Well the motor is in...running fine...BUT...there was some differences such as the bus motor oil filler tube was in the valve pan not the IP gear cover..along with the CDR valve located on the other valve cover....must have been something to do with ease of maintenance on a bus, with the different hood,etc..BUT, since there is no tach sensor where it ''should have been'', does anyone have any idea where we can hook a tach up?..the tranny in the bus was much too large to work in the truck, the starter was huge, along with a huge alternator, and a different size oil cooler. No big deal, but it would be nice to have a tach.
We bought the entire bus for 500 dollars, paper work stating the motor was an International replacement engine with 48,000 miles costing 6000.00 in november of 2000...Would definitely recommend anyone contemplating a rebuild,etc..to look at your local school system's buses. This was a public auction that hardly no one attends. It is noted in the paper twice, on Sundays, to satisfy fairness doctrine. This school system has switched to Freightliners for the past several years but still has two 7.3's in ''extra'' service..I'm sure there are deals like this to be had all over the country!!
Thanks ahead of time for any help with the tach question....
oldgold...'89F250..

 

Wow, that sounds like it was a steal. there are many ways to rig up a tach, but if you wanted to use the stock ford setup, you could change the timing gear cover with one that has provision for the tach sensor. A cover form any 6.9/7.3 IDI should work.

 

....So, are you saying that you can take the cover off without bother the IP gear???...Does the cover just lift off??

 

I don't think so. The IP is bolted to the cover, and I think the IP gear is supported by the cover itself.

Other types of tachs use an alternator signal, and some people rig up their own magnetic pickup in the crankshaft pulley, but those setups usually use their one cluster gauge.

 

If you take the IP cover off, you'll need to remove the water pump to get the gears lined up again...

 

you can do it without removing the water pump, just position the motor to where the #1 piston is at top dead center on the compression stroke. you can purchase one of those thin dental mirrors at auto zone or where ever you perfer. slide the mirror between the water pump and the cam shaft gear, with a flash light and the mirror in the right spot you can see the marks on the gear. i used a red magic marker and colored both cam shaft teeth as a reference and the one tooth on the ip gear. hope this helps

 

Actually if you remove the IP first and are very careful, you should be able to remove the gear cover and leave the gears meshed up.

The hard part will be the silicone seal around the cover.
But it can be done.

 

Thanks everyone for the help...will pass it on to my brother in law, who bought the truck...He's an old chevy 'gearhead', so he might be able to pull the switch even if it is his first diesel....

 

How hard of a job was it to put the bus engine in the truck? Been thinking of doing this myself. Does the bus engine bolt to the truck tranny?

Thanks, Jordan

 

Thanks Dave, I hadn't thought of that.

If you had the gear off and you turned the motor over to TDC, then how hard would it be to mesh the gears and then put the cover on?

Unlike some others who claimed success, I couldn't see the marks while trying to replace the whole assembly. Different situation, I know, but I'm just curious.

 

The possible headache of getting the gears in time make pulling the IP first an easy job in my book.

And that is from someone running a turbo, so I have to pull the injection lines off the pump before I can pull the pump.

Remember if you are changing the housing, your reference marks on the housing will be on the shop bench when you reinstall the IP with the new housing.

 

AC-Man...the motor matched of course but needed the oil pan from the original engine in the pickup, and the oil cooler replaced with the pickup truck's..Same engine but with some different set up for bus application...Also, took awhile to start due to air lock remedied by bleeding the air out of the injectors..Started fine afterwards...