MarkObtinaro said,
MCI 102 C3 -- Motor Coach Industries, 102" wide, C-model, 3-axle.
That is probably one of the better choices for a budget build bus conversion. All of the running gear is still available and relatively inexpensive. The best place to get parts and pieces is from Luke at US Coach in NJ. He can usually get whatever you need for an MCI to you wherever you are in the US faster and at a lower cost than if you went to MCI.
MCI motorcoaches with 2-cycle DD engines with the twin radiators overheat. It isn't a case of if they are going to overheat but when and how often. There are some work arounds but don't plan on upping the HP very much unless you intend to add additional radiators. The number one problem with the twin radiators is over time the seals around the edges fail allowing the squirrel cage blower fans to suck around the radiators rather than through them. MCI had two sizes of blower fans available. If you don't have the larger sized ones you definitely need to upgrade them. Adding in additional transmission cooling capacity would be a big help as well.
Ditching the factory HVAC system is a great idea. You will want to keep some of the plumbing intact to run hot water from the engine to the front heaters and defrosters. Perhaps with the whole system dedicated to defrosting the windshields it might actually clean them off. The stock A/C compressor with the additional electrical load is usually considered to take 35-50 HP to operate. The condenser compartment just behind the street side front tire can make a great gen set compartment since it already has a compartment door made of screening material. The fan you are seeing by the toilet tank is most probably the exhaust fan for the bathroom. Since the original toilet in an MCI isn't much more than an outhouse the removal of odors was a big deal. As a consequence there was a pretty large exhaust fan that tried to move the icky smell away from the bus. Most of the time it couldn't keep up on a hot day. That fan was wired to be on whenever the engine was running.
The air ride system is pretty primitive by today's standards. It was first developed on the MCI-5 and MCI-7 series of buses in the early '60's. It originally had no kneeling ability. Your C-3 may or may not have a kneeling ability. So yes, it might be plumbed and wired to go down but the system at normal ride height is about as high as it will go. The system does not have enough travel to go any higher. Which can present some problems if the road gets very rough. It isn't hard to get a three axle coach stuck if you should stop somewhere with the tags holding the weight with the drive wheels spinning in the air. Most of the newer MCI's had switches in the driver's compartment that would allow you to dump the air on the tags to give you some added weight for traction. Don't try driving without air in the tags very far--all the weight you put on the drivers is shifted off of the front axle which can make the front axle very light on the ground making it hard to keep directional control.
Most operators have gone to the 315's for tires. IMHO they are a bit of overkill unless you have a 45' coach like an MCI E4500--those are really heavy buses and need the extra weight carrying capacity. 11x22.5's are going to be your best bet--available at any truck stop in the country and cost about 65% of what a 315 will cost.
Do NOT use retreads/recaps/Bandags of any kind on a coach. When a tire fails, and they do all the time on coaches, the steel reinforced whip will do major damage before you can get stopped.
MCI's came with fuel tanks of varying sizes. It all depended upon what use the original operator figured they would be using the bus to do. A lot of the commuter/airporter/shuttle versions had tanks that were good for 5-8 hours of running while a line coach or a charter coach might have a tank good for 16-20 hours of running.
Some of the MCI's had the alternators run off of drives at the back of the engine on the driver's side. A lot of them were gear driven. Most of the later ones were belt driven off of the front of the engine. The same is true about the power steering pumps.
When it comes to towing with an MCI, you are going to have to design a tow hitch that accesses structural parts of the bus frame. All of the MCI engine/transmission power packages are mounted in cradles. Once all of the hoses and electrical connections are removed and the driveline is dropped there are only four big bolts holding everything in. Two guys and a forklift can do a power package swap in a about four hours if they have done it a couple of times. Which means putting a hitch on the rear bumper means you are only hitching up to the four rubber isolated bolts holding the engine in the bus. When Greyhound orders buses to haul freight in trailers the whole rear of the bus is constructed differently.
It appears as if you not only found a nice and clean rust free bus but it also seems to run pretty well. Good luck on your build and Happy Trails to you!
