17 Year Old Buys School Bus For Road Trip!! 

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

@ $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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Everyone absolutely loves the single seat.

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!

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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??

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.

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

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

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

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

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 look forward to seeing that my friend!!!

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

Do you have any update videos on your bus

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

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.

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.

$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.

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

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..

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

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

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

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

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

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

when the bus started it, sounded like music

Very great video tour ! Cheers

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

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

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.

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

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

1300$?! You cant even buy the cummins motor for that in a decent working order....

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

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

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

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.

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?

Most kids his age are vaping and doing stupid shit.. this kid is living life about to hit the road in something he built! He could make a living one day doing this-no college needed!

My school district still got those buses😂

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

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

Fighting for the back seats

did you buy it from a specific website?

Sounds like a beast

Thank you

Lol there was a Wrightbus Gemini 1 from 2002 on eBay and that was £9,000

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

When Thomas Built could build a bus.

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

what happened to your trip ? no videos! :(

nice work well done a+ Chase William

Those were pretty good buses

That one kid wants to be this kid

Put in some fule stablizers or flule renuw

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

NICE 👍

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

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

Great video

Don’t you need a commercial license to drive a big truck like that? If so, how old do you have to be?

Diesel is fine if it’s a year old

adjust the valves its fine fuel too

2002 Thomas body on freightliner chassis

nice!!!!

Why are schools selling these buses for such ridiculous amounts of money? Even a scrap yard would probably pay more than 1300$ for such a huge pile of metal!

That seems like a lot of oil for a 5.9 liter diesel....i think you said 16 quarts or something close to that. Anybody know for sure how much oil that thing takes. Other than that nice score. Paint it fluorescent green, yellow, pink, and orange

Good job

The abs mean automatic braking systems

I saw a stop sign 🛑 but he should tells us about What happened

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

shouldof left the Stop sign on the side of the bus.

Can you drive this on a car licence? I’m British. You need a special licence here.