“Dream Liner”
Okay all.
Upon some posts, some advice (both good and bad) I dove in and bought a bus.
Behold the 1996 international blue bird.
Has a mechanical 466 and a 6+1 manual spicer.
138k. Rescued it from the woods of Utah for $1000.
Was originally an Idaho bus, from the mountain valley school district.
The back story on it.
I’m on a ski trip and have been to 9 states and 16 resorts in the last 5 weeks. This popped up on the ksl classifieds and I went out, found the milky oil, dropped the pan, crank was good, and have banked on it being a bad liner. Hence the name “dream liner”.
Drove it 60 miles, and didn’t lose coolant until it shut off. Leaving me to believe the pressure and heat keep it somewhat sealed while driving. Oil stayed clean, and had minimal blow by out the breather tube while driving.
This will be a major mechanical endeavor for me, but I’m confident I can rebuild the motor, or at least the inframe side of it. I’ll be driving it 440 miles up to Montana on Wednesday and parking it there for a week, getting my truck from Michigan, and driving back out with my tools to start the process.
Planning on a time lapse video of the engine rebuild so stay tuned for that.
As far as the conversion, I’m going to go as minimal as possible once the engine is built, live in it bare bones, and draw up plans over the summer while I’m working. The real work will start sometime in the fall of this year when my job slows down, and I have some change to boot on the build.
I’m excited, scared, and hopeful.
At least when I’m done with the motor I can say I actually “built” the bus.
Wish me luck.
-Caleb.
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