1980 International Harvester school bus/house conversion.

[CharlesFixesVictrolas]

Every dog has his day, and I'm feeling like the dog who chased cars until he finally caught the school-bus (and is trying to figure out what to do with it.) 

 

Meet the bus. This was originally No. 76 of some faraway school district back in 1980, and then got retired from service & has bounced around all over the place until she ended up stuck in the woods where she's been parked for (I was told) ten years. The sticker on the windshield suggests longer than that. Best of all, years ago she was converted into a little tiny two-room house, and is super cosy and nice inside--much nicer than you'd suspect out of a rusty old kid hauler.

I, in college, flogging my typewriter like it owes me money, am getting tired of paying rent. There's no dormitory--this is a tiny little Catholic college where you can get a great education but screw you if you dare try to live near enough campus to attend classes. (The online classes, as you'd expect, are pretty well attended.) It's a nice old place to study & I have a few good friends. 
But I also have a landlord who wants more than half the money I touch in a month, so between that, food, books, clothing, etc., forget having savings. 
After the landlord asked me "could I move by August" I was like "sure why not" and then decided--forget this! we're doing something different. I'm not moving into another rental and though I like my parents a lot (they're actually really cool) I don't want to live at home. Time to do something where I actually have a roof over my own head.


The bill of sale is in my name and the key is on my keychain. Somehow, some way, this is my bus. Salvage operations commence as soon as I finalize things with the storage lot--going to drag her 45 or 50 miles out of the woods to a little town near enough to the train station I can come up & fix on her a little bit until we're ready to start up & I can try to go for a bit of a drive.  

The original transmission & engine are intact--it's a big V8 gas engine and transmission. Not sure on the displacement. I have to check all the chassis data tags & maybe send the VIN off to International Harvester to find out what I actually have here. 
It unfortunately has been sitting up for awhile & is seized, but I tried a (questionably) fresh battery on her and the starter fires. The Bendix does engage with the flywheel and there is a "click-click" sound but I have not gotten rotation on the crankshaft, & I'm not going to force it. Rain got into the intake and the air filter is off the carburetor. Thankfully the carb doesn't look TOO bad but it's very sticky and--yeah. I'd better disassemble & clean it. It is a Holley carburetor so parts should be very easy to find. It sticks on full open sometimes & I don't want it to crank up like that and break the engine. 

I'm going to fill the cylinders up with some good lubricant & just let them sit for awhile, eventually try a breaker bar or something to rock the crankshaft nut a bit & see if it frees up enough for the starter to spin the engine with the sparkplugs out. 

 

The engine, alternator side. The air-compressor is on the other side; it's a remanufactured unit. The starter is also remanufactured. I don't know enough about engines to tell you if I like this one or not, but I've heard people describe antique International V8's as "immortal.' They also say you can't rev them high before they start breaking valves. Oh well, who drives fast in a school bus? Not me. I don't even have any experience on a manual transmission except for maybe on an old one-lunger lawn tractor.



The driver's seat (hood is up, showing the top of the engine.) The seat is surprisingly adequate though it has no headrest. I'm still not sure if it was supposed to have a seat belt or not. You have to step on a button to turn the high beams on and off, and it still has sealed-beam headlights. Put it this way--I was shocked to see turn signals. 

The liquor bottle in the glovebox is not mine. I don't like to drink and if I'm buying strange liquids it'll probably be MMO and Kroil. 

 

 

 

It also came with an original Sangamo Tachograph! I am leaving this installed because it is just too cool--great reminder of No. 76's days on a school bus route, bombing around the backwoods at 30 miles an hour. I did get the front of the box opened & it's super clean inside so it may still work--if it does work, it'd be a handy sort of "insurance" so I can prove I was operating within the speed limits if there's an accident. Takes a little paper record in there. I'd never seen one of these things before; it's WAY before my time. Looks cool though. 

Thankfully the mileage is lower. I think. The speedometer in the actual dashboard has around 79,5xx on it. 
 

 

 

 

The tires are on Dayton five-spoke split ring wheels, which is typical for an old bus or truck. Dangerously beautiful. I think they will be fine and the Daytons are so much an iconic part of the look that I am leaving them.These aren't great tires but I think they will hold up to get her on a tow truck, get to the storage yard, and then maybe drive around a bit. Even though I want to make it safe & reliable, I don't plan to drive it too much.

(Course I said that when I fixed up an old Corolla, and proceeded to drive it all over the place.) 

 

 

 

 

Buying an antique bus from some forest in the middle of nowhere usually means you buy a mountain of rust & get the general shape of a bus for free. Not in this case. This was a huge surprise for me when I crawled underneath for an inspection--the airbrake chambers, fenders, and battery tray are rusted but the frame is solid as can be. Even the tailpipe is in great shape and we all know how those rust out. I will need to do some welding to fix up some spots on the fender wells & such, but that's no big deal. Oh, and the rear bumper mount has a broken weld. Someone crashed into it with a tractor. Oh well, I'll fix that too when I get a chance. 

And it even had the original Thomas Built mudflaps. Which are staying put because they look great, and because I don't want to trash other vehicles with rocks. Illegal, and rude. 

This thing just plain tickled me with how STRONG they built it back in the old days. The guys & gals in the IH plant did a fantastic job building what might be one of the toughest vehicles I've ever seen. 

A tree fell on the bus some time ago, and it actually smashed the tree. I found that out when I was walking around up on the roof of it--was like "man this is one sweet roof" and the seller said "the tree over there fell on it--" and pointed to a huge pile of dead branches. Apparently the bus didn't even dent but the tree was a total loss. 

 

And here you go--a head-on picture. It's a handsome old bus. The "BC" painted on the bumper is from a time when it was used as a skiers' bus to get to Canada. I suspect they drove out to British Columbia in this (before it became a camper, then before it became a home for 4 people, or a summer-house in someone's back garden, or part of a little compound in the woods in the middle of nowhere.) Right now this was to be its final resting place. The outhouse was "the facilities" for the last resident of Bus No. 76, but (to make it legal to register as an RV/motorhome) I'll have to install a permanent commode inside.

 

 

[CharlesFixesVictrolas]

So what set this aside from most of the other old buses you find is that it wasn't just parked & all the seats ripped out. 

The "skoolie" trend meant a lot of fine buses lost their seats, and then a lot of projects got abandoned. This isn't great--those buses could still be used for churches, private schools, outdoorsmen, etc., to get around in. But instead of being useful for Bus Stuff they're ending up hollowed out & most will either become motorhomes (which is cool) or, what's very likely, become abandoned project cars. 

Someone made camouflage curtains for all this stuff in here. I've got a sewing-machine & will probably replace that with oilcloth or some waxed canvas. Not only is it more durable but it also doesn't look silly. (And I will use different fabric to make curtains--which it has, but needs better ones of) 

 

 

 

On the inside. Carpeted walls were to provide insulation. Ingenious, but I think I'm going to do better than that. Someone's done some window deletes back there as well which -- I mean I'm not crazy about; those could've been ventilation or lighting. 

I study a lot so this will probably end up with a smaller bed & more bookshelves.

 

 

 

Looking toward the front. The lumps in the window where the destination sign would be, are mouse nests. It's full of mouse nests--there is one big one in the stove, some little ones at the back, some in the rear hatch over the back exit. The dinette area is salvaged from a very old RV, the odd wooden thing by the door is a rack meant to hold 3 long-barreled old guns (nowhere to separately store the ammunition though, which strikes me as a rather bad idea), and there used to be a gas heater where the gun-rack is kind of sitting. 

There's a recliner hiding out behind the driver's seat but that thing is my first modification: junk the recliner. It absolutely reeks & the mice have pulled the stuffing out. 

 

 

 

 

The dinette area does stick out further than I'd like. It's awkward. The gas fireplace is removed (Thank goodness!) and though the bus now has no central heating I am sure I can find a better gas fixture to go in. There was a place underneath for a propane tank to run the fireplace and the old Trav'ler three-burner range & oven. 

Under the countertop is a whole water tank & sink; the box on top of the counter is a vintage Panasonic stereo turntable and two speakers. Viny; records anybody?
Unfortunately vinyl needs electricity & I want to save on money so I'm probably yanking it out of there & going back to a 1900s-1920s style hand-crank phonograph. The bed behind the dinette also should probably go unless I want to sleep there & convert the rear room of the bus into a home office/study. Which would, admittedly, be pretty cool. 

Though the stove is RV salvage and so is the dinette, the wooden partitions are custom built & seem to have been done very carefully. They're treated in spar varnish. I may paint them white eventually but it's not like they look bad. Plywood stuff I'll probably end up painting. 

Old thing does need some kind of a kitchen ice-box if I'm going to be living in it. One does not live on ramen alone even though I come close.
 

 

 

Anyway, that's pretty well it for the interior. 

I'd love to get busy decorating this all up & making a nice little house out of it, but step 1 is going to be trying to winch the bus out of the forest and eventually get the engine started up again for the first time in a good many years. (It has sat for so long the gas cap is stuck shut & I will need an oil filter wrench to remove it.) So I guess I'll write about that once I move the thing, and then about getting the engine un-seized and started up, then about driving it--and moving in & making the final touches into being a tiny house. 

 

Landing a full time job is also part of this equation. Which I can do now since I'll be taking my first summer off from college hassles since 2020. Job = money, money = quicker restoration, restoration = being able to do cool stuff. 

 

 

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

I would get rid of those rims and tires. It’s getting real hard to find a shop that will work on them and tires are just hard to find. The average person can’t work on them. They make 22.5 rims/tires that will work.   Mike 

[CharlesFixesVictrolas]

3 hours ago, Mike "Hubbie" Stearns said:

I would get rid of those rims and tires. It’s getting real hard to find a shop that will work on them and tires are just hard to find. The average person can’t work on them. They make 22.5 rims/tires that will work.   Mike 

I'd been thinking the solution would be to pull the whole thing off--I've seen people go so far as to suggest that the solution would be to replace the entire axle!

But what I did find, looking over what you were saying (since you sounded very confident it was doable) was--This. 

 

This was from a forum called "bigmacktrucks," posted by user "85snowdog" 22 of May, 2018. A look at what this era of International Harvester would look like with 11R22.5 tubeless tires up front. What it looks like they're doing is pulling off the rim clamps & sliding a whole tire, already mounted to a rim, in place. 

Lot easier and cheaper than what I thought would be involved -- thought the conversion involved buying an entire new wheel, possibly wheel bearings, etc. Turns out the rims and such are pretty readily available, and, compared to the hassle of looking for 9x20 tires, not bad. 

So thanks very much for the idea--I'll end up seeing about this when it's tire time. (Though I DO have to dig it out of the woods first & get it running.) 

 

 

 

 

[F&J]

10 hours ago, CharlesFixesVictrolas said:

the airbrake chambers,

If you pay to get a tow company to try to haul it, those rear brake chambers have definitely been holding the rear brake shoes tight to the drums.  The bus being parked in Northeast forest for over a decade, the brake shoes might be stuck to the drums even if the tow company knows how to use the brake chamber releasing bolt, or is even willing to.   

 

I'm guessing this bus is old enough to still have drum brakes, not discs.  If the brakes are stuck, the tow guy most likely won't/can't free up the brakes on site, so then they still have to charge you big bucks for coming there, and not even being able to haul it.

 

If you know a big truck repair person to go there in person before the tow, then keep reading everything below... I suggest you not try this work by yourself.  It's not worth the risk to you if you don't know how to do it.

 

The rears are dual chambers (aka piggyback brake chamber) and one chamber has a huge spring inside that applies the parking brake when air is released at the dash switch, or when the air pressure drops below 50 psi. So that said, your rear brakes have been "on" for over a decade.

 

Make sure you understand how to release the parking brake part of the chamber with the tool, then get your truck mechanic helper go there to do that work.  After the tool is used on both rear chambers, then try to move the bus a foot or so with a tractor or pickup/truck if the seller has one.  SEE LINK BELOW.  You need to find out if the rear brakes are stuck before you get the tow company there, IMO.  You are on a budget is why. 

 

Truck shops or truck mechanics will have those release bolts if yours are missing. All rear chambers have a storage spot on the chamber to store that bolt when new.  The tool-bolt is a coarse threaded bolt and nut about 6-7" long with a T shape on the other end.

 

Do not ever take either of the two pairs of C-shaped clamps off of the rear chambers before knowing which one can be removed without deadly results.   The end of the chamber is where there is a rubber plug covering a hole where the release tool is inserted for towing.  That release tool also must be used to remove a bad rear chamber if you need to do that during restoration.  >>> Again, do not take off either pair of the big  C-clamps when just trying to fix stuck rear brakes.

https://constructionpaletizedsystems.tpub.com/TM-9-2320-364-10/css/TM-9-2320-364-10_836.htm

.The linked page has the final step missing.  After doing the last step marked 3 at bottom of page, then the nut on the tool needs to be tightened up all the way, which is pulling back on the big internal spring. It needs to pull the inside spring back at least 3-4 inches, and then most of the tool threads will be sticking out past the nut.

 

Then if shoes are still stuck to the drums:  Take off both halves of the rear backing plates. 3 small bolts per half. This is done without removing the wheels/tires, it's done from the back side. Then you could use a big screwdriver and hammer to get in between each shoe and the drum.

 

I assume it's too late to mention now, but this long dormant forest bus might be way too much for a newbie.  Truck work, including transporting is big work, and pricey.

 

.

[CharlesFixesVictrolas]

1 hour ago, F&J said:

So that said, your rear brakes have been "on" for over a decade.

 

Yikes.

You seem like you know what you're talking about, too.

Hopefully this is good news; the brakes are bound down by a large bolt in the middle of each chamber that's been tightened way up with a nut. The owner (who is quite knowledgeable, having built & lived in bus conversions since the 1970s) crawled underneath the bus with me & showed how the rear air-brake chambers are tied open with bolts. He said the bolts have to come out, & told me "if you want to drive the bus, take those bolts out & put them in the glovebox otherwise you ain't got no brakes." So I'm hoping that instead of the brakes being locked for 10 years on, the springs are actually wound up & the brakes released. 

What I'm hoping, is that he's got the right bolts in place to un-jam the brakes. 

 

He also has a tractor & tow chains & was talking about letting me borrow that to snatch it out of the woods enough to get it near the road so it can be loaded onto a tow truck--so that'll help a lot. We'll see what happens. 

 

I've already called a tow truck to get an estimate on the 45- or 50-mile ride to Point 2 of the trip, near the railroad station so I can get the bus off the property & get it into storage to start triaging it. Prices aren't cheap but we'll see what happens. Still cheaper than paying RENT all the time. 

 

 

 

 

[F&J]

28 minutes ago, CharlesFixesVictrolas said:

Hopefully this is good news; the brakes are bound down by a large bolt in the middle of each chamber that's been tightened way up with a nut. The owner (who is quite knowledgeable, having built & lived in bus conversions since the 1970s) crawled underneath the bus with me & showed how the rear air-brake chambers are tied open with bolts. He said the bolts have to come out, & told me "if you want to drive the bus, take those bolts out & put them in the glovebox otherwise you ain't got no brakes." So I'm hoping that instead of the brakes being locked for 10 years on, the springs are actually wound up & the brakes released. 

What I'm hoping, is that he's got the right bolts in place to un-jam the brakes. 

That is very good news; yes the owner did it correctly.  When those bolts are used, the shoes were never touching the drums at all, so it should roll fine.  Front brakes should not be an issue IMO

[CharlesFixesVictrolas]

 

4 minutes ago, F&J said:

That is very good news; yes the owner did it correctly.  When those bolts are used, the shoes were never touching the drums at all, so it should roll fine.

It's a huge relief to me then. 

I know those chambers are rusty on the outside, & that new ones cost about $60, but the fact that the guy actually went & put the storage bolts in there! just makes this much better. 

I'm actually a little scared of this whole project but it is just like going to college--am too far in to quit. 

 

 

 

 

[CharlesFixesVictrolas]

Good news, I got approval from the storage yard. Also have been in contact with the towing company. Now to start recovery operations in the next few days, and once it's out of the woods I can see what happens from there. 

Thankfully all the parts on it are big, simple, and fairly easy to guess what they are. 

 

 

 

 

[Brill_C-37M_Bus]

Good luck!  My project is an IH-engined, Brill-built bus from ‘51, so I’ll be watching your work with interest.  I agree you found something better than your average skoolie.  The news on how the brakes were set up for storage is awesome, I hope you continue to find pleasant surprises like that.  I know those have saved me a lot of trouble so far!

 

And just $60 for a new brake chamber?  Wish mine were that cheap!  Some nut wants $600 for the old rotochambers that mine takes, and not too many other places have them.

 

Best of luck!

 

-Steven

 

[CharlesFixesVictrolas]

Well folks! 

I'm in the process of trying to move the bus; soon I'll have a chance to free the engine & we will see where it all goes from here. I have been off-line for a bit due to the way that I'm on the move myself; landlady's son got drunk & nearly smashed the door to the apartment. My Toyota is over 25 years old so I guess it's ok to mention it on here as a vintage car--he also managed to vandalize that while drunk, and attempted to open the back door of it which was locked. 

 

So I put most of my antiques & what-not in storage, grabbed my steamer trunk and other necessities, and hit the road northward to move the old bus, or bust. Must agree with Steven ( Brill_C-37M_Bus_) that she's not your average "skoolie." This was built long before the trend of waiflike Instabunnies with perfect tans and boyfriends with hooped ear-piercings became associated with "skoolies." This is a bus conversion, built by a hippie and not by a hipster. There is, of course, a significant difference. 

 

The missing air-cleaner & the cover for the heater vent on the side both turned up; those are the only major parts missing. I also went up & found that the gasoline cap is stuck; cranking the bus will probably need a small fuel cell or boat tank as a "backup" and some minor way to get fuel to the carburetor. Thankfully I found two huge deep-cycle batteries to crank the engine over with, once I free it. Still stuck. 


To do: 

Move the bus by a tow truck, or if I can't move it, I'll be needing to do this anyway to drive it--

 

• water the radiator and see how much it leaks, if at all
• oil the cylinders just in case
• put the spark plugs back in & tighten them all up
• put a pry bar on the flywheel & crank it back & forwards a bit just to free up the motor
• Rig up a fuel system as I do not trust whatever is in that tank, if it stuck the gas cap onto the filler neck
• hook up both batteries, one for starting & one as a backup. (The deep cycle system will be nice so I can run some tiny 12v LED lights, and I shall install solar as well. I'm 23. I like my wireless internet.) 
• Get rid of the record-player, 2 rabbit ear televisions, biker magazines, and pornographic VHS tapes. 
• On that note, burn all bedding materials and disinfect with bleach/Lysol/small nuclear satchel charge. 
• Disconnect manual throttle cable & choke cable; they're seized, and I have half a mind that the throttle lock on the manual cable is part of the reason that the throttle-plates stick wide open. 
• Attend to the carburetor, which is a complete dumpster fire. Replace if necessary. 
• Have 2 new keys made because I am the kind of guy who'd lose his keys
• Get her to the St. Alban's area not far from the railway station, so I can pack my tools & a nice book & come up on the express-train to get her driveable as soon as I get license plates & some insurance. 
• Undo brake storage bolts, check all that, and hopefully off we go to the deep south, where I can work on her over the winter in a more temperate climate (with a full time job under my belt so I don't have to worry about funding this gloriously stupid project.)  

 

Question: Do these big IH gasoline V8s, with the 4spd manuals, have an inspection cover on the flywheel or do I have to take off the starter and come at it from that side? I was told the plan is to pop off the starter but people tell me a lot of these engines have a little cover at the bottom which you can remove to look at the clutch. Didn't get that far under it myself--too busy looking at all the rusty parts. 

 

Hope I'll have good news regarding moving it within a couple days. 

 

 

[CharlesFixesVictrolas]

And since I cannot get a tow truck driver on the telephone, I went & visited, & he's hoping to see about moving the bus soon. He'll be in the area tomorrow. 

 

[r1lark]

Keep us posted on progress!

[Swear57]

Looks like work that is fun work. Yes, there is a inspection cover on the bell housing. They do make a universal tool for turning the flywheel. Looks to be a 392 engine. Above the fuel pump there is a machined spot that has the engine size stamped into the block. They made 2 392 one with improved cooling. Take that air pump & all related parts off. They caused a lot of problems. If the carb is factory with vacuum secondaries replace it with a stander carb, it will run a lot better. Is it just a 4 speed trans or is it a 5 speed. Any chance it has a 2 speed rear end?