The Big Red Bus Conversion

The Big Red Bus is for sale!!

2011-07-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

We are selling our 1986 MCI 102A3,I would like to start building our next camper which will be based on a Peterbilt or Kenworth fullsize 18 wheeler chassis,so the bus has to go ,we are still using the bus for trips to the desert in Moab including memorial day weekend this year.
Anyway have a look through the blogger at the construction pictures and see if its something you like.The price I'm asking for the bus doesn't even cover the parts bill let alone the labor to get the conversion this far.
Asking $25000,may trade for long wheel base Peterbilt or Kenworth truck in roadworthy condition.
If your interested in the bus and want to come and check it out give me a call on:
ph# 97O 6I8 9O59.
Thanks
Tim

Life in a bus

2008-12-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

My family and I have been living in our bus now since August 2007,so far so good even though we are at 6600ft elevation up in the rockies, todays temp is about 0 deg outside with 68 deg in the bus.This will be our second winter in the bus,this spring we break ground on our new house.

The bus still gets used to make short trips down to the desert in Utah which is about 4 hours away.

Hubbell shore power plug

2007-06-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

Fitted a Hubbell stainless steel shore power socket on the side of the bus,and fitted a hubbell twist lock plug to the bus end of the shore cable.Now the bay door can be closed when hooked up and keep the critters out.

Cutting holes in the side of a perfectly good bus!!

2006-11-28T21:23:00.000-08:00

About time I posted some more pics.We carefully measured and sliced some holes in the side of our bus,The first holes were done with a holesaw,I needed to cut two holes for the new suburban furnace one for the intake and one for the exhaust.I test fitted the burner tubes and everything fit great.Finished it off by screwing on the the chrome face plate.I placed the furnace on the floor of the bus where it will be hidden under one of the dinette benches.

The 10 gallon Atwood water heater was the next appliance that required me to cut another hole in the side of the bus .This was performed with a combination of a drill, a sawzall and a grinder with a cutting wheel.Care was taken with the placement of the appliances so we didn't cut through any of the steel framework of the bus.

On the opposite side of the bus we cut another hole and fitted the Fridge access/vent door.

Here are the furnace and water heater as viewed from inside the bus

Next up is propane plumbing !!

Roadtrip holiday

2006-08-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

Nothing new done to the bus,still using it for what it was designed for.My 5 year old son, my wife and myself went on our annual roadtrip.This year we headed from Colorado via I-70 ,6&50 past Reno and along I-80 towards northern California, visiting Petaluma ,San Franscisco,Dillon Beach,Alcatraz,Sausalito.Then we doubled back via Sacramento to Placerville or Hang-town as the locals call it, we met up with some friends for a BBQ and drinks.
Next day we headed back thru Sacramento and then down towards Yosemite park and stayed in Mariposa that night .Next day we headed into the Yosemite and checked out the scenery and the tall sequoia trees.We left Yosemite via Hwy120 over Tioga pass 9900+ ft at the Summit,got a little hairy going down the other side as our bus doesn't have a Jake brake fitted.We then drove down 395 then across on 58 through Barstow to hook up with I-15,we then headed north on I-15 pulling into Las Vegas at 6.30 in the morning.
We 'camped' at Circus Circus KOA in Las Vegas, easy access to the fairground rides with our son!!
We quit Vegas and headed towards home getting as far as Green river on I-70,where we 'Boondocked' alongside all the trucks parked up at the fuel stop.Next morning we headed home for the last 4 hrs of the trip.

2006-08-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

Nothing much different to post on the bus except that it has been getting used,we used it as a base camp up at Bonneville salt flats while I was racing our land speed car.Myself and 2 crew members Dave and Jason slept in it for 6 nights and for three of those nights another couple who couldnt get a room stayed in the bus and used the sofa bed. Total milage for this trip was about 1200miles.
Me and the bus out on the salt,quite strange flying along at 55mph in the bus on the salt,I turned in too sharp going around a corner marked with cones and I'm sure I had the bus sideways,my passengers will back me up on that one.

Here is a pic of the bus on the salt flats next to our pit area. Here's one of me getting ready to do a run in our car.

2006-07-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Here is the bus with the new carrier roof top air conditioners mounted on top,it took me most of last sunday to get them fitted.
I put the aircon units over the old escape hatches.I started by removing the hatch itself,I then removed the rubber seal to uncover the rivets holding down the metal seal lip.I knocked the heads off the rivets with a grinder and pried the metal lip off.This still leaves the stainless inner lip which a simply hammered down level.
I then made this box section steel frame and welded it into each hatch opening to get the 14 inch opening required for the aircon unit.the top of the new frame is set flush with the top of the original roof spars.
I then cut the Aluminum skin for the top with the appropriate hole in it,sealed it and fastened it down.The aluminum is from the sheets I saved from the interior ceilingThe wiring is next along with insulating the blocked of portions of the old hatch and covering that with luan like the rest of the ceiling.Once all this is complete I can then get on with putting up the engineered T&G ceiling.

Inverter and house batteries electrical plumbing!

2006-05-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

The bus now has an official shore power cable hooked up,I went to the local electrical wholesalers and bought 40ft of 6-4 cable ,and the correct plug for the end of it.Total cost about $120. I attached this to a master breaker box with 2x20 amp brakers and 2 x30 amp breakers, the two 30 amp legs feed the inverter,the two 20 amp legs feed oulets in the bays.
The inverter I'm using is a Xantrex RV2012,the inverter is backed up by a bank of 6 golf cart batteries (Trojan T105).
The inverter is wired to a secondary breaker box inside the bus,this breaker has 15amp breakers in it which supply: outlets,lights,fridge,water heater.
I have tested out the system and it works great, the inverter will operate a small flourescant light all the way up to a single rooftop ac.
I bought the optional Inverter remote control panel and it is definately worth it.It mounts inside the bus in the passenger compartment.Makes programming the inverter a breeze.
I'll post pics tomorrow

New steer tires,WOW are they spendy!!

2006-04-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

On the way home from Moab we stopped in Grand Junction Colorado to buy some new steer tires.We finally found some at Heuton tire in the 315/80/22.5 size,out the door with fitting spin balancing and Tax $1150 for 2 tires.Ouch! thats going to leave a mark.These are Hancook brand and are rated to 80 mph.

Moab Utah first camping trip in the bus

2006-04-03T19:21:00.000-07:00

We have the bus finished to a point where we can use it,flushing toilet,running water,holding tanks plumbed,and some temporary lights,Mattress in the rear bedroom and a Matress on one of the bunks for our son.
So we took off to Moab Utah for 5 nights.here are some pics from the trip.

2006-03-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

The kitchen sink is in,we are waiting for the suburban drop in cook top to arrive this week, then we can have the granite counter tops fitted.

Here are the completed black tank and grey tank drains and valterra dump valves.the front valve is for the black tank and the rear valve is for the grey tank.

Here is the shurflo fresh water supply pump and pressure compensator

Plumbing!

2006-03-19T18:31:00.000-08:00

Here's an overdue update,Here's some pics of the drains for the sinks and the shower.
This picture is of the kitchen drain and Pex hot and cold water supply,I still have to put support clamps on everything.

This is in the rearmost storage bay,the pipe on the left is the drain from the kitchen and bathroom sinks,the large center pipe is the down pipe for the toilet,the right hand down pipe and P-trap comes from the shower.The blue Pex is the main cold water supply from the fresh tank into the bus.

The drain from the kitchen sink comes through the bathroom vanity,this is where the bathroom sink will T in.As the photo shows this is not complete yet.

The House batteries and inverter

2006-02-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

This is the bay with the storage tanks ,I enclosed the tanks in 3/4 ply to help support the side walls on the tanks when they are full.Fresh water is 90 gallons,grey water 90 gallons,and 65 gallons black water.

Here's the 6 Trojan T105 house batteries and the 2000 watt Xantrex inverter.

The Bunks,Toilet,Shower ,Master bed base

2006-02-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

The master bedroom bed base
Here's the shower,it's a 1 piece fibreglass setup from 'Lowes' .I trimmed down the back to fit the profile of the ceiling.The shower door is a 1 piece item ,also from 'Lowes'.
The most important room of the bus, we have installed a Sealand traveler plus china toilet,which we purchased from Ardemco.The bathroom vanity is actually a kitchen wall cabinet which is only 12 inches deep.I lifted it up to match the height of the kitchen cabinets
The bunks which are full size 74x34 inches,we've already bought the proper sprung mattresses for the bunks,which are really comfortable.

The kitchen

2006-02-18T17:16:00.000-08:00

Here's the kitchen starting to take shape,glued and screwed all the cabinets together,then screwed down the 3/4 ply sub counter.Once everything was fixed together I then levelled the counter surface with the horizontal line of the windows.The floor slopes down from the back to the front so I couldn't just sit the cabinets on the floor.

The new Suburban furnace and Norcold fridge

2006-02-12T23:55:00.000-08:00

The new Norcold 841 2 way fridge waiting to be fitted.
The new Suburban 34000 btu furnace ready to be installed

Bunk beds and shower stall and bathroom

2006-02-12T23:37:00.000-08:00

The view past the bunk beds looking to the front of the bus,shower stall is on the left.
The view looking into the back of the bus
Shower and toilet are separate, the shower opens into the center alley.

The interior framing starts

2006-02-12T23:28:00.000-08:00

Using heavy guage steel framing studs we built the wall framing, then blued and screwed the 3/8 ply onto the steel framing.The rear bedroom bed base was fabbed out of 1.5 inch box steel and welded together.

Putting in the plywood

2006-02-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

This is where the new plywood started going in,this was back in October 2005

Stripping the interior

2006-02-12T21:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture taken of the interior after 5 hours of going at it with an impact wrench ,an angle grinder,a sawzall,a big hammer, a crowbar and help from my son Ryan and my Dad John (visiting from England with mutha)

The beginning

2006-02-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

Here is our 1986 MCI (TMC) 102A3 purchased from Mike Kadeltz who owns the 'Busconversions' magazine.
This is how the bus looked after we'd driven it back from California,the exterior still looks the same but the interior has changed alot.

The interior before we started gutting it,I had a 20 yard construction dumpster dropped off next to the bus and even with carefully stacking of all the unwanted interior stuff it was still overfull when they came and picked up the dumpster.