Project "Escape from Oakland!" 1981 Crown

yeggs · 04-12-2016, 03:11 PM

Hello Skoolie.net!

I've been lurking here for years, dreaming bus dreams. A week ago, the stars aligned, the clouds parted, the *insert metaphor here* and the internet showed me a deal that I couldn't resist.

Meet my new project, my escape from an unaffordable SF Bay area... meet ex-San Jose California Unified Bus 59! A 1981 Crown, with over 500K on the clock, a Detroit Diesel 671 under the middle (it's third? it's fifth? no one could remember), and a Eaton (probably?) 5 speed manual. Running condition? "Ran when parked." ... in 2007!

Winning bid from govliquidation.com? $500. I was the only bidder. $550 with all the fees, or $0.014/lbs. Yep, less then 1 and a half cents a pound for some stylish old american steel and aluminium.

"Must be towed." A condition of sale.

Cost of tow from San Jose to my workshop in Oakland? $750. Ouch.

Here's the heart of the beast. A turbocharged 2 stroke Detroit Diesel. "Screaming Jimmy."

So skoolie.net, got any tips for the first time you fire up a 671 after 10 years?

So far, I've pulled the batteries, 2x 8D's and put them on the desulfer battery conditioner thing, but am not holding my breath on that one.

There's oil in there, black as the night, but not "cloudy" or "milky". There's a half tank (50 gallons!) of ten-year-old diesel, but I'll start it off a jerry can with fresh fuel.

So Detroit Diesel fans out there, should I just crank her up once I get some batteries, or what? Pull and clean injectors? Drip some oil in the bores? Or just f-ing go for it?

I had a yanmar diesel run away on me once. No fun. I stopped that little guy from blowing itself up by putting my hand over the air intake. What's the emergency shut-down procedure on a 671?

Robin97396 · 04-12-2016, 04:00 PM

CO2 fire extinguisher.

serpent · 04-12-2016, 07:41 PM

Awesome score! (I watched those bus's but was more interested in getting the tandem with the curved windshields as *gasp* a parts bus.) I still can't believe only a couple people bid on the 35'ers, one of which you ended up with. Gratz!

If those batteries end up being toast just grab any 12V large amp-output battery and wire it in. Take the air filter off and keep a large wet towel handy, click the switch in the bay door to start her up and if she ends up 'running away' throw that towel in the intake.

Looking forward to your build.

Cheers.

serpent · 04-12-2016, 07:51 PM

Forgot a bit:

Pull and clean injectors? Drip some oil in the bores? Or just f-ing go for it?

Robin97396 · 04-12-2016, 08:10 PM

How long did they say those had been sitting?

Robin97396 · 04-12-2016, 08:12 PM

I watched that auction too. It's just to hard for most people to buy something that big that doesn't run.
Congratulation. It's really cool that you're here and we'll get to follow your progress. Have any of the other crowns in that sale turned up in skoolie.net?

ol trunt · 04-12-2016, 09:31 PM

At the risk of being banned from this site---go to Busconversions.com and learn what you need to know BEFORE you start that 6v71!!!!!!!!!!!! Then come back here and share your build. The DD is a great engine but it will kick your A$$ if you don't know what you are doing. Jack

serpent · 04-12-2016, 09:42 PM

Hey now. Don't go making someone hesitate to hear the ol' girl run. After 10 years I doubt it will do more than 'burp' a bit before bellowing out a huge plume of black smog and then run like a 'top.' ;)

...yeah. I guess if you're not into fixing a ton of potentially major problems stray from taking action on my thoughts. Although I'll stick to my original thinking that it will probably fire right up after a few rotations.

Best to take a hit off the busconversions.com Detroit guys first to lighten nerves. ...I'd actually really hate to see an old Crown get tossed because of a unfortunate mishap.

daddyoften · 04-12-2016, 09:42 PM

Ditto!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

bansil · 04-13-2016, 06:31 AM

X3 or 4...seek advice and then report back here

somewhereinusa · 04-13-2016, 07:31 AM

What Jack said.

opus · 04-13-2016, 09:56 AM

I used a steel plate over the turbo intake. That way you wont be having to dig all sorts of rag bits out of everything if things dont go well.

Tango · 04-13-2016, 10:17 AM

More than a few turbos have been wrecked by people stuffing rags & such in during a runaway. A piece of flat metal as Opus described or a flat block of wood is a far better choice. Better yet...install an air shutoff valve in the intake to head off any such emergencies.

And...do NOT try to slap your hand over the turbo intake in such a situation. A wound up diesel is pulling enough vacuum to suck it in and spit it out the exhaust.

crazycal · 04-13-2016, 10:20 AM

Just make sure you have a camera running.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NRaqgab0_w

Robin97396 · 04-13-2016, 12:06 PM

The old preferred way to stop a runaway is still a co2 extinguisher. It simply starves the engine of oxygen with a cloud of co2 in the general direction of the intake without damage from foreign objects.

On the other hand the engines I worked on were to big to put your hand over the intake. To big to put your clipboard over the intake. Co2 saves engines.

Tango · 04-13-2016, 12:22 PM

Emergency air shutoff valves are seriously high dollar...but...I am playing around with the idea of building my own into the intake using (get this)...an RV sewer waste gate valve. As long as I can keep it away from too much heat, it oughta' do the job. I hope to be starting on my intake system before too long so we'll see how this experiment goes.

crazycal · 04-13-2016, 02:57 PM

I thought those buses had Cummins 220s?

Chevydude01 · 04-16-2016, 03:38 AM

Here's the heart of the beast. A turbocharged 2 stroke Detroit Diesel. "Screaming Jimmy."

So skoolie.net, got any tips for the first time you fire up a 671 after 10 years?

So far, I've pulled the batteries, 2x 8D's and put them on the desulfer battery conditioner thing, but am not holding my breath on that one.

There's oil in there, black as the night, but not "cloudy" or "milky". There's a half tank (50 gallons!) of ten-year-old diesel, but I'll start it off a jerry can with fresh fuel.

So Detroit Diesel fans out there, should I just crank her up once I get some batteries, or what? Pull and clean injectors? Drip some oil in the bores? Or just f-ing go for it?

I had a yanmar diesel run away on me once. No fun. I stopped that little guy from blowing itself up by putting my hand over the air intake. What's the emergency shut-down procedure on a 671?

[/QUOTE]

Hello there and congrats on your Crown! Like you, I recently acquired a Crown , a '76 with a DD 671 NON turbo and fuller 5 speed. I have learned much about the bus and its special engine from the fine people on here. One thing I learned is the DD has and emergency engine stop lever in the driver side engine bay. I never noticed it until someone on here sent me looking for it. Mine looks like a pickup truck dipstick sticking out of the center of the horizontal frame rail, center of the bay, almost directly behind your turbo. Once I saw it, it was even labeled. You may have to be close to use it but you could tie a nice long rope to it to be farther away... lol. I would also agree with the co2 fire extinguisher as well.
As for starting it, I found my Crown where it in a dirt lot in Yuma, AZ where it had been parked since the California registration expired in 2009. I cleaned the air filter, put in new batteries, checked and topped off some fluids coolant mostly. It had a quarter tank of fuel so I just added injector cleaner and decided the only way to know if it was alive was to turn the key. Just like your 81 with 500k, mine had 479k on the clock and even then, it stared faster than my newish chevy 2500. Sounded like a dream. a little smoke but after 7 years of sitting and old fuel and no service records what do you expect? After checking the brake system for leaks and properly airing the tires at the nearest Loves, I drove it 200 miles to her new home. Good luck with it bud!! Keep us informed on how its going!!

P.S. I would VERY HIGHLY recommend you read some other diesel forums as well about your very rare, very different, but incredible engine. You CAN NOT get a replacement engine so learn about it and take proper care of it!

Kipin · 04-16-2016, 03:15 PM

I never knew a diesel engine could or would do that. Is that with all diesel engines or just the older ones and what causes that to happen?

cowlitzcoach · 04-16-2016, 03:16 PM

Before I did anything I would pull the engine through at least a couple of full revolutions to make sure the engine wasn't stuck.

As it has been mentioned you might have a damper to kill the engine. If it has one it would be in sticking through the middle of the frame rail about right behind the turbo. You may even have a remote control for the emergency engine kill on the dashboard.

As far as power packages are concerned, the DD 6-71 was put in more Crowns than the Cummins 855. The Cummins was an almost $10K option that most schools could not justify.

Since your bus is a 1981 I don't recall what version of the DD 6-71 you might have. If your bus is an A-426TAC-11 it would be the 250/285 HP turbo aftercooler version. If it is an A-426T-11 it would be the 235/250 HP turbo version. There should be a builders plate from DD somewhere under all of the black gunk on the valve cover that will tell you what it is for sure. That is if it hasn't been steam cleaned so many times the letters are no longer legible.

If it is an A-426T-11 it would have 11X20/12x22.5 tires. If it is an A-426T-10 it would have 10x20/11x22.5 tires.

It may or may not be electronically controlled. If it isn't electronically controlled it will have an engine emergency kill switch on the dashboard and a mechanically controlled one going through the frame rail behind the turbo. If it is an electronically controlled engine it may or may not have the kill switch and the mechanically controlled damper. My 1979 was a mechanical and it had the kill switch and damper. Our church has a 1986 with a DDEC II and does not have the kill switch or damper.

I would not bother trying to start using a remote fuel source. I would clean the air filters and make sure there are no blockages in the intake, change the fuel filters, make sure the fuel system is purged of air (there should be ports at the top of the filters for a pressure bleeder), and then just go for it.

A DD 2-cycle with a lot of miles is going to have plenty of slop in it. Sitting around for several years shouldn't cause any problems. If it were a relatively new engine I would be concerned but an older engine, not so much.

Good luck!

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