Thanksgiving Raton Pass. Survey

[Doug Engel]

Bruce, I had figured that unless I went big (read:300HP+) I would not get enough
bang for my buck. One of our issues with the new bird is while living in
Gunnison has its benefits, you have to drive over a pass any direction you head
out of here. For instance, to head east, Monarch Pass is the most direct route,
11K'+, the climb up is about 7 miles, at 20 MPH, that's about 20-25 minutes, not
a great delay in the grand scheme of things, but fairly arduous, and I hate
holding up traffic. I know that I could (if I were able) spend another $250K and
scoot right up in some other, high HP bus, but then I wouldn't have a vintage
Bird...oh the injustice of it all. It seems that the 3208T is the easiest choice
for a repower, but alot of work and several $$$ for another 15ish MPH. I see
some folks doing a Cummins conversion, but I can't imagine it would be alot
better...if any, just more work. Seems like a medium duty Duramax with the
Allison might be a good choice, but now we start
re-inventing the wheel, we bought the bus for recreation, not another project.
Any thoughts?? Doug

birdshill123 wrote: I have always used the
Raton Pass as my "dyno test" Our 88 FC is able
to maintain 32mph while towing a 4400 lb. Toyota Tacoma. The Bird was
empty as we had just bought our baby and were driving it home. I have
never driven an NA FC but there is a big difference in power from a 250
Turbo to the 300 Turbo.

Bruce
1988 FC35






Doug Engel, Gunnison, CO. 1981 FC35SB "Pokey"

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