Another one from Tx..South TX

[joetx-SKO]

Think me and my wife have wanted an old bus to make a little camper for a very long time. Just a little bus. I've bought and sold two buses before but they were full size. Found this 4 window GMC that has been retired for a while and asked if they would sell it and they said yes so I bought it, turns out they had another one about 70 miles away so I bought that one too. Will be bringing the local one in to my shop Tuesday. See if it will start and run.

I own a hot rod shop so working on this bus shouldn't be too bad. Been doing a lot of research on the site and it's fantastic. Good bunch of guys. A lot of info here.

Picking this one up Tuesday.

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Will pick this one up later....

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My Shop....

 

[Tango-SKO]

Howdy Joetx, and Welcome! --- always good to see another Texan here. What part of the state?

And that is a mighty interesting stable of rods at your shop. Nice Old School rods too from what I can see.

Best of luck on the build and please do keep the pix coming.

 

[EastCoastCB]

I love the roofline on the Wards.

 

[joetx-SKO]

Howdy Joetx, and Welcome! --- always good to see another Texan here. What part of the state?

And that is a mighty interesting stable of rods at your shop. Nice Old School rods too from what I can see.

Best of luck on the build and please do keep the pix coming.

I'm from South Tx, Falfurrias, Tx. about 160 miles south of San Antonio and 100 miles north of Mcallen.

Some of the Rods in the pictures have been sold but replaced with others. Got about 10-12 projects going at all times. Just that these pictures were handy on the computer.

Love your build on your '46. Especially your 4BT choice. I have two 4BTs with the 400 chevy trannys. Wanted to put one in my '36 Ford truck and have one left over....Have thought of maybe dropping it into this Bus as it already has a 400 trans. They came out of two P30 Frito trucks so maybe the mount will bolt right in????

 

[Tango-SKO]

Cool...you are down in King Ranch country.

As far as I know, all 4BT's have SAE 3 bellhousings unless someone has stuck an adapter on. The only odd thing is that the P30 installations (and any transplant) wind up tilted to the passenger side a few degrees because the engine/tranny are clocked that way.

The older, all mechanical engines are pretty amazing as far as output and "tunability". I've seen them cranked up well above 800 hp with just massive amounts of torque.

Mine is a stock tuned 130 horse and I will likely leave it that way since I am going for mpg and durability, but very minor mods (turbo & injector tweaking) will put the same engine at a comfy 250 horses with more torque than a blown fuel hemi.

I say go for it since you have the engines there. Just take some pix we can drool over. Since you are a "real builder"...we will all be watching for what kind of tricks you apply to putting your bus together.

 

[joetx-SKO]

Well my engines are in the clocked position with chevy 400's on them. Should drop in pretty easy. Sure would have liked a tilt front end on this van to expose the engine to work on it. We used to do this on cars in the old days. Going to look at it, maybe I can do this to the van. Also, don't like the bus door on the passenger side. Maybe I can find a van body and replace all of the bus door with a stock passenger side door. This would allow a passenger seat for my co-pilot and a hangout area out back. Small kitchen and a bed across the back with storage under it....

 

[Tango-SKO]

I totally agree on the tilt front end. If I had the skills and equipment I would have done that on mine. Sure would make for better working access. My buddy Jack ("Ol' Trunt") did that with his '35 Chevy. Quite an impressive little project with a pop-up roof and slide-out to boot. You can see some of it here...

1935 Chevy school bus - Page 8 - NOMADICISTA

 

[sdwarf36]

You know what you call a bus with no bus door? A cube van. Might as well start with one of them. But with a bit of creativity, you CAN get a pass. seat in the space.
http://www.skoolie.net/forums/members/1035-albums475-picture9067.html
I used a linear accuator to eliminate the door opening bar-mounted a captians chair on a pedestal base right to the edge of the stairs. You have to slide the seat all the way forward (as in the pic) to make the most room to get in+ out ( a cooler just fits) and slide back for the ride. MIne is a Ford with a wide doghouse-your Chevy would offer way more room.
Wanna be really custom? Wire up the accuator and a powerseat track to work off a remote. A hit of the button to open everything up. I drew it up + almost did it.

 

[Crazy]

I gots me a bus like that.

 

[joetx-SKO]

You know what you call a bus with no bus door? A cube van.. Might as well start with one of them.

So I guess you wouldn't call this a bus????



My 2002 Chevy:



Married to my bus???

 

[sdwarf36]