Suggestions for buses with good MPG?

[Roasting8]

I have a 78 gillig bus with a 350 cummins big cam. Great power but horrible mileage. averages 5-6 mpg.

I've seen posts from folks with bluebirds that are getting 10+mpg going 65-70 mph.
I would consider selling my gillig if i could be sure I'd get twice the mpg with a bluebird.
Any suggestions on exact engine/year/body type I should consider?

thanks!

If you want the room, you could go with a Crown. Traveling from Phoenix to Houston, I got 9.5 to 10 mpg while towing a car and carrying a house load of furniture. Not bad for a 37 footer weighing in at 21,000lbs empty.

BTW, that was with a 671 DD and a five speed fuller.

 

[phillbus914]

I've only been on a few log trips with my bus, about 2 years ago we went to South Padre Island TX for spring brake with it - and I documented my fuel usage. When I got home I put it into the table below. My speed-o is off, it reads 11% slower than you are actually going. I figured this amount by calculating the mileage mapquest stated vs. the mileage my odometer read. The mileage in the right column is the corrected fuel mileage.

For the entire trip I averaged 8.3 MPG

On the way down I followed Jason's bus which maintained his top speed of 65mph. At that speed I averaged around 9mpg (one tank was almost 11)

On the way back, we left before Jason and traveled at my bus's top speed (70-75mph) and got much worse fuel mileage. One tank we got as low as 6.17MPG - this was driving at wide open throttle for an entire tank of fuel. A few tanks later we went a steady 55mph and got 12.89MPG.

Speed, wind direction and terrain all play a huge factor in fuel mileage. For planning trips I estimate mileage at 8mpg to cover my fuel expenses, and I try to drive 60-65 mph to get the best mileage. If I drive it right I should be able to get 9-10 MPG.

My bus has a cummins 5.9 turbo & innercooled with AT545 (I think) and 4.33 gears. Also it's got the aerodynamics of a barn.

 

[sauce-SKO]

What type of transmission are you running? Sometimes changing from an automatic to a manual can save lots of fuel. If you can find a 10 speed, there is nothing better.