Driving a big bus

[tekebird]

heck for 80 k you can get a used professionally converted MCI

[niles500]

Heck -  there's a 1990 Marathon  - it could surely pull any trailer you have in mind with no structural issues and using none of your valuable time for conversion (or trips to the emergency room) - unless you really want to build your own, this one would put you on the road sooner - I may buy it for a spare it's so cheap - FWIW



Sorry, Niles...
No advertizments or prices.
Nick-

[niles500]

Sorry - wasn't trying to sell anything - Email if you want info .......



Niles,  All is Ok
Thanks for understanding!
Nick-

[tekebird]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260107596737

[Sojourner]

WorkingOnWise:
About where twin rolls of riveting.....e-mail to jjimage at earth link dot net.....and I will send a attachment too large on board.

Your software needs to incorporate the OEM bus construction if you want compare so it is strong as original.

Might add....you should consider adding reinforcement to rear engine & trans bulk head, because of added weight to front half while under acceleration during shifting mode. More so if you want stronger trailer hitch to attached to pull medium load.

FWIW

Sojourn for Christ, Jerry

[WorkingOnWise]

The biggest thing stopping us from buying a coach that is "done" is that none are built to allow Michigan winter camping performance. Our coach needs to be well enough insulated to be comfortable in a harsh cold winter. I know, I know....it's an rv....it isn't intended to be in use in the dead of a Michigan winter. And that is why we will build our own. It will be difficult, and expensive. And long. But when it is done, it will be ours, and it will be beautiful. And it will be a Fishbowl, which as everyone knows, is the most beautiful coach. IM Not So HO. 

As for the monoque info. Thanks. I plan on first simulating a stock build 4519 and testing it, to be sure that my info is close to accurate, then modify it.

There's enough crash data on these coaches for me to tell if my initial model is right.

Everyones feedback on this is awesome! Thanks.

[tekebird]

Likely not going to find any crash data on a 4519 as they were not subject to crash testing when they were built.

I think you would be supprised as to the cold weather capabilities of a pro built unit.......I had my 04 out in sub freezing teps several times.......spray foam insulation and a diesel fired forced hot air heaater, insulated systems/tank compartment.

At 30 degrees average temp......compartment temp jsut from ambient combustion heat from the heater.....was 45 degrees and the inside of the coach got no colder than 70 degrees.....had it as hot as 85......oh and it had all it's OEM windows

How do you plan on heaaating all the systems that will have to be strapped under your bus.

Besides, I though you said it was a retirement home.........move south when it gets cold...........oh I forgot, it will be broken by then......just kidding.

[WorkingOnWise]

30? it was 30 3 nights ago! That's not cold. -15 with 25mph winds from across Lake Superior...thats cold!  And thats the environment we want it to handle.
Heating is still a moving target. We have it narrowed down to 3 ways.

"Likely not going to find any crash data on a 4519 as they were not subject to crash testing when they were built."
The "data" I will use is from crash reports involving fishbowls. I input the conditions of the crash into the program, crash the bus, and see if my model reacts like the real bus did.

[tekebird]

but how will you model the existing buses structure?

Do you know the design of the existing structure?
Do you know what materials were used?
Do you know how it was assembled?

where are you going to locate crash data from real fishbowl crashes.

these crashes will not show you the day to day stresses

for example.......it is easy  to model what an aircraft wing will do  if impacted...........but the day to day stresses.

When Canadais built the CL600, predecessor to the Canadair Regiaonal Jet....the had a wing test jig which cycled the wing flexes some absurd amount.

[tucsontattoo]

I have a 4106, 8v71 w/ 75 injectors, allison automatic ( not the 2 speed),Also have a haden trans cooler w/fan. The air cleaners have been changed to paper element and i stay on top of keeping them clean. My engine has about 40,000 miles since its last major overhaul and runs sweet.The rad. and fan clutch are also fresh.
That said, When we pull out of Tucson with full tanks and head for the beach in San Deigo I have to fight to keep her under 70 mph on flat ground.Now this is on Hyw 8 and that pull out of Ocotilla and up to Cajon will have me down to 25 while I watch my trans temp push into the yellow and my engine temp reach 200. That pull is all she can do. The signs say 6% grade but if you do the math ( miles traveled and altitude ganed) it comes out to something more like 7 or better.
Now if anyone in a 45 fishbowl with a 671 and a 2 speed ever blows past me on that hill I,ll know who it was.
When I first got my bus I had allot of ideas about doing racey yhings to it. Now were use to each other an I try not to drive roads she will hate.
If I buy anything bigger in the near feture it will be the ice chest

          Just my thoughts on it..........Tucson

[WorkingOnWise]

LOL.. Diggin it Tuscon! I doubt I'll blow past anything with an 8V71! Compared to my transit, thats a rocket! I'll be happy tooling along at 55mph. Speaking of rockets....just how much nitros can I cram into a 6V71 and not blow the heads off? ooopps. Thats another post!
As for your larger ice chest, have you considered refrigerating a storage bay?

[tucsontattoo]

Yea! refer bay. now were talkin....
You know what ive come too. It aint about the bus, their a nice hobby but its about the getting away, the trip and being with your family. Belive me I get passed allot by the stick and stapel crowd, and I get to see allot of senery myself.  We have been up hwy 1 as far as we dared to take it. seen tha Oragon cost and Washington coast. The Redwoods The Klameth. Been over mt Raineer and to Pikes peak.Headed for Mexico this summer. My 8v71 doesn,t go up hill much faster than your 671 will. In my oppenion, fix what you have, go over every thing on it. rebuild all the things that keep you and your family safe first. Then fix all the things that will strand you on the road . When you get that done work on the comfort stuff, but go have fun. They aint much fun torn apart in the driveway.

    Good luck and if I can help you drop me a line..........Tucson


  P.S.  I will be adding a mister system to the rad. and to the trans cooler and finishing the hookup on my propane injection soon. With that done I hope to be able to pull my toad over that hump. If knot no matter, I just take the 10 onto California and stay off the 8..................

[TomC]

You can rebuild your 6V-71 into a turbo motor with the addition of the air to air intercooler (separate radiator that cools the air coming out of the turbocharger).  With 80 injectors, you could get 300hp and 900lb/ft of torque-which was a setting by Detroit before stopping production.  Course, you'd have to change the transmission-it would probably scatter the VS2.  Running 90 injectors, you could go to 338hp and 1012lb/ft torque.  But, the engine probably would only last about 200,000 miles.  Good Luck, TomC

[Runcutter]

Keith, a few thoughts.  If you don't have the maintenance manuals for the 4519, they are available from multiple sources.  I was just looking at one on ebay that covers both automatic, city fishbowls and the SDM-4501, the suburban stickshift.  

In another thread, you mention transmission replacement - have you thought about putting a 4-speed manual in?  I remember driving a suburban fishbowl (SDM-4501) many years ago, four speed stick (I think out of a 4104), and she would really move.  When I bought my 4107, one of my requirements was a stick.

Third, some other threads have suggested that we all put our locations in our signature lines, I updated mine at the time.  The thought is that there may be knowledgeable help in the neighborhood.  I'm at a local woodworking store several times a week, and a couple of months ago we happened to notice an Eagle in someone's back yard (Addison, Texas) - you never know who's in the neighborhood.  There's even a chance that someone could put you in touch with senior (or retired) transit system mechanics/body shop guys who are very familiar with fishbowls.  (Back then they were mechanics, now they're technicians - I must be getting old).  

Beside, many of us wouldn't pass up an opportunity to go see someone else's bus.

Good luck with your plans.

Arthur  

[WorkingOnWise]

TomC- 338hp and 1012lb/ft torque!? from my 6v71?? and still expect over 150k miles from it??? Is that still at 2100 rpm? Thats not cranking the revs to 2600+? What kind of boost pressure do you need for that? If I remember right, my motor is 190hp. Thats over a 75% increase!
I have looked for info on hotrodding the 6v71 and not had much luck. 338hp and 1012lb/ft torque sure sounds like a hotrod to me!
So, will the v730 survive this? And be reliable?
You said that this was a DD setting, so I assume there is a "recipe" for whipping up this engine? My motor is fresh, so I think I'm a step ahead because to try that on a tired engine would kill it for sure, right?
I fantasized about the hod rod motor, but mot being a DD or HD diesel whiz, I figured that I should be happy with what I had, rather that play around and have to push the coach home!

Runcutter- I looked into a 4spd manual, but kept running into the fact that you have to double-clutch it to shift. While I'm sure I could get the hang of it, I doubt my wife would. She gets cranky with our F150 with a 5spd at times. So I dismissed the manual option.