7.3L Godzilla V8 Swap

[nconn]

I was curious if anyone has considered the possibilities of swapping their old diesel engines out and putting in the new Ford Godzilla engine in. You can get the engine and trans for about 10k https://theinfamousproject.com/shop/...-swap-package/

I know there would be a lot more parts and custom fabrication needed but I think this would be a really cool idea.

I am in no way considering doing this now, but if down the line my whole engine blows or needs a rebuild (idk why that would happen) this would be a cool option. I doubt this engine can handle any of the full size 40 ft skoolies but judging by the class A motorhomes it is in it should be able to handle the <30ft skoolies.

I searched the forum and haven't seen anyone talk about it. I am no mechanic so it may not even be possible.

[UFO pilot]

Gasoline engine. Nothing wrong with that at all in case it was not clear. This engine was developed by Ford to replace the 6.8 V10 they have had for decades now.
It looks pretty cool. If my 2000 F250 pickup or my 2004 E450 shuttle bus need either of their V10 motors replaced I would consider this engine. They are not big diesel strong but if you already have a gasser its another option for a repower (or engine swap in the gasoline engine world)
Anything is possible!

[nconn]

Ya, I figured a swapping it with a previous gasoline engine would be pretty straight forward. I am talking about going from a diesel to the gasoline engine. For example, this engine is in many class A motor homes with a weight of 28k. Most skoolies <30-35ft will be under that weight. So if someone's dt466, cummins, etc. craps out this would be a cool alternative if you have the right skills or $ to pay someone to do it for you.

[cadillackid]

so far the consensus amongst friends that drive school busses is that the godzilla in school bus form is gutless.. much more so than the V10 it replaced... I havent heard of any major reliability issues... the specs of the engines in busses should make them pretty fast, however it may be the transmissions people dont like.. or the fact they for sure are using torque reduction during shifts which makes an engine feel gutless..



a neighbor of mine has one in his new F250 truck and absolutely loves it.. (I will say thoiugh that this guy never keeps anything stock for more than a few days.. so im guessing his 7.3 is probably not stock either...


since they make these for school busses (bluebird offers them in their vision conventionals) im guessing that J1939 is a part of the computers which would inteerface to modern ABS controllers, dashboard clusters etc...



the bluebirds actually gave up the allison to use the trans that comes with the 7.3 which is a 6 speed...

[La Camioneta]

It's exciting. It'll be interesting to see how the new gen of Godzilla busses hold up and when they get retired how they are.

Old school busses did fine on 345/392 IH's, 366 Chevy, and 370 Fords. None of these made 350hp or 468 torques like the Godzilla.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by La Camioneta

It's exciting. It'll be interesting to see how the new gen of Godzilla busses hold up and when they get retired how they are.

Old school busses did fine on 345/392 IH's, 366 Chevy, and 370 Fords. None of these made 350hp or 468 torques like the Godzilla.

busses of the 70s and early to mid 80s also were never asked to go more than 55.. as in 73 the national speed limit was set at 55 or states would lose their federal highway funding... so most of those busses got low gearing.. nowadays busses are being asked to run 70 down the highway as kids are being bussed further to school and also more trips in school busses.. when i was a kid / teen on any trip longer than about 45 mintues we went on "trip busses" (coaches) that the school rented.. even our junior trip to the state house in columbus ohio from dayton we drove coaches (hour and a half).. nowadays they run school busses so the bigger horsepower is necessary.. and I suspect the godzilla engine will hold up just fine.. in question will be the fact the busses themselves are just not made anywhere near as good quality as they once were... I suspect we will find lots of busses wioth perfectly good drivetrains ending up junked because the bodies wear out / rust out, etc... many schools have hard and fast rules about bus age.. so building a bus that lasts 25 yeard when the average run time is 12 makes no sense as a manufacturer.. as the schools know used busses bring nearly no $$ at auction compared to purchase price so they really dont need to be built to last beyond.. schools dont care about churches and hobbyists..

[La Camioneta]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

busses of the 70s and early to mid 80s also were never asked to go more than 55.. as in 73 the national speed limit was set at 55 or states would lose their federal highway funding... so most of those busses got low gearing.. nowadays busses are being asked to run 70 down the highway as kids are being bussed further to school and also more trips in school busses.. when i was a kid / teen on any trip longer than about 45 mintues we went on "trip busses" (coaches) that the school rented.. even our junior trip to the state house in columbus ohio from dayton we drove coaches (hour and a half).. nowadays they run school busses so the bigger horsepower is necessary.. and I suspect the godzilla engine will hold up just fine.. in question will be the fact the busses themselves are just not made anywhere near as good quality as they once were... I suspect we will find lots of busses wioth perfectly good drivetrains ending up junked because the bodies wear out / rust out, etc... many schools have hard and fast rules about bus age.. so building a bus that lasts 25 yeard when the average run time is 12 makes no sense as a manufacturer.. as the schools know used busses bring nearly no $$ at auction compared to purchase price so they really dont need to be built to last beyond.. schools dont care about churches and hobbyists..

You musta grown up rich, Mr Kid!

Down in podunk GA we didn't know what an activity bus was! Field trips and all that were done on regular school busses, as were all teams going to games.

What was the year that bus body durability fell off? What's the difference between the new ones and old school? I've not been on a bus newer than '94.

And how much do people drive their schoolies? The epa diesels got expensive enough maintenance-wise to drive school systems back to gasoline!

I believe that for intermittent use a modern gasser skoolie would be cheaper overall to operate having eliminated the diesel emissions issues. And much more friendly to maintain.

[cadillackid]

no idea how they did things around where you lived.. im sure every area / district has its own ways... they all do to this day..


of course schools went back to gas busses because of emission controls.. Navistar and to some extent CAT failures left a lot of empty pocketbooks and stranded kids..



Bus quality in 94 was still pretty primo... note the use of lots of METAL in everything up until about 2004 when plastics became more the rule.. to the point bluebird even uses plastics on external parts of the bus.. and you can see oil-canning in brand new visions and thomas C2's.. Yes I have plenty of friends who run their own conteractor companies subbing for schools, and / or driving busses.. new busses are preferred by parents (evewn though not necessarily by schools).. parents assume new busses are safer and more reliable.. you know that "New cars dont break" (even thoiugh they do) philosohpy..



the gas engines of today are a good bit different than the gas engines of yesteryear.. that said, no gas engine other than a race car is really designed to run with super high RPM for days in and out.. while torque numbers on gas engines with VVT are much better at low end than plain old fixed time engines.. its noit where diesel engines are..


for routes? yep they are great.. not so sure about running them day in and day out 500 mile roadtrips.. as I stated before , theres no good reliability data on such a new engine as the godzilla..



right now its the only gas options for school busses until something else comes along.. PSI is discontinuin g its 8.8 that was used in the IC bus lines as it couldnt meet california emissions from what I understand.. it actually was a pretty good runner and has done pretty well in the school service world..



that said, if i was as rich as you seem to think (negatively of).. and I was t ogo buy a brand new bus as my cross country cruiser.. id probably by a gas bus before a diesel just because the cards are stacked against diesel in current days... esp in a shorty like I enjoy owning Id for sure get a gas motor.. not happty about a ford transmission but then wouldnt be the first time I built what I wanted if that trans were junk

[La Camioneta]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

no idea how they did things around where you lived.. im sure every area / district has its own ways... they all do to this day..


of course schools went back to gas busses because of emission controls.. Navistar and to some extent CAT failures left a lot of empty pocketbooks and stranded kids..



Bus quality in 94 was still pretty primo... note the use of lots of METAL in everything up until about 2004 when plastics became more the rule.. to the point bluebird even uses plastics on external parts of the bus.. and you can see oil-canning in brand new visions and thomas C2's.. Yes I have plenty of friends who run their own conteractor companies subbing for schools, and / or driving busses.. new busses are preferred by parents (evewn though not necessarily by schools).. parents assume new busses are safer and more reliable.. you know that "New cars dont break" (even thoiugh they do) philosohpy..



the gas engines of today are a good bit different than the gas engines of yesteryear.. that said, no gas engine other than a race car is really designed to run with super high RPM for days in and out.. while torque numbers on gas engines with VVT are much better at low end than plain old fixed time engines.. its noit where diesel engines are..


for routes? yep they are great.. not so sure about running them day in and day out 500 mile roadtrips.. as I stated before , theres no good reliability data on such a new engine as the godzilla..



right now its the only gas options for school busses until something else comes along.. PSI is discontinuin g its 8.8 that was used in the IC bus lines as it couldnt meet california emissions from what I understand.. it actually was a pretty good runner and has done pretty well in the school service world..



that said, if i was as rich as you seem to think (negatively of).. and I was t ogo buy a brand new bus as my cross country cruiser.. id probably by a gas bus before a diesel just because the cards are stacked against diesel in current days... esp in a shorty like I enjoy owning Id for sure get a gas motor.. not happty about a ford transmission but then wouldnt be the first time I built what I wanted if that trans were junk

No offense intended at all, Mr Kid.
I was more pointing out how poor we are in rural GA!

The 6R140 trans has similar ratios to the Allisons and double ODs so the cruise rpms should be low.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by La Camioneta

No offense intended at all, Mr Kid.
I was more pointing out how poor we are in rural GA!

The 6R140 trans has similar ratios to the Allisons and double ODs so the cruise rpms should be low.

the 6R140 has great ratios im just not sure about it being something id run heavy loads with.. the 5R110 did a great job till you really loaded up the weight... then again those sat behind diesels so hopefully the 6R140 proves itself in the medium duty world.. although 6 speeds are kind of becoming a thing of the past.. with the "allison" (not really a true allison) 10 speed.. my RAM has an 8 speed and I think thats the trans they use behind the cummins in the rams too ..


im a proponent of more gears and wider ratios.. it gives you choices... theres a reason truckers at a minimum had 10s, and most preferred 18s.. more gears more options to pick the perfect ratio for the speed / RPM..



maybe not as important on gas engines which have a narrower range of max effiiciency.. even moreso with VVT..



a lot of the ratings these newer transmissions are getting are because they do SEM during shifts.. albeit one of the most stressful times during a transmissions operation is within the confines of shifting gears.. applying lots of continuous torque is oftentimes tough on bushings


interesting thing is there are some parameters even as far back as the late 90s / early 00's in the navistar ECMs to begin the idea of torque limiting during shifts... while I was visiting with Bill from powerHungry we looked at some of it... these godzilla engines i suspect will be ripe for lots of tuning in the future.. in fact I think Roush has already jumped on that bandwagon.. since the school busses appear to use the ford trans and computers.. the idea of buying used godzilla-powered busses in a decade or so and turning them up is a real possibility... assuming the engine sells well in the light duty (F250/F350) trucks.. thats who buys and funds the secondary market...

[UFO pilot]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

...when i was a kid / teen on any trip longer than about 45 mintues we went on "trip busses" (coaches) that the school rented..

Same where I grew up in Oregon, most of the medium to smaller districts contracted with a highway coach company that included drivers. Took a trip to Disneyland one year on a marching band road trip. I was playing trombone back then, we were at the front of the band in marching formation. If you ever get to Disneyland to visit, take a walk down the very center of Main street but keep one foot stepped into one of those horse drawn trolley tracks the entire length of the street while blowing your horn. Adjust to hide the limp effect. Ah, memories.

...schools dont care about churches and hobbyists..

As true today as ever!

[nightanole]

I still think its funny they ordered Ford econolines with these engines, took them out, installed EV parts. And are now reselling the engines with no emissions...

You would think they government would require them to drill a hole in the block or something. Then again maybe reselling the engines reduces the cost of conversion?

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by nightanole

I still think its funny they ordered Ford econolines with these engines, took them out, installed EV parts. And are now reselling the engines with no emissions...

You would think they government would require them to drill a hole in the block or something. Then again maybe reselling the engines reduces the cost of conversion?

Only reason you’d have to drill the engines is if there was a conditional grant. And most all of those grants are only for earlier non emissions engines. These engines are emission compliant for current model year.

[DeMac]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

Only reason you’d have to drill the engines is if there was a conditional grant. And most all of those grants are only for earlier non emissions engines. These engines are emission compliant for current model year.

True, too clean to qualify. VW's Consent Decree requires acquiring older, high-polluting HDDEs & destroy enough to result in reducing at least 10,000 tons of NOx emissions.

The fed would never pay the used engine/trans market rate, either. 💵