DH478 Toroflow-powered 1972 GMC Napco 4x4 K5500

[kscarbel2]

 

[Geoff Weeks]

Those engine earned the moniker of "Toilet bowl" for a reason.

[mowerman]

wow man what a cool story,,,,,dynamite job on the rims and tires,,,,,,have a ball with it,,,hell id be happy just to have that pickup you pulled it with,,,,i had a 70 6ft fleetside back in the day when everyone had them i really liked it bob

[RoadwayR]

Saw that truck on another webside.  Rare to say the least.  Can't imagine spec'ing a Toroflow in a piece of fire apparatus!

Has anyone ever seen one of the big 637 V-8 Toroflow's?  I never have, though I have seen the gasoline 637 V-8 before.

 

[Geoff Weeks]

GMC (or Chevy) with a Deutz from the factory, that is what I call rare. I seen pictures of one in a manual, never seen one in pictures or otherwise in the wild.  They were offered as a factory option.

[RoadwayR]

[67RModel]

What year(s) were they offered? That brochure looks like sometime in the 1980s

[Geoff Weeks]

That is later than the manual I saw one in, IIRC it was later 60's before the body re-design. Showed the cab heater using engine oil as a heating fluid.

When did the Toro-flow go away? Likely the Deutz was offered when that happened.

Edited 5 hours ago by Geoff Weeks

[67RModel]

Well the last year you could get a 478ci gasoline V6 was 1974. But I think they were quite rare by then as everyone was opting for the 366 and 427 V8s

[Mark T]

IDK  those 60 degree big V 6s were popular. Even in the early '70s. At that time I had no idea what they were, but they had a distinctive sound and most of those old cab overs you'd see it hanging out if you looked under the cab from behind.

[67RModel]

I would love to find a 478 v6 to tinker with. At truck with one or just the engine itself.  They are hard to come by and I'm never it the right place when they pop up. 

[Mark T]

Most of those cab overs at the time never had a second life and the torch found them pretty quick when they were done. Not many still around.  When I was in VoTech there was a ToroFlow in the shop on a stand. I'm not totally sure, but I think it was a V8.  That woulda been close to 1980 and it was donated back then. There wasn't Big Cams or anything like that, so I'm guessing they were kinda useless back then even.

[Geoff Weeks]

According to the .net Big cam came out in '76 I had a '79 in one of my trucks.

There was a long time when Gassers still were used in heavy trucks. Esp in the east where the runs were shorter. By the late 60's they were on the downslide, but I had a '69 Fleetstar with an RD gasser in it as a parts truck.  I think I mentioned elsewhere that LaPort transport ran Ford and IHC Gassers into the late 90's.

[67RModel]

I have a very comprehensive brochure from the 1960s GMC Truck and Coach division that advertises the 60 degree V6, V8 and V12 as repower units. The brochure claims GMC dealers would repower any make/model with a GMC engine. It is a sales brochure but contains more engineering and specification data that sales pitches. I guess back then you could pull an international into a GMC dealer and get it repowered with a GMC engine. I can't imagine it was very common but I guess they offered the service.

[Mark T]

Those  engines (the 60 degree gassers) had some impresive torque numbers and were a simple design.   I was referring to that engine when I was in school in the sense they were giving them away back at that point.  The only popular thing i remember being in that shop was a 238 Detroit and a John Deere 6 cylinder.  Everything else was obsolete. (nobody was donating anything newer or sought after) Still back then everything was still simple and in general the same mechanics even if one make was better than the other.  

[Geoff Weeks]

14 minutes ago, 67RModel said:

I have a very comprehensive brochure from the 1960s GMC Truck and Coach division that advertises the 60 degree V6, V8 and V12 as repower units. The brochure claims GMC dealers would repower any make/model with a GMC engine. It is a sales brochure but contains more engineering and specification data that sales pitches. I guess back then you could pull an international into a GMC dealer and get it repowered with a GMC engine. I can't imagine it was very common but I guess they offered the service.

Re-powers were a bigger thing in the 50's and 60's. Once engine longevity caught up and surpassed chassie life, they went away. Through the late 60's IHC's inlines heavy sixes could be inframed (dry liners).

It wasn't just the vehicle mfg that were into that game, Herc and Conti, Buda and the diesel engine  makers all would do retrofits.  You can see ads back then in places like CCJ for retro-fits.

I knew a guy who hauled Ford cars out of the assembly plants, so they had to have Ford trucks. One of his buddies retro-fitting a RD IHC under the hood to replace the Ford powerplant that crack the block.