engine side doors - why

[richardkillmon]

Hello,

I have a MCI 1976 5B but I think it was in an accident and the doors and rear bumpers were replaced.
Why do some of the buses have side engine doors that have mesh on one side and louvers on the other? Some have neither.
What purpose does it serve?
What is best?

Thanks

Rick

[chessie4905]

Mesh for radiator, louvers for other for overheating issues, maybe retarded, bathrooms.

[dtcerrato]

If the rad sits longitudinal in the engine bay like in our Vee drive the DS has an expanded metal door over the rad for intake air. There are lots of theories out there about over heating and/or increased cooling openings to prevent it but our oem set up has no other openings like louvers on the opposite (PS) door and we have always run with a full under rear bumper mud flap w/o ever a heat issue. FWIW

[buswarrior]

first, you have different panel treatments, depending on the bus model. Some came with openings, some did not.

Second, you have modifications by owners. There's no telling what reasoning or half-assed engineering was involved in these...

If the engine overheats, fix the cooling system, radiator condition, fan condition, and most often ignored, seals on the MCI blower compartment. If all the air doesn't go thru the rads, a bit of a waste of effort...

If the engine runs at proper temps, nothing to do but inspect and maintain.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[luvrbus]

Hello,

I have a MCI 1976 5B but I think it was in an accident and the doors and rear bumpers were replaced.
Why do some of the buses have side engine doors that have mesh on one side and louvers on the other? Some have neither.
What purpose does it serve?
What is best?



Thanks

Rick

It involves heat built up from some source in most cases .they all try to pull air in and over the engine and out one-way or the other

[richardkillmon]

I had an overheating problem last year and I did all the things that you were talking about. I put the rubber gasket around the radiators or touches the wall and sealed up all the holes in the squirrel cage. I made sure the gasket was good on the door and right now I can throw a tissue up and it sucks it to the radiator so the engine runs at the right temperature is beautiful. The problem I have is the engine compartment gets real hot and the back end of the bus gets extremely hot and so we were seeing if what these doors do and then I was inquisitive on why does Some have louvers? Why does Some have mesh and wind? Some have none

[luvrbus]

Like BW said someone may have replaced a mesh door with solid door ,you should not have that much heat build up ,EGT can get up 7 or 800 degrees on a 8v71 on a hard pull, the heat has to have a escape somewhere,I don't recall ever seeing a MCI 5 without the mesh door on passengers' side,one reason was cooling for the AC components, the MCI 9 prison model bus here in the west had louvered rear doors