I picked up my type 1 ambulance in a town of less than 1300 people. In Wyoming. It was first used as an ambulance, then a mobile command post for the sheriff's dept in that same county (that town was the county seat) and then it was used a tool truck. I picked it up with only 89k miles and it's a 1992 Chevy with the 454 in it. it was garaged it's whole life till I bought it. My wife sleeps in it. she is a travel nurse so having an ambulance parked in a hospital or care center parking lot is pretty stealthy.
Shuttle buses usually don't have rear doors and that's a must for me. I'm going to use to to haul more than camp, so I need rear doors. I've seen some decent deals but they didn't have that, so I'm leaning hard to a type 3 ambulance.
Thanks for this video! I wish this would have been twice as long. I especially want to know about repairs and maintenance. I'm an amputee in a wheelchair so what will it cost me if I get a flat tire or how much do those tires cost. I was down to choosing between an ambulance or a box truck. Now I'm back to a van with side doors that open out. That's fine for me but I have two cats that I want to please. I do like that the ambulances are so safe. Wonder what the insurance would cost.
I built a shuttle bus. Spent my life savings doing it. I loved the room in it, but, a tree fell on it. It didn't make it. I'm buying a type 3 ambulance, on the same 1.5 ton chassis, with a blown motor. Mine will fit right in. I only lost 1/8 100w panels, and cracked a corner of my induction cooktop, so, I can just swap my victron system, and appliances over. As far as stealth.. Who really messes with an ambulance?
I’m grateful to have watched this but it makes our van conversion goal more challenging since it is difficult to find a gas Sprinter van that is under 30k. You’ve convinced me to avoid diesel. My dad offered to sell us a small town, retired ambulance, but I already know my husband and I can’t stand upright in it which is just not an option either of us want.
Glad it helped you with some of your search criteria. Sprinters are great looking, but the price tag is why we have shied away from them. They are just SO expensive. The make ambulances with 5'6 and 6" standing heights. You would want to find one with the taller rear cab. Hard issues with ambulances is that a lot of them were ridden hard and put away wet. Plus, they take a lot to overhaul.
Great comment on parts availability...I drive E350 gasser for that reason. "Common as pond water" quiet, smooth, just as expensive as a diesel w/ "all in cost" (diesel is 15/20% more, maintenance cost, and cold weather starts issues, injectors, glow plugs)..my 5.4 gets 14-16 mpg loaded HEAVY, gonna shake out a v10 this weekend to see what kinda mileage i can get. ...domestic van parts are EVERYWHERE.
I shook out two 2014 v10 e350s. Both have 5r100 trannies (excellent for decents w/ trailer/tow that is aggressive) both got same MPG as a 5.4. 12-15 mpg and are high tops. V10 for me
How about utility plumber type box trucks or bread trucks? I don't particularly like the way the bread trucks have their seat arrangements. But some of those do get over 40 miles per gallon gasoline.
GREAT video. didnt even think about the no passenger seat on the bus... damnit lol. shuttle busses are fiberglass....eh. is anyone adding a flip up passenger seat or something on busses?
Hey don't look down on the handicap lift. I'm 43 feel like I'm 80. I would probably loot use that lift more than the front door. And all I'm going to do is get older so I'm going to probably need that door even more
William who built this is 43! he is a grandpa... but that too will run circles around any 18-25 year old, he's a beast. A handicapped ramp would be great to lift up things into the rig, but they take up a lot of space inside, which is why they are hard to work with. Thanks for watching!
No one seems to talk about the Nissan NV2000 it’s the tallest and largest van I believe And far more cheaper to maintain and find parts cause it’s on the titans chassis.
I dont want to off road much in my van, BUT I dont want it BIG. Class 3 is the largest. Prefer type 2. Pickup truck style (style1) not space efficient enough for me. Keep it common and simple.
I would love to see William do a minimalist conversion on a type 1 or 2.. I absolutely love the conversion you've done, but I am in minimalist mode as I just purchased my E450 7.3 tall / extended box and it's April... I am on the East coast (no real access to the vast BLM & desert lands), it's April, I want to use my "camper" as apposed to spending all spring / summer gutting & converting- ie, I want to use what I have.. So, build out 1.0 is absolute minimalist conversion.. My goal, however, is to get to William's plateau by build out 4.0 ;-)
I agree with you If I had bought mine later toward the summer I would probably do a minimal build and Used it over the summer however I bought mine in December and was able to get it to this point before summer when we plan to use it. Doing a minimalist build does sound like fun and maybe in the future I will do another.
@@wck1127 - I meant type 1 0r 3 above.... I would love to see your version of a minimalist build - it would be interesting... Enjoy your rig sir, great job !!!
Yes, definitely something to consider especially on the full size buses. Every kid that has been on a bus and hit a nice bump tries to see if they can hit the ceiling, or maybe that was just me.
Anywhere you can find one on the internet I am afraid. William was looking as some in Texas, Minnesota, New England and Oklahoma just to name a few. A lot of the good ones get snatched up by ambulance dealers that make profit off of buying them from old fire departments etc.
Well, personally, it would likely be expensive. Ambulances have lots of electrical redundancy and commercial grade features that have to be removed to obtain a blank canvas. I have bought and owned 33+ vehicles, many of which have been old, classic cars. When you buy an old car, it's best to buy a project someone else lost spent lots of money. The saying "you make money on a car when you buy it" Meaning buying an ambulance someone has 80k invested in that you're buying for 50k. I paid someone up front to do a frame off restoration on my car. Long story short, 12 years it sat untouched in a body shop..... so.. never pay for work ahead of time. I could write 10 pages on your question. Here is the story of the GTO that I ran into some issues with the build process. Not that you will have that issue, but an ambulance conversion is a big task. I would hate to see you get wrapped up with someone saying they could pull it off and you ending up getting burned. You get what you pay for. If it's cheap, it might just be a trash job, ya know? th-cam.com/video/q_GUUjr65kE/w-d-xo.html
4BT is LOUD! I could not deal with that...my buddy has done 3 into pickup trucks. No way, too damn load. He drives cross country to his az house in his one F150 4bt (wears ear plugs the whole way)
I picked up my type 1 ambulance in a town of less than 1300 people. In Wyoming. It was first used as an ambulance, then a mobile command post for the sheriff's dept in that same county (that town was the county seat) and then it was used a tool truck. I picked it up with only 89k miles and it's a 1992 Chevy with the 454 in it. it was garaged it's whole life till I bought it. My wife sleeps in it. she is a travel nurse so having an ambulance parked in a hospital or care center parking lot is pretty stealthy.
I like the ambulance builds but what about maintenance on the engines?
Shuttle buses usually don't have rear doors and that's a must for me. I'm going to use to to haul more than camp, so I need rear doors. I've seen some decent deals but they didn't have that, so I'm leaning hard to a type 3 ambulance.
Thanks for this video! I wish this would have been twice as long. I especially want to know about repairs and maintenance. I'm an amputee in a wheelchair so what will it cost me if I get a flat tire or how much do those tires cost. I was down to choosing between an ambulance or a box truck. Now I'm back to a van with side doors that open out. That's fine for me but I have two cats that I want to please. I do like that the ambulances are so safe. Wonder what the insurance would cost.
I built a shuttle bus.
Spent my life savings doing it.
I loved the room in it, but, a tree fell on it.
It didn't make it.
I'm buying a type 3 ambulance, on the same 1.5 ton chassis, with a blown motor.
Mine will fit right in.
I only lost 1/8 100w panels, and cracked a corner of my induction cooktop, so, I can just swap my victron system, and appliances over.
As far as stealth..
Who really messes with an ambulance?
Portland druggies
I’m grateful to have watched this but it makes our van conversion goal more challenging since it is difficult to find a gas Sprinter van that is under 30k.
You’ve convinced me to avoid diesel.
My dad offered to sell us a small town, retired ambulance, but I already know my husband and I can’t stand upright in it which is just not an option either of us want.
Glad it helped you with some of your search criteria. Sprinters are great looking, but the price tag is why we have shied away from them. They are just SO expensive. The make ambulances with 5'6 and 6" standing heights. You would want to find one with the taller rear cab. Hard issues with ambulances is that a lot of them were ridden hard and put away wet. Plus, they take a lot to overhaul.
Great comment on parts availability...I drive E350 gasser for that reason. "Common as pond water" quiet, smooth, just as expensive as a diesel w/ "all in cost" (diesel is 15/20% more, maintenance cost, and cold weather starts issues, injectors, glow plugs)..my 5.4 gets 14-16 mpg loaded HEAVY, gonna shake out a v10 this weekend to see what kinda mileage i can get. ...domestic van parts are EVERYWHERE.
I shook out two 2014 v10 e350s. Both have 5r100 trannies (excellent for decents w/ trailer/tow that is aggressive) both got same MPG as a 5.4. 12-15 mpg and are high tops. V10 for me
How about utility plumber type box trucks or bread trucks? I don't particularly like the way the bread trucks have their seat arrangements. But some of those do get over 40 miles per gallon gasoline.
Good point! Alot of those came with the 4bt Cummins, which is my favorite engine.
40 mpg on a truck???!
Thoughts on a step van/ bread truck ?
I didn’t see you guys go over box truck? Like E350 450 cargo box truck?
I wish I went with a high roof cargo van instead of cargo trailer conversion and truck. Would be alot more convenient
GREAT video. didnt even think about the no passenger seat on the bus... damnit lol. shuttle busses are fiberglass....eh. is anyone adding a flip up passenger seat or something on busses?
I am having trouble getting insurance coverage just to get the ambo I am looking at driven home to work on.
While the Cummins is a good choice of diesel (5.9, 6.7, 8.3), the DT466 engines are a tad better....
Could have discussed Ford and Dodge vans too, cheaper than Sprinter.
All this discussion and I'm distracted by that super clean haircut. Lol
You forgot to add step vans/ box trucks, like the delivery vans FedEx uses (aka bread truck).
Oh dang, you are correct! We should have also covered the Spartan Furion Super Chiefs. Those are badass.
Please do one on box trucks !
Hey don't look down on the handicap lift. I'm 43 feel like I'm 80. I would probably loot use that lift more than the front door. And all I'm going to do is get older so I'm going to probably need that door even more
William who built this is 43! he is a grandpa... but that too will run circles around any 18-25 year old, he's a beast. A handicapped ramp would be great to lift up things into the rig, but they take up a lot of space inside, which is why they are hard to work with. Thanks for watching!
Understood thanks
No one seems to talk about the Nissan NV2000 it’s the tallest and largest van I believe And far more cheaper to maintain and find parts cause it’s on the titans chassis.
When I searched, I found only NV200, and it doesn't look to be close to the largest van.
When you’re ready to sell let me know .. 🤙😎
How many miles and engine hours did William's rig have when he bought it? What was his cut off for how many engine idle hours was too much?
When I bought it it had 96k on it. As far as engine idle hours I really haven’t sat down to figure it out.
I dont want to off road much in my van, BUT I dont want it BIG. Class 3 is the largest. Prefer type 2. Pickup truck style (style1) not space efficient enough for me. Keep it common and simple.
I would love to see William do a minimalist conversion on a type 1 or 2.. I absolutely love the conversion you've done, but I am in minimalist mode as I just purchased my E450 7.3 tall / extended box and it's April... I am on the East coast (no real access to the vast BLM & desert lands), it's April, I want to use my "camper" as apposed to spending all spring / summer gutting & converting- ie, I want to use what I have.. So, build out 1.0 is absolute minimalist conversion.. My goal, however, is to get to William's plateau by build out 4.0 ;-)
I agree with you If I had bought mine later toward the summer I would probably do a minimal build and Used it over the summer however I bought mine in December and was able to get it to this point before summer when we plan to use it. Doing a minimalist build does sound like fun and maybe in the future I will do another.
@@wck1127 - I meant type 1 0r 3 above.... I would love to see your version of a minimalist build - it would be interesting... Enjoy your rig sir, great job !!!
Thanks for this, what about the school bus suspension and bouncing?
Yes, definitely something to consider especially on the full size buses. Every kid that has been on a bus and hit a nice bump tries to see if they can hit the ceiling, or maybe that was just me.
What are your thoughts on box trucks?
What about a box truck?
I'm 6' 3" is there any way to raise the roof on an ambulance?
Good aluminum spool gun welder. Start cutting
Where do you guys buy your ambulance as where is a good place to look for used ambulance I'm in the Riverside County
Anywhere you can find one on the internet I am afraid. William was looking as some in Texas, Minnesota, New England and Oklahoma just to name a few. A lot of the good ones get snatched up by ambulance dealers that make profit off of buying them from old fire departments etc.
great video
1 hr idle = 30 miles?!! 😆 NFW.
Solo female looking for an ambulance and someone to convert it. What advice would you give?
Well, personally, it would likely be expensive. Ambulances have lots of electrical redundancy and commercial grade features that have to be removed to obtain a blank canvas. I have bought and owned 33+ vehicles, many of which have been old, classic cars. When you buy an old car, it's best to buy a project someone else lost spent lots of money. The saying "you make money on a car when you buy it" Meaning buying an ambulance someone has 80k invested in that you're buying for 50k. I paid someone up front to do a frame off restoration on my car. Long story short, 12 years it sat untouched in a body shop..... so.. never pay for work ahead of time. I could write 10 pages on your question. Here is the story of the GTO that I ran into some issues with the build process. Not that you will have that issue, but an ambulance conversion is a big task. I would hate to see you get wrapped up with someone saying they could pull it off and you ending up getting burned. You get what you pay for. If it's cheap, it might just be a trash job, ya know? th-cam.com/video/q_GUUjr65kE/w-d-xo.html
Leave it mostly as is ic you do n just paint it n add decor
WHY ARE RVS SO EXPENSIVE WHEN THEYRE MADE OF THIN VINYL AND THIN WOOD FRAMING? THERES NO STEAL FRAMING AT ALL!
I'd be interested in that e350 for 4500 if you're going to pass! Pm Info?
Ambu. roof can be raised like a foot or 2?
4BT is LOUD! I could not deal with that...my buddy has done 3 into pickup trucks. No way, too damn load. He drives cross country to his az house in his one F150 4bt (wears ear plugs the whole way)
As I watched this vid I kept thinking "Botox" hum....
great video