First, thanks to this community for educating me about buses before I bought one. It started when someone posted a link to some musical instruments being auctioned at a school district. But there were also a few buses, which sparked out interest. Those did sound reliable enough for the distance we'd have to drive them so we kept looking. Bid at another auction but didn't win. Finally found our bus at a reseller who also does conversions.
We got a 1995 AmTran Genesis, 11 window, front engine bus. It's about 30 feet long with 25 feet of buildable space. The engine is the legendary DT466, all mechanical with the less than legendary AT545 transmission behind it. It has hydraulic brakes. Has about 155k miles on it. We paid a little extra to have all but the front row of seats taken out and drove it home. More on that in the next post. Top speed is about 65mph at around 2800rpm.
This bus was originally from the Iraan-Scheffield school district in far west Texas where they don't salt the roads, it's hundreds of miles from the ocean and it doesn't even rain that much, so there is very little body rust. There is a bit of an oil leak that I believe to be the rear engine main seal. The front A/C works fairly well after adding a bit of refrigerant. Haven't tried charging the rear one since I'm likely to remove it.
At first we plan on fairly minimal build out - just enough to make it usable for us at festivals and appealing enough to get some AirBnB business. Later, we may do more to make it livable enough for a bit of the nomad life.
I've owned and worked several old a new RV's over the years, so I know something of how those systems work. I have a bit of skill/tools in carpentry, electrical and plumbing but don't clain to be an expert at any of it. I own a diesel box truck, and do a lot of my my own car repair so working on a bus isn't too intimidating. Need to learn to weld. Got a lot to learn but looking forward to the adventure.
We got a 1995 AmTran Genesis, 11 window, front engine bus. It's about 30 feet long with 25 feet of buildable space. The engine is the legendary DT466, all mechanical with the less than legendary AT545 transmission behind it. It has hydraulic brakes. Has about 155k miles on it. We paid a little extra to have all but the front row of seats taken out and drove it home. More on that in the next post. Top speed is about 65mph at around 2800rpm.
This bus was originally from the Iraan-Scheffield school district in far west Texas where they don't salt the roads, it's hundreds of miles from the ocean and it doesn't even rain that much, so there is very little body rust. There is a bit of an oil leak that I believe to be the rear engine main seal. The front A/C works fairly well after adding a bit of refrigerant. Haven't tried charging the rear one since I'm likely to remove it.
At first we plan on fairly minimal build out - just enough to make it usable for us at festivals and appealing enough to get some AirBnB business. Later, we may do more to make it livable enough for a bit of the nomad life.
I've owned and worked several old a new RV's over the years, so I know something of how those systems work. I have a bit of skill/tools in carpentry, electrical and plumbing but don't clain to be an expert at any of it. I own a diesel box truck, and do a lot of my my own car repair so working on a bus isn't too intimidating. Need to learn to weld. Got a lot to learn but looking forward to the adventure.
