What is the best improvement you have made to your bus?
We have done many since ownership. Complete plumbing with soon to be install with larger capacity holding tanks. Complete re-wire of house electrial with larger house batteries. Upgraded HVAC, audio/visual. Led lighting. New braking/air/suspension systems. New ground up engine build, but of all that the very best would be the new Gary Hatt bobble head on the dashboard.
Complete self contained conversion of an in service bus in 79 with a lifetime of improvements & restorations/remodels. Our latest substantial improvement was the addition of solar array and inverter with improved battery banks.
Solar panels and lithium house battery
The leveling jacks.
Jim
I "upgraded" my inverter, engine run relay, electric flush toilet, spin on trani filter, and my fridge (twice) because they died.
Recovered the funky valences. New flooring instead of purple shag carpet.
Guess the only things I added was a Garmin GPS, portable full hook ups, and the TPMS - which I love to pieces. Just piece of mind for a guy that does not drive this bus enough to "feel" that something is wrong with an inside tire.
Not doing solar....
Will add a generator exhaust snorkel before I go to Nappanee.
Guess that's it. I hope....
@Ted said: "Guess that's it." I hope....
Lol! That statement doesn't exist in the bus world. Does it?
Opps, there I go thinking out loud again.
Now back to your regularly scheduled program...
I think so far my favorite upgrade that I've put in myself is the four-way camera system with 'birds eye' view stitching, makes maneuvering in tight spaces so much more pleasant.
Quote from: dtcerrato on December 27, 2022, 08:59:12 AM
@Ted said: "Guess that's it." I hope....
Lol! That statement doesn't exist in the bus world. Does it?
Opps, there I go thinking out loud again.
Now back to your regularly scheduled program...
Loosing track and still have a long list of things started and not finished or hey one more change type of thing!!!
I know I am kidding myself. My duo therm A/c units still work great. Get warm when I ask. Get cold when I throw that switch. But they are 43 years old. Still have appliances in your house that are 43 years old??
But for now.... Ted happy.
Oil furnace 70 years. Basement refrigerator 35 to 40. Not an appliance but a Walker Whippet floor jack and an Alemite pneumatic grease gun from the 40's.
Replaced an old failing 15 Kw Martin/Fidelity diesel generator w/ a new 14 Kw Wrico/Kubota generator. What a relief!
> Phil
My observation after a fair amount of tinkering is that my observation is that our primary advantage over standard stick and staples RV's is the bay storage space that we have underneath our main living area!!!
Given that passenger/ entrance side bay volume is much more valuable than the same volume on the drivers side, so in planning the necessary layout of desired household system items, shift as much static stuff you can that way with out getting totally out of balance. I.E. Black/grey tank on the drivers side that would be emptied before hitting the road...
It is really is a critical resource!!!
Secondary thought, do we really need a 1000+ pound generator with solar and an option to run to a full service RV park with 50 AMP service?
Hi Fred,
Re: solar, generator, 50 amp service - IMHO it's about your travel lifestyle.
For us, we like the 50 amp campgrounds from time to time as they also have unlimited water, and we're now spoiled use those to get a lot of washes done in the bus. Also, some of those are fun from time to time. And our granddaughter enjoys the playgrounds, pools, etc. But we also boondock when we can, and the solar is nice to keep generator runtimes down. Less noise, less fuel consumption. But - our OTR cooling runs off of 120v and for sure we need the generator for that. And when our solar doesn't keep up while boondocking.
But - that's just us!
Kind Regards, Phil
Recently I added the EHP heat blanket to the exhaust pipes and turbo in our DL3. I was surprised at how easy it was to install and how much of a difference it made in the rear bedroom. It used to heat up from the engine - especially during hot summer months and long drives. But no more! So in my book that was a pretty good upgrade.
Hope this helps, Phil
Just recently after decades of having to run the genny for OTR A/C we can now run the HE rooftop air from the inverter upgrade and the batteries stay full.by the alternator.
Congratulations on that Dan! That is a goal of mine as well. Looking at a swamp cooler or 12v marine type direct to the LION battery bank. Hopefully soon!
Kind Regards, Phil
Quote from: freds on December 28, 2022, 10:30:50 PM
@Fred said: "My observation after a fair amount of tinkering is that my observation is that our primary advantage over standard stick and staples RV's is the bay storage space that we have underneath our main living area!!!"
I agree on our advantage over S&S being bay storage but much more importantly the wording "primary advantage" as an antique bus conversion owner IMO would be the longevity of these nearly indestructible beasts of beauty. Totally serviceable with absolutely no "throw away - replace it" design. We've been running & camping in our same bus for 44 years this April- if we handed it down to one of our sons - they could get another 44 years use with proper maintenence. Where are you going to find a commercially produced S&S that can give that kind of reliability & longevity. Rant over, carry on. :^
Quote from: dtcerrato on December 30, 2022, 07:16:17 AM
Quote from: freds on December 28, 2022, 10:30:50 PM
@Fred said: "My observation after a fair amount of tinkering is that my observation is that our primary advantage over standard stick and staples RV's is the bay storage space that we have underneath our main living area!!!"
I agree on our advantage over S&S being bay storage but much more importantly the wording "primary advantage" as an antique bus conversion owner IMO would be the longevity of these nearly indestructible beasts of beauty. Totally serviceable with absolutely no "throw away - replace it" design. We've been running & camping in our same bus for 44 years this April- if we handed it down to one of our sons - they could get another 44 years use with proper maintenence. Where are you going to find a commercially produced S&S that can give that kind of reliability & longevity. Rant over, carry on. :^
Higher end Rv'ss compete well against the bus conversions, but some of those are bumping the 2 million range now,if the right deal came along on a late model H Prevost, I would consider a bus over the Country Coach
Many upgrades. Changing the air over manual steering to full Sheppard hydraulic steering (8 turns lock to lock to 3.5 turns). Changing my air wipers to 2 motor electric with synchronizer (they work together). Adding King cruise control (unfortunately no longer made). Manual over automatic air suspension control to level the bus at campground in less than a minute. Train horns. Adding Jake brakes. Turbocharging the 8V-71 with air to air intercooler raising the power from 300hp and 800lb/ft torque too 375hp and 1125lb/ft torque (N65 to 7G75 injectors) REALLY wakes up the 8V-71 especially at altitude. Good Luck, TomC
Matthew Valentine's LED headlight conversion kit for my Vantaré Prevost XL.
Interior and exterior lights changed over to LEDs, either fixtures or bulbs. depending.
A WeBoost Drive 4G-X cell signal booster antenna. Works with all the major carriers, boosts 3G, 4G, LTE and 5G signals.
Some other little things here and there, but the basic chassis and house are as they came from Vantaré in 1992.
I like my little "condo-on-wheels!"
FWIW & HTH. . . :)
RJ