SHUTLE BUS CONVERSION

JaxDad wrote:
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.

So...he wasn't bright enough to figure that out BEFORE he bought and converted it, then?!?! SERIOUSLY?!

I'm surprised it's all naysayers here.
:)

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Golden_HVAC wrote:
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.

Is it possible to install a remote turbo like STS on a 90's 460?

Sounds like a great project to me. Have to start with the right vehicle to put the time & money into though. I'm thinking a bus that started life serving a retirement home or similar where they are not likely to beat it to death. Knock on the doors of such places. Ask if they are thinking of getting something new & might want to sell what they have. You never know. The worst they can say is NO.

I did that with a boat. A few months later the owner called. "Still want to buy it?"

Diesel would be nice too, even if it is swapped out for a remanned engine.

The rest is up to your imagination, time & skill.

So I'm not the only crazy one that wanted to converted a Shuttle Bus to a RV.
Lots of info at my signature clicky. My reason to do it was for strength and safety.
We pound our Rig hard at high speed on corrugated back roads.
Also push it 85 mph many times across the Great Plaines States.
Fuel mileage run between 9 to 14.5 mpg depending on speed and what I'm towing.

What does the car that you tow weigh?

Many have C's, tow and don't have a problem. Maybe a less expensive, answer would be to replace your toad with a lighter one. And weigh your MH to make sure you are not loaded down with extra weight which is real easy to do over time bringing stuff in it.

The buses made for long distance travel would be better for a conversion. Shuttle buses and in town buses are not set up for the long hills like a over the road bus. They have the storage under the floor for the needed stuff genset, batteries, mini-split HVAC, water tanks, propane tanks, and more.

I'm set up with 180 gallons of fresh water, 120 gray, 60 black, dual propane tanks, mini-split HVAC, inverters, Onan genset, tinny Honda genset, and more and still have more than half of my pass though bays. I could of gone with smaller tanks and a single genset, but I wanted to be set up differently.

I'm able to get into any campground a class A can fit into. With not having fiberglass walls or rubber roofs it's a huge issue if I hit a few branches getting into sites or a the road. With not having AC on the roof I'm not as tall as a lot of class A's or 5 th wheel's. I have no issues with pulling my toad on long hills, live / work full time so we carry a lot of stuff, and I'm way under my max weights. I do have issues backing up my toad 4 wheels down, but most people do.

I get 8.5 to 9.5 gpm. If you keep everything in good shape stuff dose break, but if you keep everything in good shape they will last 700,000 + miles. A huge down side is a lot of shops will not do an “I frame rebuild” on buses so it will have to be pulled out, but you should know when one is coming and be able to schedule the work with who you want.

Rockhillmanor--only weighs about 3100 lbs. Manual shift Saturn Vue.
Golden--Good ideas, maybe I'll just find a good engine shop and see what they can do. Even if it costs 2-3 grand, it would be cheaper than the other project.
Other than the engine issues, it's in decent working order.
I tried that 85 octane******once. Now am using the 88-89 alternative.

Go for it. I did a conversion on a 1990 suttlebus. it has a 5.9 cumm. 4sp allison with trans retarda.Itook all seats out,all interior stuff and then I measured and measured and measured some more, then I sat and drew out plans and measured some more to see if everything would fit then I took out all of the windows and boxed in frams for camper windows. Marked out all interior wall area on floor with maskintape .And then measured some moore. When everything fit I started building useing 2x2 lumber and 1/2"fibreboard.It has a rear bed with closet,bathroom with shower,kitchen and living area. If you have and older motorhome you can salvage you have all the stuff you will need. Water tanks, refrigerator, stove, seats, tabels, generator. Save all of the wireing you take out,you will save alot of money buy useing it.Cabinets ,draws , plumbing sinks,lites, windows.I used frp (fiber renforsed plastic) for the out side sideing.Go to bus conversions for more info. I wish you luck. PS I realy enjoyed doing mine. Russ.

Golden_HVAC wrote:

...
You can make the 460" engine pass anything but a gas station,
...

So very true.

Do you have a recommended fuel tank additive product for dealing with ethanol and the sludge in the tank from it?