The Micro Bird School Bus
I would like to tell you about the 10 to 30 passenger Micro Bird school bus that is manufactured by Bluebird Bus Micro Bird by Girardin. It’s a bus model that you may not see much of and since we have one in our fleet I can share my experience with you.
Originally designed for school bus use the Micro Bird is also marketed as a Multi Function School Activity Bus. The reason for this is the MFSAB can substitute for 15 passenger vans commonly used for not only school districts but also child care facilities. The safety rules are very stringent so the Micro Bird excels in that area.
Fuel Leak Repair 6.5 Diesel Engine
The video above covers the fuel leak on our one and only Micro Bird which came in with a dripping diesel leak on the driver’s side. Once the driver’s seat and dog house was removed the problem was easily detected. This bus is over 10 years old so the steel fuel line we needed for the 6.5 diesel engine was discontinued.
The word improvise came into play and we ran proper fuel hose to bypass the cracked line. As it stands right now this bus is due for replacement next year so this repair will definitely hold up. Ordering a hard to find part from the U.S. could take a while so the repair made bypassed that scenario.
More Information About The Micro Bird
Our bus is a Class A model cutaway…..you can see in the video how the body has been adapted to the GM chassis (over ten yrs old). The first of these models came out in 1975 in response to the ‘Wayne Busette’. Both models implemented the dual wheel chassis from Chevrolet and GM.
The design of the entrance door with easier access along with better visibilty for loading zones made the Micro Bird a better fit for the school bus industry. The Type A bus was also manufactured by Girardin located in Drummondville Quebec, Canada which was a full cutaway design and not built around a GM chassis.
Bluebird and Girardin Unite
Bluebird and Girardin agreed to market the full cutaway as the Blue Bird MB ll / lV by Girardin which turned into a win win situation for both parties. There was a larger market share for Girardin and Blue Bird had more Class A vehicles to sell to their customer base. Eventually The Ford E-Series were introduced as another option for the Class A school bus market.
Eventually all manufacturing ended up in Drummondville as agreed upon by Bluebird and Giardin. The school buses were labeled as Blue Bird Micro Bird by Girardin. This allowed Bluebird to focus more on it’s class C and D school bus models.
The Micro Bird is a nice compact little bus that I find is nice to work on when you’re talking about body wiring etc. The 6.5 is a good engine when it doesn’t require heavy repairs. Manufacturers forgot about the mechanics having to work on a diesel engine installed in a van body. It’s a tight space and extra time is always required to do most repairs on them.
Thanks for reading this article and I hope you can comment with any thoughts you may have on this subject.
