Author Topic: old school bus off subject  (Read 3052 times)

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gdaddy01

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old school bus off subject
« on: October 10, 2017, 06:42:25 PM »
looking at getting a 1990 ih school bus , short bus . I think it has a non turbo 7.3 liter . does this engine have enough power , as my Grandpa would say , to pull a sick whore off of a piss pot .

fastback 427

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Re: old school bus off subject
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2017, 08:21:07 PM »
No they don't imho. We had a 92 f250 with 4.10 rear, empty was fine but 4 horse trailer with two horses and 65 mph was pretty much top speed. Unless there was a headwind. Then it was 55 and 4th gear only. Good mpg though. With the old farm fuel power was noticeably better.
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gdaddy01

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Re: old school bus off subject
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2017, 10:01:55 PM »
could the 7.3 be replaced with a 460 gas burner to get more power or would that be a waist of time ?

ntheogen

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I had a full size skoolie with the same mill...
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2017, 11:00:06 PM »
Man was that thing a dog. I got pulled over going over Donner pass in the Sierras in California for going to slow. Way underpowered. I think you can add a turbo to them pretty easily though.

cjshaker

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Re: old school bus off subject
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2017, 06:51:32 AM »
Agree with the others. We've got a non-turbo IH boxtruck at work and that thing is a total dog. More like a 3 legged dog, actually. And that's when it's empty.
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BattlestarGalactic

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Re: old school bus off subject
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2017, 11:30:26 AM »
Better off to get a PSD version.  Those n/a motors were very, very slow back in the early 90's.  I almost bought a new '96 F350 with n/a 7.3.  Thinking back I'm so happy I bought the 460 version.  I put a Vortech supercharger on it and make that truck FLY!!  Even pulling my 40ft trailer.

You can likely still get a turbo kit for it.  But why?  Would likely need pump work and I doubt that is cheap.
Larry

WConley

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Re: old school bus off subject
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2017, 10:47:29 PM »
I dragged my '64 Galaxie on a tandem trailer cross-country behind a 7.3 diesel U-Haul back in '95.  Getting over the Rockies was so slow, I had a trucker tell me he and his buddies had bets going on whether I would make it!

That little bus would do well with a Banks turbo system upgrade  ;)
A careful study of failure will yield the ingredients for success.

Falcon67

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Re: old school bus off subject
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2017, 08:59:49 AM »
could the 7.3 be replaced with a 460 gas burner to get more power or would that be a waist of time ?

HahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHahahaha...*cough*

1993 F350 (Our "Tree-fiddy") pulls a 34' trailer at about 10K lbs.  DRW, 4.10 rear, E4OD, 6.75 MPG more or less with a lot of time in OD.  Maybe get about 90 miles on each 18 gallon tank.  64 MPH is where she likes to run, load or no load.  With the 24' box at 7500 lbs we got 7 MPG.  Empty, maybe 10 MPG without a head wind.

Best internet quote ever on the 7.5L gas:  "It's Moses, it'll part the gasoline sea and pull anything across."

« Last Edit: October 12, 2017, 09:02:13 AM by Falcon67 »

chris401

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Re: old school bus off subject
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2017, 09:49:48 AM »
could the 7.3 be replaced with a 460 gas burner to get more power or would that be a waist of time ?

HahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHahahaha...*cough*

1993 F350 (Our "Tree-fiddy") pulls a 34' trailer at about 10K lbs.  DRW, 4.10 rear, E4OD, 6.75 MPG more or less with a lot of time in OD.  Maybe get about 90 miles on each 18 gallon tank.  64 MPH is where she likes to run, load or no load.  With the 24' box at 7500 lbs we got 7 MPG.  Empty, maybe 10 MPG without a head wind.

Best internet quote ever on the 7.5L gas:  "It's Moses, it'll part the gasoline sea and pull anything across."


My 94 Turbo IDI didn't get that bad but it was a manual transmission. It did like 62-63 mph with 285/75R16s. Got 16.5-18 mpg empty depending on speed. A few times it saw the 6 mpg range loaded.


gdaddy01

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Re: old school bus off subject
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2017, 07:44:19 PM »
so is this a no win deal , unless I buy oil company stock ?