77 Newell Repower?

[rellick]

Hello, its great to see there is a few of these classic coaches still on the road. I am just starting to dive into mine and making plans on what to do with it as far as powertrain, the rest it pretty decent, a few glitches with electrical and a few other things. I have only owned it for a week, drove it home about 500 miles and it worked suprisingly well for its age. The engine is a 555 cummins with about 190,000 miles, I have heard mixed reviews on these engines. I am going to cut apart the oil filter on it and take a look for any filings and take an oil sample in for analysis just to see if I should spend any money on it (injectors, tune up etc.) my mechanic buddies figure if the oil and filter checks out I should just run it,or should I just repower it with a newer engine. I was thinking an 8.3 cummins. I am a welder and machinist by trade so any bracketry or mods shouldnt be too much trouble. Any thoughts or opinions on witch way to go with this?