Rt78a wrote:
"Stagecoach is upgrading 50 midlife Dennis Tridents by replacing their Euro 3 Cummins ISBe engines with the latest Euro 5 versions. The conversion will cost £500,000 and will be carried out over 12 months. Stagecoach says the repowering will cut fuel consumption by up to 25 per cent, reduce carbon emissions and improve reliability. The upgraded buses will be spread across the group’s UK Bus businesses.The managing director of Stagecoach UK Bus, Les Warneford, explains: “Many of the vehicles are around 8-10 years old and are in good condition but require new engines. It makes sense to fit newer greener engines to pro-long their life.” 

 

It is easy for Stagecoach to undertake this type of work on its ADL buses as both Stagecoach and ADL are in common ownership , you can rest assured that no-one other than Stagecoach would get that price for re-engining , that plus ADL will sell on the Euro 3 engines that are removed.
The cost of refurbishing an ex-London Volvo B7TL with Alexander ALX400 body is STG£35,000 BEFORE engine and gearbox upgrade/replacment , STG£60,000 is the total package price per bus I've seen quoted   .
The big risk with refurbishment is by prolonging the lifespan of a bus you are running the risk of falling fowl of future legislation , a prime example of this would be emmissions standards , I know of one UK operator who bought a 00 Dennis Dart with Plaxton Pointer 2 bodywork , they spent £20,000 refurbishing it only to find it was'nt LEZ compliant (Low Emmission Zone) so not only could the bus not be used for the service for which it was bought , but after refurbishment its resale value was only £12,000 , that company LOST £18,000 by going the refurbishment route and had a narrow escape as they had aquired 10 Darts and had planned to refurbish them all.smiley: sick
          They could possibly have fitted a newer low emmission engine to the bus at extra cost , however to do this would have required a trip to the Millbrook test center as design alterations to passenger vehicles require new certificates of road worthiness.

Edited 1 time by KD 191 28/05/2011 20:35:32.