Quote:
Originally Posted by Yorkitator
Hi 
My husband and I recently bought a 1998 international 3600 Thomas 6 cylinder 71 passenger bus. I wanted to know if anyone has converted one of these and how these engines perform with the weight added after the conversion was completed. Any input will be greatly appreciated!
~Yorx |
It will be helpful to know which engine the bus has. Saying it's a '98 IH 6 cylinder narrows things down a bit, but they still had a couple options in '98. Assuming it was the very common and widely available DT466, they are known to be very solid engines. The only thing limiting your top speed will be transmission and rear-end gearing (and if it has a computerized governor, which can be disabled by a shop with the appropriate hardware and software). Even the other DT series straight-sixes are pretty good engines and will run out on the highway pretty well. I doubt the weight you'll have in the bus will equal the weight of 71 kids and their stuff (and the seats you'll presumably be removing), so it should perform just fine.
Last fellow I worked for had 2 IH trucks, one with the DT466, the other with the DT408 ... both would run 75+ hauling 20 cubic yards of heavy, wet mulch (pretty close to the weight limit, if not over). The DT408 had some pretty fast gearing, it would run 80+ empty. The other maxed out somewhere around 78.
Linear Mode
