New to the bus life...

[TheKingdomCruiser]

Hey guys! We are from Texas and just acquired our 2007 International CE-200 This passed Monday April 27th, 2020. This thing has 128K miles and it's our first attempt at building our very own Skoolie. My wife started an Instagram account (@TheKingdomCruiser)... I'll be looking for advice and feedback on many things and I appreciate you guys passing the knowledge down to us newbies. I have so many questions like why does everyone rip out the existing wiring and insulation only to re-wire and re-insulate? Anyway... Thank you for having us!

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by TheKingdomCruiser

Hey guys! We are from Texas and just acquired our 2007 International CE-200 This passed Monday April 27th, 2020. This thing has 128K miles and it's our first attempt at building our very own Skoolie. My wife started an Instagram account (@TheKingdomCruiser)... I'll be looking for advice and feedback on many things and I appreciate you guys passing the knowledge down to us newbies. I have so many questions like why does everyone rip out the existing wiring and insulation only to re-wire and re-insulate? Anyway... Thank you for having us!

Because, quite often, quality is poor on both counts. Be careful with wiring on something that new, because many are equipped with No Child Left Behind systems that will sound an alarm if you don't walk the length of the bus after shutting down the engine. Also, many are equipped with interlocks that will keep the engine from starting, keep the transmission from going into gear, or keep the brakes locked if the system thinks a door is open.

Congrats on the purchase, however, I hope you haven't purchased one with a MaxxForce engine?

[Native]

Howdy!


Welcome to the site, neighbor.


We are in the Fort Worth area. Where do y'all hail from?

[TheKingdomCruiser]

It has a VT365.

[TheKingdomCruiser]

Hey neighbor! We live in Dallas, but my shop and the bus remodeling is going down in Forney. I’d love to check out your rig sometime. Let me know if that’s possible! Thanks.

[EastCoastCB]

get that engine bulletproofed asap.

[TheKingdomCruiser]

What do I need to do?

[Phatman]

Originally Posted by TheKingdomCruiser

Hey neighbor! We live in Dallas, but my shop and the bus remodeling is going down in Forney. I’d love to check out your rig sometime. Let me know if that’s possible! Thanks.

Welcome aboard KingdomCruiser. I'm down south of Houston. Great to have another Texas Skoolie!!

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

get that engine bulletproofed asap.

Originally Posted by TheKingdomCruiser

What do I need to do?

I think this mostly has to do with head gaskets and head studs, and also deleting the EGR cooler if equipped. 6.0 PowerJoke = Ford-marketed VT365.

[TheKingdomCruiser]

Even though this thing has 128k miles?

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by TheKingdomCruiser

Even though this thing has 128k miles?

ESPECIALLY if it has 128k miles. Common mileage range for failures begins a but earlier... as evidenced here...

[kcblkeeley]

Ours is a 1999 int 6 window with the handicap door. Would like to have had the extra 2 windows for a little breathing room. Forney, you say? We live and are building ours in Forney. We would love to see another build so close. Already stripped down and ready to start interior.

[SlimTim]

The term Bulletproof actually refers to a company called Bullet Proof Diesel located in AZ. They are experts in the ford 6.0 and the Ford 6.0 is a close relative to the VT365. Give them a call as the VT365 dose have some issues, but all of them are easily preventable and or fixed. Also remember there are thousands of the VT365 and Ford 6.0 engines going down the road that have never had issues. No Diesel engine is perfect and if you look at the number of VT365/6.0 engines built it is a bunch and some of them are likely to have problems.

[ICE Bus]

I'm also in the midst of my bus build in TX, San Antonio, TX to be exact. To be honest, I've never even seen a Skoolie around here. Maybe people are just to traditional around here and buy Winnebagos. I just figured it out while writing this. Any busses that are worth a darn get bought up at auctions and head down to South America towing 14 other crappy Japanese clunkers with homemade tow bars behind them.