| Author |
Message |
David J. Silva (Cypress) (63.165.152.18)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 11:45 pm: | |
Took a look at the bus today. Seller wasn't around so I couldn't start it.
Looks pretty good. It's definately a 6V92, I took pictures which I'll upload sometime so ya'll can tell me more about the engine.
It was in service up until last spring.
The odometer shows 378K miles. There is a hub odometer showing 74K miles. Does that tell us anything? Why are hub odometeres used?
There's no AC system to remove. a bit of storage underneeth and even a small bay housing some heater blowers.
I kinda' like the center swinging front door. Seems like I could just put a decent RV latch on it and have a nice door.
I've located some really cheap used tires, just enough life left in them to make the drive home and a the seller has found a shop that will swap all the tires for $150.
Not sure about the price. I've been watching ebay for a long time and a lot of nice buses go real cheap in this area. An RTS recently sold for $1600 in the same area.
With a T-drive would it be possible to fit a genset on the right side of the engine bay? There is an access door there.
I really like this bus. No gaurantees I'll end up getting it but this has been a good excersise. Very few buses come up for sale in my area.
Please feel free to express opinions, flame suit on.
dave |
Cory Dane (66.155.188.103)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 12:07 am: | |
Hey Dave, no need for the flame suit
If you are looking at the bus I think you are, I have them running around in my area too and I think they look neet.
Haven't seen them run around billowing any smoke, did notice a touch of rust in the rear but they seem to have a kit for a fast repair.
If you are still happy with this bus, next is to look close at the engine for oil leaks, look at the trans too. If you are not sure, bring a mechanic with you and let him giver the ole once over. Make sure you look under at the frame for rust too, less is better, some can be delt with, too much make me nervous.
Give her a start, see any smoke? warm her up, smoke yet? take er for a drive look for smoke, power and feel how the trans reacts, do some back up exercises too. If she passes all the tests and you are still in lover with it, tell him you'll be back and tell us about it. Also check how hard it might be to get parts. If you go back the next day and still lover it, get it or you will kick yourself forever.
In this hobby, everything is a test, and if the bus passes your test and the mechanics test, then you may have found your bus.
Best of luck Sir
"Imagine Your Dreams"
cdcdcd |
Phil Dumpster (24.16.189.48)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 12:23 am: | |
Go back and take another look when the seller is around so you can start and drive it.
Hub odometers are used because the accuracy of the dash instrument is not trustworthy, not to mention you can walk through a fleet lot once a month and take odometer readings without going into each vehicle. (and in some cases turning them on, if the dash odometer is digital.)
If you like the center swinging door, good for you. Most people tend to not like them because they are difficult to seal tightly, and sometimes make a whistling noise when driving down the highway. You'll find out when you drive the coach.
Don't go the cheap tire route. The labor is the same whether you use cheap tires or new tires, and cheap bald tires will discourage you from driving the bus on a regular basis until you can afford good tires. Since you have to swap tires anyway, do whatever you can to come up with the cash to put at least halfway decent tires on it. Saving money now only means you'll have to turn around and spend it later. The true cost of cheap borderline tires now means you'll have to pay twice for labor.
The tires you put on it don't have to be new, but they should have at the very least a half inch of tread on them all across the tread width. Find a tread which has continous ribs made for highway travel, knobby and aggressive tread patterns make too much noise on a transit bus.
Too bad they don't give you the option of buying out the rest of the tire lease. I did that with my transit and it came to around $850 for the six tires on it. They have about 90% tread left and are 55 mph transit service tires, so they have the nice thick sidewalls which can take a lot of abuse.
As far as price, only you can decide what it's worth to you. It may be worth more to someone else and they may end up winning the auction. You have to decide how much you are willing to pay and hope that in the end you are the high bidder.
As far as a genset, if there is space next to the engine, that would be a good place for it. If your genset is water cooled, you could even hook it into the cooling and heating system of the bus, which has a number of advantages. |
Geoff (66.238.120.18)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 7:13 am: | |
Around here the transit agencies put a new hubdometer when they rebuild the engine, and they normally rebuild the transmission at the same time whether it is going bad or not. 378K on the dash and 74K on the hub sounds about the right timing for rebuilding the engine. Ask the seller if he knows, but in any case the previous owners will have the maintenance records and they should be able to tell you if the engine/tranny has been rebuilt. |
ralph7 (208.148.72.136)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 7:45 am: | |
Sent you an e-mail but it was returned, where are you ? I'm in Pa. ralph7 click on my name |
David J. Silva (Cypress) (63.165.152.82)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 3:10 pm: | |
Ralph,
Your name does not make an email link either.
my email is cypress317@inteliport.com |
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