tree98

 

My suggestion is pull in the street class. Get a set of one over injectors (.013), borg warner s480 charger, and turn fuel up on pump and get the big governor spring for the v pump which should give you around 2,700 rpms, a fass supply pump, and the big lipe clutch.  You go any further than that hp wise the money will go up A LOT, trust me lol.  Also make sure your air-to-air charger has no leaks in it.

Thanks for that info. That's a start

 

That's a tough one...would have to see some pictures and dig into why it's branded salvage. There are lots of guys on here that would restore that truck if it's a worthy candidate for show.  Can't let that one get wrecked.

I'll get some pics up soon. The salvage title is because it was an abandoned vehicle and was towed away and impounded. The owner was notified and didn't want to pay the tow bill and storage so we filed for a new title through the state. They won't give you a clean title for it without DOT inspection, I don't want to put the time and money into making it legal because DOT are assholes around here and probably wouldn't pass it no matter what just because of its age. It's not a bad truck at all, definitely a candidate for restoration in my opinion.

 

Sell it to someone who will restore it....there are lots of other trucks to modify and possibly damage. That build of trucks is too rare to risk it. Buy another fixer upper with that money. You will be way ahead of where you are startibg now with a unique find like that.

They only made 64 of them. What would you estimate it would be worth in running condition, but needing some work. Also has a salvage title.

 

To go to a street pull and have fun, take a stock E9 and try it for a season before you go all in.

To make 1200-1500hp is not that hard to do with an E9. If you are planning on working the truck and pulling on the weekend is not a safe bet. It is like having a race care you drive on the street, there are many issues, some being emissions, insurance, reliability, DOT, to name a few. I have an  E9 Superliner puller with 1500hp at the crank and over 1150hp at the wheels and know what I am talking about. In puller form it will not pull a loaded trailer without issues. If you want to give me $100K you can have it, there is over that in it... Even a "stock  street" class is far from stock these days.

The point is that there is much more that needs to be upgraded to handle the over stock torque and HP. The pulling rules have changed over the years not to mention the safety for yourself and the spectators. billet flywheel and clutch, trans blankets, drive shaft loops, etc all need to be in place to compete at an elevated level. It all cost a lot of money and even more to maintain it. The knowledge is not easy to come by to get everything to work right and other pullers are not going to tell you all the TRICKS. 

If you are serious about a puller talk to Dale Francis (Francis Engineering) out in Painsville, he is close to you in northeast Ohio. Dale has been building E9's and KTA's for years and has the parts and knowledge to get anything to really run good. He and Dick Bonner run the Mackimus Prime Superliners. He can get an engine together for you, HP and price have no limit at his place.  Just don't waste his time and try picking his brain, if you do you will see what I mean.   

 

The truck would be strictly for pulling, no need to work it every day. I believe you about information being hard to get. I think that's gonna be my biggest hurdle. 

How much HP could I get out of an E9 without spending $100K. I would be in the street licensed class. 

 

If I was building a puller and running the engine(V8 or straight6) RPM/torque/HP way over stock.........I wouldn't be sitting over the engine heads in a cab over. You want all the engine heads pointing at God, he can handle it.

Also assume your fire is going to occur in the engine compartment. You may want to be behind the fire rather than above it, things can get crazy with that kind of power. You envision the door flying open and a quick 10 foot leap to safety, in reality they may be trying to extract you from that height.

In 2012 we had an older operator suffer a massive heart attack in the seat of a large front loader, the hardest part was getting enough mechanics and staff to manually lower him 10 feet safely to the ground for CPR. Dead before we could get him to the shop floor.

 

 

You just crushed my dreams. Very good points I never thought of.

Hello everyone,

I stumbled across a 1985 mack ultraliner magnum cabover with an E9 in it. My plan is to build a pulling truck out of it but I'm not sure what condition the engine is in. What would be the best way to asses the condition of the inside of this engine? Also does anyone know if cabovers make decent pulling trucks? Any advice on this subject is greatly appreciated.

Have there been a lot of changes to these motors an/or emission's systems since they were first implemented?It seems to me they should have this stuff figured out by now.From what some of you are saying it sounds like 2010 and after aren't bad trucks,except for thunderdogs '12 damn those are the kind of horror stories I keep hearing.But I guess there's gonna be some bad ones,And a good dealer would be VERY important.I like what Im hearing from the guys here who are around fleets of the new trucks it's encouraging to hear 50+ trucks and no major issues.

BUY A GLIDER KIT AND POWER WITH ENGINE OF CHOICE

I was told that by law if you buy a glider have to put an emissions motor in an emissions era chassis.Im sure I could put any motor I want in it if I were going to do the work in my garage but that's not the case

I'm in the market for a brand new truck 2013/2014,will be having a crane/boom mounted on it,to be used for taking down trees.I'm thinking a Granite with at least 400 h.p. but for years I've been hearing horror stories about the new emissions motors that all the manufacturers are using.I don't want to pay 130,000 or more for a truck that's always at the dealer getting fixed.I know a lot of guys have been trying to buy chassis's that are pre-emission but in my opinion those trucks are getting older every year and are going to have problems simply because they are used.Also it's hard to find a chassis spec'ed the way I want it and also hard to get the bank on board for a project like that.The easiest way to do it is buy the whole setup brand new.It's hard to beat new!!but I'm hoping since the emission's motors have been out for a while,maybe they've worked the bugs out?I'm looking for some feedback from guys who run these new trucks.

i get what your saying,but if i'm gonna start from scratch i might as well buy a truck thats as close as possible to what i need.That being said,if the price was $5,000 then of course!!!Now back to the topic,where do you get the parts you need to build these trucks,turbo's,clutches,injector pumps etc?i've done some looking on the internet and i cant seem to find much.Anyone have a link??

i have a 87 superliner tri axle dump with a fresh 12 sp and a e6 bumped up alittle. truck is in great shape everything works except the fuel gage $14,500

sorry cant be a dump,has to be a fifth wheel.

Follow Terrys advice on rules. in the series you will have to follow strict rules unlike the local fairgrounds

E9 with a 12 speed on camelback or air ride. 4.17 or higher(slower mph) rears. Try and win the lotto so you can afford to build the pump and get a pulling clutch. If your just in it for fun any 6 cyl 285-300-350 will work by turning the stock pump up all the way and keeping 20 psi in the rear tires.

Have fun..

Yea i'm sure this stuff is far from cheap.where do you get these clutches and pumps?

I want to build a competition pulling truck out of a superliner.Can anyone tell me what specs i should look for in one of these trucks?

Tree98,

If it is overheating going up hills turn on the heater and see if that helps bring down the temp- that could be another indicator that the radiator is clogged. Also should check that the belt are tight and water pump impeller is still intact, either one can cause low flow and overheating. I think the truck should easily handle the 30K load with the chipper- just don't plan on going by any scales- or if here in PA getting pulled over for a weight check- that will really cost you here. Make sure you keep the brakes in good shape for the extra load you are carrying and the chipper- you need the braking handle the extra load.

Also check trans fluid- you can add an oil cooler and trans cooler if everything else checks out.

Firemack

Thanks firemack,i will check the things you mentioned,this truck doesnt get on the freeway very often,and there's no scales local here.Just have to be careful for those portable scales the chipper is a tandem axle and both axles have brakes,so it stops pretty good.

I would say your over working the truck at this time with this problem of getting too hot. I'm thinking this engine is a 4 cylinder with 180 horse? With the truck being 13 years and no relevent problems as such before, it is a good idea to check your antifreeze to see if it is strong enough for this weather. Also would pull the radiator and have it cleaned and pressure checked for leaks. And final check would be the thermostat. Sometimes these little devices will stick and cause the problem. This will give you something to start on.

mike

I forgot to mention i bought the truck used,a year and a half ago.It was originally a box truck,i put the dump bed on it.It's always done this since i got it.But i will check all the things you mentioned.I was also thinking maybe adding an additional tank of antifreeze,like maybe 5 gallons?

I have a 1997 mack ms 200.In case you dont know these are the french built cab overs with the renault turbo diesel,the gvw is 25,995 lbs.I'm pretty sure the truck has 180 h.p.and mine is an automatic trans.the truck has a dump body on it,we use it to haul wood chips.the truck weighs 15,000 lbs. empty,and 30,000 lbs. full.we also pull a chipper behind the truck that weighs 10,000 lbs.The truck gets hot going up hills,empty pulling the chipper,and gets hot even faster loaded pulling the chipper.Am i just asking to much of this truck and thats why its getting hot?Is there anything i can do to make it run cooler?I was thinking maybe an electric fan for the radiator instead of the belt driven fan it currently has.It's never boiled over but it gets real close to 270 degrees and the temp warning light and buzzer comes on.Any help would be greatly appreciated