| Author |
Message |
belfert
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 8:38 pm: | |
Any chance of getting a decent shell for $10,000? I would plan on at least $5,000 in initial repairs before the conversion.
I had given up on converting a bus several months ago due to fuel prices and such.
My buddy wants to buy a $1,500 school bus to minimally convert and use for travel to rocket launches. We used to take a crew cab pickup and travel trailer until recently, but he really wants an RV or similiar. My buddy is perpetually broke so I think his conversion would be crap and we would be stuck on the shoulder more often than actually driving down the road.
In light of this, I'm resurrecting my bus conversion plan. My shell alone will probably cost double what my buddy would spend on his entire conversion if he spent that much.
I'm still trying to talk him into just driving a pickup out as the gas mileage would be double and fuel prices will continue to rise long term.
Brian Elfert |
John MC9
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 8:43 pm: | |
Check with Gary, about three or so threads below this'n... |
John MC9
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 9:08 pm: | |
Uhh.. Seriously...
You mentioned "rocket launches"? If you're near Cape Canaveral,
give Travel Lynx Bus a ring, he gets some cheapies in.. There's
another outfit at Wintergarden (Holiday Coach) that had a few
used MC9s. One was a partial conversion with the windows
sided.. El'cheapo! (It is/was full of my old seats.)
I bought mine for 8k near Melbourne, Fl. A friend bought his
MC9 for 9.5k from some place near Tampa.. Real clean, also.
I can tell you honestly, that after what I've read at this and
"the other" bb, price does not reflect the quality of the bus.
Look it over, but take it to a bus garage before you cough up
the mooolah. There ain't nothin' cheap to fix, on these old dogs. |
belfert
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 9:44 pm: | |
I'm in Minnesota.
We launch high power rockets we build ourselves at places around the USA including an annual trip to the Blackrock desert near Reno, NV.
I'm not scared to travel a long ways to get the right bus. I do plan to get any bus inspected.
Brian Elfert |
g hummel
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 10:28 pm: | |
I bought an 1989 NJT Eagle 20 2 years ago. 1100 hrs on engine & trans. $9K
Just have to look |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 6:17 am: | |
This months National Bus Traider has a 4106 with only 350,000 miles, since NEW!.
This is almost NOTHING as these coaches go , so you should have almost 2,000,000 miles or more left .
Empty the coach will be under 20,000 lbs so with smart light build techniques you could have a handy rocket , that cruises 75 at 10 mpg.
And is EZ to maintain.
FAST FRED |
David Evans (Dmd)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 10:41 am: | |
Buses for sale to your left in the BNO Links.Pay for the appraisel and inspection. |
Pat Bartlett (Muddog16)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 4:12 pm: | |
I paid at the time what I thought was to much, but I had tried 4 or 5 other times to bid and win on Ebay. After watching more of the same type and the prices they go for I decided that I didn't do to bad afterall. 10 to 15K on a basic chassis seems pretty decent right now. MCI 9 or better is mostly stainless, I'm sure there are stories pro and con on this subject. Bottom line in my opinion is what you can do yourself, can you weld? Are you a carpenter? Can you do sheetmetal work? How are your plumbing skills? And can you wire a three way switch? Do you have the facility or room to work on it? Do you have the time? Answer those questions and I'm sure it will help you come to the right decision. The only items that trumps the above items are: Did you win the lotto, or is your last name Gates? If either of these last two questions are a yes, then go buy a new bus. The type of bus you are talking about is 20+ years or older, and they need to be checked out before you jump in. Good luck!
Pat
http://prevostlemirage.blogspot.com/ |
Jarlaxle
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 6:46 pm: | |
"This months National Bus Traider has a 4106 with only 350,000 miles, since NEW!"
How much idling did it do? How many months (years?) did it sit parked outside?
No thanks, I'll pass. |
john david lebrun (Davidlebrun)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 9:17 pm: | |
I paid for an a pro to look at my coach, and know after knowing a little bit about the coach.
RV portion, junk, bus portion, bad.
Ended up getting some decent work from Luke on the Coach, cost over 60% of the purchase price.
Have a good bus guy look over the bus, or buy from somebody that has a decent background.
Do I sound pissed, yes.
But I like my bus, and at least I can trust the damm thing not going to fall apart this month, thanks luke/
david |
johnwood
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 11:03 pm: | |
FF........... what was the $ on the 4106? And the location too. Thanks. |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 9:47 am: | |
FF........... what was the $ on the 4106? And the location too. Thanks.
Asking about $15K, but I'm on the road so someone else will havve to look it up.
Of course if you think that small charter co will have left it ideling since 1964 and constantly dunked it in salt water for 40 years , it might need some work.
If you understand what small companies offer , and how they can be chartering against shiney new bank owned shoeboxes , it might be for you.
FAST FRED |
Bryce Gaston (Busted_knuckle)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 12:39 pm: | |
Yes you should be able to get a decent shell for this price, but it really depends on what you're looking for! They are out there and as mentioned by the others have it inspected by a 3rd party bus mechanic to be sure yer not buy'n a "pig in a poke" as they say! But on the other hand if yer look'n for something specific or fairly new be prepared to spend more $. |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 2:34 pm: | |
I would certainly like to hear from a few people who have actually experienced damage caused by overnight idling or idling during runs to keep A/C or heating system working.
I have seen lots of posts indicating it is a problem, but never from someone that actually and truly experienced the problem. And how much of a problem is it? I know I let my 8V92 idle quite a bit and many times overnight but really have no idea how much I damaged it, if any at all.
Richard |
Tom Caffrey (Pvcces)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 10:23 pm: | |
Richard, Heavy Duty Trucking magazine had quite a bit of information on this subject 20 or so years ago. The people who used two stroke engines on generators had lots of experience with this sort of problem. Lightly loaded engines would start slobbering oil and get hard to start; then they would start using a lot of fuel.
Many commercial fishboats have refrigerated holds, now and it's common for these boats to have two generators, a small one and a larger one. The large one is used anytime the refrigeration system is running to keep fish cold. If it's not in use, the smaller one is started up.
The end result is that sometimes there is only one generator or only one in running order and they can't fish without the big generator, so it's the small one that will not be available.
To avoid a cold running engine, they run 3 or 4 KW of Quartz lights and never shut them off.
What's really irritating about this is that in bad lighting conditions at night, you lose your night vision if you are underway and encounter one. Not only that, when they tie up in the harbors, they don't turn off the generator, which means they don't turn off the lights, either.
When you are trying to get some shuteye in the harbor, you can't find a dark place on your boat, even with all the blinds pulled. They get yelled at and cussed for it, but usually they don't turn them off.
With the four strokes, this is not nearly as bad of a problem. We have an oversized generator ourselves. To keep it warm enough, we use it only when it's generator load is near maximum, and only around 700 RPM.
If we run it any faster, the torque load from the alternator drops way off, so we don't do it. We even pull our anchor with the engine idling. That's the better part of a ton of gear when we're in 50 fathoms.
Our generator is staying clean and keeping it's compression up and it's not losing water or lube oil, so I doubt we'll change our practices.
If something crops up to tell us that we're doing it wrong, that might be different.
For what it's worth.
Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576
Suncatcher
Ketchikan, Alaska |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 11:15 am: | |
Thanks Tom, that was exactly the type of information I was wanting to hear.
Question, you state that you run the generator at 700 rpm. Is this a DC system?
Richard |
Marc Bourget
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 5:17 pm: | |
Tom,
You mean to tell me that no involuntary insomniac has taken a B-B Gun to those lights!
It's not a "frontier" anymore, I guess!
LOL! |
Tom Caffrey (Pvcces)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 10:19 pm: | |
Richard, yes, there's an 80 amp, 32 volt alternator on each engine. When we need to recharge when on the hook, we just start the auxiliary. That's about 3kw or approaching 5 hp when the battery voltage is regulating.
Propane is very hazardous on boat because of its tendency to settle, so we run an electric refrigerator; this is what uses a good amount of our electric storage.
Marc, most of those boats that run the lights all night seem to be based in Washington. The crabbers use 4 to 8 500 watt lights and the seiners seem to use 4 or 6 of them. The high cost of fuel may be starting to trim that habit.
Every now and then, conflicts break out with the fishboats; I imagine some of them have been over the lights. Also, three different times our boat has been run into by other boats. We were able to catch the culprits only once.
The frontier is only about 10 miles from downtown in most of the Alaska towns. In town is getting somewhat congested.
What makes the difference is the distance between small towns. For us, it's 80 miles southeast or 90 miles north with no one living anywhere in between.
For what it's worth.
Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576
Suncatcher
Ketchikan, Alaska |
|