Thinking of buying this bus. What do you think?

[hello_im_alex]

A friend of mine told me that if you were to convert a diesel engine to run on veg oil then you'd want a model of bus older than 1995 so that the engine wouldn't have pesky electronics that would mess things up. But this bus looks real nice though! What do you guys think? Any expert opinions?
Thanks!

https://www.bcauction.ca/open.dll/showD ... ypeQual=TN

[bus-bro]

The link doesn't work for me.

[wtd]

Ditto

[hello_im_alex]

Sorry here is a link. It's actually 1990 now...

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/r ... 13243.html

[wtd]

Originally Posted by hello_im_alex

Sorry here is a link. It's actually 1990 now...

Um, dude, it's actually 2011, at least where I am ...

Sorry - bad, but I just couldn't walk past that. People are always giving me a hard time because I rarely know what day it is - I've met my match ...

About the bus -
If the photos are post-conversion, I'd wonder how much the 'conversion' was worth since the windows aren't tinted and I can see clean through the bus - hence no walls - where's the toilet? Maybe this was taken pre-conversion. No mention of a water system or stove.
For conversion value, I don't think a dorm fridge, sink, black tank, apparently unenclosed toilet and a sheet of plywood cut in half for bunks would show me a lot of value.
Don't know much about the value of the bus itself - others here are good at that.

Just based on those pictures, you're paying for just the bus - couple hundred bucks and a weekend would get you the 'conversion' part - so it seems high to me.

Tom

[bus-bro]

Yep, I agree with wtd: the pictures don't match the description of the conversion. Stock bus is worth US $2000, give or take a couple of hundred, then again, I always say that.

[wtd]

Originally Posted by stanleyfapps

Is there any way that bus actually gets 15 mpg?

Sure - drive it 8 miles then tow it 7 miles with a Volt.

[thommassey]

Originally Posted by wtd

Sure - drive it 8 miles then tow it 7 miles with a Volt.

LMAO!!

[imfree]

I have a 1990 Blue Bird All American Foward control FE 40 foot 8.3T cummins ,MT643 trans 4:63 rear with 117,843 miles ,I am the thrid owner.This was a church bus not a school bus .It has a Kubota 1100 aux. engine for the Two A/C units That work as they should ,The Body is in Real good shape but needs paint,There is no RUST on this bus as it has been in Alabama all its life.Most of the seats are still in it ,We removed some to make room for Baseball equipment for our team .It has seating for 36 in high back seats that are brown in color and in great shape. If you or anyone else is interested you can send me a PM with you email address and I will send you pic"s. I Will Take $8,000.00 Firm ,I will deliver it any where in the US for $500.00 plus expenses and a one way airline ticket back home.

[opus]

Wow, I guess I will sell mine too if I can get $8k for it. Mines a 95 and already converted and has better highway gears.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by imfree

I have a 1990 Blue Bird All American Foward control FE 40 foot 8.3T cummins ,MT643 trans 4:63 rear with 117,843 miles ,I am the thrid owner.This was a church bus not a school bus .It has a Kubota 1100 aux. engine for the Two A/C units That work as they should ,The Body is in Real good shape but needs paint,There is no RUST on this bus as it has been in Alabama all its life.Most of the seats are still in it ,We removed some to make room for Baseball equipment for our team .It has seating for 36 in high back seats that are brown in color and in great shape. If you or anyone else is interested you can send me a PM with you email address and I will send you pic"s. I Will Take $8,000.00 Firm ,I will deliver it any where in the US for $500.00 plus expenses and a one way airline ticket back home.

I have a 1986 Blue Bird all American FE with an 8.2 Turbo DD "Fuel Saver" or "Fuel Pincher" which gets fantastic MPGs.....
So mine wasn't blessed enough to be a church bus. And we only paid $1400 for ours. No rust, body is semi decent shape (some dings). I don't think I could get $8K for it either before or after conversion. What is it about once belonging to a church that makes EVERYTHING worth more $$? Ours used to belong to a white water rafting outfit out of Long Creek SC not far from where we used to live when we lived in SC... and NC.

Go Clemson University Tigers!

[lornaschinske]

Gee John, you sound like you have looked at a few of those Blessed Church buses!

[RavensOracle]

Last church bus I looked at was blessedly over-priced. The pastor's reasoning was "yeah the bus is only worth x amount, the extra should just be considered charity."

[100MPG]

Originally Posted by hello_im_alex

Sorry here is a link. It's actually 1990 now...

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/r ... 13243.html

First 340,000km? 200,000+miles? wow.
and NO WAY is it getting 15mpg.

[Jarlaxle]

What's wrong with 200,000 miles? No big deal on a bus...my Genesis has 312,000! I looked at a Sat-T-Liner with 540K.

[browncrown]

Originally Posted by Iceni John

I agree with Jarlaxle. Mileage in itself is not that important. What's more important is how it's been maintained. In some respects, a higher-mileage bus may possibly indicate it was used for less stop-and-go trips that can cause a lot more wear and tear than highway driving, and it may also indicate it was a better more reliable bus that was used for longer trips such as to sports events. Are service records available? Does the school district have a good reputation with its maintenance programs? Did the drivers actually want to drive that bus? Or conversely, did it have a reputation as an old dog that nobody wanted to drive, maybe because it often broke down or was uncomfortable?

A few years ago Allied Bus Sales was selling some Crowns that had over a million miles on them. Unless their frames were cracked or the engines were knackered, even those buses may still have had enough life left in them to be useful for typical conversions.

John

BC is going along the road just fine at 308,000 albeit not at 15mpg

[100MPG]

A bus that spends its life stopping and going all day and has 200,000+ miles on it has had a hard life. The OP asked what I though, and that is what I thought. I would not consider it at that price. But that's just me.