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Repower 1975 F-600

olgentdc

olgentdc

Well-known Member
Location
Harrison County , Elizabeth Ind 47117
My 391 is gonna surprise me some day and give up the ghost,. my brother has a 5.9 cummins in a school bus that i wonder if it could be shoe horned in easy enuf ... just thinking and wondering if anyone knows anything about the best way to repower to a diesel engine ,.. with a qt of oil every 200 miles, going thru the 391 . i am sure i will need a plan of action someday ,. thanks guys for your thoughts ,. i want to stay below 26000
 
Many of the mid range (F600,700,800) trucks were powered with the Cummins 5.9. Check with truck salvage yards nearby, you may find a donor machine for the change over parts. What chassis is the school bus a Ford, or IH/Navistar?
 
Should be an easy fit. Think the buses used an sSAE bellhousing so should bolt in but not sure about clutch.
 
Assuming you have a 12v don't waste your time on a kit. Build yourself a front mount a 391 is not a we belt housing so you're going to need either an sae belt housing or a flywheel housing and belt housing from a dodge. Get rid of the electric shut off and use the choke cable for the shutdown. As long as you have a manual flywheel on it take it to a machine shop an have them redrill the flywheel to accept the stock clutch. You may have rpm and road speed problems depending on gear ratios you may need an overdrive trans. If you have an nv4500 or nv5600 that would be the way to go. Both of these will use a dodge clutch, flywheel and belt housing.
 

Things will get a little tight in that 75 model, engine should fit but theres not a lot of space between the radiator and grill for a inner cooler.
I don't know of any adapters to bolt a Ford FE bell housing to a Cummins engine so your probably looking at getting a trans with SAE bell housing. Don't even think about using a pickup trans in that truck. Rear axle gearing is another issue, 5.9 governors at 2800, you engine probably cruises at 3000- 3200 and governs at 3900.

Your best bet may be to use the engine, auto trans and rear axle from the bus, but it probably has air brakes and your F-600 has hydraulic.

Quick question, are you sure you truck has a 391, normally F-600's came with 330 or 361 engines.
 
361, or 391 doesn't matter, both were not nothing to write home about power wise. I have a 1968 F100 that had a 360, 8 mpg on a good day, and it was a slug. Put a 302 in it got 13 mpg, and it pulls a trailer much better with the 302.
 
it is a 391 now,,.. but it was born with a 330.. i think the bus is a clutcher with hydraulic brakes,. shux if the
axle needs swapt too , more than likely a springs swap will be in order too? .. sheesh!@!,. i dunno about all
that wrenching ,,.. every time i went in that deep it became a expensive soup sandwich,that i wish i never
starterd,,,,... maybe i should trade the truck
 

391 is a tuff old motor as long as the governor is working, they don't like to be over rev'd.
If the bus is manual trans you could use everything, but the rear axle is probably single speed which isn't the best setup for soft ground.
That said a cousin as a Freightliner single axle with 5.9 Cummins, 6 spd trans and single spd axle, says it does a pretty good job hauling grain out of the field.
 
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