I have this build posted on the powerstrokenation forum, but I am needing some help or suggestions and it seems like there is a lot of interaction with the builds and forum from all aspects of diesels on this site.
I will post a lot of the same stuff from there over to hear to fill everyone in on the progress of the build. I am hoping to get started on it this fall when hay season is over but might turn into winter depending on funds and time.
As the title says, I am putting a DTA360 from a 1993 International school bus with 126k on the bus. The bus was in service till I got it so all routine maintenance had been done.
To start I have to say I love the powerstrokes and have ran hundreds of thousands of miles with minor issues. That being said I had a scare with my current truck and decided it was time to build the truck I want. My current truck is a 09 F550 6.4 auto cc 4x4, this is a railroad truck with all the decals, vinyl seats and floors, manual locks windows, only options are Cruise and AC. I searched for a long time to find my exact truck with low miles, I did a full delete as soon as I got it home with Spartan Tunes. I have put just over 50k on the truck heavy loads with equipment and hay, with not an issue, last week running back from a hay run I hear a pop like a turbo boot coming off and look back to see a cloud of white smoke pouring from my truck, I immediately shut it down, fearing the worst, I got it towed to the shop (first time in my life I've ever went to a mechanic). Having no truck for two weeks and needing to deliver hay and pick up stock is not acceptable. I set my sites on making my truck at home fixable with my skills and tools, I've been researching swaps since I started looking for this truck. Power, reliability, cheap and easy to find bolt on parts were at the top of the list.
Over the weekend I drove 5 hours each way to pickup a 93 international school bus, just over 126k miles on the clock, DTA360 motor planted right up front. After a quick look over drove it the 5 hours home hoping I had made a good purchase. No issues on the drive at all, actually only used 1 tank of fuel at interstate speeds. I woke up bright and early to give it a good inspection, to my surprise, no leaks or any problems whatsoever, even the tires are above 80% in tread, let the tear-down and build begin.
Got a call fist thing this morning, my truck had a bad injector O-ring, with all new o-rings, and some other small parts I had more money in this one fix than in the whole bus and trip there and back plus some, mechanic said my motor looks like new inside and was impressed by how clean everything was, I went ahead with the fix so I can drive it while I collect the rest of my parts. To me this also means I can sell the motor and make up some for the swap when the time comes.
My biggest hurdle is going to be the transfer case, lots of reading other builds, I have decided to either marry my NV271 or get a 2.5 ton t-case. There have been several 271's done so the specs are out there. I would build 2 adapters in case one failed. I like the idea of the 2.5 ton t-case and the air shifter, I just can't find dimensions specs or clocking information on them. If I can pick one up cheap I might just play around with it and resale if I don't keep it. Benefit to the 2.5 ton is the strength and its divorced, cons it huge and heavy.
The motor might be adjusted a bit for increase power, but not much, this is a work truck and tows 70% of the time, I need torque which the DTA360 has plenty in that dept.
Started disassembly of the bus, scrap yard pays best price if there is no foam or covers on seats and windows removed, so got all that done. Started removing bolts that hold body to frame, 25 years of road dirt on the bolts made that slow going. I did get front cab section unbolted from the chassis and opened up rear motor cover. I can get good measurements from all the motor angles now.
On of the things I have been held up on is the gauges, I like to see what everything is doing especially when taking off on a 10hr loaded run so running any time without them isn't going to happen. I prefer non computer read full mechanical gauges. I have found a factory gauge cluster at the local pick and pull that I can cut up and use it to house all my mechanical gauges so the dash appears factory. I will be running a Tach, Speedo, Fuel, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, Coolant Temp, EGT, Voltmeter, probably a Rear Diff Temp.
What computer if any do I need to keep on the truck to control the heat, AC, air bags, and abs controls, if any, everything else will be a new wiring job like cruise control if I can get that figured out.
End goal is to have everything mechanical, motor, trans, transfer case.
Picked up the transmission this weekend, it was out of a cabover truck, so has the cabover linkage on top to big to use on the truck, but would be awesome to locate my shifter where I want. Drove to Arkansas to pick it up, truck it came from was running and driving just donating the motor to a 5 ton build.
Got the big beast home and i mean big. Sprayed off, looked up the Eaton build plate info, and I have a 10 speed instead of a 9 speed I was supposed to be purchasing. To be fair the shift knob was for a 9 speed so he might have believed it to be a 9 speed as well.
After doing some research i think i ended up with a much better transmission than i was planning on buying. This one is a heavy duty high torque model. It isnt an overdrive transmission which might have to change, with two new gears it can be a double overdrive with a .68 high gear. My truck is low geared so this might be a must.
I am going to be adding some serious weight to the truck, with transmission and transfer case alone being 1k lbs almost as much as my entire engine trans and t-case. Thank goodness it's a 550.
I will post a lot of the same stuff from there over to hear to fill everyone in on the progress of the build. I am hoping to get started on it this fall when hay season is over but might turn into winter depending on funds and time.
As the title says, I am putting a DTA360 from a 1993 International school bus with 126k on the bus. The bus was in service till I got it so all routine maintenance had been done.
To start I have to say I love the powerstrokes and have ran hundreds of thousands of miles with minor issues. That being said I had a scare with my current truck and decided it was time to build the truck I want. My current truck is a 09 F550 6.4 auto cc 4x4, this is a railroad truck with all the decals, vinyl seats and floors, manual locks windows, only options are Cruise and AC. I searched for a long time to find my exact truck with low miles, I did a full delete as soon as I got it home with Spartan Tunes. I have put just over 50k on the truck heavy loads with equipment and hay, with not an issue, last week running back from a hay run I hear a pop like a turbo boot coming off and look back to see a cloud of white smoke pouring from my truck, I immediately shut it down, fearing the worst, I got it towed to the shop (first time in my life I've ever went to a mechanic). Having no truck for two weeks and needing to deliver hay and pick up stock is not acceptable. I set my sites on making my truck at home fixable with my skills and tools, I've been researching swaps since I started looking for this truck. Power, reliability, cheap and easy to find bolt on parts were at the top of the list.
Over the weekend I drove 5 hours each way to pickup a 93 international school bus, just over 126k miles on the clock, DTA360 motor planted right up front. After a quick look over drove it the 5 hours home hoping I had made a good purchase. No issues on the drive at all, actually only used 1 tank of fuel at interstate speeds. I woke up bright and early to give it a good inspection, to my surprise, no leaks or any problems whatsoever, even the tires are above 80% in tread, let the tear-down and build begin.
Got a call fist thing this morning, my truck had a bad injector O-ring, with all new o-rings, and some other small parts I had more money in this one fix than in the whole bus and trip there and back plus some, mechanic said my motor looks like new inside and was impressed by how clean everything was, I went ahead with the fix so I can drive it while I collect the rest of my parts. To me this also means I can sell the motor and make up some for the swap when the time comes.
My biggest hurdle is going to be the transfer case, lots of reading other builds, I have decided to either marry my NV271 or get a 2.5 ton t-case. There have been several 271's done so the specs are out there. I would build 2 adapters in case one failed. I like the idea of the 2.5 ton t-case and the air shifter, I just can't find dimensions specs or clocking information on them. If I can pick one up cheap I might just play around with it and resale if I don't keep it. Benefit to the 2.5 ton is the strength and its divorced, cons it huge and heavy.
The motor might be adjusted a bit for increase power, but not much, this is a work truck and tows 70% of the time, I need torque which the DTA360 has plenty in that dept.
Started disassembly of the bus, scrap yard pays best price if there is no foam or covers on seats and windows removed, so got all that done. Started removing bolts that hold body to frame, 25 years of road dirt on the bolts made that slow going. I did get front cab section unbolted from the chassis and opened up rear motor cover. I can get good measurements from all the motor angles now.
On of the things I have been held up on is the gauges, I like to see what everything is doing especially when taking off on a 10hr loaded run so running any time without them isn't going to happen. I prefer non computer read full mechanical gauges. I have found a factory gauge cluster at the local pick and pull that I can cut up and use it to house all my mechanical gauges so the dash appears factory. I will be running a Tach, Speedo, Fuel, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, Coolant Temp, EGT, Voltmeter, probably a Rear Diff Temp.
What computer if any do I need to keep on the truck to control the heat, AC, air bags, and abs controls, if any, everything else will be a new wiring job like cruise control if I can get that figured out.
End goal is to have everything mechanical, motor, trans, transfer case.
Picked up the transmission this weekend, it was out of a cabover truck, so has the cabover linkage on top to big to use on the truck, but would be awesome to locate my shifter where I want. Drove to Arkansas to pick it up, truck it came from was running and driving just donating the motor to a 5 ton build.
Got the big beast home and i mean big. Sprayed off, looked up the Eaton build plate info, and I have a 10 speed instead of a 9 speed I was supposed to be purchasing. To be fair the shift knob was for a 9 speed so he might have believed it to be a 9 speed as well.
After doing some research i think i ended up with a much better transmission than i was planning on buying. This one is a heavy duty high torque model. It isnt an overdrive transmission which might have to change, with two new gears it can be a double overdrive with a .68 high gear. My truck is low geared so this might be a must.
I am going to be adding some serious weight to the truck, with transmission and transfer case alone being 1k lbs almost as much as my entire engine trans and t-case. Thank goodness it's a 550.
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