Long time lurker, first time skoolie owner.

[bicyclerepairman]

Greetings from Fort Worth, TX. As of yesterday I'm the proud owner of a 1991 IH 7.3 IDI non turbo powered, Thomas built, short bus. It only has 59k original miles. I'll be asking some questions over the course of the upcoming conversion, I'm sure. I'll also be glad to share any knowledge I have. This bus will be 12v dc powered, solar charged, and as off the grid as I can make it.
Holy crap, I bought a bus.

 

[Offgr1d]

congrats on your bus! I have the end goal of being able to be offgrid as much as possible as well.

 

[Tango-SKO]

Welcome! --- Slap a turbo on that puppy...it will make a world of difference.

 

[nat_ster]

Welcome! --- Slap a turbo on that puppy...it will make a world of difference.

I second what tango said.

Here is a link where a guy added a turbo to a 7.3.

fawk it! i think i`m building a vintage truck - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum

Nat

 

[charles_m]

Offgrid in a bus is the best! Ive got a healthy amount of experience in solar pv--happy to help, but most answers have already been answered in the forums if you search. How many watts of panels and watt-hours of battery you going for?

 

[bicyclerepairman]

I'm pretty comfortable with solar stuff already, so that's one less thing I have to learn. No microwave, no tv, no blenders, nothing high draw. led lighting, stuff like that. Trying to keep it minimal. If I need ANY 120v, it would just to charge a laptop. Truth be told I could do that 12v too. Right now I have 2 145Ah SLA batteries, that weigh an even 100lbs each. The biggest panel I currently have is an 80 watt. Armaggedon, the smell of airbourne rust has been a great inspiration to me so far, since it's the same size bus as mine. One question I DO have, how difficult will it be to change out the fuel tank for something a little bigger? This one seems to be about 20 gallon at most. THANK YOU!

 

[johnbloem1974]

Hey! Great to see you on here. We can't wait to get ours. Now that we're back in Texas, I can put the search in overdrive. Will we get to see the bus next weekend? (Ttitw) I'd love to get together and swap ideas...

John

 

[bicyclerepairman]

John, yes It'll be at ttitw for sure. Crossroads location.
Tim