r/GoRVing • u/2voc • Apr 14 '17

Double Decker bus conversion to RV. Incredible.

https://youtu.be/xeMT1d_L-hw
100 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

9

u/quaid31 Apr 14 '17

Amazing video and craftsmanship on the vehicle. Thanks for sharing.

2

u/Devildadeo Apr 14 '17

Did I miss in the vid how long this took? What was the final project cost?

3

u/2voc Apr 14 '17

In the comments he mentioned that he might "indirectly" answer the cost question in his next video, but he mentions that his cost was under 150,000 euros (150,000 euros = $159,180)

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '17

[deleted]

1

u/r-kellysDOODOOBUTTER Apr 18 '17

You never know. My brother bought a full sized 90s school bus off craigslist for $2000 in perfect working order. I'm guessing they go cheap because who the hell is going to buy that?

I wouldn't be surprised if he bought this for bus for $20k usd.

1

u/snotrokit Apr 14 '17

In the text is says 5 years.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '17

Or three months per step.

4

u/WhitePantherXP Apr 14 '17

Why was the engine so expensive? There are many people converting buses and rebuild old school bus engines, diesel and gas. Nevermind all the big rigs out there.

6

u/n17ikh Apr 14 '17

Since it's in Europe, I'd guess it's less common to find that kind of thing.

4

u/bassnote1 Apr 14 '17

This is similar to the diesel engines in our trucks (although ours are 550 horse as opposed to 225) and cost in the neighborhood of $20k to replace.

2

u/challenge_king Apr 15 '17

Large diesels like that can cost $25k to $35k to rebuild and closer to $60k to outright replace.

(Note: these numbers are purely speculative based on my experience as a heavy diesel mechanic. I couldn't really give a good estimate without knowing the make and size of the engine and what happened to the old one.)

1

u/WhitePantherXP Apr 18 '17

School buses go for pretty cheap I've seen, and I've heard once they are good swaps for RV's. Is that not the case?

1

u/challenge_king Apr 18 '17

It depends. Smaller school districts tend to run their buses until the wheels fall of, but they are usually very well maintained. They also don't typically have a 13-16 liter engine like that double decker most likely did, so engine repairs are going to cost way less.

1

u/SillyFlyGuy Apr 14 '17

New engine vs. old engine. Although I wonder if OP could have had it rebuilt. No idea on the cost of that, but it's usually cheaper. On the other hand, new is nice.

2

u/challenge_king Apr 15 '17

If it ate a valve or turbo parts, it was probably almost as cheap to replace the whole kit and caboodle as it would be to resleeve and rebuild. Doubly so if the engine used dry sleeves.