Broken down, toasted engine??

[eagle19952]

It happens all the time George some idiot will try to adjust the valves with the valve bridges and they drop a valve,sorry I don't have any 6v92 heads left but seems like they are headed in the right direction.
The  in frame is going to cost you around 12 grand and they are going to give you 90 days on labor and 1 year on parts I think you will be fine with a in frame IMO.I think a exchange is going to be a lot more in the end  

I think a exchange is going to be a lot more in the end...
that may be...but ... if you want to keep the bus for 8-10 years...a rebuilt is what i would do vs. an in frame that comes with a with a 90 day guarantee...

[luvrbus]

Warranty on a re=man is not much better, 1 year and most suppliers won't pickup the towing fee,then some have to go back to the installer or supplier.Some engines are good candidates for a inframe some are not if his crank is good I would go for it

[lostagain]

George, it is whatever makes you feel good. Your mechanic sounds like he is good and trustworthy. I would let him fix what is broken on your engine and go down the road. He is going to have to do a tune up anyway, so it will be set up properly. It is worth the time to drop the pan to look at the crank and the bearings, even though you only ran it for a short time with antifreeze in the oil. That will give you that piece of mind.

A reman'd or used engine requires a lot of shop time to swap, and I am guessing that would be a lot more money than fixing what you have now.

But hey, I am only a keyboard expert here... You will judge what is best to do... All the best!

JC

[luvrbus]

The pan needs to be removed anyway to install a liner kit then they can check or replace the main bearings if needed

[TomC]

Unless you throw a rod through the block, I think it is always best to overhaul your engine. Then you know what you have. Considering the 92 series has a suggested bearing replacement every 200,000 miles, bearings are easy to roll in. Personally-I'd go for head check, and full cylinder kits. Good Luck, TomC

[uncle ned]

I was just by Davids Coach here in NC.  He was putting a 8v92 together for a Eagle that had just broken a crank.

He was taking the jakes off the old one and putting them on the new one.

He has several 8v92turbo setting around his shop.

And if you talk" to Roxane" his wife with real money the price might be better.LOL

A great pair  they keep HUGGY running.

Him and Gene Russell are 2 of the best 2 stroke men left in the part of the country.

uncle ned

[B_K]

I have a right-handed 6V92 (out of an MCI) in my shop (in the way as a matter of fact)that might have a good head on it.
It was an American Fleet Re-man engine that had a little over the time limit on the warranty went the turbo let loose an caused internal engine damage.
I never pulled the heads or Blower to see just how much damage. But if it would help I could pull them and see if it LOOKS like the heads are OK!

Clifford will these heads work for him?
I'd be happy to ship them to him for the cost of shipping! (since it is a HUGE unknownif they are good or not!)

[Geom]

Well here's the latest,

Came in this morning to a bunch of frowning faces...
"The damage is worse than we thought", was the first thing I heard.

In any case, it's not really much worse than I was already expecting (by this point).

So here's what they found.

As expected, the valve managed to shoot itself into the piston. So cylinder 3 (right) is, as expected, toast.
The extra-special-suck part is that the other 2 cylinders don't exactly instill a whole lot of confidence in their long term health.
Cylinder 1 (left) showed pretty considerable (I'm not sure what the right term is) scorching? burning? whatever... it was black and sooty, and generally looked like crap; with the piston top showing some white spots on it.
Cylinder 2 looked the least sh**y, but it didn't look all that good either. According to the mechanic, it too would (eventually have) looked like cylinder 1; if it had been given enough time.
(I can post pics if anyone would find them valuable)

In short none of those 3 are worth keeping. And, as I'm sure is most likely, the top bank is also in the same situation.
So I think this brings an end to the "search" portion of the exercise.

Now I have to make a decision on the "answer" portion.....

This shop is not at all excited about rebuilding this engine. While the block is fine, and several of the other components look ok, I don't really blame them. Finding all the right parts would be challenging at best, and getting them here from... wherever would be a blast I'm sure. Plus I don't really want anything further to do with it either.
And at their shop rate, having them do the whole rebuild would bankrupt me.
An in-frame is really not an option either. At least not for this mechanic. He doesn't think there's anyway to actually effectively work on that upper bank; with it in frame.

So the engine has to come out regardless.

So my remaining options, as I see them now, are:

1) Pull the trigger on the reman'ed engine I got a quote for.
The shop is waffling (and not really unexpectedly) on just how long it'd take them to pull that engine. Let alone, putting the new engine in. And deal with all the fun-stuff of making that one fit in correctly.
So they would/could not give me a quote. They swagged that maybe a full day to pull it and 2 days to put it back; assuming everything went well. Which by now, we've learned... it won't!
Also, I honestly have no idea about this new engine, other than it's a DD authorized shop reman'ed left-turning 6v92.
I'm told it comes complete from turbo down. So in "theory" it should be turn-key. We all know that's highly unlikely.
So I need to call the guy, I guess, and figure out exactly what he'd be sending me.

2) Have the bus towed to another, more bus specific 2-stroke capable shop... wherever that may be.
It'll cost me a good chunk of cash just to tow it again (negating any possible savings in the shop rate).
And I still will have to deal with the above issues.
But at least a familiar shop won't get lost in the weeds finding their own... @$#'embly parts; if things get wonky.

3) Pack up all my sh** and go home and write all of it off as a really bad, and costly, nightmare.

Decisions, decisions......

[Cary and Don]

That is really weird.  We never had the engine worked on. We thought about it when we first got it. As a newbee, we thought it sounded like a thrashing machine. We took it to a mechanic and he said it purred like a kitten. "Leave it alone". So we never gave it another thought. Could it actually run that long if the "adjustment" was done more than 13 years ago? Granted we didn't put a lot of miles on it, maybe 7000 miles when we sold it.

Don and Cary

[luvrbus]

George, he can remove the straps holding the engine up, undo things like the cooling.air exhaust system etc and drive line and the engine will tilt out making it easier to work on fwiw  that is a bummer for sure, wish I could help but I am 500 miles from you and don't have any lefty parts or engines

[B_K]

George
FWIW if it were me I'd get on the horn and talk to Brent @ American Fleet in Springfield, MO and ask him about having it towed there!
I have bought one of their engines and installed it in our bus myself, as well as bought a complete bus from them that someone had them build and install an engine for, but then fell on hard times and signed the title over for it because they could afford the bill.
Had great results out of BOTH engines and know of others who have dealt with them more than I have that referred to them in the first place.

I'm pretty sure they have a wrecker service they work with regularly that would give them a fair rate.
I am fully confident in their ability to do the complete R&R/build for you at a very reasonable cost. (yes I know it's a 1000 mile tow)
I have been to their facility and been given the grand tour when picking up my engine and even got to watch them dynoing my engine before loading it on the trailer for the trip home!

I have no connection with them other than have been a paying customer and had good results!

[B_K]

George, he can remove the straps holding the engine up, undo things like the cooling.air exhaust system etc and drive line and the engine will tilt out making it easier to work on fwiw  that is a bummer for sure, wish I could help but I am 500 miles from you and don't have any lefty parts or engines

Clifford it sounds to me as if they are not comfortable even working on it anymore than they already have from what he says.

[Geom]

That's good info Clifford, thanks! I'll forward that on to the shop and see what they say.
I'm kinda surprised they didn't think of/know that.

Thanks for the additional info on American Fleet, B_K. They're actually at the top of (a quite short) list of my options.
It's good to know (from fellow busnuts) that they have a good history with these engines and buses in general.
I ran the (mental) calculation of towing that bus there. But wow, 1000 mile tow would be one heavenly tow bill

While I'm willing to go ahead and put the new engine in, I just get this twisted feeling in my gut that these guys (while well intentioned and I'm sure capable) will get lost in the weeds when things aren't exactly as they'd expect it.

This bus was obviously radically changed from OEM, just cramming that 6v92 in it. And I don't know if they'll have the creative... wherewithal to work outside-the-box if things get... different.

Hmm.........

[eagle19952]

Warranty on a re=man is not much better, 1 year and most suppliers won't pickup the towing fee,then some have to go back to the installer or supplier.Some engines are good candidates for a inframe some are not if his crank is good I would go for it

inframe...unless i was doing it myself

[DoubleEagle]

How much money you put into fixing it should depend on what you can afford and how many more years and miles you expect to run the bus. That call has to be yours, but your choices are confined by a custom setup of a left-turning engine. It is too late now, but looking back, do you think the engine was giving you warning signs with the heating problem and acting different when cold?