Questions about 2005 Ford E450 Diesel Shuttle Bus

[ShalomOrchard]

Hi, I'm converting a 2005 Ford E450 Shuttle Bus. I have a number of questions...

How much if any insulation is there in the Shuttle Body?

How hard is it to create 'basement' storage under the floor, like the battery compartment?

Is it hard to move the rear heater unit? Doesn't seem to do much, is it turned off?

What is the easiest way to run the rear roof air conditioner off of external power?

Lots more dumb questions to come!

Thanks, Jim.

[wanderingbob]

Go to ", cheaprvliving .com ". They convert a lot of vans to RVs and have lots of info.

[JaxDad]

ShalomOrchard wrote:
Hi, I'm converting a 2005 Ford E450 Shuttle Bus.

Thanks, Jim.

Just bear in mind that if you add propane piping and appliances, 120 volt wiring, and / or plumbing you need to have those things certified in order to keep on the right side of the law.

Not doing so could keep you out of conventional campgrounds and most state / federal parks.

[valhalla360]

Doubt much insulation...shuttle vans usually only run the heat while the engine is running, so they can put out max heat the entire time with no loss of efficiency plus the doors open every few minutes...no real advantage in insulating.

For an RV, burning propane, you don't want the heater running 100% of the time. I presume the bus heater is running off the engine coolant, which wouldn't be practical when parked for the night. For it to do much, you need the engine to get up to operating temperatures, so if you test it by starting the truck and idling for a couple minutes, no it won't put out much heat.

If it's an existing air/con, I presume it is powered by the trucks 12v system as a shuttle van wouldn't be hooked up to alternating current power under normal conditions (possibly an engine mounted compressor but I doubt it). You would need to rig up a battery bank with a large charger to provide a continuous supply of power to the air/con.

Most shuttle buses I've seen are not designed for under floor storage. I'm sure it can be done but likely major surgery will be involved.

If you are converting because you like to do projects, sounds fun. If you think you will save money over buying a class C, walk away now.

[Grit_dog]

Seems like a good platform to start with. Doubt much insulation, isn't it all windows pretty much?
Look forward to hearing about your build.

[DrewE]

The answers to most of these would depend on the specifics of the conversion; I suspect different conversion companies do things in somewhat different ways.

I would not expect a lot of insulation. There's not a whole lot in most RV walls, and probably less in a shuttle bus. It may be about on par with a typical RV if you're lucky. That's mostly guesswork on my part; I don't have direct experience or specific knowledge here.

Moving the rear heater probably wouldn't be overly difficult; it would presumably involve rerouting or running different hoses from the engine (and wires for the fan). In an RV it would be of less use than in a shuttle bus since frequently when one wants heat in an RV you're parked for the night or day.

The roof air conditioner I suspect would have an engine driven compressor, in which case it couldn't (practically) be converted to operate off of shore power. On the off chance that it's an electric air conditioner and there's a generator to power it (or a large inverter and a large alternator on the engine), conversion would be trivial--just powering the circuit from the shore power system.