I posted a few questions in a thread I started earlier in the week regarding an engine I have and desire to turn into a 2056.

I am re-posting (new thread) my engine case/crank questions here as I intend to use that thread for 2056 build questions as I go.

The shortblock I have bears serial number GD002540. This makes it a 2.0l (70hp) bus engine manufactured between Aug - Dec of 1975 (thanks to TheSamba engine # decoder). This is good to know as I personally removed this engine from a '76 bus some 30+ years ago, but I digress....

My question. Does anyone know if this case will NOT work for my 2056 project? I will need to drill a hole next to the breather tower to accept a 914 oil dipstick (and block off the bus oil fill hole), but this is all I can visually tell is different. Engine mounting points the same? Will bus crankshaft bolt to 914 flywheel?

Several boxes of really neat stuff from Type IV Store showed up at my house this week so I would like to get building. Don't want to waste time/money cleaning prepping this set of cases if not useable.

Any and all help appreciated. I did searches on "engine case", "bus engine case", "bus", and many other strings but could not find a definitive answer...

Good question...

Paging Dr. Jake Raby?

Vysoc

I am sure you will be fine. use it

Oil dipstick is the big difference, start building, but DO check the case.
The bus is a lot heavier than the 914 so the number 3 main bearing journal may need help.

Check the case

are they not hydralic lifters in the bus motors?

The case will work just fine once you relocate that dipstick to the tower.

start cleaning up those new parts and get crackilackin'.

You also need to source 914 engine mounts, no? The ones that bolt to the engine case itself.

It's the same case except the oil dipstick.
Engine mounts, lifters, heads are different but not part of the case. So drill that hole and block the old one and you will be good.
Look at my case, it was a bus case.

Right but i thought the oiling to feed the lifters was diffrent

Nope, it's the same.

Bus cases have been ran much harder, pushing a 2 ton slug.. Inspect the main bores closely, and the thrust deck. Always check the cylinder registers for flatness with any GD or GE case as the factory cut windage notches on their undersides and weakened the registers. This makes the cylinders sit askew and can cause head leaks.

Other than the dipstick, its an interchangeable crankcase completely. Its just a T4, nothing special about the 914 variant of it case wise.

Thanks for all the replies and useful info. I will use it, and check and double all that has been mentioned here.

It was a 70k(ish) mile engine when I pulled it (not that it matters).

Now back to my other thread and the 2056cc build...

I've decked countless T4 cases over the years and have NEVER decked one that didn't need it. Not one. Not once. They all sag. Even the beefier 1.7's, though they usually don't sag as bad as the later cases Jake referenced. They are by far the worst offenders.

It's not always easy to spot with a straight edge, but once the case half is bolted to a proper fixture in a well trammed mill and the cutting begins the low spots and sagging become obvious.

Based on my experience I would hold out little hope that a bus case didn't need decking and align-boring.