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Welcome to our little corner of the World...Here is a little bit about this beautiful, classic old bus.
Our bus is a 1955 GMC TDM 4515-114. It is an "old-look" suburban bus. That means it has the split front windshield that slants backwards with a large overhang above them. This provides for a great air intake above the windshields,(3-65 air conditioning--three vents open, and 65 mph) but doesn't do much for aerodynamics or wind noise. It has only the front passengers' door, no second side door like transits have. It has a sizeable emergency door 2/3 of the way back on the driver's side. The windows can be kicked out for further escape. It has three bays on the passenger's side, and two on the driver's side. It does not have provison for carrying a spare tire. The power train is a 6-71 inline Detroit diesel with a four-speed stick transmission.
It served for Western Greyhound Lines when new, in the SanFrancisco area, judging from the names on the destination sign. In 1974 it was purchased by a church in Castro Valley, Ca, and was sold to the Green Tortoise in Lowell, Oregon about twenty years later. I bought it from them, pleased with its unusually clean condition for its age, complete with all its seats still intact.
There is no major body rust that I know of. The under bays are very clean, and there is no rust in any of its internal framework. But there was some rust in the window-sill areas which turned out to be a bit more of a job than I anticipated to get ground out, treated and repainted. The body is straight, and for the most part everything worked. It is a great feeling of security to be high above most other vehicles in something strong and solid. (We used to tow a 35' fifth wheel trailer with a Chevy crew cab dually.) This is a much better long distance machine for a family of 6.
Beginning this past June (1997), we gutted the interior and have rebuilt it to suit us. We used two layers of half-inch insulation board, (it is easier to bend to the roof contours than a thicker size), turning the foil side out on the outer layer, and in on the inner layer. Then furring strips were put up, running length wise in the bus and 8" on center, (we cut them out of 3/4" plywood sheets on the table saw). Then insulation strips were put between the furring strips. Over top of this went half-inch plywood. At the corners we used two layers of 1/4" plywood, and bent it to the roof contour using boiling water poured over the plywood. Then our interior covering of choice, which is gold-flecked white tile board for the cieling, and blue/grey country marble tile board for the walls. It was installed with liquid nails adhesive. The floor was carpeted with sculpted grey shag, and the dropped aisle is insulated, and tiled with white tile squares with a single blue rose in the center of each tile. The entry way is tiled with dark blue square tiles.
On the outside, after grinding out the rust from the window sill areas, I removed and skinned over all the windows except one pair on each side in front, and one for each bunk bed. (Two on the right side, one on the left, towards the rear--private bunks for six.) The rear 1/4 windows are still there, and the back windows, too. All existing windows were tinted with 20% tint from NAPA. The skin I used was 16g. steel from Fortin Welding Supply in Columbus, Oh. (The thinnest they carry) It is attatched with 7/8" double sided acrylic body tape from 3M. (I used double width rows of tape wherever it was possible.) I tried to take one piece of the steel back off to adjust it some. I found that it would be a major job to cut the tape off, and clean up the tape, since I couldn't physically push it back off from the inside of the coach. So I left the mistake as it was. I painted the top half of the coach using Martin Senour acrylic enamel with hardner. The rest of the paint job will be completed next summer. I bought two paint guns, both gravity feed, one an HVLP. Don't bother with a siphon feed gun. I have one I used for some of the earlier primer work, but once I got used to the gravity feeds, I'll never go back!! The outside color is Artic White. Graffics will be designed once the rest of the paint job is finished.
The fresh water tank is under the forward bunk bed, just ahead of the right rear wheels, 40 gallons. 48 gallons of grey water are in one of the bays. Thirty gallons of black storage is underneath, hooked to the recirculating toilet. This way the toilet can be dumped up to three times and recharged without having to be at a dump station. In another bay is the pair of 12v. house batteries. They are Interstate 31-PHD batteries. These batteries are hooked to the main battery cable via a relay from Cole Hersee, #24106. I didn't like the dual battery isolator idea partly because of the voltage drop through the isolator, and partly because one must interrupt the path from alternator to main bus batteries with an isolator, so I used the relay instead.
Also in a bay, in a vented portion, is one portable propane tank. It is always shut off when the coach will be in motion. So far, the range is the only gas powered appliance in use. A furnace and water heater have been purchased, but not yet installed. The engineering for those systems is not yet complete!!! After our recent remodeling project, the rv fridge would not cool anymore. So we replaced it with a 9.6 cu. ft. apartment model refrigerator from Lowe's. We run it off a 1,000 watt Whistler invertor from Northern Hydraulics. It takes about 3/4 of its output to get the compressor started, judging from the watt meter on the invertor. Actual running current is very low.
I must give credit where credit is due. I did the outside, except for the window tinting which my wife did, and she did the inside with our eldest son's help. She bought all the supplies, hauled them home, cut all the plywood and insulation, put it all up and in, and drilled and screwed a thousand screws. She laid the tile and the carpet. She's quite a trooper. Without her, it still would not be done! Our son did all the wiring work.
Mechanical improvements I have made include new shocks all the way around, new suspension bushings all the way around, rebuilt the manual steering, replaced the dc generator with an Electrodyne 200 amp belt driven alternator, replaced all six tires, two wheels, (all tubless 22.5 radials) rodded out the radiator for overheating in hot weather, boiled out the heaters, and re-soldered their cores, and had Columbus Diesel Supply install new n-series injectors. I also changed the lube oil in the trans. and differential with Valvoline 75w80 synthetic. The engine is still very good on oil consumption. I had to add only one gallon on our recent 4,400 mile trip through the southwest USA, quite acceptable for an older Detroit Diesel.
We recently took the bus out for a two week trip to the southwestern US. We traveled down to Carlsbad Caverns, NM, Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, then up to Durango, CO, taking the bus the scenic route through Silverton, and Ouray, CO, to Montrose, and Olathe for visiting. Then we came back east on route 50, over Monarch pass, to Pueblo, and didn't return to interstates highways until near Kansas City. Taking a vehicle as large as a 35' bus over these scenic passes, (10,000 to 11,300' elevation) is not for the timid, nor those in a hurry!!
That was our third major trip in the bus. I can attest to the benefits of a good insulation job. We heated with a 1500 watt electric oil-filled radiator heater every night. One cold morning I turned on the roof air/heat pump to warm things up a tad more. Before this summer's "reconversion" work, it was impossible to heat or cool the bus efectively. We had originally just pulled out the seats, put up curtains, installed fridge, bunks, couch, toilet, base cabinets, etc, and set out traveling. It is much more comfortable now.
There is always so much to learn, so much to do, and so little time. Then there is even less time to travel in your creation...at least that is the case for us, as I am and will be... working for a living for some time yet to come!!
Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we have enjoyed converting and traveling in "This Old Bus"!
Information on the conversion process and photos
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