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International DTA360 engine

30K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  benhart16 
#1 ·
I recently saw a 1989 71 passenger school bus that was powered by an International DTA360 engine.
112,000 miles on the clock, runs good and for extremely cheap price.

I searched and found little info on this engine.
...other than it is old, 6 cylinders, displaces 5.9 liters, maybe limited to 195 horsepower and dog slow in larger vehicles like school buses and box trucks.

I am guessing this was IHC product to compete with the Cummins 6BT.

Any thoughts of this as a good swap candidate for a pickup truck?
 
#2 ·
I am holding a sleeping 8 month old, so typing is challenged, and on the Mac, the bookmark is saved on the pc, so no link, but that is an excellent candidate for a pickup swap. A better all around motor in every aspect than its counter, the 6bt. DO a search on PowerstrokeNation, bloke's Moniker is "PipeWhiner", he just did this swap int his StupidDuty. He has it set mildly at 4-500 hp, but it is reliable capable of three times that number. IIRC, it is also a wet sleeve design motor.
 
#4 ·
This thread:

http://powerstrokenation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75413

Has these excepts in it

Re: Anyone intrested in a DT360?
what kind of power can you get out of these motors?


I have heard that 1500hp isn't out of the question but don't hold me to that statement. Pipewiner would be the guy to ask.

Lagod has told me much more than that. He said the stock rods are good till well over 1500 in a single turbo application. And the stock head bolts (there are 26 5/8 bolts) are good till about 1k. Plus there are a million configurations to get these things well over 400 cubes with other cranks, pistons, sleeves. They are like a box of lego's, the possibilities are endless. Plus putting a p7100 on one is as easy as a 400$ adapter.
 
#5 ·
dt360

A DT360 is a smaller displacement version of a DT466. It is not a bad engine for a medium truck even if not very powerfull. The problem is that it is the same size and weight of a DT466 or DT530. It is too heavy and big to be reasonably used in a light truck.
 
#7 ·
dt360

I have worked on both, sometimes having both in the shop at the same time. If the 360 is any smaller its not by much, its way bigger than a B5.9 or B6.7. Its about the size of a DT466 or 6.6-7.8 Ford or a C8.3 Cummins.
 
#8 ·
That is disproved in the build thread I linked. I have never seen one, so I can only go off what I read, 1" or 2 longer, 1" or 2 wider. Where as a 466 requires extensive modification to be stuffed.

There seems to be an equal amount of people that say the 360 is comparable is size to a 5.9 as there are that say its much larger.
 
#10 · (Edited)
#11 ·
dta360 size

I am going from memory on this, I never put a B5.9 and a DT 360 next to each other. I doubt navistar came up with the dt360 to compete with the B5.9 because the DT series is older. The last of these engines I worked on was about 10 years ago. Going from memory they are big, heavy and underpowered. I still say its a lot bigger than B5.9. I can see performance potential if it has a P series pump(it should) and the sae bolt pattern gives you a great variety of transmissions to choose from.

If you have a medium truck it could be a good reliable engine, but the DT466 (7.8) is far more common and makes good power even bone stock. If you have a light truck that would be a hell of a stuff job. Remember that the B 5.9 is a stuff job in a light truck, look how tight they are even in a dodge. It becomes a matter of weather it can be reasonably done weather it can be possibly done.
 
#12 ·
i have only seen a dta360 in a scrapyard, and this engine is one that i would prefer to not use for a swap... the 6bt seems more reasonable both for its dimensions and avaliability of spare parts around the world easier than the dta360...
 
#14 ·
The DT-360 would be an awesome engine for a pickup swap. My dad and I have owned a couple DT-466s and we could not ask for a better engine; the DT-360 is of similiar design. The DT-360's stroke in not all that much shorter than the DT-466, so they turn slower and produce more torque than a 5.9 cummins. The DT-360 is at least 8 inches shorter in length than the DT-466. People have shoehorned DT-466s into ford pickups, so it is definetly possible to do the 360. However, I would expect the swap to be more difficult than a 5.9 cummins.
 
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