With the movement toward integration of chassis and body (and, in some cases, engines) in the school bus manufacturing industry, it should be no surprise that Daimler-Chrysler, which owns Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. and Thomas Built Buses, has begun testing one of its own engines, the MBE900, with its FS-65 school bus chassis. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in Charlotte, N.C., recently had 10 MBE-900 engines installed in 2001 Freightliner FS-65 buses. Maintenance Manager Dave Epperson says his district will begin the first nationwide testing of the engine beginning this school year. The engine being pilot-tested by Charlotte-Mecklenburg is an inline six-cylinder of the parent bore design. Following are the engine specifications provided by Freightliner for the MBE900Õs school bus applications: models 904 and 906.

Features and specs

MODEL 904Design. Water-cooled four-cylinder inline diesel engine with three-valve technology (two intake valves, one exhaust valve); turbocharging and charge air cooling; available with constant throttle engine brake (option); fully electronic engine management with individual unit pumps and centrally arranged eight-hole injection nozzles; injection pressure up to 23,200 psi. Number of cylinders 4 Bore 4.02 in. Stroke 5.12 in. Displacement 4.25 liters Weight 869 lbs.

Engine performance MODEL HP @ RPM TORQUE @RPM 170 170 2,300 420 1,400 190 190 2,300 520 1,400

MODEL 906Design. Water-cooled six-cylinder in-line diesel engine with three-valve tech-nology (two intake valves, one exhaust valve); turbocharging and charge air cooling; available with constant throttle engine brake (option); fully electronic engine management with individual unit pumps and centrally arranged eight-hole injection nozzles; injection pressure up to 23,200 psi.

Technical data Number of cylinders 6 Bore 4.02 in. Stroke 5.12 in. Displacement 6.37 liters Weight 1,168 lbs.

Engine performance MODEL HP @ RPM TORQUE @RPM 190H 190 2,300 520 1,200 210 210 2,300 520 1,200 210H 210 2,300 605 1,200 230 230 2,300 660 1,200