I'm thinking about converting a short school bus as a second bus

[Kevin Warnock]

I've been toying with the idea of doing a second conversion. As you know, my primary conversion is a 40' RTS, which is no good for off roading.

There is a short full size diesel school bus on EBay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180392285350&viewitem=&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching#ht_500wt_1182

This would be done more simply than my RTS... no Jacuzzi and no Internet dish, for example. The idea is I could take the short bus on dirt roads and to remote sites I would not take the RTS. It would be more of a weekend trip type bus.

Does anyone here have any experience with short school busses like this one? If I were to do this, I would buy one in California most likely, since I don't want to drive a bus cross country.

Would I even need to complete any conversion to drive this on a standard Class C license. The listing says the weight is about 22K pounds. I take it I have to block off the school bus sign, but can otherwise leave the paint as is.

How do these drive on dirt roads? They look like they have fantastic ground clearance. Any idea on top freeway speed and fuel economy?

I saw just such a bus converted at the Bus N USA gathering in OR a few years ago. The owner converted it in just two weeks, although it was a crude conversion. But she did have a shower and bed and stove and fridge, all bolted down and solid. It was impressive, if simple.

[luvrbus]

1967_MCI5a, April did a good job that on that bus she did all the work herself.
I helped her install a used Coleman rooftop she bought from Dick Wright for a 100 bucks at the swap meet you may be the guy that helped me.
I will never forget the way some treated her and the handicap friend of hers at that rally it was terrible and she was so proud of her bus for those guys to treat her that way making fun of it      

good luck  

[Kevin Warnock]

No, I didn't help with the AC, but I do remember her telling me she was buying it. I also remember her disabled friend. I think her bus had a functioning wheelchair lift so he was able to really enjoy the bus since he was in a wheelchair.

I am so sad to read that he was treated badly by some. I found him to be quite a friendly man.

[TomC]

If you keep in mind that this particular bus has just a pickup truck diesel in it, then you're OK.  If you do buy a school bus, have the seats taken out, then it won't be considered a bus anymore.  Most buses are good-just check with your insurance company first if they will insure it-some are funny about school buses.  Normally, they are well built-just check the frame to body bolts to make sure they are tight-have seen more then one school bus separate from the frame in an accident.  Good Luck, TomC

[NewbeeMC9]

They have a section just for shorties over here


http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=36&sid=5e90f797b8e020d71d4c92111cc754dd


and check out the hunting girls thread on their bus.



My neighbor bought a old gas dog nose skoolie,  max speed was about 55 w/o governer.  it was originally for skools in NC mountains so had real low gear and 35 was max governed speed.  If it is slow you may be able to program it out, because it looks like it may be a power stroke and electronically controlled automatic transmission as well. Ford Heavy duty parts might swap out.

ask the fellow Tack rpm at speed.



good luck and keep us posted

[MattC]

That abbreviated schoolie is cute in a straydog kinda way.  It would be a Kick-In-The-Arse to convert and would make a sweet  weekender.. LoL.  

There is a local guy that has one similar that was converted in the 70 setting in his junk yard, cool as all get out!   I couldn't pry it from his corpse, but I thought IF it fell under 65' that would make a head-turning, eye-poppin  Toad, eh?  LoL  

So it's not one of the big-boys (mci/serta/eagle/etc), it would still be fun!  Heck! I'd help convert it just to torque some brows!

[Lin]

You could do some global Craigslist searches for buses in the RV category.  It is pretty common to see converted schoolies going for very reasonable prices.  If the off road is a big consideration, aren't some crowns multi-axel drive?

[Dallas]

One of my former busses in a former life was a 1955 IH with a Bluebird low line body. It started out life with a IH Green Diamond engine and a 5 speed non syncro transmission.
After a couple of years of getting it towed out of places I shouldn't have been, and not being able to do freeway speeds, (I did get stopped once for exceeding the 55 mph limit once in Fargo, but it took me 4 miles to get that much), I decided to do some re-engineering and happened to have a wrecked utility company Chevy 4X4 1 1/2 ton. I also had a old White that someone had stuck a decent 6V53 in with an RTO 610 behind it.
Finding a divorced transfer case took a couple of weeks but I finally found one that was mated with a 3 speed brownie.
In about 6 months I had it all put together and fired it up, I knew I had a winner. Top speed of 72 mph @ 2800rpm, and low end power out the wazoo.
I crossed the Yellowstone river a bunch of times with it, but you had to be careful, I didn't have much of an air intake snorkel on it and the river has holes in it that reach wayyyyy deep.
I finally sold it to a fella in Columbus, Mt that wanted to use it for a hunting cabin and he was as happy as could be, until........


He tried crossing the Yellowstone about a mile east of the bridge that crosses it on the south side of Columbus. Well, to make a long story short, the bus was running really well until the air intake went under. Then it sat under water for a week until they could get a big enough wrecker into the area to yank it back out.

Ahh, forgive my rambling, those were the days!

[Airbag]

Get a snub nose Blue Bird with air brakes it is a better bus. Lots of them come up on e-bay for cheap. I drove those things and all the mech's said Blue Bird hands down. FWIW

[Don Fairchild]

boggiethecat has one with a 5.9 Cummings in it. He takes his to burning man. I put a rebuild engine in it for him about three years ago.

Look him up he will have the info you are looking for.

Don

[NewbeeMC9]

you can also convert the stop sign on the side to a "Show Me *its!"   sign that pops out when convenient.

[John316]

I think that the schoolie is a great idea. I want to get one myself, eventually. I like the extra rise, and clearance on them. Of course, I would want to do a power train swap...

Also, I think getting a really heavy duty winch, would be a must (for me anyways). That way, when I get stuck in the yellowstone (thanks for the story Dallas, that was great), I can winch out.

God bless,

John

[belfert]

One nice thing about my bus is it has quite a bit of ground clearance.  Speculation is that Dina had some much ground clearance due to the road conditions in Mexico.

My bus has been to the Burning Man site several times. but I have never been there when Burning Man is going on.

[boogiethecat]

Yeah I have a 29 ft flat nose bluebird that i converted and I LOVE it!

I'm not a fan of the diesel V8's OR a dognose bus.  I had one of each for a short time. Smallish engine, no power, not super robust, DEFINITELY not easy to work on.  The flat Bluebirds mostly have Cummins 5.9's in them which are wonderful.  And "dog nose" busses are noisy, ugly, and attract cops because they have a stigma of being hippie busses.

As for the Bluebird, it's construction is basically a truck with a bus body.  Totally fun and easy to convert.  Looks classy. Roof raise was easy.  The thing has super high ground clearance,
I take it up mountain-dirt fire roads all the time and it turns on a smaller radius than my Lexus!! True story!!!
Oh yeah, there is TONS of room underneath for building in extra tanks, storage places, and "stuff".

Here's what I don't like about the Bluebird..
(1) Most come with allison 545 series trannys.  Won't hold you back going down grades and don't have lockup so mileage isn't as good as it could be.  I changed mine out to a 600 series
(654? I dont remember the actual number) that has a higher torque rating, lockup, and is overall a better tranny. Cost me $400 from a junkyard, and had been rebuilt within a short time B4 I bought it.
(2) None come with Telma retarders.  Good news is that there's plenty of room to accept one, and the ones you find cheap and used on ebay (axial style) fit in easily.
(3) I'd think about a rebuilt engine no matter how "maintained" it says it was in the records.   I don't trust schoolbus mechanics.  Mine had the fan belt installed wrong.  It was actually a longer belt that wouldn't fit, so the guy figured out how to get it on with the belt going around the water pump the wrong way!! With the water pump spinning backwards it  cooled well enough to survive city driving but on the freeway (as I unfortunately found out later) it starved the rear cylinder for water and even though the temp gauge said "fine", it trashed the engine.  And when we took it all apart, a different cyl. was missing a ROD BOLT!!!! Not laying in the pan mind you, just not in the engine!  Kudos to Cummins for making an engine that would work missing a rod bolt and not toss the rod!!  So much for a "well maintained" engine...

(4)  There's nothing else I don't like about it.  It's super easy to drive, gets 10-11mpg, and is a totally fun bus!

Cheers
G

[belfert]

Wouldn't dognose buses be easier to work on because of better access to the engine?  The entire hood and/or front clip can come off for major engine work.

School buses are a dime a dozen.  I wouldn't buy one off Ebay unless it was local to me.  Short buses that aren't van chassis are a little harder to find, but not hard enough to look nationally.  Most large metro areas should have a school bus dealer that has used school buses.