Honey, look what followed me home, can I keep it?

oltrunt · March 02, 2015, 06:45:43 PM

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

HB of CJ · March 02, 2015, 07:35:11 PM

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.

lvmci · March 02, 2015, 08:21:21 PM

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...

oltrunt · March 02, 2015, 08:30:47 PM

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

Jim Eh. · March 02, 2015, 08:37:07 PM

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?

oltrunt · March 02, 2015, 08:47:46 PM

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

Lostranger · March 03, 2015, 03:50:59 AM

Wow, Jack, a grown up bus. Can't wait to see what you do with it. Congratulations.

Jim

Nick Badame Refrig/ACC · March 03, 2015, 02:15:35 PM

Hi Jack,

WIPERS are Over Rated anyways...

Lots of luck with it! Looks nice!

Nick-

wg4t50 · March 03, 2015, 03:00:47 PM

Nice going, and wipers, not a biggie to repair/fix.
Dave M

oltrunt · March 03, 2015, 05:30:13 PM

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

Charles in SC · March 03, 2015, 07:10:19 PM

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.

georgemci102a2 · 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

or maybe wear a orange prison jumpsuit with numbers on it,and drive it like ya stole it

.....George.

Jim Eh. · March 15, 2015, 06:50:01 PM

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 or maybe wear a orange prison jumpsuit with numbers on it,and drive it like ya stole it .....George.

Then stop at a Wall Mart, get out and run like hell!

oltrunt · March 15, 2015, 07:48:42 PM

Sounds like a good way to get shot! Think I'll pass. HA, HA. Jack

bigred · March 23, 2015, 05:44:42 AM

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!!