1936 Ford Schoolbus with Cummins 5.9 NV4500

Well, my sister has a hairbrained idea to start a food vending business, she had thoughts of using the 'normal' step van/box truck, or maybe a shortbus. Well, we ran across this, she fell in love with it for the obvious reasons, it's COOL. Her plan (and reason for building this bus instead of a step van) is the have a 'hold' on the high-end weddings and such, to do catering to those type events, as well as car shows and the normal around-town stuff during the week. It will definetly take ALOT of work and ALOT of money, but I feel once it's done she will have a great business, as the bus is a definite eye catcher which means everyone will remember it. I think the catering at special events will be the main money maker as opposed to the day-to-day type of stuff.

We went and picked it up on Thursday 6/24/2012, this is what it looked like when we got it:

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Certainly a very unique shape. Quite an eye catcher. Then I saw the pic of the inside ... :D At least you won't have to worry about stripping things out to make room for stuff!

I hope you are going to paint it!!!

BTW how is the engine??? I see you mentioned pick it up. Not drivable yet??? or is it??? Any pics of the engine???

It actually had a 460 and C6 sitting in it when we got it, i didn't figure that would be a very good combination for towing this much weight all the time. We pulled the motor out of a 91' D350, and the trans out of a 2001 3500. Here they are bolted in. The bus has come a LONG way in a short time, hopefully it will be ready to be blasted in a few weeks. I am still in the process of frame modifications/repairs and some rust repair before we take it to be blasted.


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Wow you guys take on some pretty big projects... It would take me forever to finish something like that. I guess I have a lot going on around here. A whole lot of smaller projects.

I would put an LS motor in that bad boy, but it would probably be better suited for a diesel.
John Force had a school bus that Chip Foose did on Overhaulin
http://www.johnforceracing.com/index-2.htm

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Originally Posted by SeanMurphy265

I would put an LS motor in that bad boy, but it would probably be better suited for a diesel.
John Force had a school bus that Chip Foose did on Overhaulin
http://www.johnforceracing.com/index-2.htm

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I'd hate to see how much of a turd this thing would be (and how horrible the fuel mileage would be) with an LS in it. That's why we ditched the 460/C6 right off the bat, with the weight it would be pulling, there is no way any gas engine would get better than 10mpg (the 460 would probably get about 5, haha). I am going to guess this thing will weigh over 10K pretty easily. An Excursion weighs about 8,500lbs, with equipment/generator/ac unit/h20 tanks and such the bus might be pushing 12-13K.

I am HOPING for ~15mpg on the highway with the cummins, just depends how fast it needs to get there, I think the rear axle ratio is 4.56 so that's not gonna help mileage.

Anyways, got a alot done today, I'll try and get pics posted up soon. I decided to cut the frame out in the back and rework it with 2x6 .250 tubing, I got one framerail in today and it looks MUCH better than the mess that was in it. I am also ditching the dumptruck leaf springs for some Dodge 3500 springs that will hopefully ride better (assuming the dumptruck springs would ride like crap)

My old 86 Chevy 1 ton flatbed with the big block Chevy got like 10 to 11 mpg if lucky pulled it out and tossed it and installed a 383 stroker small block Chevy truck now gets 17 to 19 mpg cruising at 70 mph it rated at 14000 lbs Attachment 7416 I call my truck the beast lol

grabs some springs off a commercial frame gm truck they ride niceAttachment 7417 with or with out a load

Another option, since you're starting from scratch, is to go air ride. Always the best ride no matter what the load. Now that lots of motorhomes use them from the factory, there are a lot more options for smaller than class 7/8 trucks.

have a friend that just installed a full air ride kit on his dodge dully it rides so nice and has on board adjustment for different loads , he wish he had installed the kit years ago

What color are you going with? Are there any laws that will restrict you from painting it yellow. Some state will not allow it, or at least it was like that here.

I bought a full air-ride kit off an F-350 (Talon kit) for $500, thought about using it, but the very narrow width of the rear axle makes for a tough fit. I would have to narrow the spring perches (they are already pretty narrow), plus I would need to narrow the frame even more. As much as I'd like to make the Talon kit work it just isn't feasible. I know she wouldn't be willing to spend a chunk of change to buy an air-ride setup, the $500 kit I bought will probably end up going in an Excursion for myself.

Mike, as for the paint, it will be painted a brown color on the bottom, and creme on the roof/top, at least thats the plan right now.

Man, that bus is Bad A$$!!! I love it!
I can see it now painted bright yellow, flashing lights all over it with chrome wheels slammed on the ground and in a Rap video!! :D

But seriously, I love the look of that thing and it would make a great car show project!!

As usual I have become slack on posting pictures. Check in at THIS LINK for more pictures.

Also, be sure to 'like' my facebook page for picture updates.

I know this thread is a year old, but I'd be interesting in seeing how it's going, or how it turned out.

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Originally Posted by jameslo

I know this thread is a year old, but I'd be interesting in seeing how it's going, or how it turned out.

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The OP hasn't been here in eight months and left links to the continuation of his project in the post above yours.

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Originally Posted by zoama585

The OP hasn't been here in eight months and left links to the continuation of his project in the post above yours.

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I was hoping he was still around. I'm a proud FaceBook non-participant. Odd, I guess, in that I'm an IT manager. But FaceBook doesn;t solve any problems I have :)

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Originally Posted by jameslo

I was hoping he was still around. I'm a proud FaceBook non-participant. Odd, I guess, in that I'm an IT manager. But FaceBook doesn;t solve any problems I have :)

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In his post, not his sig http://www.nc4x4.com/forum/index.php...ummins.123342/ His last update was in June.
There's plenty of time left to reach the 100 post contest requirement. ;)

Yeah, I saw that, but it didn't look like there was a lot done on it. I'm an "old car" guy is the interest. I have a '31 Ford I mess with. More than I should. But that bus looked pretty cool.

I agree, that thing is bad ###.. I also agree with ditching the 460 and not going with an LS.. A big turbo deisel is perfect..

Funny, I was just wondering how this was coming along the other day. Guess I'll have to figure out where I left off at the nc4x4 forum.