How to adjust a buses govenor - Page 2

lapeer20m · 02-18-2006, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_experience03

Is turning up that pump just a matter of adjusting the internal spring or what? .....

yes, simply tightening two pairs of springs inside the IP will increase the buses rpm. I do not know what redline is on the 6.6, and if your bus is like mine, it probably doesn't have a tach. But, you do probably have the same trans as my current bus, and we can find the rear gear ratio in the rear end. With that data, we can calculate the rpm of the engine.

with a 5.56? rear end and allison at545 my engine spins about 2700 rpm @65mph.

turning up the govenor is only a 10 minute project.......in theory!

the_experience03 · 02-18-2006, 05:25 PM

My bus DOES have a big, beautiful tach that lets me know that at 63 mph it's doing somewhere between 2500-2600 RPMs.

I need to do my fuel filters here shortly so I'll do the IP at that time too. However before I dig into that thing....how do you prime it when you're done? Does it have a petcock somewhere and then a plunger somewhere on the IP like some of the others I've seen? I'd go look for myself, but it's currently 60 miles away

lapeer20m · 02-18-2006, 05:56 PM

not all engines come equipped with a primer pump.

make sure you fill the filters with diesel fuel before screwing them on.

Next, crack one of the injectors. Crank the engine with the injector nut loose until she fires. She'll prob be a little grouchy when she first starts up. Leave the injector nut loose until you see fuel spraying out of it. Then shut the motor off and tighten the nut.

IF you have a hand primer pump, then you prob won't have to crack the injector.

good luck

Roasting8 · 02-19-2006, 10:16 AM

I had to primer the pump when I ran out of fuel. What I did was build a hand pump (I followed the plans Frank from Idaho had), made from a garden sprayer, hooked it to the primary fuel filter, pumped the hand pump, and started the engine. After starting the engine I, stopped it, removed the hand pump, and started the engine back up.

The damned thing worked great (thanks Frank).

BTW, I have a 671 DD.

Robert

lapeer20m · 02-19-2006, 11:36 AM

I installed a marine hand pump like you see on portable fuel tanks for a boat when i replaced my fuel line. This makes for easy priming.

My dt360 does not require an injector to be cracked once it runs out of fuel, but my 6.6 liter ford did.

Eric von Kleist · 02-20-2006, 07:29 AM

My bus has a Sturdy brand "Road Speed Control and Engine Governor" on it. I want to take it off to free up space on the firewall. (It's a privately owned bus, not a school owned bus.) When I bought the bus, the mechanics at the yard removed some gears from one part of it and said that that would "disable" the speed controller. It looks as if the thing is hooked up to a whole bunch of stuff: throttle cable, transmission (?); speedo; lots of wires on it. Can I just take the thing off?

The bus is a 1985 Thomas-built IH S-1800 Chassis with 9.0 Liter engine and AT-545 tranny. The only identifying information on the speed controller is the company name and product description (above) and a date: Jun 18 1993. That's it. No model number, no serial number, nothing. The company's website has no useful information on the device (in its current iteration) that they sell. I have the contact # for the company, but I have the suspicion that they are not going to be too interested in providing customer service for old product.

Is this device the actual governor that keeps the engine from overspeeding? I thought that was mechanically controlled. If this is just a device to keep the road speed down, I don't need it, and I do need the space on the firewall for something else.

lapeer20m · 02-20-2006, 01:41 PM

It's not safe, but i used to use an alluminum rod that fit nicely between the dash and gas pedal to keep it all the way to the floor. I could tap the rod with my foot and it would fall off of the pedal when i needed to slow down.

My current bus has a hand throttle that i adjusted to keep the bus at 60mph...it needs to be adjusted again though...

Eric von Kleist · 02-23-2006, 07:52 PM

I got hold of Jim Thornton at Sturdy Corporation, the company that manufactures the governor on my bus. He said that all I have to do is replace the throttle cable and then splice the red and light blue wires (ignition interrupt built into the system) together.

I'm confused: in the movies, cutting the Red Wire is a Bad Thing.

Roasting8 · 02-23-2006, 08:23 PM

It's depending on which movie. I thought you weren't suppose to cut the blue

Eric von Kleist · 02-24-2006, 07:14 AM

Even worse! He said to cut the Red Wire and the Blue Wire and splice them together!

This could lead to a complete anti-matter anhiliation of the bus. 17,000# of antimatter completely anhiliating is enough to propel the bus at 4 times light speed, and my tires are not rated for that kind of velocity.

Roasting8 · 02-24-2006, 10:04 AM

at least I'll get more than 62 mph.

Griff · 02-24-2006, 05:29 PM

Yeah, but aren't you worried about upsetting the time/space continuum!?! PEOPLES LIVES ARE AT STAKE HERE! DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING 'TIL I GET UP WITH CARL SAGAN AND STEPHEN HAWKING!!! (Whew, that was close!)

Griff · 02-25-2006, 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overand

Good luck getting together with Carl Sagan, he has, uh, transcended the physical plane.

Yeah, I know. . . did I not mention the time/space continuum?

Elliot Naess · 12-07-2006, 09:13 AM

Well guys, I can report that "I cut the wrong wire" on my first bus and the engine did indeed blow up. That was the 1981 International with a MV404 and a 7-something rear end. And the tachometer did not work. I took it up 65 MPH and bent the valves. One of the push rods looks like a boomerang. So DO be careful with RPMs!
(voice of Mrs. Roddenberry: "Warning. Warp core breach in 20 seconds.")

DizzyIzzy · 10-30-2007, 09:48 AM

I personally believe that they govern these buses for 2 reason.
1. For safe operation of the bus motor.
2. For the safety of the passengers.
Ahhh so there is a reason they only go so fast. But there are things you can do to help with some extra speed. Change the rear end. Then your RPM's stay the same and your able to move a little faster. When increasing the speed you also need to take other precautions for safety. Like checking the brakes,tires and install Inertia Dampners. That way you can go warp speed without hurting you expensive engine. A rear end is way cheaper than another engine would be.

Please don't destroy the space time continuum!!

talk2cfs · 05-24-2008, 10:01 PM

I've got a 89 Ford B700 with a 370 2bl gas. I think it has a govenor but not sure. Been reading all the comments and have some question. How would I know if and what kind of governor i have? Seems like I can go about 55 mph and that is about it. Not looking for major speed, but would like to have some more power and speed when puling my boat. Also what would be a safe high rpm for this motor? Any help would be great.

Thanks

Jeb

elkoskoolie · 05-30-2008, 09:34 AM

IT'S YOUR GEARS!! I've got a '90 Chevy/Carpenter 30' w/ 8.2T AT645 that will run 60-65 at 2800-2900 RPM.. This is a relatively high RPM motor, but prob shouldn't be run over ~2800 RPM for any length. I'm not an expert, but I suspect that if you had a governor, it wouldn't go over 3000 RPM with a load. If you want it to last, I'd try to keep it below 3000, better 2800. My bus will slow to 20-25 MPH pulling 5500 and 7500' summits between Winnemucca and Elko on I-80. My Gillig w/ MT643 CAT 3208 does the same. School bus + big hill + SLOW.

GoneCamping · 10-07-2008, 10:15 PM

I went to the Sturdy Road Speed Govenor website and requested info from them on adjusting my model 89 govenor. I got a phone call today from them, but they said nothing about cutting & splicing red & blue wires. First thing he asked me was where I bought the bus from. After being informed Harrisonburg Va he said that Virginia regulates buses at 55mph and that there were 2 things I could do to 'adjust' the road speed.

He told me to take it off the firewall and open it up, then remove the circuit board in there. After that I could call him, and he would tell me which 2 pins need to have a bridge soldered across them to attain certain speeds. He needed to know which ones were already "pinned" together before telling me what changes to make.

The other option was, that I could send him the board and that he'd do it for me (figuring I may not be up to the task of doing fine soldering work). Having a background in computer repair I told him I could handle it just fine. I only want to bump it up so that I can get 65mph out of this thing...

nevrenufhp · 10-11-2008, 09:45 AM

And, on your Cat 3208, you can run it up to 3200 rpm safely. If you wanted to adjust the engine's rpm too. That's just a set screw on top of the engine. Probably the easiest diesel to adjust the gov.

GoneCamping · 10-14-2008, 08:49 PM

Well, I'm back to square one. I went to remove the road speed governor on Saturday, and saw the wire connector with 3 or 4 wires coming out the bottom. I decided to follow that and see where it went, which was about 12 inches down and there dangled the other end, another plug with a connector on it....not plugged into anything!! Now if this thing is not plugged into anything, why can't I exceed 60mph? There is a cable that comes out and goes to the throttle body, but I can't figure if this does anything, considering the wires are not hooked up it can't be doing a thing.

Ok, exactly where is this RPM adjust screw located?

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