My new 1990 Ford E350 Short Bus

[heyheymymy]

My girlfriend and I picked this up recently. 87k kilometres (54k miles for you good folks down south) and a clean bill of health from a trusted mechanic.

Anyone have any experience converting one of these? The seats have all been taken out and, as you can see, a couple of bucket seats from a van or something have been put in. The headroom's not great (I'm about 6' and I can't quite stand up straight) but that's not too big a deal.

We're looking to convert it to run on WVO, and then we're going to tour the continent this summer. Should be fun. Pictures below.

[Ray_WA]

Yay!! Another short bus!! Congratulations.

-Ray

[Hearse Driver]

Converting one of these small ones could be very interesting. I guess it would depend on what all accomodations you want to try to pack into it. If you're going for fully self-contained you would have quite a bit of creative planning to do but it can be done. The hardest part would be setting up the floorplan while taking into consideration any underbody items like fuel tanks. And then there's the wheelwells to think about. And where the waste tank drains will be located.

How much interior floor length do you have on the door side of the bus?

The shorter the bus, the more creative you have to get!

[Jarlaxle]

Well, plenty of motorhomes are on short E-350 chassis...that might provide inspiration.

Does it have overdrive? A 1990 E-350 could be ordered with the 3-speed C6 automatic or the new 4-speed E4OD. (I think 1990 was the second or third year for the E4OD.) If not...well, I suggest accepting your highway cruise speed will be 60 or lower.

[heyheymymy]

Originally Posted by Hearse Driver

Converting one of these small ones could be very interesting. I guess it would depend on what all accomodations you want to try to pack into it. If you're going for fully self-contained you would have quite a bit of creative planning to do but it can be done. The hardest part would be setting up the floorplan while taking into consideration any underbody items like fuel tanks. And then there's the wheelwells to think about. And where the waste tank drains will be located.

How much interior floor length do you have on the door side of the bus?

The shorter the bus, the more creative you have to get!

It's definitely going to be interesting. We're not planning on being completely self-contained. I think we've got about 12' of length on the door side, give or take.

Our tentative plan is to make a loft bed in the back, with storage underneath. We've converted it to run on WVO, so we'll need some storage in the back for containers of vegetable oil. Other than that, we're planning on keeping the place pretty open: a dresser, collapsable table and a couple of chairs. Nothing fancy. We are going to install a solar panel on the roof and set up a wind turbine, so power-wise we should be self-contained. Should be fun. I'll post pictures once the construction gets underway.

[heyheymymy]

Originally Posted by wanderin_blues

i have an E350 too but mines an 86. theres a thread around here somewhere that i still have to update lol.
i have more headroom than you and i think mine may be wider too but its hard to tell from your pics.
looks real nice, mines white too
ill tell you, i agonized for months over how to best use the space and i still have a spot thats empty because i dont know what should go there.
im interested to see what you do in it

I'd love to see some pictures of the inside of yours, wanderin_blues. I don't doubt that yours is both taller and wider; ours doesn't have a whole lot of headroom: 5'9 or so, I'd guess. I'm 5'11 and I can't quite stand up straight. Have to be doing lots of sitting and some extra slouching.

[heyheymymy]

Originally Posted by Jarlaxle

Well, plenty of motorhomes are on short E-350 chassis...that might provide inspiration.

Does it have overdrive? A 1990 E-350 could be ordered with the 3-speed C6 automatic or the new 4-speed E4OD. (I think 1990 was the second or third year for the E4OD.) If not...well, I suggest accepting your highway cruise speed will be 60 or lower.

Yep, fortunately it's got overdrive. Fastest I think we've ever really had it going is 75mph or so. Nothing to write home about, but better than we expected.

[KateL]

Hey, I just bought the same year and model. Would love any insights you gained while you were doing the conversion!

[dzl_]

Great looking bus, I'm thinking about building out a bus about that size, do you know what your overall bumper to bumper length is, and your usable interior length is?

[leadsled01]

This thread is from 10 years ago. 2009 not 2019

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by leadsled01

This thread is from 10 years ago. 2009 not 2019

It is but I gotta love new members who take the time to use the search function or just spend enough time reading that they dig up 10year old threads.