Another beginner interested in converting a school bus.

boojiewoojie · 08-28-2007, 09:27 AM

Welcome to the adventure! Someone else can help with the engine questions (I have a CAT) but you may want to look at Wheel/Tire FAQs in the tutorial section for info on split rims. My understanding is that the star pattern (Dayton) doesn't mean it's a split rim. I have split rims on front, but my wheels look "normal" (Budd). I'm not too worried about it because it's the modern split rim, the tires are radials and have at least 90% tread. Hopefully I'll have many happy miles down the road before I have to worry about upgrading my wheels.
Anyway, hope you find what you're looking for! Everybody on here is really helpful...
Rick

paul iossi · 08-28-2007, 02:53 PM

ford buys their engines, the 7.3 was developed by international for use as a bus engine and adapted to light truck use, the cummins 5.9 was developed as a joint venture with case tracter and has been used for lots of industrial and marine applications as well as a medium truck engine, ford uses it in their buses as a 5.9 cummins or a ford f1060.
any truck tire that is a .5 diameter ie 16.5,19.5, 22.5, 24.5 etc is a tubeless tire and theirfore not a split rim type tire, the wheel type, budd or dayton has nothing to do with split rim or tubeless. split rims are safe to use they are only dangerous when untrained/inexperienced people try to mount/dismount/air up a newly mounted tire without knowing how to make sute that the rim and bead are properly seated and locked to the rim. once a split rim wheel has a tire properly mounted and aired up they a safe to handle and no more dangerous than a tubeless tire.

welcome to the world of skoolie, lots of good info and helpful people here.

wmah · 08-28-2007, 04:08 PM

The starters are different on the buses and trucks the same size as opposed to say a dodge 2500, 3500 and a ford f250, f350 and so on. It is only cause they use different transmissions. Other stuff on top of the motor such as power steering and alternator are also different. On the cummins the power steering pump might be the same but I am unsure. Otherwise everything else is pretty much the same.I do beleive injectors might be different from a ford to an international.

Griff · 08-28-2007, 05:22 PM

Here's the post on rims:
http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=324
Sadly, at the moment, the images aren't linked in any more. Maybe if he gets time, Steve can connect the dots again for 'em. I have the details archived somewhere on my PC, if I can find 'em before Steve connects the dots, I'll let ya know!

KC10Chief · 09-01-2007, 01:00 AM

I have the 7.3L in my bus, and a 2002 F250 with the 7.3. They're quite a bit different, but if you can work on the Powerstroke, you can can work on the International. The parts are different though. I sure wish I had a powerstroke in my bus! If I were you, I'd look for a bus with the DT466 or the DT360. Both are excellent motors for a skoolie. My 7.3 is a dog, but it will top out at 65 on the highway and seems to have enough power to get my bus where it needs to go. It will lose some speed on steep hills though. My next bus WILL have the DT466 or I'm not buying it.

wtd · 09-01-2007, 10:09 PM

Welcome to the adventure ...

Quote:

I love the look of the diesel pusher buses but I don't really want to put myself in a position where I don't have the appropriate equipment to work on a transaxle and such

I have a Thomas RE and it has a regular engine/trans/driveshaft/rear, it's just backwards ... if you look at it from the back it's the same as looking at a conventional bus from the front ...

GoneCamping · 09-04-2007, 08:38 PM

I was going to post the same thing as above, the rear engine bus doesn't use a transaxle.... same motors, it's just mounted in there facing the rear, the transmission is the same thing but it's in there backwards too, uses a drive shaft to the rear end...

As for the 7.3L engine in the F250, it is still made by International...same motor as the bus. Ford does put some of their own components on them to come up with a unique configuration, but it is otherwise the same motor. (I work for a Ford Heavy Truck dealer in the parts dept). Many of the parts we get in for these motors come straight from International not Ford... (instead of blue oval, it's Blue Diamond!!)

GoneCamping · 09-08-2007, 09:40 PM

I can't speak for all of them, but for the most part I think they all use a backward configuration, at least every one that I have looked at so far does this.

As for noise you'll get a much quieter ride with the engine way in the back, and you gain a little more floor space since it's enclosed all the way to the front bumper. My personal opinion (FWIW) is that a dog nose bus will always look like a school bus no matter what you do with it. Transit style buses already have a similar profile to that of a Class-A...

Far as I'm concerned, rear engine is also much easier to work on, just flip-up that giant rear door and the whole engine is right there... I can stand right there on the ground and get at everything! A dog nose bus by contrast, you'll have to climb up on something, then bend over under that hood. Our mechanics have a special up & over creeper they use to work on trucks...

One more additional thing I can think of that makes a transit style more useful, is that there is nothing underneath that bus going from front to rear (except air lines up by the bottom of the floor). This makes it possible to add in storage compartments that cross all the way from one side of the bus to the other...matter of fact, many of them come equipped with this.

Another to consider no matter which type of bus you buy, is the roof/ceiling height... they basically come in three configurations... Low top, straight top, and raised top. The low top typically has about 6' interior, and once you start adding flooring and ceiling material that 6' clearance starts to shrink rapidly. Straight roof bus should be around 6'-3" and the raised roof around 6'-6' or so... Figure about 30" in length for each window/seat row, so you can get an idea of length by simply counting windows...

bdavis441 · 09-09-2007, 01:45 PM

you can also get a flat-nosed bus with a front engine configuration. I bought my 1993 Spartan/Carpenter with 5.9Cummins and MT643 for $2500 from Greg at http://www.floridachurchbus.com

wmah · 09-09-2007, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KC10Chief

I have the 7.3L in my bus, and a 2002 F250 with the 7.3. They're quite a bit different, but if you can work on the Powerstroke, you can can work on the International. The parts are different though.

If you look at a bus the same year span as what your ford has you will see they do look alike on top. From what I can see it is the other stuff that is different such as alternator, starter, power steering, water pump on the international has a filter on it unlike the ford. I also believe the fords have injectors rated for more HP but I am not positive. I am pretty sure the turbos on both are also the same.

If you had a 1993 ford with the diesel in it it would look more like your bus motor.

GoneCamping · 09-14-2007, 11:32 PM

Again, I can't speak for all of them, but most of them have the radiator on the side... My 1989 Thomas Saf-T-Liner transit style has a Cat 3208 (NA) in back. The picture below is my bus, you can see the radiator grill on the side. The rear bottom of the bus hinged just above the tail lights and goes all the way across, flips up..the entire motor is accessible from there...

On the other side of the bus, the gill over here is for the intake, the air filter and batteries are inside this opening...

i don't have a picture of it with that door open, but will try and remember to get one this weekend.

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