Bus Conversion: How Much Does It Cost?

Curious about how much converting a bus will cost? I am too! As I continue on this path, let’s see how much bus conversion is costing me:

One-Time Costs

I’ll arrange this list from most expensive to least expensive, for my (and your) sanity:

Better To Have It And Not Need It: Month-to-Month

Below are my usually month-to-month expenses. Filling the tank, though, varies. It can either be per trip, per month, or per however many times I need to fill it.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease: Maintenance

All vehicles cost a little something, something to maintain. I’ve put together what that has cost me over the time I’ve owned and worked on my conversion:

The batteries were an expense that I did not expect to deal with so soon after buying the bus, but what happens, happens. Plus, once I took them out, I realized the battery box was a little worse for wear.

I prepped it by scraping off the rust dust and flakes with a steel wire brush, and sprayed it down with some rust converter. Then, I used a slab of sheet metal and some JB Weld to close up the hole, popped on some drawer brackets, insulated it, cleaned up the battery terminal wires from all the dust and re-taped them with new electrical tape, and JB Welded the drawer back into one piece.

I used some WD-40 that I already had on the box clamp to loosen it up, and so far… so good!

That cost me:

Wish me luck. Now, all I have to do is put in the new batteries and try to start the engine. I hope it all goes well.

Tools of the Trade: Conversion Expenses

Any tools that I need along the way, whether I buy them or rent them, will all cost me one way or another. I wonder how much that will be.

Seat Removal required me to pick up an angle grinder, so I went and picked one up! I anticipate that I might have to use this tool more often than I can really predict at the moment, so welcome, Angle Grinder, to the arsenal.

Make it Pop: Aesthetic Expenses

Do you have any suggestions? Any burning thoughts on where I can find some good gear for a job like this? Feel free to comment! The less I have to Google, the better!

Ciao for now~

Lex