so how much can you get a good, maybe non-functional but repairable school bus for these days?

Would make the annual jaunts down to Miami much easier than taking two cars, an RV and a boat trailer + spare parts.

12/11/2005 5:27:31 PM

less than 2k, running.

12/11/2005 5:30:17 PM

you really need a school bus? a step van wouldnt work?

12/11/2005 5:33:54 PM

you could get a much better school bus for the money. they don't bring much and are usually in good mechanical shape

12/11/2005 5:35:17 PM

optmus:

Well here's the idea I had. It would be a team vehicle for our sailing campaign. The boat is 20'x8.5' wide and only weights about 365lbs all up. Was thinking we could take the back half of the schoolbus and cut it off to make a "slantback". Put some dolly tracks on it, with an ATV winch and we could just carry the boat on the back of the school bus. Thow a couple of mattresses in the back and an xbox for the long 18 hour ride down to florida and whammo. Much cheaper than an RV.

(we'd cut a hole in the floor for the facilities)

12/11/2005 5:44:27 PM

^lots of people to that sort of thing to haul race cars, atv's, 4wd's, etc... do a search in the tow rig section on pirate4x4, there's some threads with good ideas/pics on the subject. it's something i've considered doing at some point, but busses out there that have the ability to tow/haul 8-10k lbs. at 65mph+ are few and far between. my plan now is to just get a 3/4-1 ton diesel and ~30ft. gooseneck with an old slide in or pop up camper on the front half of it.

[Edited on December 11, 2005 at 5:55 PM. Reason : .]

12/11/2005 5:52:22 PM

sweet... so I'm just as unoriginal as the next guy

score.

whats the damage on mileage on these things? Can't imagine its too great. Also how do you take the 55mph governor off them?

12/11/2005 5:54:13 PM

you have to elect a new governor.

12/11/2005 5:57:32 PM

^^mileage is going to easily be 150k+, usually more. not under the best conditions either, primarily stop and go in town. personally, i'd grab one with a blown motor and repower it with a decent medium duty diesel or a built big block gas motor. governor is easily enough removed on the ones that have it, but most are power challenged and/or geared to death so 60-65 is about all they'll do anyway.

[Edited on December 11, 2005 at 5:58 PM. Reason : .]

12/11/2005 5:58:36 PM

I just need to convince James that this is a worthy project.

12/11/2005 6:03:09 PM

in the event the original gov. fails, you have to install the lu-tenant gov.

12/11/2005 6:08:37 PM

how about I pay you to assassinate the schoolbus gov.

then I can install a puppet governor.

12/11/2005 6:11:17 PM

I'd seriously think about doing the bus thing myself...had a buddy with a schoolbus that he hauled his ITS car with. It was an International Loadstar 1600 chassis with a 345 V8, 4-speed tranny. Good engine, but he said he topped out at about 50 at around 4500 rpm. Now the 345's are a hoss engine, but DAMN. That is unnecessary abuse.

He ended up regearing (I dunno where he got his 3rd member from) and was able to cruise @70, race car in tow.

Rex (of Happy Jap's fame) tows his ITS 240 (or IT7 RX7...the latest trackworthy car) with an old '53(?) Beck bus. It's an old Greyhound bus or something of the like...I think he got it from a gospel group or something. It was originally powered by an International Red Diamond straight six gasoline engine, but he and his father (biggest diesel fanatic in the world, I swear) repowered it with an International DT466. Has to be the ugliest bus on the road, but it has cool factor.

12/11/2005 6:49:04 PM

praise the loard,

12/11/2005 6:50:06 PM

my buddy used to party on this one

i think they had it stuffed full of lights and speakers and stuff, too.

12/11/2005 7:14:09 PM

12/11/2005 7:54:22 PM

thscc used to use one to carry all the crap to their autox events..

apparently it went through a lot of exhaust manifolds b/c to do 60, you're basically at redline the entire way. it was also harder for any of the club members to work on b/c you need a truck lift.

12/12/2005 1:07:52 AM

thats where an r/v has the advantage, built for highway trips, on board 4 corner lifting system, and a real terlet.

12/12/2005 1:12:17 AM

it wouldn't be hard to re-gear a bus. All you'd have to do is look in a junkyard for an old 2 ton truck and get the rear end. If the bus had an automatic transmission, as many do, you could still use a 2 speed rear end- just make sure it's in high range

12/12/2005 7:05:01 AM