Another bus length conversation...

[Avion Nomad]

There is a listing for a 30' Thomas Transit EF is California. The VIN is included in the listing so I checked it at thomasonline. The results show a Body 1108 with wheelbase of 174". There's a handy chart in the Owner's Manuals that shows these specs would be a 32' bus. Has anyone seen any exceptions to these specifications? Is it safe to say the bus advertised is actually 32' and the seller doesn't know what they have or are there 30' buses out there with 174" wheelbase? The windows are completely deleted.

[Albatross]

It may be a 32', and the seller isn't completely aware of it.



Regardless, I would avoid anything from California, as they're such nazis with the emissions equipment--which is tied to the VIN, so you'd either have to break the statutes, or deal with that mess all the time. Most of the emissions equipment are patches to correct a problem that is more easily solved by changing something else earlier in the engineering, and often usually is. Catalytic converters, for example, are one such thing, that is hardly needed considering the average emissions of the modern Otto-cycle engines, and in order to function properly, the engine has to be designed to be more wasteful than is necessary. It is entirely possible to run a clean engine without all of that mess, especially with modern ignition-control and fuel systems.

[nikitis]

The only benefit I see to buying a California bus is to save a crown body style.

Many of the 90's buses had Specific California ECM tunes which lowered the power a tad to confirm to earlier California emissions. So you'll be buying a lower powered bus. If you can access them with Godmode Servicemaxx (i.e. it's an old enough bus to do so) you can flash the EFRC code to a non-california standard and you'll be fine. Some later buses I think did away with tunes and California used the same tunes as others but required more hardware instead. T444E's specifically dropped the california tunes around 1997 for those engines.

Of course a lot of this depends on the bus you buy in California.

Something to think about.

[Avion Nomad]

Thanks for the comments about CARB. In this case, the bus was government owned and the seller requires delivery out-of-state. I had not considered the possibility that it might be detuned. Seems like a completely different discussion but does anyone have experience with 1998.5-2002 5.9 24V Cummins in CA?

The seller and the bus, of course, are not in the same location so it might be a couple days before someone gets a tape measure on it. I'm still thinking it's 32' even if the seller thinks 30'. In the end the length may not matter to me as much as the wheelbase.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by Avion Nomad

Thanks for the comments about CARB. In this case, the bus was government owned and the seller requires delivery out-of-state. I had not considered the possibility that it might be detuned. Seems like a completely different discussion but does anyone have experience with 1998.5-2002 5.9 24V Cummins in CA?

The seller and the bus, of course, are not in the same location so it might be a couple days before someone gets a tape measure on it. I'm still thinking it's 32' even if the seller thinks 30'. In the end the length may not matter to me as much as the wheelbase.

CA is/was requiring all gov, schools, & businesses to scrap the old hardware or get it out of state, can't operate it in CA. this has been going on for several years and resulted in some pretty good deals being available on diesel rigs and this may be one of the few remaining really good deals left. they have no choice, scrap or sell. Is it all mechanical? no computer? maybe SOMEONE bought it, then realized that they could not register it in CA.

[Avion Nomad]

Originally Posted by kidharris

CA is/was requiring all gov, schools, & businesses to scrap the old hardware or get it out of state, can't operate it in CA. this has been going on for several years and resulted in some pretty good deals being available on diesel rigs and this may be one of the few remaining really good deals left. they have no choice, scrap or sell. Is it all mechanical? no computer? maybe SOMEONE bought it, then realized that they could not register it in CA.

I agree that this bus is in the CARB must scrap or sell out of state category. The seller bought it at government auction. I decided to pass on this one when my conversations with the seller resulted in some contradictions. For me the bus is 1000 miles away. If the distance was much shorter I may have gone for a closer look anyway. This is a 32' bus with computer controlled VP44 injector pump according to what I could find on the Thomas site. I don't know if craigslist links work in the forum but I'll give it a try - https://lasvegas.craigslist.org/rvd/...794324070.html