If not a 4104, perhaps a party bus?

[Dave Silva]

I made two posts regarding the PD-4104 which inspired some informative discussion and I'm grateful to smart people who took the time to answer my questions

Pretty sure I'm going to let the 4104 dream die.   It's been like a chronic illness with me since the end of the last century.  My wife called this recent interest a "flair up" - and she's right.

But really, the goal was only to have a durable, reliable self-contained escape pod.    That has been my dream since my uncle took me across the US in a 74 Pace Arrow when i was 15 (America's Bicentennial SUmmer)

My Sprinter comes pretty close but lacks elbow room.

So what is the perfect vehicle?

Requirements:

- enough room for two people  to live in and not have to assemble a bed to sleep

- all the amenities of being self contained.

- reasonably fuel efficient.  8mpg or better.

- durable- a life expectancy of 200,000 more miles  (average 10K a year for the rest of my driving life) A durable drive train AND a durable body. (rules out most RVs) 

- repairable by me but also repairable by a shop.  The idea is that while I'm young i'll do everything to insure longevity, even a drive-train rebuild,  so that as i age i can transition to just paying a mechanic.  In my gene pool we tend to drive until we die, so that's my plan.


The answer i'm closing in on is an E450 shuttle bus,  1998-2003 for the 7.3 but i could be persuaded to look at the 6.0  if i can be confident in mitigating its shortcomings. 

Right now they are plentiful and cheap.  And the drive train is also relatively cheap.

THe perfect bus is longer- 26-32 passengers.  That equals a payload around 8000 lb. for the conversion and a toad.

Needs to have  a front passenger door, and an RV style entrance door.   SOmething in limousine/party bus  category.  As opposed to the shuttles with no front passenger door.

The problem with limo type is they tend to be black so that will be a challenge to keep cool.  I'll try to find a white church bus.

Anyway, that's the current incarnation of the dream.   I'm going to sell the sprinter and get started.

[luvrbus]

I have seen some nice ones converted, the 7.3 will out live a 2 cycle ,my daughter has a 2000 Eddie Bauer Ford Excursion with the 7.3 that has 423,000 miles on it I fixed a oil cooler leak that is the only problem she has had with the engine, She has always used synthetic Shell  Rotella. I don't when is it going to die ,she still getting 19 mpg, she staring to need glow plugs though and looking at the location of the glow plugs I not really looking forward to the task   

[muldoonman]

In my opinion , and it don't mean much. the Ford 6.0 was a POS. Maybe some folks had luck with them but bought 3 New F350 XLT Dually's with the 6.0 Diesel Engine  years ago and left my Guys all over the Southwest in my Welding Business. Loaded around 10,000 lbs with the welding beds and equipment. Ford bought one back and offered a 6.4 and same same. Chunked um all and went with the 5.9 Cummins at the time.  They ran until I sold the Business. 250,000 + miles. Seems Oil changes and tires were all they needed. Before the experiment on the 6.0's, Shop had (2) 7.3 non Turbo Models and they were Horses  like the 5.9 Cummin's.

[Dave Silva]

Yeah, that's pretty unanimous about the 6.0.  But apparently the inherent problems can be resolved.

I'm actully looking hard at the V10 - the MPG is only 20% worse than the 7.3 so the overall cost may not matter.  But you can find them cheaper and newaer and paired with the five speed.

[Utahclaimjumper]

The V10 with the 5 speed will keep you listening to the 4000 RPM range any time it even smells a grade or hill off in the distance,, and with it between you and the shotgunner it gets very tiresome in rolling country..>>>Dan

[luvrbus]

The V10 with the 5 speed will keep you listening to the 4000 RPM range any time it even smells a grade or hill off in the distance,, and with it between you and the shotgunner it gets very tiresome in rolling country..>>>Dan

The v10 Ford is not much on torque they love flat lands ,the 3.5 V6 EcoBoost in Ford pickups have more ft lbs of torque and a lot easier on gasoline

[windtrader]

Dave,


You are a very seasoned road traveller and likely want to continue to follow the same style of travel. One think about school bus, probably shuttle busses, is barriers to stay at some RV campgrounds as some do not allow them, period/ Some say, wouldn't want to stay at some snob nest anyway that turns up noses at a school/ It may not affect you at all, just thought worth mentioning. Old converted revenue buses get some of this treatment too.