Awesome site! I was turned onto school bus conversions just last week in the survival forum of
http://www.goldismoney.info.
This morning I watched my two oldest daughters leave for their FIRST day of school (ever), and in a twist of irony I joined Skoolie.net!
I won't be able to get my first bus for at least a year (I'm just starting to build a house -- hope to be done next summer), but I want to start doing all of the research so I do it the right way. After some preliminary reading I'm thinking that I will pick up an 10-15 year old International diesel (9 liter) 60 passenger with auto transmission and lower luggage bins. However, I expect my desires to change after I get educated here. I don't want to build out anything too fancy -- We'll just use it each summer for family road trips (wife and I + four daughters... plus maybe a little extra room for Grandpa and Grandma). Although I've thought about chroming the entire bus... j/k, I'm going to keep it painted in original school bus yellow and black (minus the lettering).
My goal is to run it on WVO and install enough tank capacity to go anywhere in the country and back to Wisconsin. At 10 mpg (I hope to do better) I would need about 500 gallons of storage.
Besides the WVO I'm thinking about installing an adjustable pneumatic suspension to lower to ride height for highway use and raise it for dirt roads. I'll also cut and weld together a pair of front bumpers to function as an airdam (something with the same clearance as the luggage bins).
Anyway, glad to be a part of this network. BTW... I put my mark on the map in La Crosse, WI. I'd love to see your skoolie if you're nearby.
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