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8.3 bus swap

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12v MPG in a 3400mpg vehicle

New Project Cummins Swaped Lambo

RWherley

TDR MEMBER
Ok so its not a Dodge but it is a Cummins so i thought id share it with every one. What my project started with a 1974 open air double decker bus build on the chassis of a 74 Ford L9000 truck powered by a big block Ford V8 that burned propane coupled to 4 speed direct drive Allison automatic transmission, powering a tandem drive with 11R22.5 tires. The bus is used for doing tours on the Gettysburg Battle Field, but the V8 had been over heated to the point of blowing the head gaskets and warping the heads, It then sat in the parking lot of another shop before coming to me.
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But before we could put the cummins in we went over it and gave it rebuild and valve job and fresh coat of paint to make it pretty and a few small modifications like turning the exhaust manifold upside down for better turbo clearance in the bus.
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Thats awesome. We have a 98 f650 grain truck with a 5.9 I would love to swap an 8.3 in its place. The 5.9 is a real dog in that truck especially loaded with grain.
 
up next was modifying the floor stringers to fit a square diesel tank instead of the round propane tank
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to prevent a repeat of the over heat issue with a V8 we increased the the size of the grill opening in the front of the bus and because of the distance between the engine and the cooling stack electric fans were needed
 
Staying tuned! Great job. Will this bus return to giving tours at Gettysburg?
I speak truck, but I don’t know what a “live drive” tandem is.
 
This bus is actually back with the tour company already getting a new audio system installed so it can return to tour duty, guess i said that wrong, its tandem drive which makes it unique as its 3 sisters are one drive axle and one tag axle
 
That’s excellent! Please post more pix if you got em. Maybe someday I’ll come out there and ride the General Sickles!
 
Are front gear train engines common in busses?

Great work! Always good to see old iron getting another run.
 
The rear gear train depends a lot on the size and year of the bus, I've seen a lot of over the road coach's with front gear train, about the only rear gear I've seen are school bus types with the 6.7 Cummins
 
While we were working on it we found the steering gear box was junk and had more then half a turn of free play in the steering wheel. We thought that the factory box was a little small and we couldnt find a direct replacement so we decided to swap in the steering box and column from a MCI charter bus, which required making a welding in a new box mount to the frame.
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The new mounting plate started as a peace of 1/2" thick steel that i welded a 1/4" wall 2X2 square tube to then added 1/4" triangle braces to
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With the work on the frame done it was time to put the 8.3 in, with the size and weight of the engine and the way the bus is built the only possible way to get the engine in was to pull the front axle off, lift the front end up off the ground and slide the engine in under the bus drop the body back down onto it then use a host to pull the engine up into the bus.
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