Man how I hate technology! Nice long thread disappeared when I hit the post button. So, here is the short version;
I have spent too much time on here this week reading about all the mechanical failures and the price tags attached to them. We decided to push the conversion to the top of our priority list hoping to complete it enough for use before our road trip in August, 79 days from now. Then I started having second thoughts on the reliability and wisdom of taking a basically unknown powertrain on a 3000 mile road trip pulling a 6000 lb trailer.
I have driven the bus a whole 10 miles so far, down the highway to the local scale. When my son brought it home, he drove it about 300 miles at 70+ mph without any issues. After sitting about a month, it cranks for about 5 seconds and fires right up. A small puff of black smoke is all that comes out. It's the 8.3 ISC with a MD3060 trans, and about 260,000 miles.
Are there any common 8.3 problems I need to check out before I pour a few thousand dollars and hours into getting this thing ready? I have read about the Caps system problems, how do I tell if that has already been addressed? Read something about a cracked timing cover, How do I check that problem out? How many miles are these 8.3's really good for before needing major work? The last thing I want to have to do is sit down to a large plate of crow 1000 miles into this trip because I didn't do something preventative before hand. My wife will never say "I told you so!" but she does have that look!!
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