Need Chevrolet 366 Engine for 1990 bus

[thor2k]

Apparently, the loud noise was the crank/rod bearings!

So, I am looking for complete motor for my 1990 bus.

Apparently, the "tall deck" 366 motor was widely used for years in dump trucks, bucket lifts, etc. and should be plentiful?

However, I would like to find one (lower mileage?) in Southwest Missouri, Northwest Arkansas, or fairly close by.

The bus is equipped with automatic transmission and throttle body fuel injection, if that makes a difference as to what will fit?

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

Regards,

Jay

[cadillackid]

yeah these tall deck 366s were truck engine of a Big block chevy.. small bore... later the 366 was discontinued and the 454 took its place in the TopKick.



a lot of the school busses got the 454 and some of the later ones got the 8.1.. 1990 was the first year for TBI if I remember right on those..



the 454s were OK but didnt have the longevity of the 366.. sounds like that one was run out of oil at some point in its life..

[magnakansas]

Face book marketplace has several 366 and 427 tall deck engine,

Example: 366 Chevy with 5 Speed Clark Transmission

$500 listed three weeks ago in Chillicothe Missouri.

Has a video of running engine. Most of the 366 around five to seven hundred.

Most 427 $1000-$2000


Keys words for searches - truck engine , tall deck, 366, 427, bus engine



William

[thor2k]

I never thought to look at FB Marketplace!

There are a number of engines, some pretty ragged.

But, I have time to find a good one, perhaps with a video of it running, perhaps bolted to the same automatic as in mine?

Thanks again.

PS, some of my more mechanically savvy friends are perplexed that this rugged motor, with four-bolt mains, would have rod issues?

Once we get the bus here from Missouri, we can test it more thoroughly.

[cadillackid]

any number of reasons why an engine can have rod issues.. one of the common reasons on gas motors is over advanced timing... engine pings like crazy.. sometimes it burns the valves.. sometimes it starves the rods for oil..



over advanced timing tries to push the piston down too early before the rod is topping TDC.. the flame spread occurse too fast too early which puts the piston and rod under immense pressure as the full extent of the explosion is occuring yet the rod is still coming up.. the result is the cylinder temperature is extremely high but also the rod is pushed with such pressure that the oil film is squeezed out of the bearing surfaces so it becomes metal on metal... with TBI the knock sensor *should* trigger a reduction in timing.. but knock sensrs can and do go bad or computer is in open Loop due to other sensor failures which makes it respond much less..



oil maintenance or just plain running out of oil will tear up the rod bearings (and the mains too).. a messed up computer with bad O2 sensors or coolant temp sensors can run the mixture way too rich and dilute the oil with gasoline.. this is less common but ive seen it happen...



your trans.. from what I remember the engines all have the same mounting patterns.. the allison AT540 / 542 / 545 (same trans different revisions) all use an SAE3 bell housing.. so any engine you get you can pull the flywheel housing from the replacement engione and bolit up the one from your engine and then install the transmission..


because gas engines dont sit on a tripod cradle mount like the diesels, the 2 front transmission mounts on the bell are the rear stabilizers for the engine.. keep that in mind .. its a necessity to support the engine when you pull the trans down or you will ruin the motor mounts / potentially break the distributor off..



if you switch to a different engine and intend to use the same computer controls you will need to burn yourself a new EPROM


I did a *LOT* of hacking back in the day with OBD1 TBI stuff I 100% totally dug it.. along with TPI.. Loved hacking the GM TPI stuff.. and yeah a TPI BBC manifold would run on top of a 454 the bus im looking at as we speak has a MFI OBD-1 system.. id have to break out all my old tools again to program it..



these computers didnt use flash memory.. you programmed them by scouring the hex dump of the chip and ascertaining what memory addresses were fuel curve and timing tables.. and adjusted acordingly.. then burned your changes to the EPROM.. 16k and 32k (thats right K not makes or gigs) were commonplace in the car ECMs. cadillacs with the advanced climate control and PWM enging fan control used 128K EPROM chips..



sorry i went off on a nostalgia tangent

[thor2k]

Again, I am astonished at the speed and quality of the wisdom offered here.

We got the bus moved to its new, less mice-ridden home, and the tow truck driver said that . . .

above the noise of the exhaust leak, that he believes it is a broken flex plate.

At idle, he claims that noise will propogate through the motor and make you think a rod bearing has gone.

His second theory is a wrist-pin, but that rod bearings rarely fail on this motor.

So, when my mechanic gets back on the job, we have a plausible approach to this bus humming.

Thanks again,

Jay

[Ronnie]

Has anyone actually pulled a( or several) rod cap and looked at the bearings? Flexplate should be able to be seen by removing an inspection cover.

[SDJunkMan]

If you do actually need an engine, keep an eye out for trashed motorhomes, a lot of them used 454's. I've seen a lot of older motorhomes with low mileage 454's sell real cheap (even free) after the roof starts leaking and rots out the structure. Not only will you get an engine, but possibly some usable parts that you could use in your conversion and even a generator.

[Dirtdoctor]

JASPER engines. My 427, (1500 hours and 9000 miles) had some intake gasket issues and due to being a 30 yr old engine, i called Jasper, my engine was shipped within 2 weeks and comes with a 100,000 mile warranty- $4500 for everything and the install. Contact them and i bet they have that Tall boy available.
Cheers.
PS Remember do not over rev those big gas engines. I ran mine at 4000 rpm pulling a hill….. not my finest hour…. I never even looked at the tach, just climbed that hill…. Until i saw smoke.

[craigify]

I just bought an engine, thinking it was an old beat up 454 block. Turns out it's a 366!

I noticed when I was unloading it from my truck by looking at where the water pump bolts up to the front of the block. There's extra space there, meaning it is a tall deck. Then I looked at the serial number and lo and behold, 366.

Not sure what I'm going to do with it lol.

[thor2k]

Well, the saga continues.

My motor MAY not be toast!

However, the bolts on the flexplate worked loose and made a hell of a racket.

And, there were exhaust manifold leaks that have been fixed and some bad injection wiring accounted for the misfiring.

Now, we are addressing the brakes. The front calipers are bad and we do not yet know whether the rotors are acceptable as well as some of the lines to the rear brakes.

Can anyone recommend a reliable source of parts for this (1990 Chevrolet) bus?

For the brakes themselves, I assume there is a dump/tow/etc. truck equivalent but if we need to replace the brake lines, they obviously have to be specific to this bus?

Again, thanks for your seasoned and prompt advice.

Jay

BTW, the VIN is 1GBJ6PLP8LV107627.

[magnakansas]

NAPA, Local independent parts warehouse, oreillys, and auto zone.


I started by looking at what was available on eBay. That got me part numbers to work with….. I ended up with rubber brake hoses from auto zone and calipers from oriellys.



Mine was a 1988 international , but the story is the same

William

[cadillackid]

Busses were typically C50 or C60 truck chassis.. those are chevy trucks.. you should be able to get calipers brake hoses, pads, rotors..



brake lines to the rear are typically steel.. make your own.. rear brake HOSES will be the same for a bus or a C50/C60 truck (your hood actually probably has the number).. running the VIN in a VIN checker might show you the chassis model as well..


the steel lines can be bought straight with fittings.. likely you'll need a couple sections to go front to back and use couplers.. a bender is not an expensive tool and you can bend up your own lines.. you can typically get some shorter lengths and if you dont want to cut and flare the line you can make a couple service loops if needbe to take up a little excess length.. you may need the distribution blocks too as sometimes the lines are so rusty they are not going to come out of there..

youll need LOTS of brake fluid to get the system filled and bled properly

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by craigify

I just bought an engine, thinking it was an old beat up 454 block. Turns out it's a 366!

I noticed when I was unloading it from my truck by looking at where the water pump bolts up to the front of the block. There's extra space there, meaning it is a tall deck. Then I looked at the serial number and lo and behold, 366.

Not sure what I'm going to do with it lol.

some of the guys in the bus restoration groups may need Tall decks.. they are not super easy to find these days...