pictures of remains of crown being towed away

[HB of CJ]

If memory serves, (always suspect!) it was about a 1957 model that was about 30-32 feet long.  Factory.  It had a 335hp 743T Cummins and a 5 speed tranny.  Probably a Spicer.  Used all 5. The driveshaft was very very very short and they had to change out the U-joints quite frequently.  Angularity problems?

The Crown had a Jake (in 1970) and ran on a rural/remote route including tight, dusty and muddy dirt roads.  Top speed was only about 65.  I only drove it a couple of times...very very quick.  Sometimes one had to pressure spray off all the brown clay from the engine, tranny and pumpkin bottoms.

Only 400 hp?  With factory factory parts, the right turbo, changed power and torque springs in the pump and a big air cleaner and intercooler,  one can turn a BC2 Cummins into at least 500hp.  Pittsburg Fuel Injection Dot Net will make a 750++ if you want one.  All it takes is $money$.  HB of CJ (old coot)

[Jeremy]

I'm always fascinated to know how people raise Crown roofs, because the bodysides are far from parallel.   Did you cut at the roofline, or lower down near the floor level?   I thought at first about doing that with my bus, but two seconds later I realized that was not going to happen.   To gain extra headroom in the shower I'm thinking of lowering the floor level there by a few inches, not easy but still doable compared to raising the roof.

My bus also has curved sides so I had the same problem deciding how to raise the roof. I also considered lowering the floor, but it would have been a huge amount of work and in some places it couldn't have been done at all.

I put the roof raise within the roof itself (rather than the sides) and then made up panels that continued the curve of the sides up to the new roof level. I'm sure that only by comparing my bus with one from the factory would you realise that mine wasn't standard. I was conscious that dealing with the curved sides would be progressively more difficult the higher the raise was, so I only raised the roof by 7". In retrospect a couple of inches higher would have been better, and wouldn't have made any real difference to the job - but I think Crowns have a greater amount of curve than my bus has, which would exaggerate the problem.

Jeremy

[boogiethecat]

Raising the roof on a Crown is easy, and the curves are easy to deal with if you make the cuts in the right places.- here's mine which went up  full foot...

http://www.heartmagic.com/zzRoofRaiser/

Here's the finished job-

http://www.heartmagic.com/zzjunebus/Busrear.JPG
http://www.heartmagic.com/zzjunebus/DSC00006.JPG
http://www.heartmagic.com/zzjunebus/busfront.JPG

[crown]

 what i did was build all new side wall ribs then droped the roof with front and rear parts of bus on to its
frame then i cut above the windshild and droped it about 5'' then needed to split the dash and widen about
8'' to clear all the modern elec. dash a/c ect in the rear i cut below the rear windows and droped the rear
trunk doors [ now engine doors ] to where then needed to go and filled in that area every thing i did
was keeping with the factory lines / looks of the bus i am sure if i did not tell you all this you would
think it was factory and thats what i was aming for thanks john

[usbusin]

John, are we going to see some pictures of all this work?  What you describe is unbelievable!!  You have certainly taken on a project that most of us would not tackle!  How about some pictures, even if it is not finished. 

[crown]

 gary there are lots of pictures about my project hear just dont known where the links are i have been asked
to start a thread in bus projects but have not had the time to go throgh all my pictures john

[HB of CJ]

Crown and Boogie...thank you.  HB of CJ (old coot)