Another Newbie

[Toolman]

Terry, my wheels are chrome not alloy and should be easy to keep shiny
And William sure has done a hell of a job , I hope to see it when he does the big lap!

[BruceS]

Welcome Kevin!
Sure looks like it'll be a working palace once it's all finished!
Is there a Mrs Toolman or are you on your own?
Any details of your running gear will be welcome.
I'm guessing a 6-92 with a crash box? Any idea of economy and cruising speed?

[Toolman]

Bruce, Mrs Toolmans name is Chris, we also have 3 young adult kids that seem in no hurry to leave home,I think that they are too well looked after

Yeah 6V92 with a 7 speed fuller

We drove it 3800kms home from Melbourne and averaged 2.7 kms/ litre and drives very nice! sits on 100ks @ 1600

It was built for Deluxe and ran out of Perth when new,ended up in the McCaff fleet for most of its life

[Dot]

wow big bugger alright and welcome to Mrs Toolman aka Chris as well

[T1 Terry]

Friends converted a Denning and fitted an 8v92TA with the 6 speed Spicer. Towing a rather large trailer they were down to 3/4km/l on the trip across from Port Augusta all the way through to Perth. They took a week to get over so they weren't flogging and lots of stops.
Tassie Mark from the old CMCA forum reported he was down below 1km/ltr on sections travelling to Darwin so it's not that uncommon for the GM's to guzzle the fuel. A one time CMCA chairman once said about his GM powered bus conversion, they are a very efficient device for tuning fuel into noise

T1 Terry

[Toolman]

Yeah they are a good converter, but what a nice sound, up there with a RR merlin, I love them
The thing about DD 2 strokes is you can do so much to tune them, this one is not standard, has a different turbo and injectors, maybe why it runs so sweet
The guys at McCaffs who rebuilt engines were up there with the best,I understand that a couple of them built the Bandag Bullet
I have been told more than once that the 6V92 was the best engine ever fitted to a bus

[T1 Terry]

The 8V71 revved better and was about equal on the fuel to the 6V92. Turbo charged, intercooled and the governor let out to 3,300rpm and they were an absolute rocket over the mountains in Tassie with a full load of petrified tourist and their luggage The traffic mob made me tone them down after a few went passed the hidden transport man a little quicker that they thought was right

T1 Terry

[Toolman]

Sounds like you have been around Terry
Many years ago I spent a few weeks pushing scrapers with a D500 which had a 16V71, great fun
Drive em like you stole em and just make sure not to over heat em Love em!!

[norman]

Yeah they are a good converter, but what a nice sound, up there with a RR merlin, I love them
The thing about DD 2 strokes is you can do so much to tune them, this one is not standard, has a different turbo and injectors, maybe why it runs so sweet
The guys at McCaffs who rebuilt engines were up there with the best,I understand that a couple of them built the Bandag Bullet
I have been told more than once that the 6V92 was the best engine ever fitted to a bus

If you ever come across a book ---Sigh for a Merlin....read it ....

[T1 Terry]

Sounds like you have been around Terry
Many years ago I spent a few weeks pushing scrapers with a D500 which had a 16V71, great fun
Drive em like you stole em and just make sure not to over heat em Love em!!

Don't get them hot, don't lug them at low revs, and don't attempt to use them for eng braking above their design rpm limit, otherwise things escape from the block Another one I learnt the hard way, always use new split pins in the governor linkages, you don't want the linkage to fall off while the engine is running

T1 Terry