1980 Leyland Atlantean 11.1 litre 6 cylinder diesel Update 13/12/10
22-02-2010, 01:41 PM
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1980 Leyland Atlantean 11.1 litre 6 cylinder diesel Update 13/12/10
Before anyone starts, Ive already had all the cliff richard, butler, blakey, on the buses jokes etc 
Please, if ya dont like it theres always someone else threads to look through to keeps yourself amused.
Ive already flack from my mates
I had the chance to buy this 1980 Leyland Atlantean double decker 86 seater in November 2009. It had been sat in a field for nearly 5 years when I agreed to buy it.
The bus was new to the Tyne and Wear PTE which became Busways travel services then later stagecoach.
My dad used to drive for Busways and actually drove this bus in service regulary so we sort of have history with it and thought it would be nice to bring it back to Newcastle and restore it otherwise it was going for scrap.
Buses of 30 years old or more can be driven on a normal car licence for private use aslong as you dont carry more than 8 passengers.
I have this bus insured for £152 a year fully comp for any driver over 25 and under 70 with an agreed value aswell.
Road tax is reclassified to PLG so costs around £200 a year instead of PCV £500 a year.
The bus last operated in scotland on school runs and when withdrawn was bought by the old fella I bought it from. He drove it to Bury st Edmonds and parked it up where it sat for 5 years.
We had lots of vaults to fix before deciding to drive the bus back to the North east. Took a team of 5 of us around 20 hours to get it ready for the long drive.
I ended up having to have it towed just over 200 miles home from Cambridge services
Poblem being the bus has been left in a field for 5 years and me being me thought it would be a good idea to go down whack a set of trade plates on it and drive it 260 miles back to Newcastle.
The chassis and body are totally mint as it did worry me driving all that way to find a rotten chassis especially as it had weeds and alsorts growing up around it.
We fitted new batteries, new PAS fluids etc, an airfilter box as it was missing, new fan belts and then when we went to fit new alternator belts we found it had the wrong alternator fitted and it had broke the mount off it aswell.
So we are stick in the middle of know where with a fucked bus and 260 miles from home.
I ended up wedging a geet big screwdriver inbetween the bracket and alternator to keep the tension on the belt and we left it runnign all afternoon to so how it would cope with the vibrations coming the engine and after a test run it proved to be alright.
Then we find that none of the exterior lighting would work nor would the washers or wipers.
We bodged a wire from the wiper motor to cab light switch to get that working.
Next we find that sidelights would work for about 3 secs and blow the fuse, this was down to a severerly corroded terminal for the o/s/r lights. Took us ages to cut it out and wire it back up with out a test meter and all the wires being black!!
5am next morning we decide its ready to drive off and find we have lost all gears!!
This was down to a dodgy connection on the fuse box as the whole fusebox is damp from being left in field for so long.
We fixed that then drive off and it drove very well even though the PAS wouldnt work, we managed 30 miles before fuelling up which set me back £160 to find 20 miles down the road we could smell rubber burning. Pulls into Cambrdige services just as the high temp light came and we found the alternator belt had shredded.
Alternator belt also drives the waterpump.
Not a problem we still have another 3 new belts to use up till I noticed the Alternator had swung round with the bracket being broken and main cable had arked out on the main air outlet pipe so the bus would build its air up but as soon as you pressed the brakes the air would drop off.
Rang the breakdown firm who sent a service van out 1st. Couldnt fix it where it was so it had to be recovered.
They picked it up the monday lunchtime and took it to there depot where it sat overnight before being transfered onto a American style lhd v8 diesel wrecker.
Im just waiting for the bill now as the breakdown cover only covers upto 1K so anything anything over that I have to pay myself. They reckon the bill to atleast £1200+VAT.
Only consilation is the bus still has a full tank of fuel anyway.
Heres a few pics of her in service:
/\ /\ /\ Thats the way im going to run the bus this coming season complete with the yellow vinyls and destination blinds.
The following year we are going to put it back to Busways colours
Ive managed to track down a brand new set of foglights for the front, £150 later but will make the front end I reckon.
Ive got her up and running again and replaced the airpipe andf alternator brackets.
If anyone can help im after the following parts for her:
Front king pin axle kit
Exhaust tail pipe
PAS pump
Cheers guys.
Please, if ya dont like it theres always someone else threads to look through to keeps yourself amused.
Ive already flack from my mates
I had the chance to buy this 1980 Leyland Atlantean double decker 86 seater in November 2009. It had been sat in a field for nearly 5 years when I agreed to buy it.
The bus was new to the Tyne and Wear PTE which became Busways travel services then later stagecoach.
My dad used to drive for Busways and actually drove this bus in service regulary so we sort of have history with it and thought it would be nice to bring it back to Newcastle and restore it otherwise it was going for scrap.
Buses of 30 years old or more can be driven on a normal car licence for private use aslong as you dont carry more than 8 passengers.
I have this bus insured for £152 a year fully comp for any driver over 25 and under 70 with an agreed value aswell.
Road tax is reclassified to PLG so costs around £200 a year instead of PCV £500 a year.
The bus last operated in scotland on school runs and when withdrawn was bought by the old fella I bought it from. He drove it to Bury st Edmonds and parked it up where it sat for 5 years.
We had lots of vaults to fix before deciding to drive the bus back to the North east. Took a team of 5 of us around 20 hours to get it ready for the long drive.
I ended up having to have it towed just over 200 miles home from Cambridge services
Poblem being the bus has been left in a field for 5 years and me being me thought it would be a good idea to go down whack a set of trade plates on it and drive it 260 miles back to Newcastle.
The chassis and body are totally mint as it did worry me driving all that way to find a rotten chassis especially as it had weeds and alsorts growing up around it.
We fitted new batteries, new PAS fluids etc, an airfilter box as it was missing, new fan belts and then when we went to fit new alternator belts we found it had the wrong alternator fitted and it had broke the mount off it aswell.
So we are stick in the middle of know where with a fucked bus and 260 miles from home.
I ended up wedging a geet big screwdriver inbetween the bracket and alternator to keep the tension on the belt and we left it runnign all afternoon to so how it would cope with the vibrations coming the engine and after a test run it proved to be alright.
Then we find that none of the exterior lighting would work nor would the washers or wipers.
We bodged a wire from the wiper motor to cab light switch to get that working.
Next we find that sidelights would work for about 3 secs and blow the fuse, this was down to a severerly corroded terminal for the o/s/r lights. Took us ages to cut it out and wire it back up with out a test meter and all the wires being black!!
5am next morning we decide its ready to drive off and find we have lost all gears!!
This was down to a dodgy connection on the fuse box as the whole fusebox is damp from being left in field for so long.
We fixed that then drive off and it drove very well even though the PAS wouldnt work, we managed 30 miles before fuelling up which set me back £160 to find 20 miles down the road we could smell rubber burning. Pulls into Cambrdige services just as the high temp light came and we found the alternator belt had shredded.
Alternator belt also drives the waterpump.
Not a problem we still have another 3 new belts to use up till I noticed the Alternator had swung round with the bracket being broken and main cable had arked out on the main air outlet pipe so the bus would build its air up but as soon as you pressed the brakes the air would drop off.
Rang the breakdown firm who sent a service van out 1st. Couldnt fix it where it was so it had to be recovered.
They picked it up the monday lunchtime and took it to there depot where it sat overnight before being transfered onto a American style lhd v8 diesel wrecker.
Im just waiting for the bill now as the breakdown cover only covers upto 1K so anything anything over that I have to pay myself. They reckon the bill to atleast £1200+VAT
.Only consilation is the bus still has a full tank of fuel anyway.
Heres a few pics of her in service:
/\ /\ /\ Thats the way im going to run the bus this coming season complete with the yellow vinyls and destination blinds.
The following year we are going to put it back to Busways colours
Ive managed to track down a brand new set of foglights for the front, £150 later but will make the front end I reckon.
Ive got her up and running again and replaced the airpipe andf alternator brackets.
If anyone can help im after the following parts for her:
Front king pin axle kit
Exhaust tail pipe
PAS pump
Cheers guys.
Last edited by macturbo; 13-12-2010 at 09:49 PM.
22-02-2010, 01:48 PM
#2
Lucifer II - 666
Now thats a project 
22-02-2010, 02:29 PM
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Its not as expensive as you may think mate.
The bus was less than 1K to buy with no tax or mot.
Its not like it will be on the road everyday and is better than most other deckers for fuel economy, mind it only does 50 mph on a good day!
Routemasters are silly money now!
You could buy a couple escos's for the price of a decent example!
A friend of mine has 1, he bought it straight out of service through a 3rd party on he only paid 4K for it a couple of years back.
Now the same bus worth about 25-30K!!
The bus was less than 1K to buy with no tax or mot.
Its not like it will be on the road everyday and is better than most other deckers for fuel economy, mind it only does 50 mph on a good day!
You could buy a couple escos's for the price of a decent example!
A friend of mine has 1, he bought it straight out of service through a 3rd party on he only paid 4K for it a couple of years back.
Now the same bus worth about 25-30K!!
22-02-2010, 02:31 PM
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Sweet project!
I used to love buses when I was a kid. The bus company even threw me a birthday party when I was 9
Deffo look better in the busways colours!!
Good luck and keep us posted!
I used to love buses when I was a kid. The bus company even threw me a birthday party when I was 9
Deffo look better in the busways colours!!
Good luck and keep us posted!
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22-02-2010, 07:33 PM
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Theres 3 other other buses parked next to mine now all owned by a friend of mine.
Theres also a ex london metrobus in there now aswell which has been converted into an 8 berth motorhome for the owners disabled son.
22-02-2010, 07:48 PM
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There is about another 10 or so deckers to gon in there very soon.
We have already had issues with access so he has agreed to us having a fob to let ourselves if we get more deckers in there so only time will tell. Worst case I will pull it out and take it elsewhere. My old decker I had ws at Tyne tuneel storage but they let anyne in. Strangers were walking in off the street and tampering with buses, parts going missing so I wont go back there.
Its easy money for Neil, we each pay £50 a month.
22-02-2010, 08:13 PM
#21
PassionFord Post Troll
Routemasters are silly money now!
You could buy a couple escos's for the price of a decent example!
A friend of mine has 1, he bought it straight out of service through a 3rd party on he only paid 4K for it a couple of years back.
Now the same bus worth about 25-30K!![/QUOTE]
Saw a really nice 1966 one for sale in classic truck&bus mag last week for £13000.
Storing it would be a problem hence i need the lottery win.
You could buy a couple escos's for the price of a decent example!
A friend of mine has 1, he bought it straight out of service through a 3rd party on he only paid 4K for it a couple of years back.
Now the same bus worth about 25-30K!![/QUOTE]
Saw a really nice 1966 one for sale in classic truck&bus mag last week for £13000.
Storing it would be a problem hence i need the lottery win.
22-02-2010, 08:17 PM
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[/QUOTE]Saw a really nice 1966 one for sale in classic truck&bus mag last week for £13000.
Storing it would be a problem hence i need the lottery win.[/QUOTE]
Could you PM me the details on that one please mate. 13K, me mate will take his arm for it!!
Storage aint bad though, I only pay £50 a month for indoor secure storage.
Storing it would be a problem hence i need the lottery win.[/QUOTE]
Could you PM me the details on that one please mate. 13K, me mate will take his arm for it!!
Storage aint bad though, I only pay £50 a month for indoor secure storage.
22-02-2010, 08:26 PM
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Haha cheers mate.
The bus doesnt have mileage on it, just a speedohead so im not sure.
Its thought to have done maybe 1.5 million miles give or take a hundred thousand miles going off average mileage a service bus would do per year.
The bus doesnt have mileage on it, just a speedohead so im not sure.
Its thought to have done maybe 1.5 million miles give or take a hundred thousand miles going off average mileage a service bus would do per year.
22-02-2010, 08:53 PM
#25
Rock Out!!
If you have the link to it, put it up, i'm sure others on here would appreciate what your friend did.
22-02-2010, 08:58 PM
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As soon as I saw this thread I remember spending time reading the story and seeing the pics of that bus that was converted for the family. It is a cracking conversion. I was going to try and find the link to it in case you hadnt seen it, but obviously if it's parked next to yours, you have
If you have the link to it, put it up, i'm sure others on here would appreciate what your friend did.
If you have the link to it, put it up, i'm sure others on here would appreciate what your friend did.
You have a good point there mate:
http://www.double-decker.org/index.html
Well worth looking through
22-02-2010, 09:30 PM
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I had a yellow decker I bought from South Wales last April but it needed s hit load of work doing to it. I sold it on and bought the blue decker instead.
This is my old bus the day we picked it up from Howells coaches of Bargoed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta1Ec...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgnH8...eature=related
This last vid is of the other deckers they had left. We robbed them of parts for spares for my bus.
The scrapman took the shells and powerpacks away afterwards.
They were all ex tyneside deckers. I only paid £600 for my yellow bus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uufnC...eature=related
22-02-2010, 09:45 PM
#31
PassionFord Post Troll
Saw a really nice 1966 one for sale in classic truck&bus mag last week for £13000.
Storing it would be a problem hence i need the lottery win.[/QUOTE]
Could you PM me the details on that one please mate. 13K, me mate will take his arm for it!!
Storage aint bad though, I only pay £50 a month for indoor secure storage.[/QUOTE]
Will have look tomorrow in Sainsburys.Read it while waiting for the missus .It says it,s one of the last 10 to come out of service.
Storing it would be a problem hence i need the lottery win.[/QUOTE]
Could you PM me the details on that one please mate. 13K, me mate will take his arm for it!!
Storage aint bad though, I only pay £50 a month for indoor secure storage.[/QUOTE]
Will have look tomorrow in Sainsburys.Read it while waiting for the missus .It says it,s one of the last 10 to come out of service.
22-02-2010, 10:11 PM
#33
cossie fan (unluckerly)
thats one hell of a prodject you have their lol i work for basingstoke commercials we are daf but have worked on a few old buses and coaches good luck with it u will need it lol
23-02-2010, 10:52 AM
#34
You on abut Neil?
There is about another 10 or so deckers to gon in there very soon.
We have already had issues with access so he has agreed to us having a fob to let ourselves if we get more deckers in there so only time will tell. Worst case I will pull it out and take it elsewhere. My old decker I had ws at Tyne tuneel storage but they let anyne in. Strangers were walking in off the street and tampering with buses, parts going missing so I wont go back there.
Its easy money for Neil, we each pay £50 a month.
There is about another 10 or so deckers to gon in there very soon.
We have already had issues with access so he has agreed to us having a fob to let ourselves if we get more deckers in there so only time will tell. Worst case I will pull it out and take it elsewhere. My old decker I had ws at Tyne tuneel storage but they let anyne in. Strangers were walking in off the street and tampering with buses, parts going missing so I wont go back there.
Its easy money for Neil, we each pay £50 a month.
05-03-2010, 09:12 PM
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Sort of yes, lol.
Ive been to Barnsley eariler this week to the bus scrapyards.
Ive ordered a front axle, PAS pump fan shaft and a set of batteries
The king pins are very badly worn and we suspect its worn the axle aswell so the plan is to buy a 2nd hand axle which doesnt have any play in the kingpins and overhaul that and fit it to the bus.
New exhaust arrived yesterday along with a set of lumy destination numbers which it would have fitted when it was ran in is later years as a magicbus.
Heres some photos from the scrapyard though:
Ive been to Barnsley eariler this week to the bus scrapyards.
Ive ordered a front axle, PAS pump fan shaft and a set of batteries
The king pins are very badly worn and we suspect its worn the axle aswell so the plan is to buy a 2nd hand axle which doesnt have any play in the kingpins and overhaul that and fit it to the bus.
New exhaust arrived yesterday along with a set of lumy destination numbers which it would have fitted when it was ran in is later years as a magicbus.
Heres some photos from the scrapyard though:
Last edited by macturbo; 05-03-2010 at 09:13 PM.
