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Old 02-22-2015, 07:48 PM   #21
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They look newer than the tires I just drove to Florida from Kentucky on.

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Old 02-22-2015, 09:47 PM   #22
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Hello community!
Thanks for the replies!
Many in these forums seen nervous to mention actually Costs. I was wondering, if I did get this bus for 1K, what would be. Typical resell value?
Also, I can't quote as I'm on mobile.. You were mentioning higher quality tires.. $500, each correct?
So much money. I'd probably just get new tires once I decided to go on my first trip.
I'm driving past the bus again tonight, if I check for tire date codes what am I looking for? I'll Google this too but in case someone had a simple answer.

It's a deisel cummins, non-turbo. Pick up is probably so slow on it hahaa
The engine has a TON of grease oil caked coated onto it. It's not dripping but I was surprised when I went under and checked it out. Anyone know of that's normal? Or should I be worried about gaskets and such..

Thanks
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Old 02-22-2015, 10:44 PM   #23
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I stopped by and checked tired. Wrote down markings. All seemed to have decent tread, but the front two are Hancocks, one back side is a toyo other is samousis or something starting in s
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Old 02-22-2015, 11:42 PM   #24
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You do not do a skoolie conversion for resale value. Will not happen. Conversion costs plus the purchase price will be difficult to recover. However, if you purchased the Crown for $1,000, assuming the engine is working fairly well, you could easily get $2,500 to $3,500 for it as is on the right auction site. Out here in the wild West, Crowns are viewed as gold in terms of their skoolie conversion value. Again, because they are no longer being made, and many of them are getting crushed for scrape by the State of California, they are getting rarer by the day. One of my client districts just disassembled a 1990 Crown. One of the last ones made. Really sad. So the ones still existing are getting more and more valuable. However, one good note, I am getting some parts from that 1990 Crown.

You said the engine is a Cummins. I can almost guarantee that it is a Cummins 220 with no turbo. That was fairly common in Crowns of that era. During the late 1970's and into the 80's and 90's, Detroit 6-71's became fairly common in Crowns, many of them with turbos. These were specially built Detroits with the pancake engine so it would fit under a Crown. The big daddy of diesel engines in Crowns was the Cummins 855 cubic inch turbo. This engine was the most powerful put into Crown school buses, and was rated out the factory door at 300 hp. However, many districts tuned them to 350 hp.

That 220 Cummins was a workhorse. You will love it.

In terms of what you will need to put into it in terms of conversion, that is totally up to you. If you have half decent mechanical skills, you can do much of the work yourself. This forum is stuffed with great ideas. I have seen Crown conversions that cost $4,000 and those that cost $50,000. It just depends on how much money you want to put into it, and how much labor you can do yourself or get donated.

The wild card is the mechanical condition of the bus. I can't imagine that the Crown is totally perfect mechanically. You will need to do some work. The question is how serious. You can always take it slow and do one thing at a time. Also, check out the school district idea about getting mechanical labor from them. Cheaper than going to a heavy duty truck diesel shop.

Even if you have to put some mechanical work into it, you are still way ahead with that low purchase price.

By the way, that Crown has a 5 speed manual transmission. It may or may not have a clutch brake on it. I can't remember when clutch brakes starting going onto Crowns, but I believe in the mid to late 1970's. This is important because you use the clutch totally different in a bus equipped with a clutch brake vs a non-clutch brake bus. Both buses do require that you know how to double clutch when shifting. It is not a difficult skill to learn. However, not understanding how to double clutch in a Crown is a quick way to screw up your transmission. Also, once you get proficient in understanding how to shift correctly in a Crown you can also shift without even using the clutch. However, for that you will need to understand things like throttle control and shifting points, etc. Great skills to learn AFTER you get the bus.

Go buy that bus!!!!!!
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Old 02-23-2015, 05:30 AM   #25
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Ahem, what's wrong with the lil lady "flipping" the bus to make some money to convert a bus that is in better shape and has a turbo?
FWIW- I WILL BUY ANY RUNNING DRIVING CROWN FOR A GRAND, ANYONE OUT THERE LET ME KNOW.

This is a CROWN we are talking about... The caked on grease doesn't even cost extra, and its CROWN grease!
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Old 02-23-2015, 06:46 AM   #26
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for date codes, check links I gave on page 2
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Old 02-23-2015, 12:21 PM   #27
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This mid mounted Cummins engine thing is starting to wear on me.

Anyone with a mid engine crown, I would love to see detailed pics.

I'm starting to think of mid mounting the engine in my Blue Bird. lol

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Old 02-23-2015, 03:41 PM   #28
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Nat_ster,

The grateful thing amount mid-ship engine Crowns is how stable they are to drive in wet or snowy weather. The bad thing is you lose all that storage space under the bus. You do get a very large trunk area. However, the total storage is less in a Crown compared to a typical rear engine Blue Bird transit. There is a trade off for driving a near perfect classic bus. :>)
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Old 02-23-2015, 03:59 PM   #29
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How much does an engine weigh, 1500 lbs?
After converting and adding a generator, tanks, and all that jazz, I'd think it wouldn't matter as much where the engine is.
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Old 02-23-2015, 04:40 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by EastCoastCB View Post
Ahem, what's wrong with the lil lady "flipping" the bus to make some money to convert a bus that is in better shape and has a turbo?
FWIW- I WILL BUY ANY RUNNING DRIVING CROWN FOR A GRAND, ANYONE OUT THERE LET ME KNOW.

This is a CROWN we are talking about... The caked on grease doesn't even cost extra, and its CROWN grease!
I ain't no lady. That was my girlfriend hahaa
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Old 02-23-2015, 04:42 PM   #31
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for date codes, check links I gave on page 2
I have done so, could only find codes for the front tires so far, they are from early 2000..
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Old 02-23-2015, 04:45 PM   #32
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Gotcha, some folks would be really surprised at who's buying school buses these days!
In my haste, I thought I read your screen name as "MetalMiss"
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Old 02-23-2015, 09:39 PM   #33
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A Detroit Diesel 6-71 Turbo is about 3,000 pounds. A Cummins 855 turbo is close to 4,000 pounds. Placement is critical when you have that much weight in the extreme front or rear of a bus. It is like a Porsche Boxster vs a Porsche Carrera. The Carrera has a more powerful engine but gets left in the dust on mountain roads because the mid-engine Boxster has better handling.
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Old 02-23-2015, 10:45 PM   #34
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Well for the 99% of us, our engines weigh less than 1500 lbs or so.
Maybe a crown needs that placement since its engine weighs 3x what a regular school bus engine weighs.
I don't see it mattering once all the "house" part in in though.
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Old 02-23-2015, 11:44 PM   #35
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Typical of Crown, they always overbuilt their buses. Again, they were designed to last 50 years in service, not the typical 15 to 20 (if lucky) years of service of other buses.
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Old 02-24-2015, 10:27 AM   #36
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Well for the 99% of us, our engines weigh less than 1500 lbs or so.
Maybe a crown needs that placement since its engine weighs 3x what a regular school bus engine weighs.
I don't see it mattering once all the "house" part in in though.
Cummins 5.9 1200 pounds dry.

Dt 466 1600 pounds dry.

Cummins 8.3 1800 pounds dry.

Transmissions

Alison At 545 300 pounds dry.

Alison Mt 643 550 pounds dry.

Alison MD 3060 550 pounds dry.

Cross members to hang them are at least 250 pounds.

I don't know where the crowns mount their radiators, but my Blue Bird rad and inter cooler were over 300 pounds.

So a Dt466 and a AT545 cross members, rad, intercooler, ect comes to 2600 pounds.

Allison AT 545 Transmission Specification | We carry Allison AT 545, Allison MT 643, Allison HT 740, Allison HT750, Allison MD 3560 Automatic Transmission and many more

http://www.candbsales.com/Images/Int...20mt%20643.pdf

http://www.powerforce.com/pdfs/trans...ds_pf_3000.pdf

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Old 02-24-2015, 10:37 AM   #37
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here ya go- Cummins B Series engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1100lbs

What's the difference between a DT466 and a VT365 6.0 engine? - Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum 1425lbs

International DT466 Diesel Engine 1425lbs

Looks like you're rounding up.
But this is going off topic...

look up DRY WEIGHT.
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Old 02-24-2015, 10:46 AM   #38
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Yes I did, because nothing is ever as light as it was from the manufacture.

Alternator, turbo, engine brake, ect all adds up.

Let's start a thread on balancing the weight of a skooie conversion.

Nat
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Old 02-24-2015, 10:21 PM   #39
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Typical of Crown, they always overbuilt their buses. Again, they were designed to last 50 years in service, not the typical 15 to 20 (if lucky) years of service of other buses.
Hello! I live 1.3 hours away from you!
I have read your build thread and have some questions for you -
my personal email is

carlosemiliobooker@gmail.com if you would shoot me an email that would be awesome..

Thank you!

Emilio
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Old 02-25-2015, 01:15 AM   #40
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You probably don't want to post your email on a public forum. Lots of spam bots troll the net harvesting them. Private message might be better.
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