Bluebird Bus Conversion Project & Cross Country Trip

[Julien]

awesome project!


btw where does she sit?! lol

[flyboyx]

on the pole of course!

[LuckyHenriksen]

awesome project!


btw where does she sit?! lol

On the engine, on the bench, at the table, wherever haha. I would like to get a better passenger seat rigged up but haven't been able to yet

on the pole of course!

Hahaha that will be the next upgrade ;D

[Mlarsen]

I could see a front passenger seat that you put on a swivel that folds up nicely against the engine cover.

[mrsleeve]

^

That is the reason that nearly all of the real bluebird Wanderlodges in the F/C (forward control) drive line lay out (opposed to a SP or PT Single axle pusher or Pusher w/ tag axle) have the Mid entry door not the more traditional curbside front entry door. If they have a front entry door and real Pass front seat, the seat is set back and mounted just ahead of the front tire well, and a folding or removable floor board goes over the front entry steps. You will find that arrangement to in most all curb side front entry motorhomes and coaches even in a Pusher lay out. With the F/C lay out and the huge dog house over the giant nearly prehistoric 3208 cat takes all the walking space between the front seats up, so its a very rare thing to find both a front curb entry and front pass seat on a real F/C wanderlodge and is one of the biggest tells of even a very well done home grown school/over the road coach conversion with all the real RV trimmings

this is a traditional F/C front Pass seat lay out see no door or steps


Mid entry Curb side door Vs the front entry, and the same basic architecture as the OP's school bus

[LuckyHenriksen]

I could see a front passenger seat that you put on a swivel that folds up nicely against the engine cover.

A swiveling chair would be great. I should put some more time into figuring that out.

sleeve you are absolutely correct about the entry door being a giveaway on even the best professional conversions. And unfortunately I didn't even get the CAT 3208, my bus has the old Cummins 555 'triple nickel'. It seems to run fine though, as long as it lasts long enough to complete our trip I don't care

[mrsleeve]

Oh dear god I thought yours was new enough to have avoided the possibility of having a Cripple Nickel in it. I am so sorry for your impending doom that will await you at some point in the future. Hopefully latter than sooner...................................

I would not use one for a boat anchor it would fail at even that static and most mundane of jobs. I remember the outfit my dad worked for ever, having a few in the 10tons and them having a natural proclivity of coming apart in the greatest and most glorious of fashions. Seems to happen when running close to red line and then backing off the go juice.................

You should look into finding a used 3208 for replacement. I will see if I can find the one I ran across recently for a F/C for ya.

[LuckyHenriksen]

Oh dear god I thought yours was new enough to have avoided the possibility of having a Cripple Nickel in it. I am so sorry for your impending doom that will await you at some point in the future. Hopefully latter than sooner...................................

I would not use one for a boat anchor it would fail at even that static and most mundane of jobs. I remember the outfit my dad worked for ever, having a few in the 10tons and them having a natural proclivity of coming apart in the greatest and most glorious of fashions. Seems to happen when running close to red line and then backing off the go juice.................

You should look into finding a used 3208 for replacement. I will see if I can find the one I ran across recently for a F/C for ya.

Yes I've heard lots of stories about their failures from the old timers at work. But I've also heard a lot of good things about them lasting a reasonable amount of time. I am confident that this one will bring us home. If it does fail, to the scrapyard it goes

[mrsleeve]

Well shit I dug it up it was @ coach craft In Columbus GA but they have since sold the 3208 F/C set up. I think it was the 210HP N/A variant though.

[Axxe]

As bad as a 555 is, a 3208 isn't exactly light years ahead. I would run the triple nickel till she's done and consider repowering with a medium duty inline 6 if space allows, IIRC you should have the SAE2 bellhousing so that opens it up to a lot of motor options.

[M-technik-3]

Cool project. There was a older front engine bus for sale for eon that had been converted to an enclosed car hauler with a sleeper.

[LuckyHenriksen]

As bad as a 555 is, a 3208 isn't exactly light years ahead. I would run the triple nickel till she's done and consider repowering with a medium duty inline 6 if space allows, IIRC you should have the SAE2 bellhousing so that opens it up to a lot of motor options.

That is kind of what I was thinking, if the engine goes and I still want to keep the bus I think a newer inline cummins or even a Cat would fit nicely, the 555 is enormous so there is quite a bit of room in the doghouse. You are correct about the bell housing

Cool project. There was a older front engine bus for sale for eon that had been converted to an enclosed car hauler with a sleeper.

I have seen some pretty sweet projects with the rear of the bus either hinged like a big garage door orcut off to make room for a flatbed. Makes a great base camp for motorcycling too.

[M-technik-3]

Can't go wrong with either Cat or Cummings. How much was initial cost and then you added $? Since you are not for hire and non passenger this is all on a Class A license under 13K GVWR correct?

[mrsleeve]

That is kind of what I was thinking, if the engine goes and I still want to keep the bus I think a newer inline cummins or even a Cat would fit nicely, the 555 is enormous so there is quite a bit of room in the doghouse. You are correct about the bell housing
.

Yeah I know the 3208 is not that much better than the cripple nickel, but it is much more reliable. I dont think you can repower with a more modern Inline in a F/C as there is not enough length in the engine bay. You might be able to swap into a 5.9 cummins or a more modern pickup truck V8 diesel power plant. The other idea is go over to 2 stroke detroit either a 6v92 or 8v92 but then there is the NOISE, which was what powered all the PT's up until 95 other than the 42 and 43 foot coaches in 95-97 they got the 60 series detroit. The 40 foot PT kept the 2 strokes until 97, the 98+ LX/LXI's coaches got 60 series detroits rated at 500 or ISM cummins ratted at 450 or 500. It gets a little more confusing after about 2003...

Yes I have been stalking the wanderlodge market for best part of 24 months, if its been up for sale in the last 18 months I have known about it more than likely. Just spotted a 93WB/PT parked at my local walmart 2 days ago, it was for sale in FL 3 months ago, I should have jumped on that one as it was a steal for what it is...

Cat over the road engines that were in pusher motor-homes dont have the greatest reputation for power or reliability even the last of the 650hp C15's has had lots of issues. I dont remember just what it was or is about them, but IIRC they seem to be a little under sized to the job in most all of the motor-home applications, and turned up a little hot to make up the difference....

[golde30]

Looks like a blast. I second some1 else's comment on replacing that mid mounted diesel generator with a modern Honda generator. Would make powering all you shiz much easier.