SHUTLE BUS CONVERSION

No direct experience but that's a pretty big leap. There are A LOT more capable class C or other RVs that have been made since 1990.

The things that would worry me with something that large which may or may not be a problem for you:

General driving - fitting into campgrounds on small roads, etc.
Storage - do you have room at your house to store it?
Service - you're not likely to just have the tools handy to change a flat - let alone do anything else
Moderate/major repairs - if you have something go wrong you could be talking about some MAJOR money to work on it. For instance how much is a head gasket job on a Provost bus? How about getting it towed to a garage?
A new bus chassis is somewhere north of a couple hundred grand which means anything in the cost ballpark that you and I common men could afford would likely be very high mileage and therefore more likely to have problems.

I'm with you on considering it and it would be great when rolling down the road. I just wouldn't want to be the one footing the bill when something goes wrong.

These are small shuttle buses I'm talking about--12-16 passengers. Smaller than my 30 footer. generally built on van chassis, like rvs.
They already have interior AC and heat. When seats are removed there will be anchors in the floor.

And the heat and A/C aren't going to work unless the engine is running. No bathroom, shower, holding tanks, refrigerator, stove, sink, interior lights, beds, chairs, etc.

That's not an RV - that's a hard sided tent.

Hi Tommy,

It is quite possible but unless you have a good shop, and many diverse skills (plumbing, electrical, mechanical, and wood working) I'd not start.

It would be lots and lots of work. Likely the busses are diesel--and diesel engines do eventually wear out. They can be extremely costly to fix.

I think what everyone is getting at is to find a used class C that fits your needs . Of course, its your money, spend it however you please

If you are looking for a project go for it. I would keep the old c use the tanks appliances and whatever else you can cannabilize from the coach.

I worked for a shuttle bus company, and we would put 200 - 350 miles a shift on the E-350 vans. Don't know exactly the mileage on the E-450 shuttle bus, 20 passenger ones got, but mainly they are driven hard and not put away from 6 am to 10 or 11 pm. So many that they are selling are in the 440,000 mile range. At 350,000 miles, they are not even thinking of selling one.

You can do a LOT to improve your RV. First thing is to have the distributor rebuilt. This is where I had mine rebuilt back in 1992, and it made the 460" engine in my F-350 come alive!!

http://local.yahoo.com/info-21034341-clutches-unlimited-midway-city

The engine in your class C is really strong, and was also put into my 97 F-53 equipped motorhome, I have a 17,000 GVWR and tow a 4,200 pound car. I will take the grapevine 6% grade at 45 MPH in second gear, 4,000 RPM. I have no problem in the mountains.

If you are overheating, then consider a larger transmission fluid cooler, and wash the radiator. Relace the fan clutch if the RV is overheating, and you do not hear it roar to life every once in a while on the mountain passes.

You can make the 460" engine pass anything but a gas station, or make it get 8 or 9 MPG in a smaller class C like yours. If you set it up for 92 octane gas, you will get better mileage, but at a cost. You will be advancing the timing enough to make lots of horsepower, and it will make it efficiently, but will start to ping on lesser gasoline, so you will HAVE To stick with Cheveron or Mobil or Texaco 91 - 92 octane gas. As a result of the improved timing, expect gas mileage to go up about 1 MPG, more or less.

If you decide you still want to run cheap gas, set the timing back a little, and go back to the cheap stuff, and get 1 MPG less. So the differance is 8 MPG or 9 MPG, and over 4,000 miles it can be either 500 gallons of gas or 440 gallons at 5% more cost. I would say save the 60 gallons, it will be a increase of about 10% in MPG.

For now, STOP buying cheap gas, go to stuff that has as little ethonol as possible, and higher octane. If you are running 85 octane (they sell that as "Regular" in Colorado) change it up a couple of grades. Enjoy Colorado, it is a wonderful place to visit, I want to go back there sometime.

The only real advantage of a used shuttle bus is if you can find a 2003 and earlier 7.3L diesel one. They are known to go upwards of 400,000 miles without a engine replacement, though the transmission is not good for that many miles. Check Craigslist.com in Riverside CA, they have had a few used shuttle busses for sale for the past 4 months. Old city fleet that was replaced with newer units that make less smog.

Fred.

The other observation I'd pass on is the experience of a buddy of mine who spends a lot of time camping while hunting & fishing.

Since he goes into some pretty tricky spots he didn't want a 'glamour queen' nor did he want to spend a pile of cash. The solution (he thought) was to convert a shorter school bus built on an International 5 ton chassis. Everything went quickly & smoothly.

He was very happy with the finished product, until that is, he took it for his first 'shake down' drive. The chassis had been spec'd as a 'city' bus, not a 'county' bus. It had no overdrive and pretty deep gears in the rear end. At 50 mph (80 km/h) it was screaming and sounded like it was going to fly apart!!

It ended up costing him nearly as much to swap out the transmission and rear final gears as the entire thing had cost to-date!!

An expensive lesson indeed.

TOMMY47 wrote:
Currently on a long trip in an older (1990) class C. Pulling my car.
Ford E350 . Have had problems up the hills in and around the Rockies.
I am making changes to the rest of my trip to avoid Rockies in Colorado.
Am thinking of selling the C and getting a shuttle bus --converting it to a MH. There seem to be a lot in my area for sale.
I now know what I need and what I don't. I really don't need a lot.
Anyone tried this and how did it turn out?
What kind of mileage do these thing typically get? I do not plan to tow my car on the next trip.

It can be done, but many shuttle buses are incredibly-poorly built. A gasser will get 6-12MPG depending on engine, weight, speed, and terrain, a diesel (1995-2003 7.3 Ford) might top 15.

There are several shuttle bus conversions at Skoolie.net.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Tommy,

It is quite possible but unless you have a good shop, and many diverse skills (plumbing, electrical, mechanical, and wood working) I'd not start.

It would be lots and lots of work. Likely the busses are diesel--and diesel engines do eventually wear out. They can be extremely costly to fix.

I have NEVER seen a shuttle bus wear out a diesel engine. The contrary...it's usually a case of the body and/or chassis falling apart around a perfect-running drivetrain!