8.3 Cummins in a Crown?

[PNW_Steve]

Hey Everyone,

I just saw a '79 Crown for sale and the seller say that it has a Cummins 8.3 in it.

I have never heard of a horizontal 8.3.

Does such a creature exist? Or is the seller mistaken?

He said it was installed in 2005.

Thanks.

[Iceni John]

Is that Crown one of the ex-San Diego 40-foot pushers that had 8.3s in the back? Crown would make pretty much whatever the customers wanted (each bus was handbuilt and made to order), so it's possible that there were other 8.3 pushers made.

Crown also used the 8.3, by then called the CT or CTA, in the Series 2 pushers like mine, but those buses are a lot newer then the one you're wondering about.

And no, there never was a pancake underfloor 8.3 from Cummins. The mid-engine Crowns used the old 220 (no turbo) and 262, and the big 855 cu.in. monsters at 290 HP and up, but never a horizontal 8.3. Were oilpans even made for that configuration?

John

[Crown_Guy]

This is a regular 35ft. mid-engine, obviously turbo'd 6-71 hacked by someone with more ambition than brains who managed to stuff an 8.3 in upright between the frame rails. I'm not sure how they found room for it under the floor without a box around it protruding inside. Just because you might be able to do something, doesn't mean you should. I've seen many whimsical threads with wild fantasies of doing this with many engine types, but have never seen it actually done. Whats more astounding is that that District seemed to have run it in school bus service. How legal could that have been. Non stock or certified vehicle. Hell I've heard of one mountain district near here who was forbidden by the CHP to fabricate a suspension air bag mounting plate to replace a cracked one, a simple welding job to replicate the cracked one. That Crown was out of service for months until managing to locate an authentic Crown manufactured part to install. Madness. A total freak from start to finish. And it appears that they're actually getting bids for it and some bloke will get it thinking he has a Classic Crown worthy of the name. He'd be wrong.

[brokedown]

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