Homer the Super Bus has made 3 trips to Tampa, FL, 1 to Jacksonville, FL and 2 to Effingham, Il and countless other "short trips" to places like Birmingham, Knoxville, Seveirville, Huntsville, Nashville, Atlanta, Taccoa, etc.  He was also my daily driver for about 7 years.  All of this was under type 1 power.  For the first 5 years or so, it had a home-made bar on the rear, but I've been running without it for about 5 years.  It's slow, but, hey, it's a bus.  It gets there, it gets back, and I enjoy the scenery . . . what more could you ask for?

To covert to type 1 power, you need to either modify the engine bay to seal off to a type 1 engine (this is what a previous owner did to Homer . . . I don't really recommend it) or buy the fiberglass adaptor that Creative Car Craft makes to addapt the type 1 engine to seal up to a type 4 bay (that's what I would recommend . . . not only is it easier, it leaves you the option to go back to type 4 power if you hit the lottery and can ever afford a Jake Raby engine).  You have to shorten the transmission input shaft or replace it with one from a 68-71, but other than that, use type 1 clutch parts and bolt it in.

Yeah, it's a little underpowered, but it works for what it is.  And if you do drop a valve and knock a hole in a piston 150 miles form home, you can put together an engine at a swap meet and get back home with your bank account still partially intact.  Ask me how I know that!   

Type 4 bad.

Type 1 good.

I'd do the swap just because i have known several who have and have been very happy with it, but have never tried one myself, so i don't know all the little tricks.

I have a case with the mustache bar bolts, not sure what is wrong with it, but it turns over, i really thing it just needs to be gone though, maybe new bearings etc,  the story behind it was that the guy who brought me his bus said he was climbing up 24 and the motor quit, i got the bus and a new motor, i found that the shift coupler had come lose and the trans was stuck in gear, so i guess he was unable to shift it and stalled it out, and thought it was locked up becuase it was stuck in gear

I wouldn't worry about a rear support.  The type 4 bar won't bolt to the type 1 engine and the early bay mustache bar won't bolt to the mounts on the type 4 powered bus.  You have to do some fabrication.  The bar on Homer was home-made and bolts on to some type of motor mounts (I have no idea what they are off of) that are bolted to the frame.  If you want 'em, you can have the entire set up.  One corner of it is tweeked a little where I dropped in pot hole and it caught on the ground and busted the bolt holes in the case.  I took the bar off and haven't looked back.  On the type 4 set up, the bar is less of a support and more of a torque limiting device anyway . . . A stock 1600 just doesn't have enough torque to really cause a problem.

I think (this is what I've heard, but never done it) to change the input shaft you have to unbolt the bell housing, push back a sleeve and unscrew the shaft, screw the new one in and put the bell housing back on.  If that's true, It's not a real big deal to go back to type 4 power even if you cut off the shaft.

Oh, and by the way . . . I've ran several engines through Homer.  You want to use a SINGLE PORT.  For some reason, buses don't like dual ports.

And one last thing.  Air cooled bay window buses were still in production in Brazile up untill a couple of years ago . . . they were powered by 1600 type 1 engines, not type 4.

'71 Buses were the ones that held the distinction for cracked heads more than any other type 1s powered buses.  I have read before that the blame for this lies on the thinner areas of the casting around the inlet areas/ spark plug threaded areas, and the higher heats in the bus engine compartments.  Sounds reasonable to me. 

I like building a single port 1600.  They have been my favorite for years, David is the one who sold me on them.  Not the top end of a dual port, but Tourqey, reliable, I have NEVER had a problem from one of my single ports.

 

Once you have the bell housing off , you will have to release a small snap ring and slide it up the shaft  toward you and then slide a gear (part of reverse) toward you. Then you can unscrew the shaft. A little grub screw might come out with it or it might stay on the  internal shaft. Don't lose it.  The snap ring can be tricky. Try not to expand it to much as this is what holds the whole mess together. This whole operation will be a little tricky for the first timers. I would saw the damn thing off. Who in their right mind would want to put a Type-4 engine back in.  Let the next owner worry about it

I haven't yet. I was finishing up the brakes first. I was planning on trying to dig into to the engine situation this coming weekend. I was planning on cutting about 3/8 off IF I can't get the type 4 motor to start up and run (seems like its not tuned or anything).

I might do better to just throw the type 1 in and sell the type 4 for a pretty penny at BP....I wrestle with this a lot.

I found most of my info on thesamba, but I had to wade through hundreds of "don't do its" to get a handful of "here's how I.."

This picture helped me get an idea of what I needed to do.


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