Hey Everyone,

I have been tinkering with school buses for a while and love the fact that I can buy a solid OTR rig with a solid diesel drive train for a song. My latest is a 2002 Bluebird with 180k miles. It is equipped with a Cummins 8.3 and an Allison MD-3060. Fleet maintained and runs & drives great. Price? $3400. No rust & a nice rig. It is going to be my next motorhome.

While shopping I looked at numerous rigs and passed on several that were equipped with International DT466's and Cummins 8.3's with 5 or 6 speed Allison transmissions and under 150k miles that could be had for $1000-$2500. I passed on these as they came from "rust belt" locations.

The other day I was looking over a 1941 International 2.5 ton truck for sale locally and thought.... Hmmm.... DT466 & Allison MD3060 for $2k and '41 International for $2800... What a pair! That could be (IMHO) a sweet ride.

I have never done a swap of this magnitude but I would imagine that the basic swap could probably be done for less than $10k.

Has anyone here tackled such a project? If so, I would love to hear about your experience.

As I have never lived in the "rust belt" and never dealt with vehicles that have rusted there I really don't know much except what I have read in the forums. I know that body, chassis and suspension rust kills vehicles early but what kind of issues may follow the engine, transmission and related electrical and fuel systems?

Another, rather important, question is what are the critical dimensions of the DT-466? Will it fit in that '41 truck?

What do you all think? Pipe dreams or a good path to a relatively economical heavy hauler?

Thanks

Steve

 

If it was my project, I would just do a cab swap and use all the drive train and frame etc of the bus. The biggest challenge is shorting the wheel base to suit, but still less work than re-powering the 41. That way you will have a vintage look with a modern everything else.

 

I understand your thinking but the reason the drive train is so cheap is because it is in a rust bucket. The frame & suspension will be in rough shape.