Thread: Who knows about coaches?

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Ian, from about 1980 a lot of Spicer 1107 were used in buses. These were a sweet shifting box, would change like **** through a goose.
We even built a couple of Road Boss with them for one of the oil companies. Good choice of ratios which also forced drivers to use the whole operating range of the engine. Very strong and simple. Also built one for Brisbane-Darwin road train service for a Simon's subbie. It had an NTC400 with 1107 and a Spicer air shift P1241C auxiliary box behind. A brilliant combination. Had us wondering why other heavy haulers didn't follow suit.

So you are planning a career change to be a "Coach Captain"? Never a common "bus driver" on a highway coach. You will need to don the uniform, Walk shorts with braces, self belt shirt, highly polished slip-on casual shoes, long socks, bushy mustache.
Edit- I nearly forgot the thinning grey hair with Brylcreem.

There you go Bus Driver Jim.
All the qualifications needed to advance your career
Andrew

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

There you go Bus Driver Jim.
All the qualifications needed to advance your career
Andrew

Nah, I'll stick to being a "common" busdriver, bugga that long distance highway coachcaptain crap!!!!

Ian, most coaches even going way back to the Redline days had chemical toilets that fed into storage tanks.
Most engine air intakes fed from the toilet compartment as well on the better built coaches and this not only fed cleaner air conditioned air to the air cleaner but also evacuated those other odours often found in toilets.
I have a mate down south who has converted an older AEC horizontal mid mount semi coach into an extremely liveable motor home, runs it on chip oil and also has a humus style toilet fitted. One of the cleanest smelling vehicles I have ever been in and the toilet required a service about every 6 months.
Lets be honest Ian, probably the only mobile home driver who has really held you up on the highway is the type of driver who would still hold you up even if he had an 800hp engine under him. Its usually the attitude of the driver more so than the power plant behind him that is the problem in a mobile home.
I must admit though that Detroits do sound nice, have reasonable amounts of power, but on the other hand leak oil worse than any Rover product ever did (and blow more out especially at excessive revs) and cost too much for what they really are.
When I was in the business I worked out that I could afford almost two Merc motors for the price of 1 GM and after around 850k. kms I had probably spent about $500 on engine repairs, and that was all on air related parts. Magic exhaust brakes, so good that it was still on original brake linings when I sold it. (The 6 cyl turbo was a different kettle of fish though, drums were cheaper than shoes.)
Think it out before you commit.
Regards
Glen

[QUOTE=zulu Delta 534;
I must admit though that Detroits do sound nice, have reasonable amounts of power, but on the other hand leak oil worse than any Rover product ever did (and blow more out especially at excessive revs) and cost too much for what they really are.
When I was in the business I worked out that I could afford almost two Merc motors for the price of 1 GM and after around 850k. kms I had probably spent about $500 on engine repairs, and that was all on air related parts. Magic exhaust brakes, so good that it was still on original brake linings when I sold it. (The 6 cyl turbo was a different kettle of fish though, drums were cheaper than shoes.)
Think it out before you commit.
Regards
Glen[/QUOTE]

Jesus, Glen, what were you doing to those 92's? I had four 8V92TA pulling triaxles generally loaded legal to 40+ tonnes on Brisbane-Sydney-Brisbane shuttle that all did over 1,500,000 kilos before in frame overhauls. Almost total reliability and cheap parts when you did need them. Injectors cost under $100 each to overhaul and they are the whole fuel system. My 8V71N White did over 1,000,000 MILES without coming out of the frame. I reckon Jacobs brakes are miles better than Benz exhaust brakes. I had a Benz 1418 once. The later Detroits with the aluminium rocker covers had lots of modifications to keep the oil in and barely leaked any.

One of the Road Boss is still on the road pulling triple side tippers at thirty-three years old and who knows how many million kilos.

GMs don't leak if they're put together with a bit of silastic and gallons of Dulux. Seriously, Barry (Bear) and Kelvin from Detroit and later proprietors of North Pine Truck Repairs, could put the two strokes together and guarantee them oil tight.
Brian, what sort of consumption could I reasonably expect from a 6V92 grossing no more than 25 tonne at 1500-1550 rpm? Will the Detroit be happy at those low revs?

If I could buy a bus to tour, it would be a Flexible Starliner. I think they're a stunning looking machine. They come with a stunning price tag too!!!

I can just see you in one of these Ian

Campervan Conversion (Suzuki Carry 1.3) by SteamyDave

Originally Posted by Sitec

If I could buy a bus to tour, it would be a Flexible Starliner. I think they're a stunning looking machine. They come with a stunning price tag too!!!

That's older than me! Well almost. Is it Herculese petrol powered? The bins are too small and the headroom is non-existant,