Hi with B600 questions!

[renault829]

Me and my mates are looking to get our first bus. We were looking at some of the various sites we found linked through here and we came across one that caught our attention. We are completely new to this so ANY information would be extremely beneficial.

We're looking at a 1990 Ford B600 Diesel with 188k. I'm going to try and set up a time this weekend to go look at it, and I wanted to make sure I knew what to look for. The said that it ran when they parked it but weren't sure if it still did. Not sure when they parked it but the pictures on the site are from '07.

From what I've gathered from the forum, I'll definitely be looking for rust, a good frame, and leaks. What else should I be checking? How much do you think this bus would be worth? Any information about it or what I should be looking for would be incredibly helpful as we're all kinda lost.

Thanks again!

[bansil]

Welcome, biggest problem with your questions are they are to open to peoples opinions

My advice is to note:
what engine?
what trans?
what kind of brakes?

These are basically a shell with different names on a truck chassis, kind of like debate between chevy,ford and dodge...basic same parts

Google is your friend and read up on your parts for an hour or to

Again good luck and welcome

[cowlitzcoach]

Sitting long periods of time is not good for any motor vehicle. Issues created by sitting long periods can require expensive repairs.

As far as that particular bus is concerned, when Ford sold their medium duty line to Sterling the parts support for medium duty Fords pretty much stopped. Parts and pieces that are specific Ford only are going to be rather difficult to find these days.

Over the years Ford used a lot of different vendors for their engines. Cummins and Cat were the most common but in the '90's Ford used Brazilian made Ford diesel engines. They are great little engines but the only place to find parts for them now is in Brazil.

Everyone has their opinion about the different makes of bodies. A lot is just the same sort of Ford vs. Chevy bias as when people talk about Blue Bird/Carpenter/Thomas/Ward/etc. If you and your mates are height challenged 9" windows would be okay. But if you are not height challenged look for 12" windows--3" can be the difference between head knocking all the time or not head knocking without going to the time and expense of a roof raise.

A bus that old that hasn't run in a long time, no matter how nice it is, should have an asking price well under $3K.