Converting my 1955 GM Coach to a DD50 - Seeking RTS NOVA/Flxible Metro/Neoplan

The Warden

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I (with the expertise of typ4) tried but the cost of rebuilding this 2-stroke is right on par with a repower...and us 2-stroke guys have to run single weight rated oils (which are not so common anymore).

I'd turbo the 2-stroke but that adds $ fast as I'd also need to swap out the injectors too. The efficiency of the 2-stroke is still pretty bad so then I'm trying to blow even more KBTU's through the less than ideal radiator system. It's a loosing battle.

I'm not expecting to blow over the grades at the speed limit but some of our climbs have us in the single digits MPH and that's getting unreasonably slow. The hope is to upgrade (a little) and spring some life into this old beast so we can keep using it. If there was any way to stuff a 6+ speed gearbox in there I would have already done it and kept the jimmy. There isn't anyone else I've found running slushboxes tied to the 6-71 as their RV and now I think I know why :)

That VC is a tall steel to house the extra hardware for the jaccobs brakes.
I have to deal with single-weight oils all the time with marine diesels, so I get that...and I understand your reasoning; I was more lamenting the fact that one more Jimmy's going off the road :cry:

And, here's a summary of my opinion of slushboxes in general and Allisons in particular...

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Brandon314159

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Hehe!

When it's all locked up, it's not so bad but no where near enough ratios to make it work in the hills.

If it was a 6v92T or something I'd probably be more apt to a rebuild and whatnot but I can't see shoehorning one of those beasts into what was really designed for the inline-6.

I've whipped it pretty hard for quite a few years...can't imagine the prior owners without the overdrive doing the I-5 corridor regularly in this thing. You had torque converter mode or lockup, that's it...1 forward gear haha. Even the 4-speed crashboxes were rough...you didn't stop on steep hills facing up! I considered trying to graft a multispeed manual gearbox in place of the 4 that the highway buses came with but the input shaft on the trans and the output bevel gear are one. It would be a complete custom job and probably not reliable in the end.

The only viable solution seems to be the very END of the v-drives. Real ugly with the reverser in there but...I really would like 300HP and 3 actual gears (with lockup in each one!).
 

The Warden

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You could always find one of these with a 6-71TAC and 10 speed Roadranger ;Sweet

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(Yes, I'm sick :rotflmao )
 

Brandon314159

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Stood in one. Great bus to drive but if memory serves the 'tallest' interior standing room I've seen on one was about 7" too short. ;-) Pretty uncomfortable to stand and cook/do dishes/work in hah!

Supposedly those things will get with the program...engine is a bit of a pain to work on but an actual transmission for the win!
 

The Warden

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That's true; forgot how tall you are. I haven't been in a Crown since high school, but I remember the sweet music of the 6-71's running up through the gears. First time I ever saw a 2-stroke in a land application LOL (I grew up around 2-stroke Detroits, but they were all in marine applications)
 

idi_econoline

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Haven't been visiting OB at all lately. IDI van's my daily driver, but lately I've been too distracted with my new (to me) converted bus!

Nah, Brandon -- Gotta keep it 2-stroke.... Yeh, "Old Look" GM transits can handle inline engines, but not Vs. And, yes, Vdrives are getting more and more rare.

Good luck with this.... will follow this thread.

BTW, VS2-8's way better than the 2-speed VH yours had originally... just sayin! And all the electronics that come with 4-strokes and the 731s... ACK!

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