Bus Conversions :::

Morgan7600 · Jun 5, 2013

I have been drawn to buses long before I even had the idea to break away from the mess my life is in and free myself up to just play music and ride my bike all day every day!  There are several on my San Diego Craig's List in the RV section and some are really quite enchanting.  They are running in the high 20K area to just under 30 thousand.  One in particular has a brand new engine and all new drive train tranny, the works. Now I'm not talking the old '56 Chevy nose on a bulky looking flower painted hippy bus, these are nice clean motor homes with some very modern features.  I can see my recording studio in a bus just the same way it sits here in my house.  Everything I love without the stress! I would love to hear from you bus enthusiasts.  All I know so far is that I'm leaning that way.  I don't know anything about buses and how to drive them but I can learn.

highdesertranger · Jun 6, 2013

boy I hope someone who knows how to drive one gives you lessons.  I think there is a whole site with a forum dedicated to buses.  maybe someone will chime in with a link.  I have seen the site but I don't have it saved.  highdesertranger

Morgan7600 · Jun 6, 2013

Hey HighDes,  Say your post over on the "Pull a Tent Trailer with a Porsche 914" thread... Yeah at this point I'm not ready to do anything and if I was, it would need to be pretty stealthy at first and a dam big behemoth BUS is anything but stealthy eh!  If I ever did, I would actually go to school at some truck drivers or school bus drivers place of academia if I could probably find one.  You are correct that one does not jump into a full length bus and just drive away.  Think of all the fire hydrants you'd take out just cutting a corner to close over the curb return..  LOL

Morgan7600 · Jun 6, 2013

Oooooooooooops!!   That was SAW your post.......

leftcoastadv · Jun 7, 2013

The wife and I are one of the full size bus owners on this site.  Like you said, they are not stealth and rarely are they camouflage. But so far it has worked out just fine for our lifestyle.  <a href="http://skoolie.net/forum" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.skoolie.net</a> is dedicated to school bus conversions and the forum has a ton of helpful people and various skoolie build threads. You won't get very much real world living in the bus kinda info over there but still tons of skoolie conversions. Pretty much anything from mild to wild.  <img rel="lightbox" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TPn3RnB0ce8/UbImFp3SGDI/AAAAAAAAJBs/Jg1HW8eKguU/s400/DSC_7722.JPG" class="bbc_img"> This is our rig traveling from Northern Arizona to San Diego a few weeks back. Right about 10 mpg at 55 mph. Horrible fuel mileage compared to the vans and such but not too bad for us considering we are moving our entire house for two people and some cats. We've been working on this project a few years now and have finally gone full time in the bus since about late December. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.  -Ryan

Morgan7600 · Jun 7, 2013

LeftCoastAdv,  Great looking rig you have there.  What a shame I got on Bob's site a bit too late, you could have stopped by and we could have got some dinner or sumptin'... Love the idea of having the fam including cat family.  I'm a cat lover from childhood.  Grew up in England and then Toronto and can't remember a time when we didn't have a house full of cats.  I am nearing the end of the life of the best cat I've ever had who is called Marco.  He is about 18 or 19 and is on Kidney meds (a squirt in the mouth every morning) and his right headlight is completely out so I have to give him one drop of meds AM & one PM every day.  He's a real trip sometimes.  Walks around howling and wakes me up in the middle of the night and if that get's too crazy I give him the tiniest chip of tranq pill and that gives him the major munchies and then he conks out for hours...  Ahhh quiet again.  Trying to send you a picture?  How did you get that picture of your rig into the post? This system asks for an url instead of the normal "browse" hard drive upload button. Anyhoo, I will check out the link you sent me and let's see if I can send you a couple of links back. There is a dude here in SD who has a big shop and apparently spends his days building up buses. He has a few of those classic "Leave It To Beaver" style buses and I love 'em! Check out the engine in this rig :::  http://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/rvs/3834434846.html Do you think that's a good price?  I could live in this rig...  Sort of suites me but I'd have to install a stealth recording studio setup :::   http://www.12GaugeMusic.com This one is very interesting :::  http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/rvs/3845377458.html Can't find the links to this guys yard right now but you'll know the name.  I think it was Flexy Flyer or something like that.  It's the one with the very 1950's looking rounded rear end... Well please let me know if you're coming back to the left coast any time soon,  Morgan

highdesertranger · Jun 7, 2013

left coast that's a cool looking bus.  how did you block out all those windows?  from that pic it looks like there were never windows there.  highdesertranger

rokguy · Jun 8, 2013

Heres another link <A href="http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php" rel=nofollow target=_blank>http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php</A>Highdesert the usual practice for doing windows in a bus conversion would be to completely take the side panelling off windows and all, resheet with new blank steel sheet and cut new window openings where you want the windows to be. Am I right leftcoast? Geoff

highdesertranger · Jun 9, 2013

thanks rok guy that makes sense.  I have seen some ugly conversions and very few good looking ones.  the one that left coast posted looks very clean.  highdesertranger

leftcoastadv · Jun 10, 2013

Thanks guys. Sorry I've been without internet for a bit. Morgan: sorry to hear about Marco. It sounds like he's had a good run. Your best bet for posting pictures is to us a photo hosting site like photobucket, flickr, picasa, etc.  Those few craigslist ads you posted are for buses that are out of my league. I'd be worried about parts and maintenance especially on the 60's bus. Both are really cool in their own right but owning one might be a huge battle. I'd personally recommend sticking with a school bus if you just want to start out for cheap. Over the road buses get expensive in a hurry. highdesertranger: like rokguy said... pulled them all out and used 18ga sheet metal to skin them.  <img rel="lightbox" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-.../3mWlfNNXk_E/s400/2011-06-04_14-21-44_709.jpg" class="bbc_img"> <img rel="lightbox" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Y0BKW6eFPuE/Tg-GLR5Tk5I/AAAAAAAABGU/2IG59Ky4XiM/s400/DSCN2920.JPG" class="bbc_img"> <img rel="lightbox" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-.../4JREbAg4qbY/s400/2011-06-04_16-15-44_281.jpg" class="bbc_img"> <img rel="lightbox" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WROl2y2o5vE/Tg-F8zznseI/AAAAAAAABF8/q4InkNnGBvY/s400/DSCN2914.JPG" class="bbc_img"> <img rel="lightbox" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AmDbFrUt_lQ/Tg-FgqabW0I/AAAAAAAABFE/eIqgfZakL5M/s400/DSCN2944.JPG" class="bbc_img"> Rokguy linked to another bus site that has some great info. It is more geared towards the over the road style buses and mainly full of guys that have some serious money, but nonetheless still a great place to gather info. One of these days I'll get around to putting together a build thread. <img rel="lightbox" src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" class="bbc_img">

Les H · Jun 10, 2013

Morgan, I don't get to this site as often as I used to, sorry I missed your post. I loved my minibus for 3 years and 30,000 miles. I just sold it a few months ago to buy a small 21' fifth wheel to full time in. I have a thread, " finally, pics of my bus, Buford" as well as many more threads and posts. Feel free to search them for ideas or whatever.
Les

Edited to add.. if you haven't already seen it, try myfloridachurchbus.com for bus availability and pricing. I'm not a customer, but a good friend of mine ( david hair, owner vandwellers construction yahoo group) has bought two from them.

highdesertranger · Jun 10, 2013

left coast looks like you did it right.  is that the same bus?  boy that's a nice job.  good work.  I do appreciate good craftsmanship.  it's getting harder to find.  highdesertranger

c_hasbeen · Jun 10, 2013

I think I would really enjoy a bus like this maybe with the wheel chair lift in the back too

Simran · Aug 12, 2013

I've been looking at buses for awhile and Morgan; I've looked at those old buses and they are cool, cool, cool. However, I think you have to really love a bus to buy and do the upkeep on one of the old ones. Unless you do a complete restoration at the tune od thousands; living full time in one of the old ones might be a real exercise in frustration. New parts are hard to find for some and even used parts are hard  to find for others. I looked into this for a couple of months and decided that a School bus built in the 90's was the ticket for me. Parts are readily available, they are relatively easy on fuel in the bus world, they are plentiful and cheap! Right now I'm seriously looking at a 1996 International Bluebird, asking price is 2500.00 it is a 3800 with a T444E motor and standard 5 spd. trans. That's just me though; your mileage may vary. Gus

ilovemyvan · Aug 12, 2013

Hi Morgan, We used to live in a 1974 International school bus for 8 years. We loved the experience but I'm glad to live in a house now where I can walk in more than one direction, not only front/back <img class="emoticon bbc_img" src="/images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif"> I drove it without any special course, you have to be careful but you get use to it. You learn to avoid certain kind of situation, it's no different than a large RV. We made our share of mistakes but never as bad as taking anything out, oof!.  After a while the size seems smaller, it isn't worse than driving a van. Having said that I have to confess that I was very scared for the first few hours. As I mentioned in a few other posts, I'm only 5 feet tall and it made it a bit difficult to push the clutch down with my left foot tiptoe and change gear (specially 3rd, 4th and reverse) with my very stretched right arm without letting go of the steering wheel with my left hand or my right foot on the gas...I see a reality show in there somewhere. Ah the good old days! It was fun to see truck driver's looks, you see my head was not too much higher than the steering wheel and so I'm pretty sure some of them thought I was a kid. In conclusion, if I could drive it so can you. Some states require that school bus be painted before they can be used privately. We did our own build using Home Depot kind of stores, RV stores are too pricey. We only bought our toilet from them. Sox found that is was not so bad to work on the mechanic. Parts are easy to find. We had a patio on the roof, it was a waste we rarely used it. We didn't change the windows, I liked the airflow with the windows down and the views. We made screens for the windows, front and back doors to keep the bugs out. We put silver color insulation on the windows that needed to be blocked for things like shower and closet. We had covers made for the tires, we used them when we stayed in one location for a while and we wanted to protect them from the sun. They are very pricey, we were very lucky we never had to replace any. If you can get your hands on a bus that was used by a school's basket ball team, go for it , the roof is higher.  Don't expect 55 MPH going up hill. The gas tank is small but we were more than happy to get out of it every 2 hours or so, not a smooth riding vehicle. At first we had a storage box on top but we took it down, it was not needed.  Expect to be turn away from a lot of campgrounds, a lot of prejudice, especially in the north east <img class="bbc_img" style="left: 32px; top: 68px; width: 640px; height: 376px; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAAAEx4U/Zfc-IO9ANe0/s640/Top-002.jpg?gl=US" rel="lightbox"> It can be build quite cheaply but it is an expensive way to travel. Good luck. Nicole

lifeintheslowlane · Aug 25, 2013

Surplus school buses are a very good bargain and easily modified. Many on e-bay every day for $2000.00-$5000.00. Also check your local school district for surplus sales. That's where I got mine. Diesel is best for fuel mileage and long life.

rokguy · Aug 26, 2013

Here's that other bus forum link Lots of good information for you Morgan and Clan. <a href="http://www.wanderlodgeownersgroup.com/forums/index.php" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.wanderlodgeownersgroup.com/forums/index.php</a>

tc112969 · Aug 26, 2013

Here's a link to a bus I've been tracking in Las Vegas. I will be out there soon but I already bought the van. I don't think I would want something this big but I did try to talk a couple of my friends out there into going splitzies on it. They both live in HOA neighborhoods so we would have a tough time finding a place to park. It has been for sale for a while so she would probably take less. It is kind of a hippy bus but it could be painted, plus the girl selling it is also named Morgan! <a href="http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/rvs/4013060537.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/rvs/4013060537.html</a>

Simran · Aug 27, 2013

here's a pic of one I drove last night. Still thinking on it.

cygvan · Aug 27, 2013

@leftcoastadv... is that a klr on the front? been wanting a klr650

Bus Conversions :::

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