^^^^yeah, i've seen that. he's got some decent looking wood paneling in it too, right?

^^that'd be great. i had been planning on some cheap laminate hardwood eventually anyway.

^lol, hell yes on speed. jumping large gaps on bridges ftw!

4/15/2007 7:53:19 PM

i cant believe that huge ass bus is powered by 5.9 cummins. that thing must weigh at least 15,000lb. diesel FTW

4/16/2007 12:02:58 AM

yep, just a baby I6. the b series cummins (5.9) was actually designed as a medium duty engine, so in something like this is where it "belongs". dodge just decided to throw them into light duty trucks. transmission and rearend gearing help alot also. it's got a p series injection pump, so turning up the fuel won't be a problem for a little more power.

i'm not sure what the gvw is, but i think 15k is probably a little high but not too far off. gvwr is probably somewhere around 25k, maybe more.

i plan on towing as much as 15k with it occasionally.

4/16/2007 1:06:31 AM

cummins dragster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hrbP7SS9UA

4/16/2007 1:19:06 AM

Quote :

"i plan on towing a tj and a yarrrcharger with it occasionally."

fixed

4/16/2007 1:53:46 AM

haha, true. i'm hoping i can get one in time for going to the uwharrie safari thing, but i might have to wait a few weeks for it to be built.

4/16/2007 2:12:22 AM

another potential interior donor...

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/rvs/312526424.html

4/16/2007 2:18:47 AM

Need a davit and a boat on top. Weez gunna be gettin all da hoes in that rig. Gotta have a boat.

edit: I picked up 2 davits on Friday with the Ferrari guy. And he's probably going to sell one if you're interested.

[Edited on April 16, 2007 at 9:37 AM. Reason : .]

4/16/2007 9:20:58 AM

well, those of you wanting the "facilities" to be hung off the back, i'm sorry to dissapoint you. i just scored a new thetford toilet for cheap.

4/17/2007 5:12:19 PM

whats a ford toilet? a short block?

4/17/2007 6:02:21 PM

I was thinking some skylights would be cool. its mighty dark in there.

4/17/2007 6:04:50 PM

awesome ... i saw that beast on the skoolie.net forums. i take it that you're 'the wanderer'? i've got a '90 international 3800 series (amtran) FE that i'm working on converting. mine has a dt360 - doing a wvo conversion on it as well. the window delete option is pretty sweet - i'm still debating what to do on all of mine (limo tint, paint, etc).

4/17/2007 8:38:05 PM

yep, i'm over there. i'd love to do a grease conversion on this one eventually, but i've got some other things planned first.

post some pics of yours, we'll make this the "official" tww bus thread, lol.

4/17/2007 9:00:10 PM

I don't have any recent pics - these two are from about 5-6 weeks ago, right after we got the beast. It's now got bunks built for 4, couch, navigators chair, replaced drivers seat, cabinetry along one side of the bus with a small sink/faucet. It's going to need a ton of finishing work - there's only so much beauty you can get out of 2x4"s and plywood. This weekend I'm planning on getting some more photos taken - we've almost got the fridge and range unit framed in, but we still have to mount and run the LP supply.

The bus has 2 air conditioners, driven by a small 27hp cummins diesel engine in the underbody of the bus, plumbed off a separate diesel tank of its own. It's a nice feature. The bus was formerly an air force vehicle, hence the blue color.

4/17/2007 9:17:24 PM

I think the colors are messed up here

4/17/2007 9:28:20 PM

^^ how much does a bus like that go for?

[Edited on April 17, 2007 at 9:44 PM. Reason : d]

4/17/2007 9:44:09 PM

^^^nice. what did you use for a navigator's seat? i need to put one in this one. probably just use a regular bucket seat from a car/truck.

^ones like his international can be had for 2-4k on average i'd say. depending on exact condition and who's selling it.

4/17/2007 9:53:05 PM

yeah, it was right in the middle of that range ..... ours was a nice find because of the separate engine for the ac and the fact that it only has 95k miles. the dt360 is a rock solid engine., anyways.

for the navigators chair and drivers seat, we ended up ripping out a couple of captains chairs from a wrecked gmc safari conversion van. and building small platforms for them and securing them with threaded rod running through the chassis.

4/17/2007 10:04:00 PM

cool. did you bother with a seat belt on the navigator's chair?

driver seat should be good in mine, it's an air ride.

4/17/2007 10:12:52 PM

Pardon the boat stuff, but put a fighting chair in a as the navigators's post.

4/17/2007 11:31:42 PM

i think minion and i need to set up a race.

4/17/2007 11:34:06 PM

Quote :

"yeah, it was right in the middle of that range ..... ours was a nice find because of the separate engine for the ac and the fact that it only has 95k miles. the dt360 is a rock solid engine., anyways. "

DT360 is indeed rock solid, but for one thing:

NO GODDAMN BALLS.

4/17/2007 11:35:06 PM

even the dt466 isn't all that strong. both pretty solid motors though. i'd still rather be cummin. the only other bus i can think of i might want over this one would be a saf t liner with a 3208 cat pusher. or maybe a blue bird with an 8.3 cummins.

dan, i can't remember if i told you or not but this thing does indeed have a p pump apparently, not a ve like dodges of that era got.

4/17/2007 11:41:39 PM

pump has been turned up some. not to much though, just enough to make nice black smoke from the stack!

4/18/2007 8:45:14 AM

i ripped out the seatbelt with one of the chairs and mounted that one just like it was in the van - it just had a lap belt, which was convienient.

i can pretty much guarantee that you'd smoke our bus - you're right about the dt360 lacking balls - but it'll get the job done. the way its geared, we max at 60mph right now. it'll be fun to see how it performs this summer - a group of us are taking a 3 week tour of the states (part of the motivation behind grease).

we were close to getting a saf-t-liner with a 3208 (the place we were looking also had a bunch with the detroit 8.2) but as it turned out, mechanically the buses were in pretty poor condition - they had been run into the ground by a school system up in virginia that was doing anything they could to squeeze a few more miles out of them.

4/18/2007 8:52:53 AM

^^i'm going to bomb the hell out of it.

4/18/2007 10:32:59 AM

keep the personalized plate ideas coming people. i haven't come up with anything i'm crazy about. maybe i'll just get one of the western square dancer plates, lol.

SHORTBUS is taken.

other thoughts:

PIR8BIRD
PIRATBUS
HAULNBUS

4/20/2007 1:22:01 AM

NOFATIES

4/20/2007 12:37:30 PM

i like the haulnbus one

4/20/2007 12:53:00 PM

6B6U6S

4/20/2007 12:56:44 PM

I got a Rehab (Graffiti the world) Plate for it even signed by the lead singer

4/20/2007 2:41:34 PM

JEWNIG

4/20/2007 4:49:03 PM

How about just plain.....























YARRR!!!

4/21/2007 9:40:12 AM

YARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! lmao

[Edited on April 21, 2007 at 7:16 PM. Reason : BBFTW]

4/21/2007 7:16:11 PM

just installed a roof vent that opens and has a 12v fan .... sawzall ftw

4/22/2007 1:15:47 AM

i got one of then B/d sawsalll works damn good!

4/22/2007 5:43:34 AM

just got back with it. man that thing is a BLAST to drive. it's a rough riding, loud s.o.b. though. running the exhaust out to the back should quiet it down alot, it dumps a little behind the front wheel now. some insulation on the inside of the dog house should help also. it was a little un nerving to have my first driving experience with it driving through downtown charleston, but i got the hang of it.

i was also pulling ~8k lbs. (4 door tahoe plus trailer) and it did great. did a steady ~60-65mph on the flats and downhills, dropping a little on uphills but not much. it's got the power to do more, but it's gear/rpm limited. mileage was around 10-11mpg probably. the speedo/odo doesn't work, so those are just estimates.

overall i'm really happy with it. it definitely lacks the refinement of a true rv in most areas, but you can't expect everything at much cheaper than rv pricing.

4/22/2007 8:26:09 PM

i gotta come check that out sometime, and gimme a holler about your bathroom sometime tomorrow

4/22/2007 9:02:13 PM

rolling empty back from Pennsylvania we got 20mpg but the pump was turned down so it wouldnt roll like wanted it to. how long did it take to get comfortable with the air brakes? they are a little touchy! as for stopping the trailer it should have been no problemo! did steven tell you about the speedo? i havent driven it in over 6 months but it worked when i did. how about the tunes? did you jam on the way home? what did tim ride in? did you ride with the door open? i am glad you like it, it really has a ton of potential.

4/22/2007 9:31:51 PM

yeah, i'm happy with the mileage it got towing. hell, my f350 doesn't do much better with a load behind it. i would like to see what it gets unloaded. my first trip without a trailer/vehicle won't be until the end of may though.

i think i'll probably leave the pump alone now. on hills, the egt's would climb to ~1100-1200. i don't want to run it any higher than that. i'm assuming ya'll put the probe before the turbo? i hope not after, because those those numbers are way too hot if it is. the only thing i might do is a 3k govorner spring to get a little more top end.

haha, the brakes are a little touchy. i got used to them though. all of the associated air brake noises are cool. between those and the exhaust, makes it sound like a big rig. it stopped great. we had even disabled the surge brakes on the trailer because they were dragging.

tim's severely hungover ass lounged on the couch most of the way back. he drove for a little while, my leg started bothering me alot around fayetteville so i took position on the couch.

steven didn't mention anything about the speedo. the cable is probably broken or something. i'm not that concerned about it though, the thing doesn't go ticket producing speeds on the highway and you'd be a fool to drive any faster than 35-45 around town. since you've driven it with it working, how fast would it run wide open? are my estimates close?

we started out with the door closed, but ended up opening it. got kinda hot with just the window open. plus those damn heaters let air out the vents even with them off. should be nice and toasty in the winter though! it was comfortable with both open. i tried hooking up the a/c unit to the inverter, but it didn't like it and popped the "alert" light, lol. overloaded it i'm sure.

tunes were good. definitely nice to drown out the engine noise and misc. rattles. i've got some subs and an amp to throw back in that box behind the microwave.

4/22/2007 9:51:38 PM

^ there are little gate valves under the bus to turn the coolant off to the heaters in the summer

4/22/2007 9:58:48 PM

cool, i thought there might be. i was going to crawl under it and look around this week.

oh, and reid, that switch you were talking about appears to control some sort of auxilary cooling fan. could be an exhaust fan to take fumes/heat out of the doghouse too? the at545 doesn't have a lockup converter i remembered, so it's definitely not that.

[Edited on April 22, 2007 at 10:06 PM. Reason : .]

4/22/2007 10:02:18 PM

I made a spud gun tonight and holy hell it is fun!

4/22/2007 10:04:18 PM

the pyro was on it so i never looked. we did turn the pump up a bit. rolling on flat ground it should be running 70 even. on the down hills it will run 80 with no real sweat. the 3k spring kit would make a world of difference on that thing. the air brakes about sent me out the windshield the first time i drove it. did you drive the the air seat off? that couch is the shit by the way. i think that inverter will run a house!

4/22/2007 10:05:11 PM

yeah, i tried it with the seat down. you weren't kidding, it will literally beat your ass! wonder how much trouble/money it would be to convert it to air ride suspension. isn't that what all the big diesel pusher rv's have?

did you do a 3k spring in that cummins dodge you had? i know you did a fuel plate iirc.

[Edited on April 22, 2007 at 10:11 PM. Reason : .]

4/22/2007 10:09:58 PM

You need to let me drive the bus, nigger.

I miss air brakes.

4/22/2007 10:10:59 PM

for sure. just holler at me next time you're in town. borrow it for a week, i don't care.

4/22/2007 10:12:30 PM

ill come out the top like a ARMY hummer with the spud gun!

4/22/2007 10:14:21 PM

lol

4/22/2007 10:15:00 PM

Quote :

"ill come out the top like a ARMY hummer with the spud gun!"

Ryan, say WHAT about giving all of us a hummer?

4/22/2007 10:18:50 PM