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Buying A Bus
for Bus Conversion to a Motor Home
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After posting my Bus Purchase Nightmare
from mistakenly buying a bus from Mike Kadletz, I've learned some things
about buying buses.
Bus Buying Advice
I eventually went with an MCI because of the aluminum and stainless steel
lower body which avoids rust. These chassis are rated for a million miles.
For more info on different MCI coaches, see the specifications.
If you can afford an MCI102 then you'll get more space (though the extra width
does add difficulty to driving and parking.)
Eagles on the other hand are known to have rust problems down the line.
If I could've afforded a newer Prevost, I would've bought one - the
bays on the newer Prevost buses are enormous. I've heard that older
Prevost can have rust problems, but I'm not sure that's true.
Supposedly the older GM 4905, H8H have large bays as well, but I don't
know much about these models.
Check for rust! The last thing you want is to put all this time and money
into a bus that has a rotting chassis. It's worth buying something solid.
Any info you may have about other buses, I'd love to add it, please
let me know!
Engines
Many city transit coaches can't handle highway speeds, I've been told
that sometimes it's because of the DDEC units in the bus. Don't know
because I wanted a bus with cargo bays. Extra horsepower gets you
more ability to handle hills. The amount of cargo you carry/tow
may be less of an issue than you think, consider it in relation to the
overall weight of the bus.
The Detroit Diesels are fairly common and two-stroke, the engine numbers are
<num cylinders>V<cubic inches per cylinder> followed by TA
for Turbo or "N" or nothing for "Naturally Aspirated" (no turbo)
Detroit Diesel 8V71N
318 HP, ~6MPG?, possibly easier to get parts?
Detroit Diesel 8V71TA
400HP Turbo
Detroit Diesel 6V92
325/350 HP, 7.5MPG?
Later Detroit went to 4 stroke engines with the Series 60 (6 cylinder),
at 11.1, 12.7 or 14L and 330HP->575HP. There is a 4 cylinder version
called the Series 50 at 8.5L and 250-350HP (~9MPG)
Places to buy buses
In no particular order, here are some places to begin your search:
Bus Sellers To Avoid:
- Mike Kadletz/MAK of hwybus.com
- Walker Coaches seems to be involved in a number of lawsuits regarding failure to deliver.
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