Upgrading an engine from short haul to long haul

[1964 Carpenter]

When most of the school buses roll off the assembly line, they come with short haul motors. To make them really handle well for taking your bus on a national tour, you want an engine that is built for long haul work. Back in the early 1950s Chevy made a 235 that was designed for both. Now some may say it's best to do an engine swap. But of course, it may call for cutting a hole in the floor of the bus to make room for an engine that is built for long haul work since they are bigger than a regular school bus engine. And if you have a manual transmission and want to stick with the manual box, that could call for relocating the shift lever like moving it back a few inches and have it lean forward a little. If you are tricking out a bus that was built in the 1960s, you may want to take a gas engine out and put a rebuilt Detroit 6-71 or a 12-71 Detroit. Even an old 318 Detroit might not be bad. Cummins may make some quieter engines. Dick Gurrera had a nice pretty quiet diesel in his truck. And I think it was a Cummins. Now Dick Gurrera's 1954 Diamond T 951 might be a truck looking at for the type of Cummins it had.

[Iceni John]

Or just buy a Gillig or Crown, both of which can easily exceed a million miles because of their heavy-duty underpinnings and drivetrains. Greyhound's MC9s would run 100,000 miles a year for their first ten years, then they would be sold off to second-tier operators who could put another million on them, before ending up with third-tier operators who could use them for another half-million or more, not a problem for a bus that MCI designed to last for 3 million miles and 30 years of hard commercial service. Guess what - my bus has exactly the same drivetrain as an MC9, and shares most of its running gear as well. Will I need it to last that long - of course not, but it's nice to know that it could easily outlast me. A few years ago an Eastern Sierra school district in California was selling some of their Crowns with 1.2 million miles or more, and they still had plenty more life left in them.

Buy the right bus, then you won't need to do major surgery and organ transplants to it!

John

[cadillackid]

or biuy a bus with a fairly easy engine to rebuild.. ie a DT-466 is a wet-sleeve motor so unless you completely grenade it, spin bearings to the crank, etc you can rebuild it without even pulling it out of the frame..



same with the cummins 8.3, it is wet sleeve..



I would say that with the right care you can get 300k plus easily out of an In-framed motor... even at 20k a year miles thats a good 15 years before you crack it open again..



I know there are a few here who exceed that in miles but im guessing most dont put more than 10-15k a year on their busses...
-Christopher