hello... what style bus do i need?

[liza-jane oatz]

Hi there, i'm excitedly working toward owning my bus but i don't know what kind. the plan is to convert it for a home, office and teaching kitchen.
so can we play name that bus to help me know what model i need?

features i want:
-diesel so i can convert later
-manual cause that's what i drive now
-30ft
-exit hatches in the roof so i can put in a solar oven
-storage compartment under the bus cause i heard that make is easier to do the conversion to corn oil later.
-front engine but not the flat front
-and for a bonus a handicap lift*
not asking for much am i... thoughts

[Stu & Filo. T]

LOL, NO ONE needs a bus, it's about your own taste & desires .

[Josiahdr]

Sounds like you answered what kind. A conventional short wheel chair bus. They actually use them around me. Don't know if they are manual or not. They also do not have belly storage from the ones I have seen. But they look sweet!!

If my wife hadn't wanted at flat nose that's the type we would have got.

BTW: Welcome

Originally Posted by Stu & Filo. T

LOL, NO ONE needs a bus, it's about your own taste & desires .

Lol true.

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by Stu & Filo. T

LOL, NO ONE needs a bus, it's about your own taste & desires .

Not true.

[Robin97396]

So Liza, is it a short to medium size conventional bus with lift? Not that hard to find. Oddly the smaller buses seem a little more expensive. Engines vary but I've only seen stick shifts in older buses. You've got to locate bus sources near you and wait for what you want, or you can settle for close enough. If you're like the rest of us you might actually change your mind a few times during this bus build process, let alone changing buses. It's amazing how much bus you can afford when you don't pay rent.

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by liza-jane oatz

Hi there, i'm excitedly working toward owning my bus but i don't know what kind. the plan is to convert it for a home, office and teaching kitchen.
so can we play name that bus to help me know what model i need?

features i want:
-diesel so i can convert later
-manual cause that's what i drive now
-30ft
-exit hatches in the roof so i can put in a solar oven
-storage compartment under the bus cause i heard that make is easier to do the conversion to corn oil later.
-front engine but not the flat front
-and for a bonus a handicap lift*
not asking for much am i... thoughts

After reading your list again, this comes to mind.

[cowlitzcoach]

Less than 1% of all buses built come with a stick shift. That percentage has been that low for more than 30-years. So finding one with a stick shift is going to be difficult.

Medium sized Type 'C' (conventional bus with the engine in front of the windshield with a tilt hood over the engine and the service door behind the front axle) with a lift is a relatively common configuration. I have never seen any with a luggage compartment. That is not to say they aren't out there but medium sized buses of any configuration are rarely used as a trip bus.

All school buses built since the late '80's have at least one roof hatch. Cutting a hole for an additional one is not that difficult.

I would caution you on thinking about running your bus on corn oil. Unless you have a source of free or next to free fuel stock it isn't worth the effort. Out on the road finding sources for Waste Vegetable Oil is just about nil these days. Processing WVO so it can be used in a bus engine takes up a lot of space, a lot of weight, and a lot of $$$$. Also, unless you can find a bus that has pre-electronically controlled engine you will find WVO or corn oil will play havoc with the injection pump and injectors.

Mechanically controlled pumps have pressures in the hundreds of PSI. Electronically controlled pumps have pressures in the tens of thousands of PSI. The increased pressure can cause WVO and corn oil to bake onto the surfaces of the interior of the pump causing all kinds of problems.

Mechanically controlled injectors have one hole that squirts once every compression cycle. Electronically controlled injectors have multiple holes that are a fraction of the size of a mechanically controlled injector. They also squirt multiple times per compression cycle. The increased pressure in the system has a tendency to clog up the holes in the injector with clods of WVO or corn.

There are work arounds to make WVO and corn oil work in electronically controlled engines. But it always comes back to if you don't have a steady source of free or next to free fuel stock it isn't worth the trouble.

Remember, you will use more fuel in your bus in a day than someone with a diesel Rabbit or Mercedes-Benz will use in a month. It is one thing to go into a restaurant kitchen with a couple of five gallon cans for WVO and a whole different thing when you show up needing 100-gallons.

I was a day away from cutting a check to have tanks built for a bus I was using on a daily service route that went 100 miles per day. When I realized I would need to purchase a tank truck to transport the "free" fuel stock and I would have to build a refinery in my barn to process the "free" fuel stock I realized that "free" in this case was not a very good price.

Good luck on your search and happy trails to you!

[REDD]

[/ATTACH][QUOTE=cowlitzcoach;139958]
All school buses built since the late '80's have at least one roof hatch. Cutting a hole for an additional one is not that difficult.


[ATTACH]9776

2000 Freightshaker, Thom'sass .....doesn't, maybe a USA thing?.....it's a 1% 5 speed also.

[crazycal]

Cowlitzcoach, another excellent post. Much more serious and well thought out than mine. Now I feel bad for being a joker...no not really.

[cowlitzcoach]

[QUOTE=REDD;139963][/ATTACH]

Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach

All school buses built since the late '80's have at least one roof hatch. Cutting a hole for an additional one is not that difficult.


[ATTACH]9776

2000 Freightshaker, Thom'sass .....doesn't, maybe a USA thing?.....it's a 1% 5 speed also.

That isn't a school bus.

[crazycal]

[QUOTE=REDD;139963][/ATTACH]

Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach

All school buses built since the late '80's have at least one roof hatch. Cutting a hole for an additional one is not that difficult.


[ATTACH]9776

2000 Freightshaker, Thom'sass .....doesn't, maybe a USA thing?.....it's a 1% 5 speed also.

You must live up near the North Pole where school buses don't crash and they don't know how to drive an automatic.

[REDD]

[QUOTE=cowlitzcoach;139966]

Originally Posted by REDD

[/ATTACH]

That isn't a school bus.

What? Now I'm confused..... My "MULE BUS" thread [around page 8ish].....I'll be back at 'er the first of April when I get it out of storage.