Short Bus Music Bus

[Big Tim]

I’m looking to build an open-concept short bus.

Desired Uses:
* Sleep space for 1-2 while urban, suburban, and rural “camping”.
* Festival home base. Totally minimalist needs.
* Jamming & recording space for 1-4 musicians. Shore power or lithium bank.
* Tour bus for band of 2-4 people.

With a thoroughly stripped-down interior, something like:
Air mattress, 400 lbs of music equipment, 3 passengers. Goal Zero 3000, water, etc.

Nothing built-in (bedding, storage, kitchen, bathroom).

I figure I can improve the performance of the vehicle by hauling less.

This looks promising:

https://reading.craigslist.org/rvs/d...933519623.html

A few questions to the community:

Is this engine as desirable as advertised?

* With this minimalist of a setup, will I get better than 8-10 mpg?
Removal of ADA lift should strip significant weight as well.

* Is rust a concern with this being a PA sale?

I"ve been a long-time lurker here, and have learned so much. I'm so thankful to this community already.

-Tim

[2planker]

I've had really good experiences with the smaller 5.3L vortec's of similar era. I had a 01 Suburban that went well over 250K mi and my 03 Silverado has 220K and counting. I don't have any actual experience with the 6.0L sorry.

If gas mileage is major concern you might want to look at diesel. I have an 03 Ford E450 with 7.3L powerstroke and I can get 14mpg on the freeway when i keep the speeds below 65, above that and mpg drops off.

I think a minimalist approach is great way to start, see how much you use it and then go from there. We did the same thing, basically very minimalist approach at first, slowly converting it while using it at the same time.

[o1marc]

Yes, Pa. is centered in the rust belt, look much further south or west. Surprisingly the PNW, with all it's snow and rain, have relatively rust free buses also. I doubt you'll notice much difference in performance adding or deleteing anything.

[peteg59]

x2 on looking outside the Rust Belt.
The 6.0 is a great motor and some call it bulletproof. Don't know if anything is actually bulletproof, as a .44 Magnum will do catastrophic damage to almost any engine block its fired into!

[Big Tim]

Is rust really going to be such an issue without doing wood built-in's?

Re-insulating and patching would mean some welding and intense removal work.

If the bus is headed for the rust belt, why bother worrying about it?

[peteg59]

If you're not planning on keeping it long, you could throw caution to the winds and buy a rust belter.
The one thing that could come back to bite you though would be if your state does safety inspections that look for rust intrusion.

In my state a dime sized rust hole through an interior floor will need repaired before being allowed back onto the roadways.
So starting with a relatively rust free base is critical IMO, and many others as well. Especially if you'll be operating year round in the rust belt!
Good luck in your search...