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Old 12-11-2018, 03:18 PM   #1
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,759
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
RedByrd flying North!

Most of my posts are about building my busses and helping others with their mechanicals.. well believe it or not I do drive my busses on road trips..

This past weekend I Joined a couple fellow Bus enthusiasts and went to Wisconsin .. it was 1300 miles round trip in the great cold north.. over to La crosse from columbus Ohio..

First I thought it appropriate to turn RedByrd into SantaBird One for the trip way north

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I turned the horsepower on the engine up to 230 for the trip to see how it would do long haul .

Off I went without a hitch I ran it to la crosse.. every heater blasting as my little body in the cold doesn’t do well. The drive up was pretty in the hills

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Then was the real magic. My friend got his 1968 GMC fishbowl out for a trip to downtown la crosse for their beautiful Light show.. this bus is a million miler but it rode like new!!
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We packed the bus full! And then parked to take some time to walk through the light show and hear the music.

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Back in the bus we headed off to the train station.. the Canadian Pacific Holiday train was near!!! We made it to the historic La crosse station in time .

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And here comes the train!! Click image for larger version

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The train stops and one of the cars transforms to a stage and awesome music!!

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And off it goes

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We were dropping off our donated food items when Santa and misses claus saw our beautiful Christmas coach approaching .. they came on board and wished us all merry Christmas!

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Afterwords I got the chance to take the classic bus for a spin!!
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Our busses all idling to warm up in the near 0 weather
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The next day we hung out and did more fun stuff .

Christopher

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Old 12-11-2018, 03:23 PM   #2
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,759
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
The next day my buddy took us out sight seeing in the city (as well as his awesome collection of busses and hotrods).
Who knew there were mountains in Wisconsin. What a view!

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This looked like someone train layout from above!! The town layed out in a grid.. even a little train sneaking through !!

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Then we went to the rail yard and I got to get up inside the cab of a real train.. totally wanted to do that forever!!

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Of course a weekend wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t find a coffee shop lol
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Christopher
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Old 12-11-2018, 03:29 PM   #3
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
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Chassis: International 3800
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Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
It was time to drive home yesterday .. and wow the north can be beautiful in winter time..(esp when I’m inside with my heaters all blasting).

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The frozen trees!!! This happens with its way below freezing and gets foggy at night.. it’s an incredible site that just can’t be captured by a camera

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The Midwest roads Suck!!! For anyone who has spent much time trekking the Midwest in a school bus I’m sure you know what I mean!! The roads got so bumpy that one of my mirrors went a flying and smashed to bits!

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Otherwise what a perfect trip.. and the 444e turned up to 230 just cruised at 65 the whole time .. I’m geared a little high so I ran 5th gear mostly and didn’t allow 6th.. my MPGwere actually better ! Since I didn’t have to downshift on the grades.
Christopher
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Old 12-11-2018, 05:41 PM   #4
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Beautiful bus & photos!
What are you getting for MPG with your new trans?
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Old 12-11-2018, 05:58 PM   #5
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Wow!! Awesome pics. Great to see you out having fun with the bus.

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Old 12-11-2018, 06:26 PM   #6
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Thanks for sharing your adventure! Great post!
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Old 12-11-2018, 06:36 PM   #7
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Chris, great trip, hope you have time to go south as well.


Later Johan
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Old 12-11-2018, 06:51 PM   #8
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Chris, great trip, hope you have time to go south as well.


Later Johan
Yes!
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Old 12-11-2018, 07:11 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post

The frozen trees!!! This happens with its way below freezing and gets foggy at night.. it’s an incredible site that just can’t be captured by a camera
I think you captured them incredibly well.

And Redbyrd looks great, as always.
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Old 12-11-2018, 09:22 PM   #10
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Christopher[/QUOTE]

Merry Christmas Christopher

Thanks for the gift of the best post and pictures we have ever read on Skoolies.net


And a great New Year to you to Lad!

Joe and Cindi Motis
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Old 12-12-2018, 06:25 AM   #11
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thank you for the kind words guys!!!



my MPGs on this trip were right around 11.. thats with my cruising speed of 65 going up (into a headwind).. and 67 coming home (no wind really).. I also had a LOT of idle time.. admittedly I left it idle while I was inside at coffee shops or dinner sometimes.. im not sure how much fuel i burned idling.. I need to add those numbers to my computer to measure that.. I enabled the CAP as nasvistar calls it, which is an auto-idle speed feature designed to keep the engine temp between 165-170.. it will vary the idle speed up and down as needed.. I usually left the driver heater on low speed fan so the seat was nice n warm when i came back out.. the idle was usually elevated up to like 850 or so doing that.



my cold starts in the mornings were single digit temps so the high idle ran quite a bit (it slow idles for 5 minutes then runs it up to 1400 when its cold).



I added a B-Qtech TPMS which was a TOTAL flop.. I really need to get a real TPMS and have internal sensors installed. . the screw on pressure sensors do show the pressure decently, however they alarm all the time because the tires warm, pressures go up, and it screeams because the temp sensors for the tires stay cold and make it think your tires are over-inflated for cold temps... not to mention one segment of the display already died and one sensor wont pair up to the CPU..



-Christopher
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Old 12-12-2018, 06:30 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peakbus View Post
Beautiful bus & photos!
What are you getting for MPG with your new trans?



this trip as a whole i was close to 11.. which is a bit low but i had lots of idling time since it was freezing cold and im a weenie and dont like to be cold.. i left the bus run a lot..



my rolling MPGs were upwards of 12-13 from what i can tell... i was running into some north winds headed up.. (the wind turbines in indiana I-65 were really spinning as i passed them).. and I ran 67 coming home.. speed is buzz kill for MPGs.. I *CAN* get close to 15 if I drive at 62 or so..



I need to do more testing but it seems that since I cranked the power up from 190HP to 230HP that I am doing better MPGs.. it didnt downshift on any grade .. there arent a lot of them in wisconsin.. but a bit in the dells.. I will know more when I climb Jellico mountain going to florida.. if i can run that without sending my EGT's off the scale or screamingthe engine in 3rd or 4th gear ill be doing good!.


-Christopher
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Old 12-12-2018, 06:42 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
this trip as a whole i was close to 11.. which is a bit low but i had lots of idling time since it was freezing cold and im a weenie and dont like to be cold.. i left the bus run a lot..



my rolling MPGs were upwards of 12-13 from what i can tell... i was running into some north winds headed up.. (the wind turbines in indiana I-65 were really spinning as i passed them).. and I ran 67 coming home.. speed is buzz kill for MPGs.. I *CAN* get close to 15 if I drive at 62 or so..



I need to do more testing but it seems that since I cranked the power up from 190HP to 230HP that I am doing better MPGs.. it didnt downshift on any grade .. there arent a lot of them in wisconsin.. but a bit in the dells.. I will know more when I climb Jellico mountain going to florida.. if i can run that without sending my EGT's off the scale or screamingthe engine in 3rd or 4th gear ill be doing good!.


-Christopher
Decent HP and a locking TC have made your bus into something awesome, eh?
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Old 12-12-2018, 07:06 AM   #14
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So, where are the hot rod pics?
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Old 12-12-2018, 07:18 AM   #15
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So, where are the hot rod pics?



his garage was kind of dark so I didnt take any pics of the Hotrods.. (or his awesome fleet of busses.. ).. most things are put up for the harsh north winter.. the best of his busses and Checker cabs are stored.



but i can say the school busses are fantastic.. from Crown to Gillig, and thomas.

-Christopher
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Old 12-12-2018, 05:28 PM   #16
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Awesome get-together and the pics look great!
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Old 12-12-2018, 11:21 PM   #17
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That looked cold - but a lot of fun! I love that RedByrd bus!!
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Old 12-19-2018, 04:52 PM   #18
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Holler if you're back up in WI any time soon, I could use some help with my conversion... nice pics!
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Old 12-19-2018, 06:26 PM   #19
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That looks like a lot of fun! The train looks awesome!
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Old 12-19-2018, 06:55 PM   #20
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I know I have been somewhat distracted lately, but how did I miss this awesome post until now!?


Great story, great pix and (as always) great technical advice.


Thanks Cadillac!
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