http://electronicthumb.com/bus adventures in converting a school bus to an RV Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:45:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I liked the way this turned out... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=190 In celebration of her upcoming birthday, Macy had a friend come over to spend the night. This morning they wanted a ride in the bus.  I took them a little way up the road - about a three mile round trip.  Here are some blackberry photos from the trip... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=189 It might be early to pronounce success, but I thought I would share some initial findings... On Wed nights, I usually drive the car home from choir/orchestra practice. It's about 35 miles of mostly highway driving, and I usually average around 45-46 mpg with the car (2006 Jetta ... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=182 As of Sept 2006, all on-highway diesel sold in the US is now ULSD. And all diesel vehicles manufactured for model year 2007 and beyond are made to use it exclusively. Lately I've been reading about some problems it can cause with older engines lately. While sulfur isn't actually a ... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=178 I took the bus into town Saturday to the gas station where I filled up the gas cans that I use for the lawn mower. It's nice to have the cargo bay for smelly gas cans rather than the car trunk. It was fun to drive it ... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=170 Before buying the bus I had read a fair amount about the requirements for driver's licenses and RVs. I was sure that a normal non-commercial license was fine for driving a vehicle registered as an RV. But later I read some conflicting information about vehicles with ... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=169 The poor bus (and blog) have been neglected lately (it's the chicken's fault!). Thursday I topped off the engine oil, and started the bus for the first time in a couple of months. I was worried about it not starting, etc but it started with no hesitation at all. ... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=162 Since I first started looking at bus conversions, one of the aspects that I've been undecided about is heat. There are any number of options. They include traditional ducted furnaces, radiant heat, and hydronic systems that use water for heat transfer. My inclination is to go with a hydronic ... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=160 Well, it's been a while... No, we haven't abandoned the project! I've just been really busy with work and Easter festivities. I did measure the bus so I could calculate how much steel we'll need to get, but I haven't ordered it yet. Hopefully things ... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=159 Friday evening, I started removing all of the now-unused parts of the ceiling wiring harness. This included wires for the flasher lights (both front and rear), speakers, dome lights, emergency exit sensors, and a button in the back of the bus that required the driver to walk all the way ... http://electronicthumb.com/bus/?p=158