Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid73
Hello! I have the opportunity to buy a 63 international, 33 ft bus . It's just down the road from my house, in driveable condition. Price is $2500. I'm not sure what the value is since there is no info anywhere on these things! Did you ever find a windshield? I also need one, if I go for this project. It's all new to me, not sure if I'm getting myself in too deep !
|
Without seeing a picture and getting more info on a 1963 IHC bus I think I would be pretty gunshy, especially at the asking price of $2500.00. Now if it was $250.00, I would be willing to take a second look.
The problem with a bus that old is that everything on it is going to be old. It has been out of service at the earliest about 1968 and about the latest it would have been in service would have been about 1980. Which means that it has done a LOT of sitting since it was last in service. Unless it has been across the country multiple times I would be amazed to learn it has been on more than 20K miles since it was retired from school service.
It if is a Loadstar with a BD I-6 it is going to be pokey even on the flat. Even if it has an SV V-8 it isn't going to go much faster than about 55 on the flat. Many were geared to a top speed of 47 MPH. Parts and pieces are available for most IHC engines and they are pretty easy and straight forward when it comes to repairs. But if you don't resurrect one correctly you run the real risk of spinning the cam bearings out.
It most probably will need a full set of tires. Figure on low ball cost of $300.00 per tire or as much as $500.00 per tire.
If it has hydraulic brakes it will need each wheel cylinder service or replaced along with every flex line and probably even some of the steel lines. The master cylinder and hydrovac will need attention as well.
You may find the clutch is stuck so hard to the flywheel that it is impossible to get the clutch to release. If that is the case you are going to end up having to drop the transmission. At a minimum you will probably have to put a new slave cylinder in.
All I can say is if you can get it cheap enough it just might be a fun project. But at $2500.00, unless it has more than $2500.00 worth of stuff (gen set, new roof top A/C, new RV 3-way fridge, etc.), I would not give it a second look.