Big Easy: How She Became Who She Is Today

Big Easy, at her very core, is a 1991 Chevy G30 Diesel Short Bus whom we acquired in the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley about 15 minutes from Harrisonburg, Virginia. She spent most of her life working in the local school district faithfully toting children to and from daily academic opportunities. After she retired, she lived an easy life with a local organic farmer until she decided she would like to spend some time traveling. After searching on craigslist for months, we decided that Big Easy was a perfect match and so we journeyed to the valley to meet her. It was love at first sight thus we took her home and lived happily ever after…. until all the work set in!

2/11 - Big Easy, when she first arrived at her new home in Richmond.

We knew from the beginning that Big Easy would require lots of work since she was a pretty old bus, but we also knew that diesel engines are strong, the body was in nice shape, and she ran great. There were some major changes to the bus herself that we would have to make in order for her to fit our project idea, some of which were easier than others. One of the only major problems we knew of at the beginning was that the wiring wasn’t working for some reason (the inside lights, speedometer, etc.). Neither Daniel nor I had any experience working with automobiles and even seasoned mechanics will tell you that wiring is a hassle, so we really had no idea what we were jumping in to. Being the hardworking, curious fellow that he is, though, Daniel started trying to clean up the wires right away. After a few days and some very heavy sighs of exhaustion, he figured it out and got everything working inside. It was an awesome first achievement that gave us the confidence to tackle even more problems should they arise (and of course, they did).

It was a mess that took quite a while (and a lot of dedication!) to figure out!

The next step for the bus was to install a second fuel tank and all of the related hook ups to keep our used vegetable oil in. It is possible to just put veggie oil in the diesel tank and run it with little to no changes, but most WVO connoisseurs advise against it. Veggie oil is much more viscous (thick, not fierce, in case your eyes read it wrong like I did the first time) than diesel fuel, so if it gets cold, it will potentially gel up and clog the injectors, which would be a very costly problem. Having a second tank allows us to heat up the oil before it gets injected into the engine. (If you are interested in seeing complete documentation of the setup, click here and scroll to the bottom). The process of installing the second tank brought a second problem to attention: the enormous tank was too big to fit under the bus and would have to go inside. While this threw me into a mass hysteria as I imagined what little extra space we had disappearing under a monstrous metallic box, Daniel kept his cool and devised a plan to build the tank into a large cabinet system where we could store lots of other things as well. Also, looking on the bright side, the tank will be fairly easy to pull out and work on if something goes wrong or leaks.

The veggie oil tank system, newly arrived from greasecar.com, before all of the hard work began!

After finishing the dual tank installation, Big Easy went through her third major surgery in our care. This change, though, was more for our amusement and pleasure than for practical purposes. After contemplating our lack of hang out space inside the bus, we decided that having a deck on top would be the perfect solution and got right to work. Using his welding skills, Daniel added bars across the top of the bus so the deck could be an even platform, screwed down some decking boards and voila: Big Easy gained a bit of height and an awesome hang out area. Daniel would have me tell you, though, that the deck does serve a practical purpose in that the solar panels will now have a flat surface to be bolted to. Oh and of course, dance parties.

The deck begins!

The bus-deck from a house-deck view!

In a few months, Big Easy went from being an average short bus with big dreams to a 100% working, environmentally conscious home on wheels with plenty of hangout space. The last change to Big Easy’s physical appearance will be pretty major, but completely aesthetic. She will be getting a complete makeover that will be a mixture of green themes and a showcase of Daniel’s art style. We can’t wait to get started and to show you how it turns out! Also, keep following for future posts about the interior design of Big Easy and how she got her name!