Anyone have any spare engine internals to ship them?
Check their page at http://penitentyanks.blogspot.com/
They were doing a rally from England to Banjul
http://www.plymouth-banjul.co.uk/
At the end they were to auction the bus and donate to a charity & they have it loaded with bikes they are taking to kids in Senigal (apparently they are in great need of simple transportation in Africa as evidenced by the offeres they have recieved to buy the bikes, all of which are well used)
Now it seems they have a blown crank and possible pistons.
If anyone has any suggestions, post, or post on their comments section.
Any help will be appriciated.
Thank you in advance

I think its a 6.2 diesel...I will be double checking with them as soon as I can:o:
I've been searching online, there is a chance is may international engine:o: :o:

Its a 1987 Thomas with a v-8 diesel.
thats all I have from them,
Any bus mechanics here that could look this up?

A rally through Morocco is pretty hardcore service for a 6.2. Guess it will be a cummins next time? The only problem is that shipping parts there will either take a really long time or cost a fortune to ship by air. Crankshafts aren't light. Your best bet might be to contact the closest US military base for parts.

Bummer.

From the picture with the doghouse off, I can see what looks like a J-code air intake for a 6.2L.

http://bp1.blogger.com/_jNxuOrW6hT0/RdJoKoXbcwI/AAAAAAAAAL0/lIQGWVtiEvU/s400/Photo+014.jpg

Hopefully you can find a replacement engine and willing mechanic.
Good luck

Its a 1987 Thomas with a v-8 diesel.
thats all I have from them,

that's an International Harvester motor my friend...not a detroit. that must have took some doing to break :D !

sorry to say but finding parts for that motor, even here in America, will be hard to darn near impossible. maybe they can find another bus of that vintage and swap the motor out? i know its going to cost A LOT to ship a whole bus, but maybe its worth it to them if they cant find one local? maybe swap in a completely different make/model of motor and trans? just ideas...

good luck!

From the picture with the doghouse off, I can see what looks like a J-code air intake for a 6.2L.


DANG! your right!! everything i found said it should be an IH motor :think:

Its wasn't so much as a rally, as it was a run, not timed or anything like that, just a few rally points for teams to meet up with and swap stories.

So general concensus is that it is a 6.2 GM diesel?
Any parts trader sites I can get them prices from?
A few people in the group have the time and determination to deal with it, even if the others have to return home, but they are still exploring options, the best deal may be to buy a vechicle locally and continue with that, at least get bikes to Senigal, but still we would like to pursue all options with the bus before moving on to plan b

62bus,

I am by no means an expert, but a broken crank and broken pistons usually means a full teardown/rebuild, not just a parts replacement.

Your nearest US military base would have spare motors and mechanics.
I would replace the whole motor and don't mess with trying to fix it.

Ebay is a great source for 6.2 parts, rebuild kits, but I somehow doubt you could get them shipped to Morocco in any timely fashion.

at http://penitentyanks.blogspot.com/


Going by the title of "penitent yanks" - I'm wondering what it is the "yanks" are penitent for? Isn't penitence showing remorse for one's actions?

Its wasn't so much as a rally, as it was a run, not timed or anything like that, just a few rally points for teams to meet up with and swap stories.

So general concensus is that it is a 6.2 GM diesel?
Any parts trader sites I can get them prices from?
A few people in the group have the time and determination to deal with it, even if the others have to return home, but they are still exploring options, the best deal may be to buy a vechicle locally and continue with that, at least get bikes to Senigal, but still we would like to pursue all options with the bus before moving on to plan b

that is a 6.2 j code intake...i would say its safe to say it a detroit.

i know completely rebuilt long blocks (minus intake and IP) go for about $2k on ebay, plus freight. i dont know about international shipping though. this is the guy i bought my headers from, maybe drop him an email and ask

edit: removed link so as to not pee in turbinedoc's cheerios any further.

his ebay name is "natgolfpro", you should be able to find him by that.

62bus,

I am by no means an expert, but a broken crank and broken pistons usually means a full teardown/rebuild, not just a parts replacement.

Your nearest US military base would have spare motors and mechanics.
I would replace the whole motor and don't mess with trying to fix it.

Ebay is a great source for 6.2 parts, rebuild kits, but I somehow doubt you could get them shipped to Morocco in any timely fashion.


All true. The best option would be sending them a rebuilt short block, or a complete longblock depending on what shipping is and having a shop throw it in. But even a band-aid crank and bearing job that would let them limp the rest of the way would be good.(but probably cost the same considering the labor involved). Still exploring options here.

Have they dropped the oil-pan and confirmed it's the crank yet?

yeah, that was in the blog. its a crank, 2 pistons and bearings to get them going again...

that is a 6.2 j code intake...i would say its safe to say it a detroit.

i know completely rebuilt long blocks (minus intake and IP) go for about $2k on ebay, plus freight. i dont know about international shipping though. this is the guy i bought my headers from, maybe drop him an email and ask http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rebuilt-6-2-Diesel-Hummer-6-5-Chevy-GMC-truck_W0QQitemZ160085500038QQihZ006QQcategoryZ3361 5QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


http://smiliesftw.com/x/biggthumpup.gif (http://smiliesftw.com/x/biggthumpup.gif)
(Image has been resized. Click it for full size.)

cool. Now I have at least a direction to look at. I will be linking them to this thread, so they may reply also.
Thanks for the help so far. & I'm sure I'm not done with questions yet.

So a reman crank looks to be about $300, and pistons are about $50 each. sound about right? Then rods most likely & bearings...
A shortblock seems to be the way to go

So far you know it needs a crank and 2 pistons right. Thats $400 total plus shipping and the labour to put it in. Labour might be a killer because it'll be the same as doing the work on a van. Probably going to be cheaper than the shortblock. The problem is if they want to keep the bus for future trips. If they want to keep it for the future the shortblock is definitely a better way to go.

So far you know it needs a crank and 2 pistons right. Thats $400 total plus shipping and the labour to put it in. Labour might be a killer because it'll be the same as doing the work on a van. Probably going to be cheaper than the shortblock. The problem is if they want to keep the bus for future trips. If they want to keep it for the future the shortblock is definitely a better way to go.

The bus gets auctioned at the end for charity and they just fly home.
I just priced shipping a shortblock to morocco and it was somewhere around $7000 fedex. :rotflmao: I'll look at other options, but shipping individual parts might be the only affordable way if they can't source parts there.

Your best bet for sourcing parts locally would be the nearest US military base. Pretty much garaunteed they'll have the parts.

Your best bet for sourcing parts locally would be the nearest US military base. Pretty much garaunteed they'll have the parts.


I'll tell them to call the US Embassy and ask if there is one near by. I know they have contacted it already, but I don't know what they asked

why don't they just pack up and get out of there? if the whole idea was to leave the bus and bikes behind anyway - here is the chance to give them away. Usually whenever anyone tries to donate anything to anyone in need in that part of the world it just gets stolen and sold anyway. That's why those countries are all so poor.
paul

why don't they just pack up and get out of there? if the whole idea was to leave the bus and bikes behind anyway - here is the chance to give them away. Usually whenever anyone tries to donate anything to anyone in need in that part of the world it just gets stolen and sold anyway. That's why those countries are all so poor.
paul

My experiences in Casablanca and Marrakech say different. The people we delt with were extremely helpful and courtious. You might be thinking further south, like Nigreia and all those famous internet scams from there. I can't speak for Gambia, which was the final destination, but Morocco was a lot different than I thought it would be and I'm glad I visited.
If they have to abandon the bus, then thats ok, but it would be cool if they could get the bikes to Senigal like they said they would. They had a big send off in France where they picked them up. It would be disappointing to have to abandon them.
Then there is always the challange of trying to fix the bus and having it finish the rally. They may well end up abandoning it, but at least they are giving it a good go at trying to fix it.