A Memory-Making Bus, An Adventurous Expedition, And An Outstanding Appliance: Members’ Rides

Welcome to Members’ Rides! In case you missed it, last week we looked at CrimeDog’s fantastic Pathfinder build and the crazy amount of customization he did to it. To continue the theme of custom vehicles, today we get to take a look at a customized school bus turned RV!

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Andrew (beachbumBerry in the comments) is a literal rocket scientist of sorts living in Waco, Texas who has a great mix of vehicles that might have the greatest dichotomy of any I’ve featured here.

How did you get into cars?

I’ve been a car, bike, and rocket nut as long as I can remember. I’d disassemble my die-cast cars, built and tinkered on RC cars, rebuilt any bike I could find, flew model rockets, and as soon as I saved up enough money, I got my first car for $300 (a 1983 E21). Since then, I’ve owned 28 (I think?) cars. I have a real affinity for weird, quirky, or obscurely mundane cars. I can’t picture many other people who get excited about seeing a Chevy Corsica or Sundance coupe in the wild.

What’s currently in the garage?

• 2022 Tesla Model Y
• 2019 Ford Expedition
• 2001 International 3800 School Bus

How did you end up with the Model Y?

This is really just the daily driver. We had a Model 3, but with four kids and the odd situation we were in that we couldn’t use the Expedition (it was in the shop for AC work last summer for around a month), I had to rent a car. So when a good opportunity came up to sell the 3 and get a seven-seat Y for less than I paid for the 3, I went for it.

How is it?

Overall, I like it. It’s quick, it has the performance boost, and I charge for free at work! It’s pretty comfortable and the build quality from the 3 to the Y is leaps and bounds better. I hate to say it’s an appliance, but it really kind of is. It’s the generic insurance ad car for sure.

Did you look at any of the competition, or did you just want to stick with Tesla?

After having an EV for a few years before and getting used to using one for commuting, I knew I didn’t want anything other than an EV for my daily driver. With the number of kids I have, that limited me to Mercedes EQB, Kia EV9, id Buzz, R1S, Model Ys, and Model Xs. I was able to get the Y for under $30k with right at 50k miles, so it was really a no-brainer. If the prices had been closer, we would have probably picked the EV9 or R1S. They are both simply better cars.

How does the Y compare to the 3?

Comparing the 3 and Y is interesting because the most obvious thing about them is just how similar they are. There is more space in the Y with the taller greenhouse and a hatch with a third row, but they aren’t drastically different. There are a lot fewer squeaks and rattles in the Y than the 3, and going from the mid-range RWD to long-range AWD with the performance boost has been fun! The Y will throw you in your seat like no other seven-seater I know of. I really think the Y is more of a wagon version of a 3 rather than a completely separate model. The 3 was a little more sporty though, just by virtue of its lower center of gravity and smaller interior.

Anything you miss from the 3?

I had FSD with the 3, and I don’t with the Y. I never liked FSD itself – it’s terrifying, stressful, and requires more focus than normal cruise control just because you never know when it’s going to try and kill you or someone else – but I did like the stop sign/stop light and lane change that came with it for autopilot. But those things don’t justify the price tag for FSD.

What made you pick up the Expedition?

We got it because we have four kids, two dogs, and I tend to need something that can move everyone, luggage, and do work. We had an Odyssey we loved until a timing belt job went wrong. Ended up in a Telluride. Loved that too, but it was kids, dogs, or luggage, pick two.

We’d finally had enough and decided between one of the Suburban triplets or an Expedition Max with FX4 Package.  Settled on the Expedition Max after test driving some Escalade ESVs and Yukon XLs, and just wasn’t happy with the quality. Ended up finding the only one for sale at that time in the country with the bench middle row and FX4 package in California, so I had it shipped to us.

What have you done to it?

I added the biggest roof basket I could find and a CAI. That’s just about it so far. I did some work looking into a front bench swap and made a few prototypes to relocate the shift knob and transfer case selector, but ended up abandoning that project because the shifter module is simply too big to relocate in a clean way. Moving the transfer case selector and wiring wouldn’t have been terrible, but the size just made it impractical.

I have a pretty good little switch enclosure that will house auxiliary switches when I get around to that. I do have a set of first-gen Raptor rims for it ready to go as soon as it’s time for tires. I’ve also mocked up some F150 fender flares to it to see how they would fit when the time comes to put the Raptor rims on. If we lived anywhere near sand, I would probably go for a full raptor front suspension and rear shock swap, but I can’t justify it with our current use case.

How do you use the Expedition, mostly?

We use it mostly as the work and family car, but have started leaning over towards the Tesla more, simply because the Expedition is thirsty, and we all fit in the Model Y. Lots of DIY projects mean the Expedition does have the seats folded down a lot, and it’s carried 4×8 sheets of plywood, bags of dirt and bricks, and a fridge, among other things. Not to mention the countless recycling-center trips I’ve made with it. What doesn’t fit inside goes on a U-Haul trailer pretty well, and it tows like a dream. It’s also our road trip car for most situations and has been to New Mexico to play in the snow, Arkansas, and Florida since we got it.

I really love the thing, and out of the 28 cars I’ve had, the Expedition is probably my all-around favorite. Others have been more unique and more fun, but I feel at home driving this. Maybe because it’s the size of a house. My only complaint is that after the Telluride and Teslas, I’ve become spoiled by adaptive cruise control. Sure would be nice to have that!

Now let’s talk about that bus!

Oh boy, where do we start with this?! I have always wanted to build a camper out of a bus or box truck. Building something like this has been the goal ever since the mid-2000s. I spent years thinking of different platforms and use cases. When my wife and I met, we camped in a tent in a Toyota Tacoma a lot, and I spent the next eight years trying to convince her we should take on a project.

We went to New Mexico in January of 2020 to play in the snow, and on the drive back I finally got her on board with building a bus. We figured we would be able to go on more trips as a family, and being able to build it to our specs and needs was a big draw (versus a camper trailer or motorhome). That February, we picked our bus up from a guy who had bought two of them at auction. We ended up taking our first trip in  November of 2020, just up the road to Fort Cavasos (nee Fort Hood) MWR camp.

How long did it take you to complete the RV conversion?

The initial build took around eight months, but we have done a few remodels as things have needed adjustments. I wanted a bed for everyone without needing to convert any sofas or dinettes, and I didn’t want to walk through the seating area to get out. We designed the entire thing to scale in SketchUp before starting to build.

After stripping the interior down and spray foaming, we taped out where the walls would go and built each area out like cabinets using 3/4″ sanded plywood and anchored them to the wall rails and floor mounts the seats had used. Now we have six seats on a dinette that converts to a u-shaped sofa with the table down, three single bunks (and a fourth mini bunk for the youngest, eventually we will turn that into another single bunk), a full-size bed at the back, a full kitchen, and a wet-bath.

Since then, we’ve moved A/Cs around, replaced the epoxy countertops with butcherblock, repainted, clad the walls with pine v-groove instead of T1-11, and added a real bathroom with tanks as opposed to a camp toilet. Our biggest rework is almost finished after a tire blew out in March, hitting the floor so hard that it destroyed the bathroom.

Any more plans for it?

I’d like to permanently hang a generator, finish getting it set up to tow a car trailer, and eventually do a transmission swap to an MT643. I’m trying to get myself out of the project/improvement mindset on it and actually use it though.

What was the hardest part of the conversion?

I think the hardest part of the conversion physically was putting the ceiling up. Between the curve of the ceiling and using full 4×8 sheets of bead board, it was a full day of cursing. I’d like to redo some wiring for the lights, but can’t motivate myself to deal with the ceiling again! But I would really say the hardest part overall is not knowing what you don’t know. I’ve done and redone multiple parts of the bus because I wasn’t happy with how something turned out, or something didn’t perform as I had expected. Or getting it registered, but that is tied to the way Texas changed its registration policies mid-2020.

Anything you wish you had done differently?

In hindsight, I probably would have done a 6-12″ roof lift for more headroom and space to hide wiring and ducting. I would have preferred a flat front as well, specifically for the space to leave a row of seats in place for everyone to ride in, but now the family typically follows the bus in the Expedition.

What were you looking for when you found this?

I knew I wanted a diesel bus, and ideally, I wanted a flat front, but when this one came up ($3500 and under 160k miles) it was hard to ignore! I did look at a few other buses and old motorhomes before this, but this one really checked the boxes. It has the DT466E (pre-egr), an AT545 in really good shape, and highway gears, so it cruises at 55-60 mph comfortably with cruise control getting its fuel consumption down to around eight mpg.

[Mercedes Note: What I love about this build, aside from the colors, beautiful wood, and working bathroom, is that it was clearly made to be lived in. Too many builds look great for Instagram, but suck as something to sleep in

The Navistar DT466E is a stellar choice. For those not in the know, this is a 7.6-liter straight-six that might be even more reliable than the iconic T444E V8 (also known as the Ford Power Stroke 7.3). Personally, I think the DT466E sounds better, too. My old DT466E got 12 mpg, but that was with an empty bus. – MS]

What’s the farthest you’ve gone with the bus?

Not very far yet. We’ve taken lots of shorter trips in it and made some great memories! We haven’t ever taken it out of Texas, but we have been to quite a few different places within a couple of hours of our house and made a few longer trips to the coast in it. Our big limiting factor has been fuel cost and old tires (now replaced). We once took it to Fredericksburg (outside of Austin) during the summer before adding the engine-driven ac system. My wife and kids followed behind, but it ended up so hot during the drive that I had to stop every 20-30 minutes to get out and cool off. It was rough and motivated that AC install pretty quickly after that.

What’s been the coolest place you’ve taken it so far?

I’d say Padre Island was the coolest place. We camped right on the beach in the same place where I had gotten into car camping as a teenager. We spent three days almost completely off-grid with the generator only running the air conditioner and fridge. It was really awesome getting to share that space with my wife and kids. Driving it through a Christmas-light route loaded up with family friends was pretty fun. We do have a cross-country trip planned for the Summer, going all the way up to Wisconsin, stopping in Chicago to camp on the lake, then visiting a few more campsites on the way back south.

Thanks Andrew!

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