New Life!

[Rudy]

The red and amber lenses have been removed.

[Rudy]

Photos of the diesel motor.

[Rudy]

Tire chains. A good thing to have in the snow.

[splummer]

granny may be a 7.3 ,

[dburt]

Granny, your engine is the Brazilian made Ford 7.8L inline 6-cylinder diesel. It says such on the sticker on top of the engine. When I was bidding on the bus, I made sure it was the 7.8L and not the 6.6L and so confirmend it with the info on the sticker. The research that I did on the engine took me to several websites and forums where some folks thought it was a pretty good engine, and others said it was a boat anchor. One person said with proper care and maintaince it should last 500,000 miles as he had several in a fleet of dumptrucks and they served him well. Other folks said it was not much of an engine, but made good boat anchors and scrap metal. One thing I did discover, was that if you were going to have the Brazilian made Ford engine, it was better to have the 7.8L then the 6.6L.

[Mark R. Obtinario]

As I posted elsewhere, the Brazilian made engines were okay for what they were.

The big problem with them is finding anyone who knows anything about them and finding parts.

Ford isn't known for supporting their oddball stuff for very long. And the standard Ford garage that doesn't sell anything but cars and light trucks won't have anything for the medium duty line.

But given minimal care (clean oil and new filters on a regular basis) it should last quite a while.

Since the bus just recently came out of service I would try and get part numbers for all of the belts and filters from the school if you can't read them on the parts themselves. A couple of years from now that might not be an option available to you and finding the correct #'s could become a real problem.

Another thing you might try to get is any service records from the school. They may no longer have them but it is worth trying. Knowing what has been done and how it was done can help down the road.

Good luck and happy trails.

Mark O.
Winlock, WA

[Granny]

Thank you so much DB for the info on my engine. I had a blast taking the bus touring town today. I took it to show my good friend. They own a logging business, and a fleet of log trucks. Her husband was at the shop today when I pulled in. He wasn't excited at all when I said I was buying a bus. When I pulled in today and he heard what engine was in it, he recognized the engine almost from sound. Got really excited, he did. He says (with lust in his eyes) those are really good engines. So, I guess we have a couple different opinions about them. I don't know myself, but thought I would share what he had to say.
Mark, thanks for the input. I will make sure to get the numbers off the filters and things, and try stocking up while they might still be available.

[Jones'n4chrome]

Granny,
Nice to see you had a good time in your bus.
It is fun to drive a bus, even when you are not being paid to do it.

If you get the part numbers, you won't need to stock up. Just save the numbers and use them to order parts when you need them.
Some parts houses won't be very helpful looking up parts by the year, make or model of your bus, but if you have the part numbers they can usually find what you need.

[Granny]

A friend stopped by today, bringing me "gifts" for my bus. I was "gifted" a "new to me" used propane two burner stove out of an old camper. I was also given a door latch/locking mechanism out of a canopy, that I plan to remake for a door latch for my bus. The door lock that came with it appears to be broken, so I had inquired about the kind that are on the buses with air doors. I also have acquired some "kool patch" to use under the leaky emergency exit hatch. I am told, under no circumstances do I want to use caulking there, as it will just leak in time and allow rust to form. Both of my roof hatches have been installed with caulking, and are leaking. I will just replace the seal around the one for now, as I have my eyes on a sky light to replace the other one with. Now, I am just waiting for some nicer weather, so I can get started on a few of these projects.

[Jones'n4chrome]

Good score Ginger. Gifts are always good.
Are you going to try to get a little done on the bus before you take the next load to Boise? or will you wait until you get situated there first.

[Rudy]

Ginger, cool score on that stuff. Take pics and send them to me. I can take a pic of how my door locking system works, and post it.

[wstcstslider]

Nice score! That gets me thinking. I am just wrapping up and have few things I'm not going to use. If you are still in the planning stages maybe you could use some of it. I have to come to Prineville in the next day or two and could bring it by. I'll go snap some pics and drop you a PM with my phone #.

[wstcstslider]

I got a picture coming but it's taking a LONG time to load.

Here are the extra’s. They just didn’t fit into the plans.
2’X5’ door with key New
2’X5’ window with screen Used
16â€

[Granny]

Luke, I would love your un-needed items. Anything you want to get rid of, I will take and find a use for. I haven't received your pm yet, so will send you one with my number and address.

I haven't gotten a chance to get pictures of this stuff yet, Rudy, and it is going to take a couple of days (got other things to tend to first).

Chuck, I am getting impatient, waiting to get moved before starting the bus, have a few days (or maybe weeks) before my next load to Boise, am getting my other projects finished up, and about to start on the bus while here - if time allows. I need to have the bus at least so that I can use it here pretty soon. I have a trip planned for June - which is just around the corner.

[wstcstslider]

Finally!


I'll call you.