Magic Bus: ‘FTE’ Member Converting Old E-450 Into an RV
Old Ford bus gets a second lease on life as a mini-RV, but things don’t exactly start out smoothly for its new owner.
We come across some seriously cool projects here in the Ford Truck Enthusiasts forums on nearly a daily basis. Most of them revolve around restorations, restomods, or hot rod builds. But member 7.3Shortbus is doing something that we’ve quite possibly never seen before – turning a 2003 Ford E-450 school bus into a comfy RV. We spotted this amazingly cool build in this thread, where the conversion is well underway as of today.
“My brother and I own a boat in Upstate NY with a small piece of property near Lake Ontario. After a few years of going back and forth every weekend and having to set up a tent every time we arrived after dark, we got tired of it. So the hunt began for a vehicle that was big enough to sleep six or more and transport us comfortably on the four hour ride. We thought about an RV, but those can be unruly to park at the marina because of their length.”
A solution soon presented itself, however, and it was simply too cool an opportunity to pass up.
“My brother found this gem on Facebook Marketplace. A 2003 Ford E-450 with a 161,000-mile 7.3. It wasn’t running. But we hooked up the trailer, grabbed a laptop and FORScan, cash, and snacks for the two-hour drive. We got there hoping to find a simple issue that we could use to knock the price down a bit. But a quick check showed the IDM was toast. The bus was completely rust free. Not even a spot on the oil pan. The seller was asking $1,750. I threw out an offer of $800. At this point, I think his wife just wanted it gone. So he accepted it as long as we could get rid of it that day.”
Loading the 10,000-pound Ford bus onto a trailer without a winch proved to be quite the challenge, however. But the two brothers eventually got it done, and were soon tearing into the E-450 to find out what was wrong with it.
“A few weeks go by and I swap in an IDM. This allowed me to run a buzz test. I could hear that three didn’t even make a sound. But I tried to start it anyway. It ran really rough but smoothed out after a few minutes. But as soon as some heat got in the oil it died. I proved this by running the block heater, no start when hot. Research told me that probably an injector was so far gone that it was bypassing HPOP pressure and not allowing the engine to run. And so began the arduous task of pulling the injectors in an E-Series body.”
The OP was soon contemplating abandoning his project. But after installing a new set of injectors, the old 7.3 was running perfectly. Which is great news, because we’re eagerly anticipating this one. If you’re as intrigued as we are to see this old Ford bus receive a complete overhaul, head over here to stay tuned for future progress, which the OP has promised is coming soon!
Photos: Ford Truck Enthusiasts forums
Join the Ford Truck Enthusiasts forums now!
