally got a title for the bus, I also inquired about getting "Special Interest" registration for it. At the time, I was kind of pinched for time, and when I inquired about it, the DMV clerk gave me a form that needed to be filled out, and then dropped the subject. I didn't want to press it, since I was already nervous that they might get weird about titling the bus as a bus instead of a motor home.
Last November, I had to go into the DMV here on the coast to renew the registration on one of my cars, and I took the form along. This form was pretty simple, it had check boxes for several possibilities, "Antique Vehicle", "Show Car", etc. At the bottom of the form was a section that was supposed to be filled out describing the "recognized club or vehicle association" that had designated the car or truck as a collectable, with all of the warnings for false statements, etc.
One of the check boxes simply said "This vehicle is over 25 years old". I checked this one, and left the rest of the form blank, as it didn't request any confirming information from the recognized association.
The clerk at the DMV had me fill out a registration application, filled in the blanks for "office use only", stamped everything with the ink stamp, and collected $84 from me. No difficult questions, no arguments, no requesting of validation by an outside source. Nothing.
One of the main reasons I wanted this registration is that it is permanent, no renewal, no additional fees, no tags to purchase, nothing. From now on and for as long as I own the bus, it has registration.
Of course, it comes with some restrictions. The "Special Interest" registration is supposed to be for vehicles that aren't driven frequently. The enclosure when the plate arrived described that the vehicle was supposed to be driven for "special events, parades, shows, exhibitions and other gatherings", and that "misuse of the registration was a Class D infraction and may result in the rescinding of the registration".
Well, I think it's a pretty damned special event when the Crown gets driven anywhere, and I didn't lie on the application form, the bus is over 25 years old. Who is to say whether I am using it for a special purpose at any given time? I could see if your friendly, local traffic officer saw the bus drive past the cop shop twice every day, but unless I gathered a bunch of traffic citations for speeding, etc, it would be hard for them to prove that I was not in compliance with the terms of the registration. What? No special events on the calendar? Well, maybe not in this county, or maybe even in this state. Big Crown reunion in Chico, California, I hear... Maybe I'm taking the bus to the tire shop to prepare it for the big Independence Day parade? Next year? Year after?
Anyway, thanks to Bradlee, a years-ago contact I met through this web site for cluing me into the Special Interest registration. He had it on his Crown Supercoach, and all these years I figured that DMV would turn me down flat if I applied for it. No more trip permits for me, and no $200 per year motor home registration fees, either!</td></tr></table>
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Versatile Sashman
Subtle Progress in 2007 - Lookin' Good !
Hey Sharkey - Looks like home to me ! (Perhaps excepting the exposed insulation, etc.) You only need about 2 weeks of intensive finish carpentry to make your Crown into a very pleasing nest. Still, its nice to see the space getting used.
I still keep your site bookmarked to catch up on your progress. Amazing how the rest of life keeps getting in the way of such ambitious projects. Congrats on sticking with it this far. Hope to see you on the road sometime. Best as always to you, Alan @ Versatile Sash
I still keep your site bookmarked to catch up on your progress. Amazing how the rest of life keeps getting in the way of such ambitious projects. Congrats on sticking with it this far. Hope to see you on the road sometime. Best as always to you, Alan @ Versatile Sash
Regrettably, none this year, unless you consider running a cat5 network cable to the house to supply internet from the satellite hookup to be some kind of progress.
Unfortunately, my financial situation does not allow for luxuries such as building materials for the bus. I've just this summer managed to erase all my debts, and now have only a small amount of disposable income with which to try and get the house I bought back into liveable condition. Although the bus is first in my heart, the house must be repaired after being mostly demolished on the inside in an attempt to repair a lot of dry rot in the kitchen and as a cleansing ritual to try and get rid of the previous owner's grimy smell. Since the house has a lot of value if it is habitable, I must concentrate on getting it into saleable condition in case I need to bail out from this property.
Working on the house does benefit the bus indirectly. Once the house is clean enough to receive the furnishings now in the bus, I will be able to resume construction on the interior of the Crown. As it is now, there's too much stuff inside to make it possible to saw, drill and weld as needed to move forward on the outfitting of the interior.
Hell, what's another year or two after 15 years of waiting to see it finished?
Unfortunately, my financial situation does not allow for luxuries such as building materials for the bus. I've just this summer managed to erase all my debts, and now have only a small amount of disposable income with which to try and get the house I bought back into liveable condition. Although the bus is first in my heart, the house must be repaired after being mostly demolished on the inside in an attempt to repair a lot of dry rot in the kitchen and as a cleansing ritual to try and get rid of the previous owner's grimy smell. Since the house has a lot of value if it is habitable, I must concentrate on getting it into saleable condition in case I need to bail out from this property.
Working on the house does benefit the bus indirectly. Once the house is clean enough to receive the furnishings now in the bus, I will be able to resume construction on the interior of the Crown. As it is now, there's too much stuff inside to make it possible to saw, drill and weld as needed to move forward on the outfitting of the interior.
Hell, what's another year or two after 15 years of waiting to see it finished?
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