Re: 6.0L / 6.3 / 7.3 - anyone have pros or cons to share?
I assume you are talking about engines in the powerstroke family?
I am not familiar with the 6.3 liter, but i have worked in the emergency services for over 10 years, and have worked out of a multitude of ambulances. I think that in general, all of the v8 navistar or ford engines are ill suited for skoolie use. The 7.3 is the better built of all the powerstrokes. At least in my experience, the 7.3 motor would stay together and keep running between repairs longer than the latter series of PS engines. The 6.0 liter engines were much better boat anchors then they were ambulance engines. The first pair of them we had needed to be torn down and rebuilt in under 10K miles. Not to mention multiple turbo's, injectors, fan clutch's, and a myriad of other problems, on brand new engines.
IMHO these engines are not built to withstand the abuse of a full size skoolie. However, plenty of people have 200K or even 300K miles on a 7.3 ps motor in pickup trucks.
For a light duty diesel, the duramax is a much better engine than the PS, but neither can hold a candle to the cummins 5.9. A bus wit ha 5.9 and a lock up torque converter (newer electronic trans or the allison mt643) will pay for itself in the fuel you save over most any other engine/trans combo. You can get 50% better fuel economy with this setup vs a dt360 (5.9 liter) international and at545 trans.
Just my 02 cents.
ps. i've owned several full size buses with various engines, and my current shuttle bus has a 7.3 liter ps engine.
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