"new" non school bus

lapeer20m · 03-07-2005, 11:53 AM

I've been looking for a new skoolie for some time. I've found several nice non-skoolies that are nearly in my price range. For about $3,000 bucks it looks like one could have a tour/transit bus. Now i'm seriously contemplating purchasing one of these.

the search has begun!

IF/When the bus comes home, i plan to re-create basically the same vehicle i have now. A crazy party bus painted black with flames and a big jacuzzi inside.

Steve · 03-07-2005, 01:24 PM

I think you will have even worse highway speed issues if you end up getting a transit bus.

lapeer20m · 03-08-2005, 11:21 AM

GRRRRRRRRRR!!!

busone · 03-08-2005, 08:49 PM

I have been considering a transit for a while so I can tell you what I know. If you can find a suburban model (usually only the front door) they commonly have highway gearing. Since transits with highway gears are not very easy to find you will probably be looking at a rear end swap. You should avoid models with a "V" drive configuration because a set of 4:10 gears will be in the $2000 neighborhood. Most every transit built before IIRC 1992 will have a 2-stroke Detroit in them. 1992 was when they stopped making the 2 strokes because of emission laws. Many people with the DD 2 strokes are having a real problem getting the DD dealers to increase the HP setting on the engines. The only way around it is to find a mechanical version. Most of the transits on the market now were built in the late 1980s to early 1990s so they have the DDEC engines in them (Detroit Diesel Electronic Control.) On occasion you can find one with a Cummins engine in it so increasing the HP is not has big of a deal. Most transits are set at 277HP. IIRC you are in MN? I know a lot of 1989-1990 Gillig Phantoms got sold off in Minneapolis. They have been on Ebay and other auction/sales sites for a while now. After talking to several people that bought them, it appears the engines are governed to 60MPH but you could get them up higher. I would check with a DD dealer though to make sure they would adjust the gov. These buses also have HTB-748 transmissions, same as the highway coaches. Since the engine is a regular "T" drive configuration you could get the computer (silver box) out of a highway truck that is programmed to 350HP and you would be set. Since these buses came from the rust belt be careful. Randy Fulkerson has some on his site still. He is going out of business so you might be able to get the price down.
http://www.rwfulkerson.com/gilligphantom.html

lapeer20m · 03-13-2005, 09:04 AM

Thanks for the info.

I"m currently taking a bit of a brake from life for a couple weeks. I'm here in south texas on the beach...well, right now i'm using my laptop in the parking lot of some hotel that has wireless internet. Sadly, my bus was not able to make the trip and i had to take my car. The high today is somewhere near 80 degrees. It's difficult to immagine that my bottles of drinking water were frozen solid in the back seat of my car just a few days ago when i left michigan.

I e-mailed the guy with the gilligs in wisconsin. he already sold all of them. I'll keep my eyes open though

busone · 03-13-2005, 11:23 PM

Here is one of the Gilligs on Ebay right now. The price seems pretty high. They originally sold for about 3k.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 50115&rd=1

busone · 03-16-2005, 08:28 PM

Hey Macgyver, Did you drive you beast yet? It is good to hear from you again. Mike

busone · 03-17-2005, 08:24 PM

Yeah stupid me, I posted on this thread then read about your adventure. Sounds like you got a good rig, congrats.

busone · 03-18-2005, 09:38 PM

That sounds like a great gennie spot. You will not have to worry about noise or heat as much. Do you have any new pictures of it yet? Mike

Jarlaxle · 03-18-2005, 10:40 PM

That may be a bad plan--the genset is big & heavy, & that would be a high place to put it.

Also, it might make servicing the genset a challenge.

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