Greetings Everyone,

[first1226]

Newbie here and needing all the input I can get if anyone cares to share. First being engine, I'm leaning towards cummins and auto, then dt466 and auto of which I know I need to research!. Will be pulling a 24'enclosed trailer with car and golf cart mostly IL,IN,some KY,MO, then after race season is over hit the road. will be doing a simple inside conversion as it is only at most 2 people going. Thanks in advance BILL

[Robin97396]

Welcome Bill
I think you'll find all the information you need here, and if you can't find it just ask and you'll get more opinions than you wanted.
So are you looking for a long bus, 15 window?

[first1226]

Thanks Robin, yes at least 35-40' long and going to do a as quickly as possible conv. Need or want something with the most or highest factory head room.Really not looking to do a roof raise.

[Robin97396]

A pusher? Where abouts are you looking for buses? There are people in your area, wherever that may be. Sounds like you might be a bit of a minimalist, because the fancy builds take more time.

[first1226]

It really doesn't matter just so it has enough power to pull the aforementioned 24'enclosed trailer,car,golf cart in IL,IN KY,MO, then vacation warmer climates. That's why i'm more concerned with the cummins (i've had one 15yrs 5.9)or dt466. like what kind of life does the 466 have?,cost of injectors,injection pumps, I need to do a lot of research!! it's nice to have someones honest opinion I guess. THANKS

[first1226]

Man what a brain fart, I'm in south eastern IL and have looked at Midwesttransit.com,and was bidding on a bus on line, f/e cummins,auto,flat nose,84 pass, I'm 6'2 and couldn't stand up straight inside(d--n)bus is in overall very good condition,not checked any others???? THANKS AGAIN

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by first1226

It really doesn't matter just so it has enough power to pull the aforementioned 24'enclosed trailer,car,golf cart in IL,IN KY,MO, then vacation warmer climates. That's why i'm more concerned with the cummins (i've had one 15yrs 5.9)or dt466. like what kind of life does the 466 have?,cost of injectors,injection pumps, I need to do a lot of research!! it's nice to have someones honest opinion I guess. THANKS

466 > 5.9

466 can be rebuilt in-frame, too. Pretty much the universal medium duty engine these days.

[cowlitzcoach]

IC buses went to 12" windows as standard across the board starting in about 2003. All the rest still have 9" windows as standard.

It is obvious when looking at pictures which buses have the 12" and which ones have the 9"--the top of the 9" windows line up with the top of the driver's window. Even still, the inside height is still only going to be 78" or 79".

Generally speaking, RE buses with luggage compartments were spe'c'ed as trip buses. Generally speaking they will have the higher headroom, bigger HP, and highway gearing that you want.

All school buses with the exception of Crown and Gillig mid-mount engine buses have no problem finding a place to install a hitch receiver since the rear bumper is usually bolted to the ends of the frame rails. The Crown and Gillig buses that have mid-engines have very little in the rear trunk that will support the weight of pulling a trailer or the hitch weight.

For your purposes a 5.9/ISB is not going to be enough engine for you. Yes the 5.9/ISB can have upgrades similar to what can be done to the same basic engine in a Dodge pick up. The problem in a bus is the cooling system and the transmission will not be up to the task. And upgrading the cooling system to handle more HP in a rear engine is a big deal.

Probably the best power package would be a DT530/Allison 3000. IHC had that engine as an option from about 1996 to about 2004. 310 HP is always better than 285!

Good luck and happy trails!