BCM Community

I have asked this before on here and the response is that it's easy to find a mechanic, but that has not been my case at all.

I have a 1986 MCI 102A3 and I live in SF, the bus is currently stored in Livermore.

I have some savings and I want to fix up a few issues on the bus and throw some money at making it reliable.

But when I call around to find a mechanic, most of them won't work on an old bus, possibly because they don't have the space or they don't want the hassle.

I finally found a mechanic to take the bus in with a list of things I needed to fix, and they held the bus for many months and only fixed a few things and many of them not very well.

So the question is, how do I find a good mechanic that can work on my bus and get it in tip-top shape over near San Francisco?  Or does anyone have a Bay Area mechanic that they know still works on buses?

I need an all-around bus mechanic who can work on things like air lines, suspension, electrical, etc,...  not just a diesel engine mechanic like Bay Cities Diesel in Benicia whom I already know and did a great job on our engine swap.

Try calling JD at C&J Bus Repair 952-881-0034 to see if he knows someone who works on buses in your area.  He referred me to someone in Kansas City for help in 2010.  He seems to have contacts all over.

I bet part of the problem in the SF area is that there is very little older equipment still on the road out there. Hasn't CA been on a push to pull the old stuff out of service?

With very little older equipment out there, I'd bet not too many shops have the techs to handle things. True, much is the same as on newer equipment, but that doesn't mean they're willing to touch it.

Do you have any smaller school bus operators or charter operators out there? If so, give them a call and see where they get their equipment serviced.

If it's engine work you need on a 2-stroke, try calling the marinas to find a 2-stroke mechanic that will do some work on the side.

   Hi;
      There is a place in Williams that works on older coaches.  Forgot his name, but someone here will
      chime in with his name and maybe address.  It has been 15plus years since I have been there.  Also,
      some diesel shops will do some work on your coach.  Depends on what you wont, especially this time
      of year things slow down for them.  example; I am taking my coach in a truck shop next month for some clutch
      next month. If it is  simple things like air lines,  It should be no problem!
                                                      Good luck,   Merle    ;D   

CA has completed getting all the older diesels off the road, church buses included; the small number still exist in marine applications -  Bay Cities Diesel serves these folks via mobile services.


Ted Campbell is in Williams, CA and still going strong. We had a visit a couple weeks ago when I dropped in. Saw Fox News and that was that, never a word about buses. LOL

I recently found out that a number of the big bus shops in my area (DFW) had cut their teams significantly.  I talked to the Service Manager at the local MCI Service Center and he gave me the number of one of the guys he had been forced to cut who was hanging out his own shingle.  Might be worth calling around to some of your area shops.  Even if they don't work on buses of that vintage, they probably know who the local players are.

Try Complete Coach Works in Alameda.

Ted Campbell in Williams California

Hell if you just want someone to take your $ I can provide an address to mail the checks too!
;D  BK  ;D

BK, No one can say that you are not always there to help.

Quote from: Lin on October 08, 2020, 12:40:34 PM
BK, No one can say that you are not always there to help.

I do my best to try and help in any way I can!
;D  BK  ;D

I think he said he wanted a "mechanic" ;D ;D

Don (bus tech) Zimmerman runs the west coast .I will try and get a contact for you he is a class act and knows what he is doing 

Here you go DZ Services 916-247-2796

There is a list on F/B if you do F/B under Bus Friendly Mechanics   

Quote from: Fred Mc on October 09, 2020, 10:59:11 AM
I think he said he wanted a "mechanic" ;D ;D

Hey I own a 1/2" wrench and both a phillips and a regular screwdriver!
;D  BK  ;D

Let us not forget the persuader!

Quote from: dtcerrato on October 10, 2020, 06:47:31 AM
Let us not forget the persuader!

OH yeah I own a couple BFH's  and even a couple WBMFH's!

Also have of prybars from 10" long to 72" long too!
;D  BK  ;D

Quote from: Busted Knuckle on October 09, 2020, 09:37:07 PM
Hey I own a 1/2" wrench and both a phillips and a regular screwdriver!
;D  BK  ;D

I just use a pair of pliers and vise grips....

Lets not forget the tie wire & duck tape.

Hey you forgot used clothes hanger wire!!!

daveola. I have the same problem. I live near Salem, Oregon. Have owned several buses but only little mechanical experience. I recently found a gm 4106  I want to buy but cannot find a  mechanic (will not stay running). Nobody knows how to work on 8v71 or it's electrical system. Does anyone know a mechanic in this area? Thanks in advance for your help. Bud

QuoteDoes anyone know a mechanic in this area? Thanks in advance for your help. Bud

Southern Oregon was once a hotbed of bus conversions and 2 stroke buses. Others can provide specifics of who is still around but even if shops have closed there must still be mechanics in the area.

Quote from: windtrader on October 10, 2020, 08:17:50 PM
Southern Oregon was once a hotbed of bus conversions and 2 stroke buses. Others can provide specifics of who is still around but even if shops have closed there must still be mechanics in the area.

David and Dennis at SOD stopped working on buses because they were screwed by a few bus owners ,they still work on buses if they know and trust you.Detroit dealers stopped because people with a bus worth 10k would have 30k of work done and never come back leaving a dealer to go through the problems and money to sell the bus to recoup a portion of their money,all bus owners are not that way but the few that are has caused the honest people a big problem   

Yep, quite common.

Quote from: chessie4905 on October 11, 2020, 05:53:38 PM
Yep, quite common.

Yep WW Williams had a Blue Bird Wander Lodge with a $51,000.00 repair bill for a 8v92 and a 741 Allison rebuild,it took them 1-1/2 years to sell the bus for $11,000.00 

I know owners ditch vehicles at repair shops and leave the shop left with unpaid bills. As a business person, it seems not only acceptable but necessary to take partial payments for repairs when the labor/parts grows anywhere near the wholesale/quick flip price of the vehicle. Many small shops, maybe not like this one, would suffer harsh economic damage being stuck with this loss. I'd suspect even the shop manager at Williams probably had to explain how such a loss got onto the books.

Quote from: windtrader on October 12, 2020, 08:02:51 AM
I know owners ditch vehicles at repair shops and leave the shop left with unpaid bills. As a business person, it seems not only acceptable but necessary to take partial payments for repairs when the labor/parts grows anywhere near the wholesale/quick flip price of the vehicle. Many small shops, maybe not like this one, would suffer harsh economic damage being stuck with this loss. I'd suspect even the shop manager at Williams probably had to explain how such a loss got onto the books.

That can be a double edge knife,I have a MCI 9 in the yard a young man paid a large deposit on and the shop couldn't do the repairs and sent it to me in boxes.Then the towing company did a lot of damage and won't pay because the owner did not hire the towing co the shop did,I have spent almost 2 years gathering parts to put this bus back on the road,Eric has the most exspensive MCI 9 shell around the shop or towing co even lost the DD3 brake chambers and drive shaft,I can see the light in tunnel now thanks to some that gave me parts 

Yup - I should have mentioned that I know about Bay Cities in Benicia and Ted up in Williams.

Bay Cities did my engine/transmission swap, and they are great, but only do engine work.

Ted is amazing, and his place is absolutely worth a visit - I make a point to stop by on every trip up North if I can, but it's worth noting that he's not an MCI fan and it can be difficult to inspire him to do work, since he has so much work just on his property to begin with.  I've thought about taking my bus to him, but not sure about the timeline.  I can handle months of it getting fixed, but not a year or more.  :)

The link to the Bus Friendly Mechanics on FB is fantastic - joining that and hoping for more info.

I've talked to Complete Coach Works before and I don't think I was able to get any sort of work done with them but I'm not sure why - perhaps I am remembering wrong so I'll give that a try again.

As far as Oregon - I have actually had bus work done up near Portland, heading out towards the West side.  Could try to look up the shop if you can't find it, but I seem to recall having a fairly easy time finding bus friendly shops outside Portland.

Thanks for all you who gave me feedback. There are NO shops in Salem who will work on an 8v71 and its electrical system. As for W. of Portland there is a shop, Hillsboro Diesel who will work on the engine but not the electrical system. So in the end I will look for another converted bus. I should have kept my 4106....  oh well. Thanks again, Bud

The "Bus Friendly Mechanics" group on Facebook is a gold mine!

I wrote some software to convert the spreadsheet into a map, hopefully this will be helpful to people:

http://bus.getdave.com/Mechanics/

Quote from: daveola on October 19, 2020, 11:12:25 PM
The "Bus Friendly Mechanics" group on Facebook is a gold mine!

I wrote some software to convert the spreadsheet into a map, hopefully this will be helpful to people:

http://bus.getdave.com/Mechanics/

That is ingenious to compile that kind of info! Thanks!

Quote from: daveola on October 19, 2020, 11:12:25 PM
The "Bus Friendly Mechanics" group on Facebook is a gold mine!

I wrote some software to convert the spreadsheet into a map, hopefully this will be helpful to people:

http://bus.getdave.com/Mechanics/

I'm not on Facebook so I can't look at the original. Thanks for putting this together.

Any way for us to add places on to the listing that we know of?

The majority of the bus mechanics on that list are bus charter companies.  Has someone confirmed that all of those places will actually work on outside buses?  I suspect most bus charter companies don't have the expertise to work on really old two stroke anymore.  You have to remember the last two stroke buses are now 25+ years old.  The vast majority of two stroke buses are out of commercial service now.

One of the bus companies listed in the Minneapolis area sends/sent some of their buses to a local bus repair place for work so I don't know if they would actually work on an outside bus.

The list is from people that have had work done at those shops ,there are pages on F/B that will walk you through on problems with a 2 stroke Billy Parker is sharp if you ask him a direct question he will answer you F/B is ok just don't post your life history like some do

Yup - the list is all based on getting private coach work done - but also yes, some of it is out of date (like sadly Gray Line in SF, which used to have 24h/day open mechanics available is no longer working on private coaches).  You can send updates to Jeff - I'll see if he wants to publish an email for non-FB users.

Quote from: daveola on October 22, 2020, 10:26:50 PM
... You can send updates to Jeff ....

How is best?

I chimed in on davola's question about finding help to work on a GM 4106 with an 8v71 near Salem, Oregon. You all gave me several suggestions. In the end I did find a mechanic at D and W Automotive in Sublimity, Oregon. However by that time the bus was sold to another person. Oh well I will keep looking. Thanks for the feedback.
Bud

I've updated the page to include email info for Jeff:

http://bustastic.com/Mechanics/

Quote from: richard5933 on October 23, 2020, 02:42:42 AM
How is best?

No detailed info window when icon is clicked on!

And we are missing the 2 most inportant 2 people in western NC.
They are the people that will really help you with a Detroit bus conversion.
Davids coach
Gene russell  Russell diesel repair.

Quote from: dtcerrato on October 23, 2020, 09:55:00 PM
No detailed info window when icon is clicked on!

For me it shows in the right-hand column next to the map.

Quote from: richard5933 on October 24, 2020, 09:20:26 AM
For me it shows in the right-hand column next to the map.

Gotcha, can't maximize the map - thanks

I just tried the map. It leads me to a company 3 miles from my house (A&A Motor Coach) a company that does bus tours, etc. Several weeks ago, the mechanic there referred me to an upholstery company in another part of the state (WA) that I was able to work out a trade of all my bus seats that I removed for a brand new air ride driver's seat, that they installed the upholstery of my choice (a real nice seat. It'll be the subject of my next video). I didn't even think of calling them to see if their mechanic will work on my '02 MCI, maybe on the side (?). I'll be looking into that.

That is a wonderful story. Not only did you find a way to recycle and repurpose your unneeded product.


It reminds and refreshes this old scrounger to always think through who uses/makes stuff I want to find on the cheap. As they say someone's trash is another's gold.