Just a quick update, we made the move with only a few hiccups. One being that the bus did overheat a tad on a steep pass leaving western NC, lost some coolant before I was able to get it pulled over, but I dont think it got hot enough to do any real damage. I watched the gauges real close after that and pulled over to cool down whenever it got over 215ish.
The second calamity was that the water pump started leaking really bad the second day, but we were already at a campground where we were able to find a local handyman/ mobile mechanic who used to work for the school district on their buses back in the day, and he knew where to go for parts (place had everything we needed on the shelf!). So it only took a day to get it fixed, cost us only $600, and we didn't have to go anywhere!
Other then that, the bus did great, although it didn't like the hills too much (pulled over a good dozen times to let it cool down) and we spent a few long days driving at about 57 max speed.
I am interested in options for upgrading the fan / cooling capacity of the engine and wonder what improvements could be made. The mobile mechanic said there was little to no play in the fan clutch, so Im assuming it was working as it should.
Of course we had this think loaded to the gills, probably well over its rated capacity. Should we travel in it in a more leisurely style, it wont have half that much weight so it should do ok, but am still interested in options for keeping those temps down.
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