What kind of mileage do you get?

[jkindt]

Last trip out I got a whopping 4.76 mpg. Then I went to do a tuneup and found some issues in the distributor, as well as a base timing of 6 degrees advance (definately not right for a propane fueled engine). I will see what happens next time out, I am hoping for 7-8 mpg, but that might be wishful thinking.

[Will]

My last trip from southern Indiana to northern Iowa we made 13.1 mpg. When we went south to Hunting Island, SC the mountains knocked us down to 11.8mpg. Early this month we went from here to Gettysburg and though I didn't calculate mileage the mountains in the northern Appalachians and Allegheneys kicked our butts a little more. Still above 10 though because I didn't buy enough fuel to have gotten worse than 10. Looking forward to another flat trip to Iowa next month though!

[bus-ted]

Hey All-
I'm contemplating buying a diesel bus with the 7.8L Brazilian. It's mated to a 5 spd. with a split axle.
Anyone out there have an idea of what kind of mileage it would get? Gracias.

[XE1UFO]

Originally Posted by the_experience03

My worst mileage was across North Dakota which happens to be as flat as any state I've ever seen. It doesn't matter which direction you're traveling in across North Dakota....you will ALWAYS have a 25 mph headwind.

My Dad says that North Dakota is the state where you can see the farthest and see the least of any state in the nation!

[Stuff]

the joke for ND and SASK is that its so flat you can see either your dog running away or your wife leaving you for 6 days

but yeah. always seem to get a head wind in ND

[produster]

I have a 86 flatnose blue bird. Bought it in Alabama in March. Got 10.5mpg rolling about 65mph. I use it to haul my drag car around and it is getting about 9.5 but that is because 70% of my trip to the local track is city driving...

I think it has a 5:13ish gear in it. I would like at some point to go to a 4:10 or 4:30 gear, a little more speed and better milage, I hope.

[syke]

We just bought a 92 Blue Bird All American RE 8.3 cummins / allison 643 with 4.78 gears.

Picked it up in Northern Oregon, drove 95% secondary highways back to Northern Arizona.

Average 55 mph and 11 mpg, bus was empty.

I'm hoping 9-10 mpg once the conversion is done.

Maybe changing the gearing to 4.11 would help a bit.

[robackyap]

Average 55 mph and 11 mpg

[kotflb]

Just bought myself a second bus, its an '82 International 71 passenger BB with air brakes. Picked it up in Denver and drove it 720 miles home. It has a Dt466 engine with a Mt643 Allison and 4.78 rear axle ratio. The engine, transmission and rear axle were all rebuilt five years ago and has less than 50k miles since the rebuild. Cruised home between 60 and 65 mph and got 9.5 miles per gallon.

I bought it because it has a eddy current drive shaft retarder on it that was installed new 14k miles ago. I've always wanted one of those. Just the retarder cost between 7k and $10k itself, and I got the the whole bus for 2300. Love it.

[Accordion]

I have a flat nose front engine Blue Bird. It has the 1160 CAT diesel (precursor to the 320. The tag on my dashboard says 6.8 rear end. I think that the rear end may have been changed before I bought it, because I drove it pedal to the metal on my trip from Nashville to Springfield Mo. and the bus went 67 MPH.

I think there must be a governor on the motor. I use a GPS to tell me the speed. On my trip from Nashville I got 8 MPG. My bus weighs 22,000 lbs.

Recently I went on a 130 mile trip, and it was weird that I was able to go 69 to 72 MPH on that trip. I figure that I am still getting 8 MPG.

I do not have a tachometer.

Can anyone tell me why I can go so fast without blowing up the motor? If indeed the rear end is 6.8, I would think that the governed motor would not let the bus go that fast.

[usmcbay]

Hello... I'm a new guy here. My folks just bought a 1995 Thomas Rear Engine 5.9 Cummins Diesel. We're going to work on it together and I'll buy it from them in June.

I'm an ole Cummins Diesel Engine guy and I LOVE the B Series Cummins Engine. Here's what I haven't seen on this Website... Cummins Engine Mods that are Cheap!!! If you have a Grinder I can get you up to around 12% additional mileage AND much more power. In Gassers HP = fuel... in the B Series Cummins there is a long way to the sweet spot before you start losing mileage. That being said Google search "Grinding Cummins Fuel Plate to # 100" and Gain 50hp on Avg with additional Torque and no damaging changes to the Engines life.

Here are a couple of good links!

http://www.dieselbombers.com/5-9l-12v-b ... nding.html

http://www.dieselbombers.com/12-valve-2 ... f=esp-link

[roach711]

My bus is a 24' fiberglass body shuttle bus with a 7.3l Powerstroke, 4 speed overdrive automatic trans and 4.11 rear end gears. I get right around 13 MPG at highway speeds.

[TourTech]

I don't really know what a mile or a gallon is, but I want to get 5Km/Litre of diesel out of my 72 passenger 444E - it looks to be about 12Miles per Gallon.

[wdbowers]

8-10 Diesel fuel

[Henukaw]

Recently drove 1,100 miles in our 366 gasser and averaged between 5-7 MPH between fill-ups.

[mightybus]

When you consider diesel costs roughly 20% more than gas, and if you lose your turbo or pump, plus the additional maintenance costs with diesel, keeping in mind a lot of skoolies stay parked, sometimes I wonder if a gasser, tweeked with fuel injection and computer aided economy, coupled with a manual transmission, while savoring the lowered vibration and noise, might be a viable alternative to diesel. How cool would a Ford v10 be in a 40' flat front bus?

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by Henukaw

Recently drove 1,100 miles in our 366 gasser and averaged between 5-7 MPH between fill-ups.

Ouch.

[travelinwithus]

Originally Posted by mightybus

When you consider diesel costs roughly 20% more than gas, and if you lose your turbo or pump, plus the additional maintenance costs with diesel, keeping in mind a lot of skoolies stay parked, sometimes I wonder if a gasser, tweeked with fuel injection and computer aided economy, coupled with a manual transmission, while savoring the lowered vibration and noise, might be a viable alternative to diesel. How cool would a Ford v10 be in a 40' flat front bus?

I have a V10 in my 2000 Excursion. Sadly, my bus gets about the same fuel mileage.

I averaged about 11 with Farold. - 18,000 pounds

I average about 12 with the Excursion - 7,300 pounds

I have no idea what the ratio for fuel mileage to weight might be but let's say I got 7 mpg with a V10 in Farold, which I bet is an extremely high guess.

Last trip we drove 4248 miles divided by 11 mpg = 368 gallons * (actual) average fuel cost $3.88 per gallon for Diesel = $1427.84

Now with a V10 @ 7mpg - 4248 miles divided by 7 mpg = 607 gallons * average fuel cost $3.29 (this was the lowest price I saw the entire trip) per gallon for gas = $1997.03

The V10 moves the Excursion pretty good but I think it would be pretty doggy in a bus. Anyway, just my 2 cents.

[Accordion]

Diesel used to be much less expensive than gasoline. Now it is more expensive. What's up with that?

My bus gets a whopping 8 miles a gallon. it weighs 22,000 lbs. It has a BIG motor. It is a CAT 1160 which is the precursor to the 3208.

I drive it pedal to the metal and it goes 70mph.

[Shawn C]

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