2000 Ford E350 Micro Bird school bus.

[MicroBird]

Hi all. I am new to Expedition Portal. I hope I'm putting this in the right section. I just purchased a mini bus similar to the one pictured except it is a 4 window not 5. I spent several hours going through the forum looking for similar vehicles to get some ideas. I found some but few and far between. If anybody knows of a vehicle that is close that I could get ideas from, please post a link below. I'm really not lazy. My head starts to hurt after looking for a couple of hours.

Sorry, I can't figure how to use my iPad to upload the pic. I will upload one later. Hopefully this link works. It's not my van but close.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/%2700-%2702_Ford_E-350_School_Bus.JPG

Here is a spec sheet from the builder. It is for current model year, but close enough.

http://microbirdbygirardin.com/MICROBIRD/MBII_SCHOOL_TEXT_files/SPEC_SHEET_SCHOOL_MBII_FORD.pdf

I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions. No cracks about wearing a helmet.

Fixed it.

 

[dwh]

We're more likely to make cracks about you being a short bus rider.

Have you checked out http://www.skoolie.net/ ?

 

[MicroBird]

That's why I said no helmet jokes. I am already a member on skoolie.net. I don't want to bash skoolies, but there is a ton of hillbilly engineering and shade tree construction going on with those busses. I don't what people to automatically thinking I'm a pot smoking hippie throwback. The construction of the vehicles here is much cleaner and what I am after.

 

[ihatemybike]

I love skoolies. I also love pot smoking hippie throwbacks.

Anyway, welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll find the members here helpful and accepting. You're definitely not the first, nor last skoolie to use this site as a resource.

 

[Christian P.]

Welcome to the forum!

Those bus are built in Drummondville, Quebec. I see their factory on highway 20 every time I drove between Quebec City and Montreal...

They must be doing well because the yard is always full of new buses!!

Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Christian P.]

 

[Flagster]

nice bus

Spotted this one with a sweet paint job in Wallingford, Seattle

 

[MicroBird]

I love skoolies. I also love pot smoking hippie throwbacks.

Anyway, welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll find the members here helpful and accepting. You're definitely not the first, nor last skoolie to use this site as a resource.

I love Skoolies too. I've got two biggins also. One with an 8.3 Cummins and the other with a DT466. My remarks about skoolies were not meant in a bad way. I guess I can handle a few hippies, but not on a full time basis.

I bought this van because I wanted something small, compared to my others. With skoolies, you have the luxury of having 30-40 feet to play with. With this project, space will be at a premium. I'm not used to thinking like that. There are many cool vehicles here. I thought I would get much farther (or should that be further) here.

 

[chilliwak]

Welcome to the forum Micro. To start with I would cut off the bottom of the stairs that lead in to the bus at the side doors. That is going to improve your clearance big time. After that you could look into a rear shackle flip. That would be an inexpensive way to get some more rear clearance. I dont know anything about Fords so some of the other guys can give you some tips. Have fun, and remember to POST LOTS OF PICS! P.S. pot smoking hippies arent all that bad....:ylsmoke:

 

[ihatemybike]

Your remarks weren't negative, you're right there are a lot of "interesting" conversions. I'd never purchase a skoolie that's already been converted unless it's been well documented and I can see thing were done right. I occasionally look at a couple fresh from the schools used bus sites with big ideas in my head, knowing good well I can't act yet. Maybe in retirement.

DT466......drool....

Seeing that your bus is based on a Ford van with a large upfitter body, I highly recommend checking out the ambulance builds. It appears that you have about the same amount of space and will end up weighing about the same. Most of the ambulance builds are in the 4WD Camper Vans section.

When you get a chance, post up pics of all your buses.

 

[MicroBird]

I was thinking about the 4x4 camper van section even though it's not a 4x4.

Chilli, I was thinking the same thing about the extra step by the door. The first problem that comes to mind is replacing the doors. I beleive they are tempered glass and couldn't be cut.

 

[ihatemybike]

There has been plenty of 2WD vans in that forum.

Somebody posted recently with a stock FWD Gen 5 Caravan with a big RTT and there was another that had larger than stock AT tires on his FWD Gen 3 or 4 Caravan.

Adventure Camper Vans might be a better title for that forum.

 

[DoMiNiC1]

P.S. pot smoking hippies arent all that bad....:ylsmoke:

:elkgrin:



Cant wait to see what you do with this beast.

 

[Buliwyf]

Aren't the stairs the only thing that hangs low and close to the ground? Isn't the low body kinda just like a skirt?

It would be really tough looking to chop all that low hanging body off for decent ground clearance, 2 hours with a plasma cutter, then fab a new bumper to the rear of the frame.

 

[earthmuffin]

I'm pretty sure my first stop with that thing would be www.ujointoffroad.com
Then I'd start trimming all the fat like steps etc.....