1996 E350 Champion conversion

[Nanook-SKO]

Hi there, what a great website this is, excuse my spelling(english is not my first language) Last winter i bought a E350 Champion shuttle bus, and started working on a travelling van for my family and me, long story made short, the van was ready in june and we used it for weekend trips and also on a two week trip around our lovely island (Iceland). I will be doing some more work on it this summer. Some before/after photos. Thanks.

This is how i found it

Needed some work

Wallas diesel heater

3mm Birch plywood sidings

Vinyl floor done and the bed in place

Dinette

Restroom open

Restroom closed

Sofa/bed

Storage under bed accessible from the inside and outside

Toilette cassette door

Solar panel charges a 225amp hourbattery

 

[roach711]

Good looking bus with a nice, open floor plan.

Welcome to Skoolie!

 

[Tango-SKO]

Hey Nanook --- Welcome! And nice looking unit you have there with a lot of good quality work done. Keep the pix coming.

 

[Nanook-SKO]

Thank you roach711 and thank you Tango. Here are some more information on the Ford. It has a 7.3 diesel(powerstroke) motor, it had been sitting since 2006, and was leaking all over. I purchased it from a guy that was going to do the conversion, but never finished it. There are not many of these buses over here, almost all converted buses here, are old Mercedes(o309) and such. Any way back to the Ford, it had a huge ac unit in the back, which we dont need over here, so i ditched it. I sealed the windows for the winter and parked in my drive way, for me, most of the work goes on before i lift my little finger, just by deciding on how the finished product should look, so this is were skoolie.net comes in handy . The bus had been imported to Iceland from North Karolina, where it had been used for transporting people in wheelchairs. Everything inside,except the dashboard and the plywood floor, was ruined from water damage, the metal frame had some surface rust so that had to be cleaned and painted, some parts needed some insulation, so that was fixed. Our travelling will be mostly summer camping so i did not reinsulate the whole thing, and the Wallas diesel heater is more than enough for this bus. The floor had som metal studs( dont know what they are called) to fasten the wheelchairs, so i drilled those out and filled those holes with some plywood piecses. The floor was then finished with laying down the vinyl.

The former owner had removed the wheelchair lift and installed some new windows and two hatches so i planned the lay out around that

here is the hatch to access the storage under the bed?....below rock wool insulation

the first sketch of the layout

A new(used) rotating seat from a Hyundai Starex

I am a used parts guy, so the only things new on this bus, is the vinyl floor, the solar panel, and the water pump, everything else is gathered and bought used from either people who have ventured out with their caravans without looking at the weather forecast(every year some caravans and rv's are ruined by strong winds), or from somone who is scrapping their old rv. The thetford cassette Toilette as well as the gas stove came from a new caravan that had been damaged in bad weather.

The battery that i use came from my neighbours old work truck

A shelf for the tv

Excuse my photos, they are all taken with my cell phone, and the lense is usually scratched or has som grime or smudge on it.

 

[somewhereinusa]

Welcome, good craftmanship.

 

[Crazy]

Looks good. Don't throw away the L-track. It will come in handy.

 

[Ferenzy]

Nice work, the bus looks solid! Keep the pics coming!

 

[Bluesphere]

How did you apply the 3mm plywood to the walls?

 

[johnbloem1974]

Seeing as this thread is over 5 years old, I doubt you'll get a reply...

 

[daowentpi]

If the OP is still around after all these years since the first post in 2013....
I just bought this 1998 E350 25pass Champion
last week. I hope that I will be able to come to you for your advice and knowledge on my build. Looks GREAT !!