What sort of price range are you thinking of for a Cummins? Thanks to rust and snow, I occasionally see 12V versions in 2WD trucks for sale near me with prices that don't seem too terrible. Since you only need the engine and transmission, I'd assume rust wouldn't be a concern.
In reply to Ian F:
The bus I looked at Tuesday came out of Ohio, and it was a basket case. Even the engine hardware looked to be a bolt snapping mess. It was a electronic diesel and the wiring loom looked to be a corroded mess. After listening to my northern brothers on here talk about the ravages of salt, I'll pass on the northern trucks if at all possible.
Locally, I can find pickup trucks in the $3-4k range, but I'm concerned about the Dodge automatic transmission staying together under hard usage. That's doubly true with the 12V trucks. That means finding a medium tuck with a Allison or a P/U with a manual.
I would also like a medium truck or bus for the power steering gear and pump, modern front axle with modern brakes, modern rear axle with modern brakes, driveshaft, and master cylinder.
Thanks for the offer though. I've got my eye on a box truck a couple of hours from here. We'll see how it goes.
In reply to Toyman01:
its end of the fiscal year for state and county govt's so buses might be hitting the surplus fleets soon.
In reply to MrChaos:
Yeah this sounds like a problem govdeals might be able to solve.
At only 13k lbs, I wouldn't worry too much about the Dodge trans. Both the 47RE and 48RE can be built pretty damn strong. They got an un-deserved bad rep from people who didn't do the proper maintenance or ran them hard without enough cooling.
As a starting point, just give it fresh fluid and filter, while the pan is off give it a few turns on the line pressure screw and do the band adjustment. Run the biggest cooler you reasonably can and it should hold up just fine.
Plus, AFAIK the Dodge version of the Cummins still uses a standard SAE bellhousing, so there's no reason you couldn't swap to another trans later if you found one and were starting to have doubts about the Dodge trans.
Dodge did offer them with manuals as well.
Just to be an enabler- there a supposedly brand new NV4500 for sale up here for $1000 CAD.
I got a little more done on the fuel tank today.
As my luck usually goes, the fuel line I ordered was 3/8, the existing line was 5/16. The flare fitting on the original line was not a off the shelf item. After a couple of tries finding something that would fit, I just tapped the pickup to 1/4 NPT and used the hardware I had.
The next issue was the fuel sending unit. Naturally it's a non standard mount as well. Lucky for me, Speedway Motors makes a nice, machined, adapter so you can use a modern 5 screw mount sending unit in a pre 56 Ford 7 hole tank. 
New hard line and sending unit installed as well as the wiring for the fuel gauge.
Then, since the top of the tank was covered with a inch of crap when I pulled it, I coated everything with a nice thick layer of rubberized undercoating.
Hopefully I never have to go into this tank again.
In reply to rslifkin:
You can put a SAE trans on a Dodge Cummins but you need to swap the Dodge back plate for a SAE one along with the SAE flywheel and clutch.
Fuel tank reinstalled aft of its stock position. Basement air #1 is hanging where it belongs. Still some plumbing and a lot of ducting to install, but progress is being made.
In reply to Toyman01:
I would also not dismiss the Dodge automatic. I thought the same thing - and then I found out the hard way the 5 spd Dodge put behind the 12V engines is utter junk and the automatic is a stronger option. For one, they can be more easily serviced and upgraded to handle more power and/or harder usage. The 6 spd is marginally better, but pricey.
I changed gears again this afternoon and chopped a huge hole in the side of the bus.
My original plan was to mount two 5000 btu A/C units under the bus, but I'm worrying about having enough BTUs to keep a steel box cool when it's sitting in the sun at a track or campground. With that in mind, I ordered a 12000 btu through the wall unit. The wall unit doesn't have any side vents, so all condenser air is vented through the back of the unit. This unit and the 5000 btu front unit will give me 1.4 tons of cooling. Better too much than not enough.
At 14.5" tall, the new unit was too tall to mount under the bus. It would hang 5" below the skirt and stand a pretty good chance of getting crushed. There just happened to be a 15" tall by 24" wide cabinet near the back of the bus, that would fit the new unit perfectly. I located the space on the outside of the bus with a drill bit and got out the grinder and the body saw.
Inside. I am considering leaving the cabinet doors, so I can shut them during the colder months.
Outside. There is a pan, liner, and ducting to be made. I will finish this unit up at the same time I do the front unit. I'm debating on using a door on the exterior as well. I think it would look cleaner than another grill. I still haven't decided.
More to come.
In reply to Toyman01:
Any way you can salvage the cutout skin and either hinge it or build a slider for it?
In reply to Pete Gossett:
It came out in 4 pieces. All of which are carefully tucked away in the shop pending a decision on which direction I'm going.
I have a thought about a automated door that opens when the unit is turned on. Possibly a sliding door, maybe a hinged. Hinged would be much easier to seal against the wind and weather.
Toyman01 wrote: the body saw.
In reply to coexist:
Almost exactly the same.
so something like this 
just with the old bus side?
Toyman's in the motorized aluminum and glass door business, and SanFord has a wooden door. I'm anxious to see what direction this goes.
Use a grill, but put the rub rail back on over it? Or rub rail and upper and lower grills. I think that would deugly it a lot.
Grille is better than a door IMO. Door would be fine if you only want to use the A/C while parked, but I think it would be hard to design something that would work well while moving. Maybe an in and out pair of scoops that pop out would be good.
BrokenYugo wrote: Use a grill, but put the rub rail back on over it? Or rub rail and upper and lower grills. I think that would deugly it a lot.
I would cut a grill into the door, and make a snap on cover for the winter. We never seem to get enough cooling in the summer.
The morning progression.
Pan built so any water would drain outside the bus. There is a 1/2" slope under the pan to encourage drainage. It's also 1" deep so hopefully it controls all the water. This unit is supposed to evaporate most of the water, this should control any excess.
Side and top trim built, sealed and riveted to the wall. This kills the gap between the exterior and interior wall and should keep any rain water out of the wall.
Unit reinstalled for the final time. Angle brackets blocking to fasten the unit to keep it from sliding around in the pan.
Next, ducting was built to keep the intake and discharge air separated. This unit draws air in on either side and discharges it in the center. I didn't want it to be able to draw the warm air back into the unit. That would kill the efficiency. 
Still some finish work to do and a door/grill to build, but I'm going to let the unit run for a couple of hours and make sure there aren't any issues to be dealt with.
This afternoon continued the A/C work.
Return air plenum and vent for front A/C fabbed and installed. I screwed up laying out the floor when I cut the vent so I had to patch it. Unfortunately I didn't take any progress pictures.
This is a little better picture of what the rear A/C unit looks like.
Between the two of them, they are keeping the interior pretty comfortable.
More to come.
I'd be tempted to add a lip to the outer edge of that drip pan and add a drain tube that dumps under the bus. That'll avoid water streaks down the side of the bus (on the paint).
Another update.
I fired off the A/Cs when I got home to see how they would do cooling down a hot SanFord. Outside temps were 88, interior was in the high 90s from sitting in the sun all day. It took them about an hour and a half to bring the interior down to the low 70s. I'll call that a win.
Next up was the fuel fill.
This is the old one. I hated it. It was like reaching into hell, to find a cap that was floating around on the end of a rubber hose. No chance it was going back like that. I also wanted to move it back and inline with the fill on the tank.
A 6" hole saw cut the necessary metal out of the way. The drill only puffed smoke a couple of times. 
Then a generic fuel fill bucket was installed, with a neck and cap that was floating around in a junk box, left here by Curmudgeon. It's probably either Spitfire or Jensen Healey, I'm not sure which.
It didn't move far, but having a straight fill tube will make things flow much better. And it damn sure looks better.
The bucket will be painted body color with only the cap being chrome. The old fill door will be used to repair the original hole in the side and by the time I'm done it will have never existed.
More to come.
Austin Healey? Like this horn button.
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