Honeysuckle Rose has a big brother now. It's a 12 / 1990 MCI 8v92 jail bus. It has 3/4 of a million miles on it (one owner vehicle, Ha Ha). I don't know its mechanical history but I may be able to find out. I'll list the bad and the good that I have found out to date.
BAD:
Wipers don't work
Jake isn't working
Hot gen light cycles on and off
A/C doesn't blow cold ( R 134 conversion)
Probably needs radiator work
GOOD:
Brakes are good.
Drives like new.
No DD slober.
Cages and fiberglass seats will be easy to remove.
Floors and walls and ceiling look like new.
No overhead storage bins.
No toilet to tear out.
Body is exceptionally straight.
I could find no rust or stress fatigue.
Tires are 60%.
The drive home with the bus went fine with the exception of a rare and violent thunder shower most of the way. That's how I found out the wipers didn't work. I also discovered that when climbing hills the temp would rise and when it hit 200 degrees F the fuel shut down (peak LA traffic of course). When that happened I found that If I coasted a bit and flipped the ignition switch a few times the fuel would kick on and away we would go. As long as I avoided long climbs the bus was happy to go 65 MPH at 175 degrees F. Jack
Anyway, that's probably more than anyone wants to know so I'll stop for now. Jack
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We are sorry it rained on your parade ... literally. Hee hee hee. Are you the kind of person who hears bad spirits or the echoing cries and desperate moans and groans of the thousands of inmates who have lost all hope ... when they climbed into your new Bus?
Bad Karma ... or no karma at all? I for one do not believe at all in such, but I have some friends who definitely do believe. I would be very happy with your new toy who followed you home. Guess the greater concern is will the lady warden let you keep her? (The bus)
HB of CJ (old coot) Buses are always female. Kinda fits somehow. :) :) :)
Congrats Jack, no toilet means no prisoner smells! Best wishes, for a quick conversion, see you at the next Dam Rally, with your new conversion, tami & tom, lvmci...
An interesting point you make there HB. Yes, I have heard the moans and crys you talk about but only from the injured and grieving souls who happened to be on the receiving end of one atrocity or another committed by one of the riders on such a bus as I have acquired. For me, it is just a bus a really Big bus and a fun new toy with which to learn a whole new (to me) mechanical vista.
As to the riders, well, I expect my being retired law enforcement may have something to do with my never having considered the bus as anything but a bus. I expect some others feel differently and I can respect their views. Jack
Hi Jack .... oooooh, bet you don't like it when you meet friends at an airport. Anyway I am in the same bus company as you. Still thinking about leaving the rather large BOP lettering on the roof but naw, wife probably wouldn't be too pleased about the possibility of getting stopped by a group of gun toten ocifers.
I thought all 12s had square headlamps?
Krank, I led you astray. It is a 9. It was built in the twelfth month of 1990--so should actually be a 1991 I guess. Jack
Wow, Jack, a grown up bus. Can't wait to see what you do with it. Congratulations.
Jim
Hi Jack,
WIPERS are Over Rated anyways... ;D
Lots of luck with it! Looks nice!
Nick-
Nice going, and wipers, not a biggie to repair/fix.
Dave M
Hello All. Thanks for the comments and encouragement. I'm in the process of removing fiberglass seats for 56 and half a dozen jail cells which must be done if I am to get the bus reclassified as a motor home. This needs to get done post haste to get the bus out from Ca CARB regs. I'm having to cut the seats in half and the cells in thirds in order to get them out the door.
I'll do a light weight conversion just complete enough to meet the spirit and letter of the law as required to get the motor home registration. In the mean time I'll be thinking about what I really want to do with the bus. Jack
Congrats on your new toy! Maybe you could leave the bars on the outside and do the inside to look like a jail cell for your conversion. You could call it a mobile hoosegow.
If ya left the bars and the paint job on,you shouldnt have any problems parking anywhere you want to :D or maybe wear a orange prison jumpsuit with numbers on it,and drive it like ya stole it ;D.....George.
Quote from: georgemci102a2 on March 03, 2015, 07:32:02 PM
If ya left the bars and the paint job on,you shouldnt have any problems parking anywhere you want to :D or maybe wear a orange prison jumpsuit with numbers on it,and drive it like ya stole it ;D.....George.
Then stop at a Wall Mart, get out and run like hell!
Sounds like a good way to get shot! Think I'll pass. HA, HA. Jack
Two things :Saw one just like this sold on Storage Wars.Is this the same one?? Other thing ,being the owner of a bus conversion.what is the deal with every one replacing the air wipers with electric wipers?.I for one like the sound of the air wipers!!
what you really mean is "I like the sound of air wipers when they are working properly..." I like mine just fine, I even still have the air powered washer pump. But new motors are expensive, rebuilding is often just delaying the inevitable, and used electric motors out of a truck are cheap and easy.
Brian
Nope Bigred, not the same bus. Mine came directly from the county. And as to the vacuum wipers, arrrrggg, bet those will soon be electric. After a fine rally at Pahrump last week in my little bus, Honeysuckle Rose, its back to cleaning the big bus this week. Once that is done I'll start looking at its "issues". Jack
Hi Jack, good luck on your new bus conversion, hope you got some good ideas at the bus rally, I'm sure you will transform this bus just as you did the small bus, say hi to Lorna for us, tom...
Only good news from something that had all the ear markings of catastrophe. One of the workers at the tow yard where I have the MCI stored decided the bus needed to be moved and so set about doing it. He had no problem starting the bus but couldn't figure out how to release the brakes--thank goodness! Anyway, in his effort to get the bus to move he flipped every switch and threw every lever including the one that locks the door shut which then can only be opened from a plunger on the outside (ex prison bus). I just happened to stop by to test fit a partition panel and found the guy locked in the bus. The amazing thing was that the windshield washer was spraying away and the drivers wiper was dutifully swiping back and forth--neither the washer nor either wiper had worked before and I fully expected to have to change them over to electric. I'll have to lock the guy in the bus again so he can fix the other wiper! Jack
Looks like there is a new sheriff in town!
Quote from: oltrunt on April 17, 2015, 06:10:06 PM
One of the workers at the tow yard where I have the MCI stored. . .
Jack -If this were my bus, and I found what you did, I'd be searching real quick for another place to store it that's more secure!
As for the wipers, call Luke for rebuild kits. They're fairly easy to do, actually more difficult getting them off/on the bus than the rebuild itself. Luke's number is 1-888-262-2434 in NJ.
BTW, which Co Sheriff's office did this coach belong to?
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
Strange plates for a county of Ca vehicle most have the E or Exempt on the plates I wonder if that was a leased bus
RJ, Thanks for the wiper info! The bus is about as safe as it is going to get I think. The storage lot is the police impound lot although locally operated and the workers all are well vetted--though not necessarily overly bright it seems. I have been assured they will call me next time they want the bus moved as they were concerned that they "might have screwed up Jack's bus" etc. Actually, the guys are just fine and I'd have to give them credit as tow operators, in that realm they are very competent.
Lvrbus, The state stopped using both the diamond plate and the octagon plate on state vehicles when it went to the reflectorized plates we all now have. The state fleet plates say "exempt" now. The bus was owned, operated and serviced by San Bernardino County, Ca with the operators being County Deputies. The plates you see on the bus are actually registered to me. Seems DMV had registered the bus as an automobile way back when--so who am I to complain? I simply transferred the title into my name and got on the bus. I'm having to change the title to Motor Home in order to get out from under CARB restrictions on 2 stroke diesels which are exempt from control if in a motor home. The "conversion" is underway. Jack
Quote from: oltrunt on April 19, 2015, 06:15:44 PM
The "conversion" is underway. Jack
Yeah, but no build thread. Come on, Ol Trunt, cut us in on the action. Keep in mind how we crave inspiration.
Jim
I just noticed the bus didn't have the exempt tags I have a friend that works for the San Bernardino Sheriffs Dept in Needles he has the CA Exempt tags on his patrol car
Hello All. I've sort of lost track of where I am with this thread but I thought I'd share a find I made today that may be of interest to others. I've been looking for a small refrigerator for the MCI and ran across this 10 cu ft top freezer on sale for $198 at the local Best Buy. The frig goes by the name of Igloo model #FR1085. What caught my eye was the dimensions. 22.41" deep including the door, 21.67" wide and 65.5" tall--a nice all around fit for my mini kitchen. I don't know if Best Buy is nation wide, but if they can sell this frig for $198, so can others. For the most part the reviews have been positive with no really damning comments. I managed to sweet leg the clerk into including free delivery to the bus--I can hardly wait to see how they do boosting the things up the entry stairs! Jack
QuoteI can hardly wait to see how they do boosting the things up the entry stairs
My son (scott332) drove his MCI to Lowes, took out one of the side windows and they helped him get it inside with a forklift.
I see the Curtis made branded Igloo at H/D and Walmart now,makes you wonder what they had to pay Coke or who ever owns it now in fees to use the Igloo name