Good news, bad news story.
I posted pictures of a baby bus sinking into the sod some months back. It is a 29 foot 1972 GMC New Look fishbowl. Lots of older guys chimed in about the engine, history etc.
The next day a BCM guy (to remain un named) called me and wanted to see it. He had been looking for one forever. I ceased talking about it hoping he would get it and told him I had friends that would help get it out of the muck. I met him there, and short version - he spent a lot of time finding the owner and could not agree on a price.
Sometime later he told me someone else got it and drove it out of there! No small task since the road was washed out between the bus and the road.
That is the bad...sad news that my BCM brother did not get it.
The good news is I stumbled onto a U Tube called Resurrected Garage. There is a video of the very young couple who saved it and them driving it out of the place I discovered it, all the way home about 2 hours away. Great video including tires coming apart a mile from home. The young guy has a background working on old diesel stuff and he seems to know what he is doing in both videos. He and his wife are passionate about getting this back on the road and camping in it. They drive it in both videos. Many of the systems, lights, etc still work on it than I expected when our BCM buddy and I looked at it all covered in moss and crap.
Baby bus got saved!
A good thing in the end and you should watch it just for how enthusiastic the young couple is about it.
Ted
That's good news. I didn't know they built those well into the 1970's. I'll check out the video.
That ToroFlo 478 V-6 was a good motor-just retorque the heads twice a year. And no they were not a converted gasoline engine. They were made as a Diesel-just happened to have the same architecture of the gasoline version. Good Luck, TomC
Plus he can always put in a newer CUMMINS ISB with an newer ALLISON. Better power and MPG and I would imagine those TOROFLOWS are getting harder to find parts. Looking back, why didn't GM just build all of their NEWLOOKS T drive?
I know nothing about what you gentlemen speaketh, but the young guy mentions he is changing it because so few were made, finding parts when on the road would be very difficult.
Even Luke would probably say " You have a whaaaaaaaaaaaat????".
It sure sounded like it is running well. Shame to pull that engine and probably scrap it.
I expect I am more interested than many about this because it is a little bus and I visited it about 5 times hoping it would not die in place. I did NOT save it, but stood where they took it from (not far from home), and watching them drive it through places I know well like Hellen Ga to get it home. So it probably has a bit of sentiment for me.
Best thing I think about the 2 videos is seeing people without grey hair involved in an old bus! There is hope we will have someone to hand our buses off to when the time comes.
Nice couple, we enjoyed the 2 videos. now you can too ;)
https://youtu.be/3vHcoTmyXNY
https://youtu.be/VitTrylKibw
Anyone going to their car and bike show, wish we could make it ;)
you could always pull the toro flo and replace with gas job. A 401,432,478 would be a drop in replacement with little to no changing, except for ignition feed and fuel line. those gas jobs, while not the most economical, are next to indestructible. Otherwise, a gas 366, or 427, which would probably have the correct bell hsg, or a mechanical cummins from a pickup.
Check for toroflo site on facebook. if there is one or google enthusiast site.
The ToroFlo was the four runner for the 8.2 Detroit some parts are the same they are not a bad engine lot of those still around,it was a better engine than the Cummins V470
GM had quite a bit of duplication and overlap. Kind of stupid from the standpoint overhead but it does make for rich history. I could understand putting a gasoline engine in those but GM already has their DETROIT DIESEL division that were considered the standard of the industry. Yet the GMC division came up with their own Diesel engines and the OLDSMOBILE Diesel was legendary and not always in a good way.
Quote from: CrabbyMilton on August 26, 2022, 07:06:38 AM
GM had quite a bit of duplication and overlap. Kind of stupid from the standpoint overhead but it does make for rich history. I could understand putting a gasoline engine in those but GM already has their DETROIT DIESEL division that were considered the standard of the industry. Yet the GMC division came up with their own Diesel engines and the OLDSMOBILE Diesel was legendary and not always in a good way.
Ford did the same with big gasoline engines they would install the Cat injection on their 534 gasoline truck engines the 534 was more beefy than the 350 Olds gasoline engine though and helded up fairly good,IH did the same on their 549 gasoline V8's before they started the 466 V8 diesel
Kind of a twist to that since CUMMINS is going to have a gasoline version of the ISB 6.7 soon. Like you said the same foundation but the rest is different.
I remember when Cummins came out with the natural gas version of the 8.9 liter ISL. Mechanics all said they took a perfectly good Diesel and put spark plugs in it and ruined the engine. Good Luck, TomC
It all shows that engineers come from a different world..>>>Dan
series 50 got spark plugs too
My wife and I don't have many gray hairs and we saved a Newell from dying in the Arizona sun! Here she sits over us in my new pit. Not many wives willing to get under a bus for you on a photo shoot!
You have a beautiful wife and the fact she smiles under a bus is a rare thing.
But Simon, we are old. More pictures of the bus you saved! What year, engine. You know. Things we old guys get excited about. And don't pick on our grey hair or we will ram you with our walkers and swing a crutch at your head....
Glad you saved it from solar disintegration. Would love to hear more about it.
Best regards, Ted
Thank you Ted! We are both in our early 50's. I bought a Newell coach that was owned by an older couple that didn't do any work on the coach themselves. By that I mean they wrote checks for everything and the quality of work is more of zip ties and black tape. (Most of it having failed too!) The interior was peach, odd blues and grey with a ton of brass and gold finished with a substantial amount of bronze tinted mirrors everywhere. I stripped the interior sans cabinets and put in all new wall paper, flooring, ceiling lighting, re-glued failed laminate, tiled floor and bathroom, new upholstery and some other things. Exterior has some peeling clear coat at the front and mirrors. Overall the bus looks decent but the dark exterior plays havoc in 80ยบ Arizona sun. There's no match to the heat gain by the black exterior with the spray foam. The heat just permeates right through. I did rebuild all condenser A/C motors along with new caps and starters. Love basement A/C's and they will have to cut my nuts off before I put a roof top unit. Love the clear ceiling span. (Plan on loading the roof with solar one day)
As Frank Barone would say "Holy Crap!" That is one sharp looking bus.
What sort of powertrain do you have?
I'm 58 as of today and most of my hair is gray but I shave my head from April to October so hair or no hair is of little importance to me. :)
pull the headlights and get them polished. will do wonders for the looks.
Do you have a way to keep it inside? Is that your shop with a walk under the bus trench?
(Now I really don't like you...).
Very sharp looking bus. Sounds like you have come a long way to making it yours. How much more before you can take it on a trip or two? The heat should subside in Arizona pretty soon.
Best of luck with your project.
Quote from: CrabbyMilton on September 15, 2022, 04:05:41 AM
As Frank Barone would say "Holy Crap!" That is one sharp looking bus.
What sort of powertrain do you have?
I'm 58 as of today and most of my hair is gray but I shave my head from April to October so hair or no hair is of little importance to me. :)
Thank you! It is the 8v92 with the HT740. Aside from an oil cooler leak, the engine looks and runs amazing
Quote from: chessie4905 on September 15, 2022, 04:40:35 AM
pull the headlights and get them polished. will do wonders for the looks.
Those are Ford F-150/Bronco lights from the mid 80's. Newell uses 2 sets of them. I will just replace them when I get to the exterior side of things.
Quote from: Tedsoldbus on September 15, 2022, 04:48:44 AM
Do you have a way to keep it inside? Is that your shop with a walk under the bus trench?
(Now I really don't like you...).
Very sharp looking bus. Sounds like you have come a long way to making it yours. How much more before you can take it on a trip or two? The heat should subside in Arizona pretty soon.
Best of luck with your project.
Thank you! I only have an outside parking spot and the service pit is located under the parking spot. We are on a little over an acre, but I can't afford a building out back for it. The concrete/block costs as well as total construction costs for the pit were just over 8k. I would never have done it had I known but the hole was cut in the slab and I dug it out before calling my concrete guy.
Aside from the oil cooler leak that I waited 2 months for the shop to fix and paid just over 1k for, our first trip is this Monday. Headed to Newell's factory in Miami, OK, onwards to a stop in Louisville KY. From there we go to Allentown PA to park the bus and take the Jeep to NYC to visit friends and family. When we leave NY, we head to a Newell bus rally in W. Memphis AR and finally home.
those headlights are really hard to find--if you can at all... They make drop in xeon assemblies. Those ford type are real sensitive to voltage drop also. Ck at headlight plug. should read 13 plus with bus running. 12.5 yields only 50% of headlight lumens. If you were to luck upon set with glass lens that is much better. been there on this.