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Old 02-19-2020, 08:14 PM   #1
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
Dave and Kenny, 86 Ford/07 Kenworth

So I’ve been working and saving up for my bus. Finally got the dollars and a plan on what I want to do! The motor that’s in my bus rn is kinda a soggy cardboard box XD wanted to do a motor/tranny swap. After looking around I decided I’d go with a Cummins 8.3 after weeks of thinking about how to put the larger motor in and everything that’d need to be upgraded, front suspension, rear axle, entire dash gotta add all that new wiring somewhere. My brother had the great idea to do a body swap!

So I got a totaled 2007 Kenworth T300. Has the Cummins 8.3 isx coupled with a Eaton 6 speed. Rear end geared at 3.9 to 1. The truck was listed at not running. When we got it delivered, after like a week of anticipation (had it shipped from New Orleans) it didn’t look tooo bad. The cab and the bed were all smashed. Think it was in some sort of rollover accident. It also appeared to have had a strong hit to the front right. The frame was tweeked being several inches back on the right side. Anyway! Replaced the battery cables, think the local fire department cut them on scene. Charged the batteries, and it started right up! Cut the cab and bed off the truck pulled the frame back straight and had too replace the flywheel housing. It’s what is used to support the rear of the motor and the entire tranny! Looks like it ripped apart when the truck wrecked.

Cut the donor chassis in half. Had to lengthen it almost six feet. Added some frame sections and an inner rail. My brother welded it up for me. And on too the body swap we go!
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Old 02-20-2020, 12:02 PM   #2
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
I tried including some pictures here of the things I’m doing. Not sure if they show up or not. I see a quite a few people using external links. What’s the best way to post pictures?
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Old 02-20-2020, 03:03 PM   #3
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Location: Moved to Zealand!
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Year: 2002
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Chassis: Freightliner FS-65
Engine: 7.2L Cat 3126 turbo diesel
Rated Cap: 71 passenger 30,000 gvwr
I like it -- with the running gear fixed it should drive way nicer than the oem ford.
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Old 02-20-2020, 03:56 PM   #4
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
I sure hope so, will just have to see when it’s all done!
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Old 02-20-2020, 06:23 PM   #5
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Swansboro,NC
Posts: 2,973
Year: 86
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Ford B700
Engine: 8.2
Rated Cap: 60 bodies
have been and still debating about a swap on mine and definetly like the road tractor idea for a donor for the front end in its entirety, the rear end and springs but more helpful is the air bag suspension to help with the heavy packed springs being unloaded for lack of bounce on your ride.
i want an all mechanical engine and transmission but i also want? a 10 speed road ranger tranny mounted to an 855 cummins big cam and a two speed rear end?
hope you can pull this off and show me what i am missing
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Old 02-20-2020, 06:27 PM   #6
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Ashtabula, Ohio
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Year: 1996
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Chassis: International
Engine: T444E 7.3L
This is going to be awesome.
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Old 02-20-2020, 07:37 PM   #7
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I think a lot of us will be watching your build progress. Seems like a fantastic idea!
I just wonder what obstacles you'll have when it comes time to insure and register it. You may want to explore that before investing too much time and money.
When I talked to my insurance agent, he said my primary insurer wouldn't touch a bus conversion, I said that they should rethink it because not many vehicles are better built or safer than a school bus, plus, a standard RV doesn't usually come out very well when involved in a collision.
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Old 02-20-2020, 09:11 PM   #8
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
I’ll be sure and keep you all posted!
And too late about waiting till all the time and dollars are invested XD
Got the body set on the new donor frame earlier! Which is awesome!! Fits pretty great, there’s a gap between the hood and firewall. About 7 inches. Wheel wells line up great tho! Seems the new motor is quite a bit longer..hmmm who would have thought. The idea of cutting into the firewall seemed drastic. So plan on just extending it a little too meet where the hood ends.

Borrowed some forklifts from around town to lift the body up. Had one on each side about two thirds the way back and then a third on the rear. Once we got it in the air put some stands on the back part, used that forklift to drag the frame out and push the new one under. The last picture here shows the body on the new frame. Sorry everything’s dark. Only have time too work on it after work... maybe I’ll get some pics over the weekend.

Was quite an effort making the new mounts for the hood. My brother Daniel fabbed all those up for me. The old hood fits great around the new motor, no clearance issues at all.

Working on making some brackets to bolt the body on. Instead of using traditional u-bolts (found a cheaper way) I’m bolting 1/2 inch thick angle iron that I got from work, onto the frame near the top. Drilled holes to line up with the pre existing cross member holes. So the idea is to bolt these up so that I’ll end up with a two inch lip sticking out from the frame. Then I’ll use a 1/2X3 bolts thru that to the floor ribs.

I tried uploading some videos. Didn’t appear to work :/ if anyone knows how to do it be sure and let me know
Also if anyone’s interested in going into more detail on anything that’s done so far say so I’d happily spill all the info I’ve learned thus far. Have quite a few vids of things happening, talking explaining little pieces of what’s going on.
Attached Thumbnails
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Old 02-20-2020, 10:02 PM   #9
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Pasadena Tx
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Coachwork: 1991 bluebird
Nobody else has asked so I will. Mind sharing how much the 07 set you back?
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Old 02-20-2020, 10:45 PM   #10
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
Yeah I don’t mind sharing. It was $1300
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Old 02-20-2020, 10:48 PM   #11
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
I have a friend who has access to the Copart auctions. And I was watching those for a truck with an 8.3 for a couple months, bidding on several but they all went to high. This one was listed as non-running. Appeared to have been in a rollover accident. So I took a risk and bought it! Got it running the day it arrived. Had it shipped here to Kansas City from New Orleans. The shipping was pretty pricey… Costed around $2400

So with shipping included it was $3700
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Old 02-20-2020, 10:51 PM   #12
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
I’m guessing no one else bid it on it because the Cab was demolished and the bed was crooked. It had a lumber bed on it, which is not a desirable bed to begin with. So with all that and it not running no one else wanted it.

Turns out it was an easy fix to get it running. The positive battery cables had been cut. So I made a new cables and it started right up.
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Old 02-20-2020, 11:25 PM   #13
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
Took some pictures of what I’m doing, you can see the angle iron that I bolted to the frame. My plan is to run some 1/2 inch bolts to the ribs of the floor to hold the body to the new frame. In the first picture you can see the new driveshaft section. And sort of see where the frame was welded.

Also the picture of the fuel tank. That’s the tank from the Kenworth. Had to drill new holes in the frame but got it to line up with the old fuel door!

The picture of the hood and how it fits. I know it looks like it is sagging a little bit in the back. That’s because there’s nothing back there to support it yet. Once I extend the firewall out towards the hood. It’ll rest on that.

Oh! Something I forgot to mention earlier is now I’ll have all upgraded brakes, even with ABS.
Attached Thumbnails
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Old 02-20-2020, 11:26 PM   #14
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
Sorry that the pictures are all sorts of upside down and sideways. Not sure how to fix that.
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Old 02-21-2020, 06:01 AM   #15
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Pasadena Tx
Posts: 150
Coachwork: 1991 bluebird
So you pretty much walked away with it. OK, so shipping/transporting is something you're gonna have anyway. Gonna be a nice build to follow. A sleeper bus! Gotta love it!
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Old 02-21-2020, 06:06 AM   #16
Bus Crazy
 
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Ashtabula, Ohio
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Year: 1996
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Chassis: International
Engine: T444E 7.3L
If you resize or make the pics a lower resolution they will appear correctly.
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Old 02-21-2020, 06:52 AM   #17
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
Awesome, thank you for the heads up!
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Old 02-21-2020, 07:32 AM   #18
Bus Geek
 
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,762
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
Massive undertaking! Nice to see such a cool project. Most of the time folks say they're gonna do something like this we never hear back. You come out swingin with pics and progress!
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Old 02-21-2020, 09:57 AM   #19
Skoolie
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: kansas
Posts: 152
Year: 1986
Coachwork: ward
Chassis: ford B-70
Engine: Cummins 8.3 liter
Ohhh yeah! I didn’t want to be one of those types. So looks like I just gotta do it now
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Old 02-21-2020, 10:14 AM   #20
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Suburbs of Winterset, OH
Posts: 802
Year: 2005
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Chassis: FS65
Engine: Mercedes 6.4L
Rated Cap: just the 2 of us
I wonder if you should put some sort of rubber bushings between the frame rails and the angle that you are using to attach the body. Could prevent some squeaks. Plus, if the body has a rigid mount, all the drive train vibration will be transferred to everything inside. Doing so may require a little more engineering but would be worth it in the end.
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