Author Topic: Anyone keep a spare engine in their garage ready to be shipped to themselves?  (Read 13595 times)

artvonne

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Even though he's probably ignoring me and thus won't see this, I have to agree with artvonne.  ;D


  Why would I be ignoring you?

Offline TedsBUSted

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Even though he's probably ignoring me and thus won't see this, I have to agree with artvonne.  ;D


  Why would I be ignoring you?

Why wouldn't you?
Okay, it was a joke.

But yes, trying to second guess the Fickle Finger of Fate can be futile.

Ted
Bus polygamist. Always room for another, especially ‘04 or ‘06 are welcome. NE from Chicago, across the pond.

artvonne

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But yes, trying to second-guess the Fickle Finger of Fate as to what may fail is almost futile.

Ted

  I am truly amazed things work as well as they do, as long as they do. For every disaster or tragedy there are millions of succeses, but not many see those. we sure freeze when we see stuff break though.

  I remember this friend, we were talking about stuff, airplanes and things, getting scared. He brought up how when we were kids and went on rides at the fair or carnival, we just went and had fun, didnt think anything about it. But at 40 or 50 we start looking at the bolts and pins and stuff holding the different contraptions together. How safe is a roller coaster? For all the people that ride them day after day, hour after hour, the accident rate is almost nil. But all we gotta do is see one plunge off a track somewhere and it scares us half to death.

  Probably the same with big Bus repair bills. EEEK! Dang, were all probably really nuts to drive these things very far.

Offline zubzub

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  • '53 4104. Roadworthy but rough around the edges.
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FWIW I have always had a spare engine in the garage for my old cars and vans.  I have never once needed to use one, I just pick them up when I see one for free or close to free.  The provide a certain piece of mind for me.  But then I always seem to be driving high milage vehicles (my last van had 445,000 kms on the clock when I sold it)  and my "new" one has 405,000 kms (but it came with a spare 220,000 kms parts van).  Those might seem like crazy figures, but I see VW T4s for sale round here with 600,000 kms plus on the original drive train so I'm good for now.  If I had room to store it, I would probably pick up a spare 6-71 (uh oh I just realized i do) just to have a spare head etc...around.

Offline luvrbus

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I would say 85% of engine failures are drivers error here where I live we have some good climbs out of this valley and you see it almost every day here in the 110 degrees weather the old buses setting on the side of the road with oil and water pouring from the engine, enjoy your bus just drive it right for the conditions, ask Van lol

good luck 
Life is short drink the good wine first

Offline thomasinnv

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Clifford I have to agree with you totally on that one. I have a friend with a 4905 and he grenaded 3 engines in about a year and a half. He just puts the hammer down and goes as fast as he can, usually about 70-75 mph. On my last trip of 300 miles, ambients were mid 90's and to maintain 70-75 to keep up with him, I had to use the misters quite a bit to keep it under 200deg. I usually run 60-65, at which I only need the misters on long steep grades. This last trip I actually ran out of water and ended up having to slow down anyway. Next time I'll just tell him "see you there". I don't need to go that fast anyway.
Some are called, some are sent, some just got up and went.

1998 MCI 102-DL3
Series 60 12.7/Alison B500
95% converted (they're never really done, are they?)

Offline JohnEd

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Thomas,

Aren't your misters fed by your freshwater supply?  What is the gallon per hour or minute rate of consumption for your misters?

Have you looked into water injection to reduce the engine temp?  Your findings?

Do you happen to know what the condition of the three engines was that were grenaded?  I heard that BK!  I meant before they were grenaded. :P

Thanks,


John
"An uneducated vote is a treasonous act more damaging than any treachery of the battlefield.
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." Plato
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
—Pla

Offline thomasinnv

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My misters are fed from my fresh water supply, which was maybe 2/3 to 3/4 full, I am guessing around 80 gallons was used. I had .1 gph misters but they plugged last year and I removed them and never got around to putting them back in, so the "misters" as of right now are simply 1/16 holes in the piping. 6 on each side. That equates to a lot of water. I have a mist water filter that I need to install to keep the hard deposits from clogging the outlets, then I can replace the mister heads. I just never worried about it much because they are rarely ever used, accept for this last trip because of trying to keep up with my buddy.

as for water injection, I really don't have an overheating problem. This trip was different because I was travelling with someone who thinks speed limits are optional. I generally maintain an average speed of 62 to 65 mph, at which I never need the misters unless I have a long hard pull. If the ambients are say below 90, the misters don't even come into play.

The first engine he blew was old and tired, and blowing copious amounts of oil out the exhaust. He had a rebuilt 8v71 put in, and a few hundred miles later blew out 3 pistons. Got that fixed, some months after that he found out just how hot a detroit will get before it lets out all the steam. After that, he had a 6v92 with a v730 dropped in. Still waiting for him to blow this one. Some people have no business owning a bus. He's my good good friend, but some people just don't learn. He is used to driving his class a with a 300 kat.
Some are called, some are sent, some just got up and went.

1998 MCI 102-DL3
Series 60 12.7/Alison B500
95% converted (they're never really done, are they?)

artvonne

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  Mechanics can generally get much more service life out of engines than non mechanics.

  Bad mechanics are a dime a dozen.

  Crooked mechanics are even more prolific, but most crooked mechanics are actually very good and very intelligent mechanics. I guess it just proves you gotta be good at something to know how to screw people at it.

  A friend took apart a Ferrari engine and found someone had welded a hole in the top of the piston. If your mechanically inclined at all, think about that. It was done in place. And it was done to make money.

  Being out on the road we are all at someone elses mercy if we find ourself in unfortunate circumstances. Knowing even basic mechanics can save you a lot of money and BS. I hear so many say they are not mechanically inclined. Well, it can be learned by anyone with normal intelligence, you just have to try. Certainly we arent going topull the head off a Detroit by ourselves, but between some studying and knowing who to ask, we can figure out if we need to or not. We can figure out if the engine runs welland is safe to drive. If we learn enough we dont have to be afraid to drive it. But the same could be said for ignorance. If you dont know what you dont know, your likely to learn the hard way. Youll be the guy by the side of the road watching your motor goup in smoke, and wont have a clue whats wrong with it, or why it happened.  

Offline chuckd

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Okay, maybe I need to explain myself.  I agreed with having a spare engine, why?  I have an early serial number 6V92, it would be a waste of time for me to rebuild it if something unfortunate happened to it.  I know that at times you can buy entire buses for scrap and perhaps get an silver block engine for not very much money.  But those opportunities do not happen often and I guarantee they would not happen when my engine failed.  So I want to be ready, at minimal expense to be able to replace my engine when necessary.

I am not afraid to drive my bus, you have seen pictures of me camping in the middle of the winter in Montana, so not paranoid, I just want to be ready if something bad happens.  I think it is call preparedness.

Chuck - who changes his oil way before necessary, has his bus safety checked by C&J bus repair yearly, manually shifts his Allison to avoid lugging his engine, and will never turn down a chance to go somewhere.

Offline luvrbus

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I can see your point owning a green engine,but this all started with a guy owning a 4 stroke series 50 a modern engine I don't think he ever got his answer lol but he would be wise a few parts for those will cost him 3 or 4 grand a rebuilt ECU alone for him would be over 2 grand and head would be 3000

good luck
Life is short drink the good wine first

Offline bevans6

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We were racing at Waterford Hills outside for Detroit years ago, and a friend of mine dropped a valve in his Mini.  It was a big weekend for him, it was a Trans-Am reunion race, his car had run in Trans-am back in the day, so he wanted to fix it.  He pulled the head, the local welder wandered by and said " I can weld that hole up for you"  "Yeah, right, so could I if I had my shop here" Local guy pointed over to the trailer parked no more than 50 feet away down the paddock - "Shop's right there"  He welded up a 1" diameter hole in the piston, head back on, won the race, and left it in for the next race just so he could talk about it (he could talk your arm off...). 

Brian
1980 MCI MC-5C, 8V-71T from a M-110 self propelled howitzer
Allison MT-647
Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia

Offline belfert

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If I had the cash for a second engine I would buy a 12.7L non EGR Series 60 and replace my engine with something bigger.  I don't know that I would keep my old engine.

I seriously considered buying Ken and Ruth's (ruthi) Series 60 they bought out of a wrecked Setra, but it would have cost me as much as the engine to get it home plus at least that much again in parts and labor to get it running and installed.
Brian Elfert - 1995 Dina Viaggio 1000 Series 60/B500 - 75% done but usable - Minneapolis, MN

artvonne

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  Nothing wrong having spares, good idea even. But if your afraid to go anywhere for fear of trouble, having spares probably wont change anything.

Offline JohnEd

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Honey, can I buy another bus or maybe build up an engine to ship to myself?


BCO
Don,

That face cream you started using seems to have worked wonders.  I, for one, would never have recognized euw.  Nice pic and congrats on robbing that cradle.

John
"An uneducated vote is a treasonous act more damaging than any treachery of the battlefield.
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." Plato
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
—Pla

 

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