Painting the Bus:

Getting ready for paint. I pressure washed the bus and stripped off all of the trim, reflectors and exterior lights.

This is the paint I'll be using.  After some experimentation I decided that I would not sand or rough up the yellow paint before covering with the XO-Rust.  I will simply clean and wipe down the bus with paint thinner.

I figured 3 gallons for the body and 2 for the roof so I bought some 5 gallon pails and mixed the paint together to even out any differences in color between cans.

Here are the two panels that hold the wiper motors painted green, I'm pretty happy with the finish and how the paint laid down with a brush.  A vertical surface will be more difficult of course.

Here are the finished light panels painted with the XO-Rust Almond color.  Instead of painting the screw heads I decided to simply buy new stainless steel screws, I think that'll look better then painted screws and I'll be able to take off the panels without messing up my paint.

The Almond paint will also go on the roof so I have mixed it with aceramic paint additive that is purported to reduce heat gain significantly.

Here are my supplies, paint, paint thinner, brushes, rollers, wiping clothes, nitrile gloves for wiping down and latex gloves for painting.

Here's the front with the green which turns out to be very close to Coleman green.  The green paint did not have ceramic in it and rolled on very nicely.  I painted in direct sun (which you really should not do) as a result the paint dried a little too quickly, leaving some bubbles.  A careful second coat will take care of things.

With out the mirrors the bus looks like one of the old MBTA green line cars

The finish is a little bumpy but looks nice, I am pleased.  The middle rub-rail will stay black but will be repainted.

Here's the right side, the yellow on the door is all that's left to paint, the bus has one coat all over now.  It will get the second coat in the fall - or maybe even next spring.

The tail-lights were all rusty, I had to replace the lower ones entirely and I was able to clean up the uppers and repair some of the corroded wires. The flashers are currently disconnected , I plan to tie them into the four-way flashers. The beauty of standardized manufacturing techniques is that I was able to buy both tail-lights and backup lights at my local auto parts store for about $40. I'd pay half again that for just one lens for my Towncar.