I’ve always been a fan of the manual passenger doors

But $1,300 is not bad for a 2002 bus, good job.

keep her plugged in block heater will make it easer to start on those cold days

School buses are a nice invest. I've seen so many people turn them into motorhomes

I had a school bus camper when I was 17 and I drove it to my HS.... HAHAHA I was the king when the class saw my bus

Nice. That could be fixed up real sweet for road trips. And with a diesel engine, it'll be reasonably affordable to use. Good deal

My dream in high school. I’m 20 now, I really want to make this happen still.

hopefully you have had a good time with your bus, I finally bought a bus myself , after 25 years of wanting one , i bought a 1948 GMC greyhound bus that is already an RV conversion ,,I love it i've had it for 4 months now and have already driven it over 1500 miles just locally ,,amazingly i get 12mpg ,,mine is a rear engine bus powered by a 6-71 detroit diesel , and has a 4 speed manual transmission with a column shift ,, i paid a little bit more than $1300 for it though and i have added another $10000 to what i paid for it to improve it

@ $1300 that’s a Smoking deal! (Ok yea pun intended - lol) Subscribed - I’m looking forward to following along on your project build. Dude I love your plan. Road trip across the USA at 18yo? Do it! Best of luck to you, thanks for sharing.

When you start it just give it ether while redlining it and yelling MIIIIINT that’s how you fix the rough idle

U may have found out by now but as a trucker ill tell u. When u start a diesel engine. Black smoke is unburned fuel. White smoke is water once engine is warm. Dont be alarmed. Smoke is normal on cold start. U made a good observation that oil press was real high. This is normal wjen real cold out as oil gets thicker when cold n thinner as it warms. Best to start it. Bump idle to 1000 rpm n walk away. Let it warm up to normal operating temps n normal oil press. Do not drive it cold. The more u increase engine speed the higher oil press will go n can blow out seals n gaskets. Big cash. N to drive on road cold will also over stress head gaskets n can blow it. Big cash to fix. So best let it warm to normal temp n press before driving.

White smoke is normally a sign of coolant in the combustion side of things...---》head or head gaskets. Keep an eye on the coolant level (mark the bottle) if it is disappearing, time to investigate. But I didn't see any bad sign of smoke on this vid. Nice buy.

We are working on converting one right now. thanks for sharing

My friend had a 1968 school bus that we used for a NASCAR bus. It has bunk beds , a chest freezer and a table and the bench seats were reversed for seating at the table. It had a huge deck on top for standing on to watch the races too. They finally up graded to a 1990's bus after having so many issues with that older bus. it was an original NASCAR bus already decked out. too.

Lovely looking Bus! We have many Thomas Freightliner FS-65's here in Tennessee. Our Thomas FS-65's are 2005, 2006, and 2007 models! I would love to hopefully see more updates as to what you do with this bus! Keep up the great work!

Great bus for the price. I would bet you could just disassembly and reseal / rebed those roof hatches.

This man should watch Chris fix on how to remove rust

I look forward to seeing that my friend!!!

Better to use 30,000 dollars for your own RV with steady fuel consumption rather than 100,000 dollars for your own already built gas guzzling RV. Old school busses are the way to go for an RV.

Everyone absolutely loves the single seat.

I would love one in a short wheelbase, gas v8 and an Allison AT545, that classic rumble and whine I grew up with :)

Hello new friend! I love bus conversions. Going to hang out for this one!

Very great video tour ! Cheers

what a lot of people dont understand is the bus like that is the same frame some rv that size use. it is a good thing you are starting on a good base to set it up the way you want it

I like it. I drive a Freightliner Cascadia Class 8 road tractor. The F series Freightliners were replaced by Business Class M/2s. Before I drove OTR trucks, I drove a school bus in Kentucky. That bus you bought is almost legal here. Almost being the key word. It only lacks the center drivers side emergency door, four push out windows (two on each side), and the 8" black band on each outside portion of the bus. The visors over the warning lights aren't legal here. But if you picked it up for $1,300, you got a helluva deal.

Cool I would of bought it also bad ass have a fricking blast on your road trip

For everyone trying to tell the guy his smoke is off. It’s not a gasoline engine. Diesel engines produce some white smoke, they’re cold. It’s not only normal, it’s expected. Black smoke is fuel. Blue smoke is burning oil. These particular Caterpillars and Cummins engines don’t have glow plugs. They have an intake air grid heater. So that going out explains some of your starting issue. The rest, how many batteries do you have? You should have three Group 31s or one 8D. This is common sense information.

The smoke that you are showing is not bad at all. To be cold, I'd expect a lot worse. good video, sir!

My district bought a crap load of these but they were newer models compared to the one shown in Chase's video. The didn't have manual load doors. It was the last bus I ever rode. I particular didn't care too much for them as I preferred the conventional gassers (either the Ford, GM, or International) with the older Allison automatics that "sang". The FS65 were kinda of boring but the one diesel chassis I loved was the conventional T444E/AT-545.

I remember many moons ago I wanted to purchase an 1981 to 1982 Thomas International Harvester S1700 bus from the school district I attended but was outbid before I graduated.

Liked this video because I believe you will do a great job putting this buss back together. I graduated from high school in 1984 and at that time and back further school buses had gasoline engines and were stick shift or standard transmissions. Might had been a few automatic transmission driven buses but not many. Good luck to you.

$1,300?! That’s almost as much as my PC 😂 damn I should spent that money on this! Can’t wait to see the end result.

Ayee. I bought a 2004 Thomas Freightliner FS-65! It's weird because it only has one roof hatch, yet its full length.

This is my dream! I want to do this, my ideal road trip is starting in my hometown, which is Chicago Ridge, IL, then drive to Texas, then make my way to Northern California, then all the way to Canada. Then cross the whole country of Canada.

Great video

I got one as a school bus driver with 50 miles on it drove it for over 130k and got switched to a newer model. The roof hatches were leaking when new they never sealed them correctly another problem was on some of them when the trans temp would hit 200 the trans would slip once or twice and then quit till it cooled down , they never got it fixed after trips to freightliner and Thomas here in North Carolina, talked to the drivers who had after me and it was still going on when the retired it at over 200k

Every used bus I have looked at had dirty seats like these! I think down here in Fl they leave the windows open and rain gets in and it mildews...I'm looking to buy one like this..cheap..to move from FL to West Texas to buy some land for an off grid home..the idea behind the bus is I can carry almost all my stuff in the bus, once it's seats are removed and lay carpet down..(I love carpet hate hard floors!) then once I arrive on my land, I can live in the bus until I build a home...I'll buy two or three cheap metal sheds to hold my non-household type items such as tools, outdoor stuff building supplies and have room left in the bus to live comfortably...hence the reason I put carpet down first and not after I move stuff..easier that way..I was going to buy an RV to live in while building a place but this idea of a bus makes more sense as I can move all my stuff as the GVWR is high on these, not soo much on a rv or travel trailer..After I build housing I can always use the bus for storage or sell for what I buy it for..what do you think??

Sounds like a beast

the oldest bus my school district owns in a 1988 to 1989 bluebird they still use it and it smells really bad

Do you have any update videos on your bus

nice work well done a+ Chase William

You did GOOD. FL will turn on a dime compared to the old IH buses.

A friend I know has a bus like it. It is a 2003 or 2004 model. It is a former United States Air Force bus that was used for transporting military personnel

Those were pretty good buses

WHY AM I ALWAYS THE 99TH LIKE OF EVERY NUMBER!!!??? Oh btw sweet bus

did you buy it from a specific website?

Good job

I believe some school districts use biofuels in the busses so maybe that's the odd smell your getting. Good luck on the project. 😁

nice!!!!

I had to choose between buying a bus or having a free place to live. I chose the bus and I'm now the proud owner of a 95 International and my own small house ;p

Thank you

NICE 👍

Dyou happen to have an extra hatch still? all 4 strut mounts are cracked on mine

Good score on the bus. The engine alone is worth more than what you paid. Diesel doesn't go bad as quickly as gasoline. You can put in some additives that might help. Get it at an auto parts store-cheaper than a truck stop. Good luck to you, young man.

So what happened with this project? Did you finish it or give up on it to pursue other things? Just wondered.

Diesel fuel doesn’t go bad like petrol (gasoline) does. So trust me, it’s fine! The Cummins 6bt engine is a very robust, hard working engine, honestly you couldn’t wish for a better engine. I guess the transmission is Allison 4 speed....but I could be wrong. The smoke, you can tell the health of the engine from the colour of the smoke. Black smoke= over fueling or blocked air cleaner White smoke= unburned fuel.... usually when very cold. Blue smoke = burning oil worn piston rings or bad valve seals

My school district still got those buses😂

That's a pretty good price actaully im planning on buying a bus too

quite a nice steal you got there, but it's a shame that some buses our school district still runs daily are in worse shape

Sounds like when I bought my $7,000 Silverado. About 20 issues later and 9 months later I sold it for $800

I bought a $300 1986 Thomas built S1700 International bus 6.9 idi 545 allison auto soon to get a dt466 with some fuel and a manual behind it with a diff locker, extendable sides, solar powered, rasied roof ect everything, a hottub/shower/bath combo sorta thing with a full kitchen and captain chairs n everything.

The Cummins ISB engine in the Gilligs have high oil pressure too

Fighting for the back seats

Great!

Bro I’m diggin this! This is awesome- have always wanted to do the same thing you’re doing. Get a classic freightliner Cummins and transform it to a road trip machine. I’m in MA too, and wondering how you made it work? You have to have a cdl for this?

you shouldof kept the stop sign on and make the yellow and red lights work on it. But have a switch that can like disable them. So can like use it for certain events doing

I had a 1984 nissan SD22 Diesel that had 1/4 tank of diesel for 10 years. Started it every once in awhile. The age of the diesel had no effect on it.

I’m trying to find out how to insure one when I tried this I could find nothing on insuring them or a company willing to insure it

Wow what a steal. So cheap of a bus. 😁

Ive been looking for a bus cheap like that . where would you recommend to start looking. For used buses

all buses smoke a bit, all the buses i have driven have smoked til they warmed up more on startup

I would tent the windows black them out, leave the yellow and the rust. People would think its still a school bus.

when the bus started it, sounded like music

can the spike spider fit on a dually truck

That one kid wants to be this kid

Did it come with hydronic brakes? I've only worked on 3800s and Visions with air brakes.

When you first started just let it idle on its own give it time to warm up by itself it'll get warm you got to let it run at least 5 6 minutes don't just move it the bus is cold

what happened to your trip ? no videos! :(

What does the "Engine Check" do?

This type of engine needs to maintan at least 180 degree the smoke is unburnt fuel,in very cold weather..I drove these units in toronto canada..they don't operate good intown type driving,but highway they run great..

Put in some fule stablizers or flule renuw

I can’t find a Cummins 5.9 engine for 1300 bro damn

Wow you're smart to be at 17 years old you sound like a 25 old adult to me.. Buy some prolong engine lubricant to add to oil and also some prolong transmission lubricant one bottle is all it take's after each oil change, also with lucas diesel additive's to clean your fuel injector's.And I promise you that you'll never have to overhaul that diesel engine for year's to get it rebuilt. Find all of your product's at autozone or at napa auto ;part's

only has a little over a hundred thousand miles on it well I live you never find them under 200,000

adjust the valves its fine fuel too

When Thomas Built could build a bus.

If the smokes is white it means that the Oil is getting mixed with coolant so your head gasket is bad :)

That's cool, where did you purchase this bus?

Does it have an emergency exit buzzer?

Drive that thing to school all the teachers will think you just hyjacked the bus bus driver😂

You have to have a cdl to drive that and I can tell you looking at it the dot will have fun giving you tickets on that thing definatly shouldn't of removed the reflective tape

During the first years I lived in Ithaca NY, I fantasized about buying an old school bus to convert into an RV. I would call it "Jacky's Mobile Bedroom". I would keep the front seats in place, the "Troublemakers" seat, which is behind the driver on the port side. That's typically where school bus drivers make troublemakers sit to keep an eye on them. I would also keep the "Shotgun" seat, on the starboard side behind the stairwell. Perhaps I'd want to unbolt them, and then bolt them back in a few inches back to create more legroom, for chicks who love to cross their legs thigh to thigh. Between the rest of the bus interior and the front seats, I'd have a tie died Curtin, and tie died curtains on the windows. At the back of the bus, I would create two twin beds from two seat frames. The padded seat backs would be the headboards and footboards of the beds. Two other bus seats would be bolted in facing in opposite directions with a table between them to create a place to sit and eat. I'd put in a fridge, microwave, and a small stove. That would create a great vehicle for multi day road trips. A spot at a campground would be cheeper than a hotail room. You said that this bus would have otherwise gone to a scrapyard. At the scrapyard, it would be torn into pieces with a claw, attached to an excavator or crane. They don't have a crusher big enough for large vehicles. A You Tube video you should check out, "Death Of A School Bus". It shows the fate your bus would have met if it went to the scrapyard. The bus in that video is said to be a 1978 Gilieg. But it looks more like a 1958 Gillieg, with it's rounded corners. It's a rear engined flat nose.

Update??

Its the high pressure oil pump needs to be replaced i have the same bus so if u need parts let me know

Damn you got quite a project you got there. Where do you work in order to buy a truck and bus 🤨

2002 Thomas body on freightliner chassis

You should have bought a new door latch with lock instead of they way you have it. That way it looks better cosmetically

For fun

Are we just going to ignore the free ice cream sign?

Don't you need a CDL?